Warriors of Blue moon
Chapter 12 - Part 4, Search for the enemy.

Lelanna's POV:

It was chilly tonight, even with my armor on I could feel the chill on my face and my bare hands as my fingers started to feel numb and sore. Maybe because I was high off the ground, the cold air whipped around me… I could feel the damp in the air as if it was preparing to rain. I pulled out some of the fruit I had packed... I had only returned home once to gather food and provisions and I carefully masked my scent by covering myself in mud and rubbing pine leaves all over my hands and armor. I made sure to leave no tracks either way and managed to climb back up to the cliff without being spotted and I haven’t left since.

I was just under the shadow of the Maidenhair tree on top of the edge of a cliff, overlooking the rogues, they didn’t look like a community or family type of pack, like any of them knew each other previously, it looked more like a mutiny... someone had bought them altogether.

I have been carefully watching them every day, they had been training constantly in human and in their wolf form and from what I could see they had two main leaders and even these leaders took part in most of the training. But I still couldn’t make out their faces and I daren’t get any closer to get a better look, that would just be foolishly risky!

This training though wasn’t like the training I did when I was part of Blue moon, this training was still brutal and bloody and so far, I hadn’t managed to find out why this was happening… why did they want to attack Heaths Pack... and who the hell were these leaders! Every conversation that took place between the leaders was always in private, they would retreat to a cave under the cliffs to speak away from the rogues and it unnerved me to know that they had been planning this big rebellion with maybe more people like Benson down there. No pack would stand a chance on its own. Not only would they be hugely outnumbered, but rogues were merciless and some of them wouldn’t go down easily.

I was watching closely as the two leaders emerged from their cave and slowly made their way towards the rogues that were still training, I scurried down the tree and edged closer to the cliff lying down on my stomach so they wouldn’t see me, letting only my eyes peek over the edge. The leaders stood there as their dominance radiated over the rogues in front of them. They glanced at each other side by side... and from my view I could see it was a male and female... and mates by the looks of it as their hands were clasped together, sharing glances.

WAIT...

I perked up my nose as a new scent flew past me from with the wind...

SHIT...

not just a scent, but scents! it’s a group and they felt close... I quickly moved back into the shadow under the Maidenhead tree and stripped off my armor then quietly shifting into my wolf. Although I’d be able to attack well with my sword, I need my wolf’s snout to pick up the scents better. I slowly trotted toward the direction they were coming from, and it led to the other side of the cliff I was on. I couldn’t see anyone as I moved forward. They were close but I still had some distance...I kept going forward till I got to the other edge of the cliff and as I looked down into the forest only slightly lined by trees, I saw them... five wolves I counted, I kept my eyes on the one in front, he’s definitely the leader the way he carries himself and he’s bigger than the others! But they didn’t look like rogues… I caught the scent properly this time, a strong one.... a familiar one.

HEATH!!

I Quickly made my way down the cliff toward them, realizing how close they were to all the rogues just behind us on the other side of these cliffs!

He spotted my wolf and immediately they all ran to me happily, whining, pushing their sides against me to say “hello”, it made me feel so comforted to be with them, I didn’t notice how much I’d missed them, and I could sense they had missed me too.

But now was no time to hang around and risk being caught. I nudged Heath to follow me as I quickly trotted away from the cliffs. They all followed, till I stopped and sat down waiting for them all to join me and I started to mind link them all.

“HEATH what are you all doing here? not that I’m not happy to see you all”

“Lelanna you’ve been gone for a week, we’ve all been looking for you”

“What?”

" Lelanna we’ve come out almost every day trying to find you”

I lowered my head apologetically to them all and whined “forgive me, all of you, I’m so used to doing things by myself" I didn’t really want to admit the real reason I took off on my own but I’m sure Heath already sensed why I had.

"It’s ok, we understand, just don’t go off track for so long next time, we’re just glad to see your safe”

“You scared the hell out of us Lelanna" Trey whined.

I nodded ”I’m sorry, I truly am, but you all need to know what’s going on, I’m sorry I’ve worried you all, but on the other side of those cliffs is a large pack of rogues”

They all picked up their ears and eyes widened at me in surprise and began listening carefully and intently... ”They’re not just a regular pack, there’s at least a couple of hundred of them from what I’ve come to know… I’ve been keeping watch from a distance for over a week now and They have trained every day!

and its… it’s ferocious guys, I mean I’ve seen two deaths in just the last four days from how aggressive they get. They have two leaders that seem to be mates, I know they’re definitely preparing for a murderous attack. I can’t get close enough to know when or how, but we need to be ready, they could be planning to attack any day now”

“shit” Heath growled followed with low growls from his men.

“The fucking bastards" growled Mitch

“Yes, we need to get ready”… Heath go back and inform the rest of your warriors and you need to inform the other Alphas, were going to need the backup, tell them we need fighters as many as they can spare... I want you all to go home, sleep then come back, but meet me at the stream, away from here we can’t chance them scenting any of you”

“of course, Lelanna” Heath agreed “you got it; we’ll meet you at the stream in the morning”

We all nodded in agreement and we all stood to leave our spot.

“Wait“...I called as I walked to the nearby swamp. ”All of you get in, you need to mask your scents, if they come this way, they’ll know you’ve been here and they’ll track you home”

They all came over and one by one they took turns dunking themselves in the manky thick, muddy water… when they all emerged, they stunk like sewage and dead fish but it guaranteed their safety home.

“We’ll see you tomorrow Lelanna” Heath reassured me “but so I feel better about your safety, Mitch will stay with you" and I nodded in agreement, “be safe” he said before he turned to leave

All the other wolves, nodded at me ”goodbye warrior” they all spoke.

They darted off home and I went back to my view on the cliff with Mitch following closely. It was late and dark now and seemed the rogues were all settling for the day and getting in their rest. I decided to stay in my wolf form and led under the madeira tree and let myself drift off as Mitch led under the tree right next to me. We mind linked to take turns to keep watch and rest. He took the first watch, and I was to take the next. It was nice knowing I could rest now with someone I trusted watching over me.

xxxxxxxx

Me and Mitch switched over late last night and for a few hours now I had been keeping watch but just like every night it was still and quiet, nothing but the wind in the trees and the occasional growl from a sleeping rogue below us. I had shifted back into my human form when Mitch fell asleep and got dressed. I was led on my stomach on the edge of the cliff to keep a clear view, in case anyone decided to wake up, go for a wander and then find us… I heard a slight shuffling from behind me, when I turned to see Mitch waking up, he yawned quietly, looked to me and army crawled over and led beside me, looking over the cliff just as I was.

He glanced at me as he whispered ”So… is this the only reason why you completely disappeared for over a week?”

I looked to him with a puzzled look “well yea” I shrugged “I didn’t want to miss anything that might have happened, and I couldn’t exactly run back and forth and risk them scenting me… I mean just think how screwed id be if they had found me... something tells me they wouldn’t have hesitated cutting my head off the moment they did”.

Mitch screwed his nose up at that thought then nodded ”true… but we were worried about you...especially Heath”

“Well... I am sorry, but right now being here and finding out what’s going on is all that matters right now”

"Sooo… it didn’t have anything to do with Heath finding his mate? I mean it’s a bit of a coincidence that you took off that same day”

I sighed deeply before I answered… ”ok… it may have been part of it yes, I didn’t exactly want to be lingering around when he had just found her, I wasn’t sure if he would have wanted me around still or not”

"So, I mean, do you have any feelings for him… cause if you do then I totally get it... it wouldn’t be easy to see them together.”

"I think… I thought I did, and when I saw him take off to his mate, it did hurt a little, but not in the way that I think it should have. I suppose I felt like my connection with all of you was through Heath and all of a sudden I felt like an outsider again, so my first reaction was to go and be on my own… but when I had time to think about it, I knew that I didn’t have feelings for him I just didn’t want to be on my own again I guess, and he’s been so good to me and he’s so familiar, he reminded me of home. It’s been so long since I’ve thought about everything at Blue moon, I suppose being around him gave me a piece of that”

He put his hand on my shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly ”I get why you would feel like that but it’s not the case you will always have a place with us little warrior and as for Heath, he’ll always want you around, mate or not he still cares about you as I know you do for him” he smiled and I looked to him and mirrored his smile and just with those few words I instantly felt like one of them again.

He was just about to speak when a movement caught my eye. I shot my view below us to see the rogues starting to wake up, a few moments later, once they were all awake and sat quietly eating and dishing out bits of meat around, the two leaders suddenly emerged from the cave, they sauntered toward the crowd of rogues before them, and they walked as if they thought of themselves as some sort of royalty.

The men and women before them stood to attention and bowed their heads for a second when the male finally spoke in a stern raised voice.

“I bid a good morning to all of my loyal subjects”

subjects!!!... wow this guy has some balls to call rogues his subjects!

“WE ARE SO PROUD AND EXHILERATED TO SEE HOW HARD AND TOUGH YOU HAVE ALL TRAINED.YOU HAVE ALL COME TO PROVE YOUR WORTHINESS AND LOYALTY...THIS WILL SERVE US WELL IN OUR BATTLE FOR REVENNNNNNGE!!” he shot his fist into the air as he emphasized his excitement at his last word!

What fucking revenge and why? I thought as I glanced at Mitch, I could tell he was sharing the same thoughts.

“THEY WILL REGRET THE DAY THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD GET THE BETTER OF US THAT THEY HAD WON! WELL IN JUST THREE DAYS WE WILL SHOW THEM… WE WILL SHOW THE BLUE MOON PACK THAT IT IS US WHO WILL WIIIIIN..ARE YOU WITH ME?“!! He yelled even louder as the crowd went in uproar with cheers.

I looked at Mitch horrified as my blood ran cold! All this time we thought they were planning to attack Heaths pack again when it was my old pack that was in trouble!

“We need to go tell Heath”, I whispered worriedly to Mitch, he nodded as we took off, climbing as fast as we could back down the cliff, we quickly smothered ourselves in the wet mud near the swamp and ran…

We ran as fast as we could, my heart beating like a hammer in my chest the whole way shit… shit! All I could think of was my family, and my friends that were now only three days away from being completely swarmed with vengeful rogues SHIT I quivered again at the thought of Dakota, Sam, Gabel and all the others I had come to know that would be front line in the attack… an attack impossible to win on their own, there was just too many against them.

But Nothing could stop me now, nothing could hold me back from returning with as much force as we could gather and protecting the entire pack from being slaughtered! Whatever reservations I had about returning were long gone, I had to get back to them, I had to help, I have to save my family, my sweet innocent little sisters, too young to meet their end by these monsters!

We finally got back to the Diamond moon territory, and as soon as we crossed the threshold, I could sense Mitch mind linking everyone to get to the Palace. We met in one of the large conference rooms, Heath was the first to dash in through the doors as he looked to us both, followed by his mate, Trey, Yen and Danny.

“What is it...what’s happened?” Heath asked rushing his words and breathing heavily, looking slightly panicked to hear what we would have to say.. Mitch nodded for me to speak..

“We had it all wrong Heath they’re not after Diamond moon at all, but Blue moon... they’re attacking in three days!”

“WHAT! why? why blue moon?”

"“We don’t know” Mitch took over “they spoke about revenge and being the ones that will win this time. Heath, you should have seen how many there are, Lelanna wasn’t exaggerating at the number, they could easily overpower and wipe out the entire territory in but a few minutes”

Heath ran his hands through his hair which showed his frustration ”three days, yes? we have three days?”

“yes” me and Mitch both replied.

“ok I’ll call Alpha Layton and let him know, then I’ll call all neighbouring packs and have them send as many fighters as possible, we’ll all go as well, I’ll make sure we have warriors still left to protect the pack in case, but we’ll take many with us.” he paused for a moment as he looked to me ”Lelanna, I know you haven’t wanted to return to Blue moon, but we need you there”

I quickly shook my head “Heath, its fine, I’m going... I have to, nothing else matters”

He nodded and looked slightly less tensed “I’m going to make the calls now, everyone get packed and ready to leave. Trey, Adeena, gather the rest of the warriors and let them know what’s happening. Pick twenty to stay behind and we’ll take 100 with us, the rest of you, prepare some extra weapons and amour, we meet outside the Palace in three hours, I’ll also make sure the jeeps are ready”. At that he gave Adeena a loving kiss and left, leaving us all to get on with what we needed to do.

I quickly dashed back to the room I had stayed in before and called for a staff member to deliver some fresh clothes so I could have my armor washed. I got undressed and went into my own en suite and clicked on the shower, and for the first time in three years I felt the warm water spray over my hand before I stepped in and let it run all over my body. I stood there and let the utter bliss of a safe, private fresh shower send me in to my own little paradise. ohh the little things! I thought to myself… how much I’ve missed them! I let the unvoluntary smile spread on my face and took in this restful moment cause once I step out it’ll be back to facing reality and all that’s to come.

Layton and the rest of the pack would know by now and I can’t imagine what they must be thinking to all of a sudden find out it was them that would in fact be under attack.

Revenge! Revenge!

The word kept bouncing round in my head as I tried to think of what had been done to them to create such a violent and ruthless mutiny. I mean they had been kidnapping people and forcing them to fight.

I finally forced myself to end the shower. I put on my clean clothes and took my armor down to the staff wing and started hand wash it all. I rinsed them out to dry then sat at the utility counter, I rolled out my sheath and one by one I sharpened my weapons.

I sat there for some time, in my own little world as my mind kept flickering to all the people that I wanted to keep safe. I couldn’t bare the thought of the rogues winning the fight and running through the territory killing everyone they see! My dad would put up one hell of a fight for sure, especially being an ex-warrior and one of the best at that... but if he didn’t survive my poor mum and sisters would be killed instantly, they didn’t stand a chance. A lump rose in my throat, but quickly faded again as I was caught off guard looking at the dagger I held in my hand. Because of all the ones I had handmade and used all this time, this one always sat at the back of my sheath and went untouched the entire time I had lived in the forest.

It was the beautiful, handcrafted dagger that Layton had gifted me… the one that had been passed down through the generations. My lips parted and my eyes stayed on the dagger as my heart started to race. In all of this I had completely forgotten what going back would mean and the fact that he would be there.

I do wonder if he found his mate… is he really happy? has he completely forgotten that I even exist? Would he care at all about his choices against me if he saw me again?

I placed the dagger gently back in my sheath and my thoughts of Layton went with it, and I pretended to myself it just wasn’t there and nothing but the fight ahead mattered and in the grand scheme of things… nothing else matters right now!

Rolling my sheath back up, I grabbed my stuff to take back to the room with me to continue drying there, so I could get dressed just before were due to leave. We only had an hour left, so once I got to my room and hung up my armor, I took out my sword and practiced my swing and my movement, being sure not to stay in one pose for any longer than two seconds... that was something I always had on my side as a warrior. Weather I was in human or wolf form I was always quick, really quick and in training I was always unmatched.

slice, step, slice, duck, slice, flip, slice, run, slice, turn, slice, twist, swipe, jump and turn, stab, pull back, swivel on my knee and slice. I kept at it until it was finally time to get dressed and head to the front of the Palace.

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