Buried Treasure
Hostiles In The House

Colletta Nygaard’s POV

Arrowhead Alpha House

I woke up as he moved out from under me, and I rolled into the warm depression he had left on the bed. I smiled as I felt the pleasant soreness of my sex; last night had been amazing, more than I had hoped. “Frank?”

“Just going to the bathroom,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”

“Mmmm.” I pulled his pillow closer, letting the scent of the man in my bed surround me. My wolf was neutral on this whole thing; she had been through so much, first with losing her mate, then with losing whatever connection she had been forming with Charles. She was sulking, spending most of her time curled up in the back of my mind. I needed to let her out to run today. She needed to be with the others, to feel the exhilaration of a Hunt.

I’d see if anyone wanted to go when the storm abated a little. I could hear the wind howling through the trees and the windows vibrating with the gusts. My bladder made itself known, and I got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom. Frank opened the door just before I got there, his body silhouetted by the night light on the wall. My human part loved his look; he was still in good shape for his age, with a body that wasn’t bulky but fit. I put my arms around his waist, as his hands moved from my shoulders to my hips with a light touch that made me shiver. “Good morning,” I said.

“It’s six in the morning, and it’s dark as midnight,” he said as he pulled my hips closer.

I kissed him and moved past, my bladder making its demands. “You’ll have plenty of time to sleep later, so get back to bed. I’m not done with you yet.”

“Baby please, I am NOT from Havana!”

I snorted as I caught the reference. “Just give me a minute to freshen up.” I closed the door to the bathroom, relieving myself and washing up before brushing my teeth.

“Colletta, are those men outside with guns yours?”

I ran out to the bedroom with the toothbrush still in my mouth, joining him at the window. I could see three people with rifles moving up from the shoreline. “HOSTILES BY THE ALPHA HOUSE, WE’RE UNDER ATTACK,” I blasted over the link. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t Pack here, I could only reach my son and daughter and their mates. “We’re under attack,” I said as I ran to the closet.

I heard an explosion downstairs, and the sound of men coming in. Gunfire erupted as I opened the safe. “Mom, they’re already inside, we can’t make the safe room. We’re protecting the babies.” I’d been briefed on their defensive strategy, part of which assumed they would have some warning of the attack so they could reach their tunnels and safe rooms. That didn’t happen in the storm. “Hold them off until the warriors arrive.”

“We’ll cover the hall.” I grabbed an AR-15 and tossed it on the bed for Frank. He was on the phone, calling the 911 line. I grabbed another, making sure the magazine was seated and a round chambered. “Can you use that?”

He nodded as he picked it up with his free hand. “Stay here and talk to them, I’ll cover the hallway.”

I was already heading for the door. “We have to protect the babies.” Cracking the door open, I could hear the battle downstairs. There were loud growls, gunshots, and screams of pain. “Leave the phone. I’ll take the back stairwell and you take the main. We can’t let them get up to this level.”

“Stay safe,” he said as he kissed me before moving down the hall towards the stairway thirty feet away. The lights were off, and I heard the whines of a wolf silenced by a gunshot before it was quiet again. “Chase, what’s going on?”

“The three babies are with Rori and their nanny, we’ve moved them to the cast iron tub to protect them from stray rounds. Keith, Coral, Warrior Lance and I are guarding the room. Stay put and wait for the warriors to arrive.”

“Protect the children, I can hear them moving up the stairs.” I dropped to the floor, crawling towards the stairway with the rifle in my hand. The carpeted stairwell and hallway would muffle sounds, there was a landing halfway down, and a wooden railing guarded the overhang on the right. I moved next to the wingback chair that was facing back down the hallway, a place for a guard to sit when needed. Kneeling up, I put my rifle between the balusters and hugged the wall as I saw the shadows moving.

A man dressed in a snowmobile suit with a pistol in hand was coming up, taking the stairs two at a time. I let him get to the landing before I opened up, the AR-15 putting two rounds rapid-fire into his chest. He turned and fired wildly, three shots hitting the walls as he fell back. I ignored him and moved to the next man, getting off one shot before he ducked back down. The man on the landing tried to raise his pistol again, so I shot him once in the head. I heard multiple shots from behind me and glanced back; Frank was leaning over the balustrade, his rifle sounded like popcorn as he rapid-fired. I backed away from my firing position to the doorway back to my left, remembering my training to shoot and move.

It was a good thing I moved because the man downstairs opened up with what sounded like an AK-47. High powered rifle rounds penetrated the ceiling and floor easily, spraying wood and carpet and plaster as my old hiding place got shredded. “One down, at least one more at the back stairs,” I sent.

“Help is thirty seconds out, get back in your room, Mom!”

“Too late.” I opened the door to the spare bedroom, using the doorway as cover. I heard something hit the wall, then thud against the floor; it was round and had a lever. “GRENADE,” I yelled as I dove into the room. The explosion came before I hit the ground; I rolled to a stop against the bed, cursing as I got up again. I grabbed my rifle and ran back to the doorway, kneeling with my rifle pointed towards the stairs. The drywall dust and smoke hid the man as he ran up, but I could still hear him. I started to rapid-fire towards the top of the stairs, then a second later, I got a clear enough view to take a snap-shot at his head. The .223 caliber bullet hit him in the left eye. It blew the back of his head out, and dropped him like he was hot. His body rolled back down the stairs.

I heard two more explosions at the other end of the hall, the house shaking as I ducked back into the room. I looked out and saw Frank’s body lying face-down on the carpet. My wolf was furious and she wasn’t going to be held back any longer. I shifted into my animal form and raced down the dust-filled hallway towards the threat. They had hurt what was mine, and I would kill them for it.

A man was coming up the stairs with his rifle up, but at full speed, I was on him before he could get a shot off. My jaws went for his neck, but he moved enough that I caught his shoulder instead. I bit down as my body crashed into him, knocking him over as he screamed in pain.

I ignored the pain of hitting the wall on the landing; I tore my teeth free and lunged forward again. This time I got to his vulnerable neck and my wolf ripped his throat out in a heartbeat. I heard a shot and felt the pain in my right foreleg. I let out a whine and turned towards the sound, then I heard more shots coming from downstairs. I turned just in time to see another attacker fall to the ground.

“CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE,” I heard from downstairs.

I heard doors opening from the bedrooms, and Brent and Laura appeared at the top of the stairs with rifles in their arms. They must have been the warriors protecting Cheryl tonight.

“Spread out, and verify there aren’t any others,” Chase yelled out.

I turned and limped back up the stairs; I had to see if Frank was all right. I held my injured leg off the carpet as I went to where Chase was kneeling as he gently examined Frank. Shifting, I ignored my bloody arm as I leaned down, surprised to see his eyes open. “You’re a wolf,” he whispered. “A beautiful wolf and they hurt you.”

“Don’t talk, Frank. We’ll take care of you.”

“Sit down, Mom. Laura, hold pressure on that bullet wound for me until I get to her,” Chase said.

Coral was coming out of the bedroom with Chase’s black medical bag; he took a flashlight out and checked his pupils, then worked down his body. “How is he?”

“Possible concussion from hitting the door, multiple shrapnel injuries from the grenades. We need to move him to the clinic,” Chase said as he turned to me. “Let’s see that.”

I sat against the wall as he took my arm, looking at the hole through my forearm about three inches below the elbow. “Through and through, the bone is broken though. You get to go to the clinic too.” He pulled a combat dressing out of his bag, opening it and wrapping my arm before tying it tightly. “He saw you shift,” he broadcast over our link.

“I’m sorry, when I saw him go down I lost it,” I said. “You can’t kill him, he’s still a DEA Director. We can’t handle the blowback that would result.”

“We could make it look like he was killed in the attack,” Coral sent.

My growl was vicious. “NO. Frank is MINE, and I will handle it.” I shook Coral off as she tried to help me up. “Frank was calling 911 before we came out here. The police know about the attack,” I said.

“I’ll get the phone,” Keith said.

Beta Ron came up, looking at the destruction the grenades had wrought. “Trainee Warrior Vicki and Omega Patricia were killed in the initial attack. We neutralized five hostiles; from the tattoos, they look to be members of the Sons. All are human.” He looked at Chase, who was wiping off the blood on his hands with a towel. “There’s another problem. They came from across the lake in a pair of ATV’s. There’s an identification plate on the ATV’s with a name and address; it’s a human, his house is six houses down the lakeshore from the Oxbow cabin.” Rori and Chase had built and gifted a cabin to their Aunt and Uncle back when they built all these homes; it was in between the entrance to their Pack lands and the human developments. “If they are using it as a base, there could be more.”

We moved down the hall as two men had arrived with a stretcher to retrieve Frank. He had been listening in. “There might be hostages,” he said. “What do you think will happen if their men don’t return?”

“We can let the police handle it,” Keith said. “I told them the attack is over and we have multiple dead. They will get here as soon as they can, but they have to get a plow to clear the way for them.”

“They are our neighbors, we can’t wait,” Chase said. “Send men over there and check it out. Use discretion as to whether you go in or wait for help. If possible, let the police handle it.”

“I’ll get them together. Meanwhile, everyone needs to get dressed because we’re going to have company. Pass the word, and I want a count to make sure no one is missing.”

“What about these guys?”

“Leave them, don’t make it worse by messing with a crime scene,” Frank said. “And give me my damn phone.”

Keith handed it back to him; Frank had fought bravely to defend his family, and I knew he and his wolf considered him a friend now by the way he moved. Keith looked over at Chase. “I’ll take care of settling the Pack and getting ready for the police. You go patch these two up.”

Rori stepped out of the room, the crying baby getting louder as the door opened. “Thank you,” she said as she hugged me. “Doc is going to meet you at the clinic, my Mom too.”

The men lifted Frank in the stretcher and took him down the stairs, carefully avoiding the dead men and the damaged areas from the grenades. Chase looked at me. “Coral, help Mom get dressed and to the clinic before shock sets in,” he said.

“Fine.” I let my daughter lead me back to my room, which reeked of sex. I pulled on underwear, track pants, and hard-soled fur-lined moccasins. Coral helped me put on a short-sleeved button-up flannel shirt. “I need to see the babies first,” I said.

“They are fine; I wouldn’t be out here if they weren’t,” she said.

“My wolf is on edge; she needs to see for herself.” We stopped in the nursery, which was quiet now. Rori was rocking Mark, while the Hope and Cheryl were back in the crib. The three were always together since they didn’t sleep well otherwise. I moved over, my wolf forward as she sniffed them and made sure they were all right. I leaned down and kissed the two in the crib, then took Mark from Rori and smelled his head before setting him down. “They are safe,” I said.

“Yes, we never would let them be harmed.” She looked at me as we walked back out; I could tell she was mad. “You didn’t have to go out there, Mom. We had the room barricaded and were ready for them. Help was seconds away.”

We picked our way down the stairs as she kept a hold on my good arm. “Everyone in your room is mated and had a future, unlike me. Those babies are more important than an old widowed Luna, Coral. I couldn’t stay out of it.”

She stopped and turned to me, her wolf forward. “You are NOT disposable, Mom. We all love you. Your grandchildren need you. You need to to be here to see Rori’s baby being born.”

“Wait, WHAT?”

“Oh shit. He didn’t tell you?”

“No.” I sent a mental call to Chase and Rori. “Was there something you two were supposed to tell me last night?”

“Sorry, Mom. You and Frank left before we could talk to you privately. I’m pregnant again, due around Labor Day. When my wolf refused to shift, I had Doc confirm it.”

“No wonder you kept everyone in the room. Congratulations, I’m happy for you. Do your parents know?”

“Yes, we told them before you arrived.”

“I love you both.” I closed the link and looked over at Coral. “I’ll be fine in a week, baby.”

She shook her head as we entered the tunnels. “It’s not fine. You got hurt, Frank got hurt, and now he knows.”

“He tried to tell me to hide in my room too, and you can see how well that worked.”

We got to the Clinic, where Doc was waiting for me. “Luna Nygaard, lie down on the table, please.”

“No general anesthesia, Doc.” I needed to be here for Frank, and for the Pack.

“I need to settle the Pack down, I’ll check on you later,” Coral said from the door.

“Go, I’m fine.” A Pack would be unsettled; the attack was far closer to being a success than it should have been. They would be mourning the losses and questioning their safety. “How’s Frank doing?

“Frank’s in good hands. I can’t say as much for the person on the other end of that phone whose ass is being chewed out in a thoroughly professional manner. We can’t put him under with a concussion, so everything is being pulled out with locals.” He gave me an injection at a spot near my elbow, and a few minutes later, I couldn’t feel it as he started digging around in my arm. It took thirty minutes before he was closing. “Bedrest for a day. Your arm is to remain in a sling for three more. You can shift again in a week.” He helped me to sit up and handed me a bottle of water, then brought a wheelchair over.

“Doc, It’s my arm. I can walk.”

“Luna, you have been injured and need to rest. If you don’t like the wheelchair, I can restrain you to the bed.” I growled at him; my wolf hated that idea. “You can’t intimidate me, or my wolf; I’m not your Pack.”

“Fine, but I need to see Frank.” He helped me sit and wheeled me into the next room. Frank was lying on his stomach, with Doc and Mom working to remove a shard of wood from his thigh. “How is he doing?”

“Your human pincushion will be fine,” Frank said. “I hope you don’t mind company on bedrest.”

I smiled as I reached out and held his hand. “Not at all.”

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