The Calm before the Storm

Chapter 17

Authors Note: 

I really hope you guys like the chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this one. Let me know what you guys think and thank you for reading so far! :)

Chapter 17

Marcus' POV

I was out getting the team ready for what will go down tonight. The sun has already started to set, I am aiming to attack later in the night around 1am. I want them to be completely taken off guard. The night shifts of the warriors are tight but tonight, they will all head to the South border as soon as I sound the attack. Since we were the first one's sent out to acquire the young Luna, the team will consist of Charles, Zane and myself along with 2 rouge warriors we picked up along the way. "So how are we going to get close enough to her? I mean she has the shield she uses on the pack, hell it is up now. How are we going to get around that." Charles voiced his annoyance about the task at hand. Before I could reply someone else did instead. "Well Charles, I will be with you tonight to make things go a lot smoother." Cleo waltzed her way through the men and toward me with that annoying wicked smile she has. "Wouldn't she have felt a more sinister evil amongst us now that you are here?" This time it was one of the rouge warriors who would be going with the larger team attacking the pack that spoke. I don't recall his name, of course I haven't really cared to learn any of their names since after today, most of them will either be dead or captured by the end of this battle.

Without a word Cleo moved so fast I barely saw her. She wrapped her hand around the rouge's neck slamming into a tree and she continued to squeeze his neck until a sickening snap could be heard echoing into the forest around us. Dropping his now lifeless body to the floor she turned back around to face all of us. Her eyes were pure black and she was breathing heavy. I stepped back slightly, causing her head to snap towards my direction. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE SECOND GUESSING! I AM YOUR GOD RAVANNAH, I HAVE TOLD CLEO EVERYTHING SHE NEEDS TO KNOW TO DO THE JOB. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LISTEN AND OBEY! IF THERE IS ANYMORE OF THIS QUESTIONING MY MOVTIES I WILL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU! I AM THE ONE GIVING YOU POWER THAT YOU HAVE ALL LONGED FOR. I SUGGEST THAT YOU SHUT UP AND JUST DO AS YOUR TOLD, OR YOU CAN ALL END UP LIKE YOUR FRIEND OVER THERE!" Her voice was manipulated into a very, very angry man. The power pouring out from her body made me believe without a doubt that this was the God of Darkness we were all fighting for. I immediately kneeled down before him bowing my head in submission. I will not be this crazy ass god's sacrifice today. Like to at least keep my head long enough to get back to civilization not to die here in this filthy makeshift Rouge camp.  Soon the others follow my lead and we were all bowing to him.

"That is more like it! Now remember just because Cleo is speaking to you, doesn't mean that I am not listening. She is my eyes and ears in this world, so do not underestimate me. I will not be as merciful as I was today." With that said, Cleo's eyes slowly cleared up and she stumbled a little bit, but I quickly stood up and caught her before she fell to the ground.

"Are you alright Cleo?" I hated sounding concerned about her, but I would like to keep my head so the nice card is what I am playing. "Yes, I am fine. We still have a few hours before we attack I am going to lay down for an hour to rest my head. It mostly is an annoying headache when he does that. The angrier he is the more it takes out of me." she sighed to herself as I helped her stand. "I am going to take Cleo to a tent to rest and after I get back lets go over everything. Also someone take care of that damn body." I was beyond irritated at what just happened a few minutes ago. Haven't even started the attack and we are already down one fighter, sucks that he was better than the others. Granted his mouth obviously caught up with him like I have been saying these last few months.

After an hour Cleo comes back over to the clearing, and starts to give us some instructions on what she will be doing to help up acquire our Luna. "Ravannah has given me some very specific spells that will eliminate the guardian's powers so that we are able to get to her. I also have a sedative that will have to been injected into her so that she will be easier to transport. She will be out for only 4 hours so we have to act fast. If she wakes up and we are not into the Rouge Pack territory, we will have a lot of problems on our hands as this spell will take a lot out of me. I will not be strong enough to counter her. Just a few minutes before the rouges attack from the South border, I will do the spell to bind her powers for the abduction to take place. As soon as she is out of the territory her powers will unbind as this spell only works while she is in her territory. You MUST give her the sedative upon capture to ensure she is asleep when her powers are unbound. Do not screw this up!" Cleo looked over the crowd standing in front of her. Making sure they all understood and were on the same page on how this is all going to go down. After she was satisfied with their acknowledgement she stepped to the side and allowed me to finish up the speech.

"Please everyone get to their respective positions, the ones on the team I am leading into the pack house meet me at our rendezvous point at 12:45 sharp. DO NOT be late, you will be left behind and I will execute you when I get back for your laziness and neglect. Don't think you can out run me either, I am the best tracker we have and I never lose my mark! Every one understand!" I looked over the crowd as they all slightly bowed their heads at me with a resounding, "Yes Beta!", they all split up and went to their respective places. Now all we have to do is wait, the one part of a battle that I hate. 

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Waverly's POV

I have felt off this whole night so far. Like something is going to happen, but after meeting Bema today I figured that was what my odd feeling was about. Strangely enough that feeling is still there, in the pit of my stomach. Before turning in for the night I focused my shielding ability expand through the whole territory making a bubble around us just in case my gut feeling was right. "Bema, thank you for all of your help today. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn't showed up when you did. Also I am so happy for you and Thomas!" I gave each of them a hug. "You are more than welcome, my Luna, I mean Waverly." she blushed a little while looking down. She is so innocent, just like a fairy. I smiled back at her and then bid Bema and Thomas good night.

As I started to walk out of the dining room, I was suddenly engulfed in a spark filled hug by my mate. Spinning around to look at him, smiling down at me I couldn't stop myself from smiling as well. "Hi, beautiful." he said to me while looking me in the eyes, there was so much love held in them, my heart swooned at the sight. "Hi, handsome." I answered back, the smile never leaving my face. "I have missed my mate, you were gone all day. I am glad to see that your training went well." He slipped his hand in mine and we started to head up to our room. "I missed you as well my love. I was very happy that I am already so in tune with myself. Bema said that it helped quite a bit and made it that much easier for me to accomplish what I did today." I smile up at him, the happiness of my accomplishment today etched on my face. "I am so proud of you my Luna. Rom says that you become more amazing every day. He is so proud of you as well." Xavier stops just in front of our room, making me look up at him questioningly. "Why have we stopped, aren't we going to go in and get ready for bed?" Xavier's smile turned into a very naughty smirk. Never saying a word back to me her started to step forward, making me step back with each of his advances until my back hit our bedroom door. His sly smirk getting wider, as his eyes darkened in lust. Smiling up at him as he lowered his head down, pressing his soft lips against mine. All of my worries, and the uneasiness I have been feeling slowly fade way. With every kiss he takes my breath away, his hands slowly moved underneath my t-shirt I was wearing caressing my skin underneath. Our kiss becoming more and more passionate was the moments pass by. Suddenly he wraps his hands around my thighs lifting me off of the floor my legs automatically wrap around his waist. My back still pressed into our bedroom door, as I feel one of his hands leave my body making my skin cold from where it once was. He opened the door, we never break our heated kiss, as he walks us into our room, shutting the down with his foot and laying me down on our bed.  That night we made love, but it was different from the other times. This time it was so intimate, taking our time with each other, taking in each moment like it would be our last.

Eventually we fall asleep wrapped in each other's arms. I snuggled deeper into his chest taking in his scent of fresh rain and lavender. I fell into a deep sleep, my worries of the day gone and all I was thinking about was my mate.

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(still Waverly's POV)

A excruciating pain coursed through my body, startling me away and I was having to take in deep breaths to calm myself. The pain pulsed through me again and I barely had time to scream out in pain, when the pack-link was flooded with our warriors screaming about Rouges attacking at the south border. I looked over at Xavier, but her wasn't there. I frowned and tried to get up from the bed, but the pain running through me was making it difficult to get up. Our door burst open to reveal my mate's panic filled face staring back at me. Just as suddenly as the pain started it stopped, I looked down at myself, like I could see why it stopped. "Waverly are you ok? I could feel your pain coming from my office. Then I heard the warriors screaming about an attack. I had to come and make sure you were ok before I went out to help the take care of the rouges." He was breathing heavily letting me know he ran all the way here. "I-I am fine now. I-I don’t know what that was, but you have to go and help our people. I will work with Bema to get all of the families in the pack house down into the safe room. Now go, I will fine and here waiting for your return." I smiled at him, my right hand softly laying on his cheek, giving him a small sweet kiss on the lips I ushered him out to door to help our pack.

I grab a pair of leggings and a crop top, I still had my socks on, I hate sleeping without socks my feet are always cold. I pulled on a pair of low cut cons by the door and took off down to the third floor to get Bema and the others down into the safe room. As I was heading down to get Bema, I kept trying to get my shield back up, I could tell that my powers were dampened, hell scratch that they weren't working. "LUNA!" A warrior yelled out to me as I was rounding the corner of the hallway. "Luna, you shouldn't be up here the pack has been attacked. We need to get you into the safe room or the Alpha will have my head." The exhausted warrior ran up to me grabbing my arm trying to pull me down the stairs. "STOP!" my Luna voice and the power that comes with it forcing the warrior to stop midstride and look back at me. "But Luna-" I cut him off with just a stern look. "We are NOT going to leave the others up here. We have a new member of the pack who hasn't had this happen before and I am sure Thomas would be highly upset that we did not get his mate down into the safe room as well. Now stop panicking and help me." I didn't wait for an answer, I pulled my arm from his grip and proceeded to Thomas' room. I knew he was on patrol on the west border tonight, it would take him 15 minutes to get here and that is in wolf form. "BEMA! BEMA!" I yelled out her name while pounding on the locked door. "Yes Luna, I am here." came a scared, but still cheery sounding voice from behind me. "Oh thank god, I was about to have the warrior break the door down, thinking someone had gotten in. We need to head down to the safe room, the others have already started to head down there." Before I could get anything else out of my mouth a huge explosion rocked to house knocking Bema, the warrior who was with me, and myself to ground. Smoke started to fill the air around us. "LUNA, we need to go now!" The warrior didn’t wait for me to say anything he grabbed my hand and pulled me up, practically dragging me down the stairs. The safe room has a tunnel at the back on the room hidden behind a secret door that leads back out to the north border. The north border actually borders one of our allies the Moon Lake Pack, I know that they will take our people in and help us when we need them.

The warrior rounded the corner, Bema hot on our trail when a loud bang erupted around us. I winced at the contact of my head hitting the wall as we were thrown backwards into a wall. I turned to as the warrior what that was but when I looked at him he was dead, blood was pooling from his mouth as his body stayed slumped on the floor next to me. Another loud bang of an explosion rocked the pack house again. "Luna we need to get up. Come on" Bema's frantic voice was calling out to me but my body and mind were numb. Flash backs of my friends screams and my parents dead bodies circled through my mind. The explosions triggering memories I had tried to forget and move on from. "Luna, pleas-" Bema's pleads were cut short as I felt her being ripped away from me and thrown into another wall on the opposite side of me.

"We finally meet again Waverly." his voice snapped me out of my shock and my head snapped up to look at the man that had hunted me down that night. Marcus' glowing eyes and his wicked smile peering down at me, racking them over my body causing that cold shiver to run up my spine. Before I could even think about reacting to him I was snatched up by my throat, Marcus hold me up in the air high enough that my feet were off of the ground. "All these months of training and you are still just a simple human. To think all we needed was a very mean and evil witch on our side to shut off those Goddess powers of yours. Made this endeavor so much easier than last time." Just behind him I could see Bema slowly getting up, two other wolves stepped in front of her to stop her. She was looking at me with so much fear in her eyes, but it wasn't fear for herself it was fear for me. I knew she could hear my thoughts, so I just smiled at her. 'Go Bema, save the others, they are here for me and will kill anyone who gets in their way.' She looked back at the two men in front of her, who were slowly closing the gap between them. 'AS YOUR LUNA I COMMAND YOU TO GO!' I had never used my Luna tone in such a way and since she had accepted me as her Luna I knew the command would work on her.

With reluctance Bema, nodded her head with eyes sparkling with unshed tears, she snapped her fingers and was gone just as the two wolves pounced at her. The wolves slammed into the wall she was just standing in front of, whimpering from the impact but soon shook it off. I pulled my eyes from where Bema once stood and looked back into Marcus' glowing ones. He had so much hate and disgust for me, made me wonder why he was even doing this at all. "Bring the syringe." He spoke not once breaking eye contact with me. His words though made fear billow up inside me, I started to struggle, I can't fall asleep. They will take me from here, I have to keep fighting long enough for Xavier to come and save me. While I struggled against his grip, he just tightened his hold on my neck more and more until I was struggling just to breath. Black spots started to cloud my vision as his face contorted in the most sinister smile I had ever seen. "Oh Luna, don't struggle so much . You will hurt yourself and the boss wouldn’t like that. Now this is only going to hurt a little." He was talking in sickeningly sweet way close to my hear, his hot breath fanning my face. I felt the prick on the syringe that one of the men that was with him that night at my parents handed him. My hands were wrapped around his wrist that was holding me up from here I had been trying to prey his hand off of me. Slowly my grip loosened and my hands fell to my sides, Marcus' grip loosened as well before he removed his hand a scooped me up bridal style. Barely conscious in his arms I was still able to make out him ordering his men to make sure the pack house burned to the ground and how they would use the smoke as cover. As another loud explosion rocked the pack house, Marcus jumped from one of the windows with his men trailing behind headed towards the forest with me securely wrapped in his arms. The last thing I heard as he ran through the forest was the howl of my mate and the despair I could feel in it and with that last sound, I fell into a deep sleep.

Xavier's POV

I had left Waverly to help the others in the pack house get to safety, I had to focus on the battle that we were running towards. "Isaac, Luke, Kaden!" I yelled out through the pack-link. 'Yes Alpha! We just got here as well. I will take the left.' Luke's voice filled my head. "Good, Isaac follow me towards the center of the battle. Kaden take the right side. We have to make sure they don't make it to the pack house.' Once I was done giving the orders, I shifted midstride as a rouge jumped over one of our warriors and was met with my jaws wrapping around his neck and snapping it with ease. The rouge's were pretty well trained, they have been planning this for a while. Another rouge jumped towards me but I was able to easily dodge the small excuse for wolf, spinning around and slashing its side. The rouge stumbled a little but wiped back around to attack again. Before he could even take another step, I sunk my teeth in his neck and in one motion with my head I ripped his head from his body. Dropping the lifeless body to the ground my Beta and I swiftly took out rouge after rouge. Our men were hardly wounded thanks to all the training we have been putting in these past few months since our Luna's arrival. Suddenly a loud explosion rumbled the ground underneath us. The South border is the closest to the pack house, that is why we could feel the explosion when it happened. By this time a lot of the rouges were surrendering or still fighting, each on was swiftly executed by my men. I had stopped upon hearing the explosion, long enough to let my guard down as Rom started yelling in my mind. 'MATE, we need to go NOW!! Mate is in danger.' Rom was trying to force me to go to her, not like I would be stopping him but we were still under attack. Suddenly I could feel my side being sliced into, causing me to jump away from whatever it was and spin around to see the culprit. Isaac was busy fending off two rouges as one who seemed to have had Beta blood in him was crouching down ready to attack me. As soon as he lunged at us Rom ran and slide underneath him on his back using his claws to slice into the wolf's soft underbelly. Blood pouring all over us as the wolf land hard with a thud behind us, we didn't have to check if he was dead or not he wouldn't survive that attack his guts were lying in a line behind his body.

'Isaac come with me to the pack house. Everyone else kill those who don't surrender and those that have, take them to the west border where the holding cells are.' I took off as I was saying this over the pack link. 'YES ALPHA!' was yelled back out to me and then I let myself focus on getting to my mate.

As we were approaching the pack house another explosion racked the whole area, huge billows of fire were licking the midnight sky that was almost drowned out by the thick smoke coming from the house. 'Xavier I don’t see a way in. There is too much smoke.' I could see Isaac busting out one of the windows on the ground floor, the upper floors on the left side of the house were already engulfed in flames. Screams could be heard of those who I am sure were trapped inside. 'Isaac work on getting in from here and see if you can help get some of the people out. I am sure those who did make it to the safe room have already used the escape tunnel to get out safely. Soon though the whole place is going to come down we need to hurry.' I knew those people didn’t have long and I need Isaac to help me cause I can't save them and Waverly by myself. Another explosion rocked the pack house this one a lot more violent than before.

'Ok, but what about you and the Luna?' Isaac knew as my Beta it was his job to protect us both, but I needed him here to help our people. 'Don't worry about me, just get those people OUT!' I yelled back using my Alpha tone at the end to make sure he would follow my order. I didn’t look back at him, still in wolf form I backed up and took off full speed into one of the windows on the ground floor. Busting through I landed on some glass in the dining room area, pushing through the pain in my paws and shacking the rest of the glass from my fur, I took off through the pack house looking for my Luna and praying she had gotten inside the safe room with the others.

I searched room after room, with no sign of her anywhere. The floors that had been burned through above me were starting to collapse around me as I tried to keep moving. I was able to get a few women who weren't able to make it to the safe room out but still not sign of my mate. 'Something is wrong, our mate was in pain and now I don’t feel anything from her.' Rom was whimpering in my head. He and I both have a feeling we are too late and that this whole thing was a distraction to get her. I rounded the last room on the far end of the house, this part was barley holding up. I saw a warrior who was tasked with helping Waverly get the others to the safe room, lying lifeless on the floor. Her scent that I could barely pick up was in the same area, but she wasn't here.  Suddenly a loud cracking sound came from above me, I looked up just in time to see the second floor snap apart and come crashing down. Luckily Rom has good reflexes as he took over and jumped through a shattered window just to the right side of us. I turned around just in time to watch our pack house crumble to the ground as the flames continued to light up sky around us.

Without our mate and not knowing where she was, Rom stood in front of the forest entrance and howled in despair at his missing Luna and the deaths of our pack members who were lost tonight.