Chapter 111 - LUNA'S BAGGAGE

Asher

This can't be happening. "Alison, you can go back to sleep. I will tell you everything when I come back." We all know she insisted on following me, right? I wasn't going to risk having her get angry at me, so I urged her to get dressed quickly. I could have used the urging myself.

She finished getting ready before me. "What is going on, Asher? I can feel your worry through the mate bond." Worry was an understatement. I was so flustered I could barely put on my clothes. Alison had to help me get ready or I would have kept fumbling and stumbling for a while. Everything was going so quickly that I didn't have time to feel embarrassed about falling on my butt while trying to put on pants.

"That was Chris on the phone." I heard her gasp. Chris calling this late at night was not a good sign. "He heard Martin talking about a planned attack on someone on the phone. He isn't sure if it has something to do with us, but he wants us to be prepared in case of anything." I was glad Chris called, even though he didn't have specifics, it wouldn't hurt to have us ready.

"I'm giving those that haven't gotten to the meeting hall a minute to avail themselves or there will be consequences." The place was half empty when Alison and I got there, but in consideration of this being a last-minute meeting, I was going to accept some tardiness. People came pouring into the room the next second. It almost looked like a stampede. "Settle down quickly, we don't have a lot of time."

I was met with looks of confusion from my pack members. I have never called for an emergency pack meeting since taking over the pack. I could feel their panic through the pack bond. Everyone knew this wasn't a good sign. Especially after all the information we had dumped on them during the last pack meeting. These meetings were beginning to become a sign of bad things, weren't they?

I only needed to clear my throat once for the room to fall silent, "Some of you have begun to dread seeing my face, right?" my attempt to lighten up the mood wasn't a total fail. I got a few laughs here and there. "First of all, I am sorry for getting all of you out here at this time of the night. Especially our mated couples, I wouldn't have done it if I had another choice." Several people hid their faces from me, causing a burst of louder laughter.

"If you remember what I told you guys about during the last pack meeting, there has been an update." The room fell into stillness as soon as the words left my mouth. I can't blame them for their reaction. The last time we met I basically said we would be going to war and now I have an update. Were it good news, I wouldn't have been forced to call for an emergency meeting at that hour. It was quite obvious that I had bad news.

Fear was the only thing I felt through the pack bonds. I didn't need to say anything for them to feel the danger lurking in the dark "The offer to leave the pack still stands. If anyone of you wishes to go, I will not stop you. This is the only time I will allow de..."

I didn't finish what I was going to say before Timothy interrupted, "Before you leave, remember, you may end up in danger if people out there realize that you used to belong to the Thompson Springs Pack. Either that or becoming rogue, since there are basically zero chances of other packs accepting people from our pack." Ah, Timothy! He might as well have told them they had no choice but to stay behind. I was trying to present them with a choice to show my sincerity in caring about them, only for Timothy to kill it with a few words. Now they wouldn't leave even if they wanted to. There wasn't anything wrong with what he said, so I couldn't even disagree with him.

He had put me in a tight spot and now I was having trouble getting on with what I had been saying, "I um, I got a call." How embarrassing! I couldn't form any words.

"I think what Alpha Asher is trying to say is that, a few minutes ago, he got a call from his informant a few minutes ago. Asher, would you like to tell them what the informant said?" I almost kissed the ground Alison was standing on. Her interruption gave me time to reorganize my thoughts.

"There is a planned attack, even though my informant doesn't know who is to be attacked or when it will be, I thought it would be best if we were prepared. The main reason I called this meeting was to work out a training schedule. Every able-bodied person is expected to be at the pack training grounds. There will be compulsory three-hour training from 4 am to 7 am. The only reason for missing training that I will accept is death."

Someone must have pissed on themselves because the room was suddenly filled with the stench of urine, "Asher, you are scaring them." Who knew it would be Alison that would speak up for them? It was clear she was gradually forgiving them even though she didn't want to accept it.

"That isn't what I am trying to do. Do you think the enemy will care that you are weak and let you survive? Claws have no eyes, so everyone needs to be trained, we don't need others dragging us down in time for battle. All of us need to be at least able to protect ourselves. I will supervise the training myself."

"Alpha Asher is right, the pack warriors can only protect so many people at the same time. Instead of being burdensome, wouldn't it be better if we all worked together?"

"Timothy is right, having the warriors running around protecting people that should be able to fight is not a good strategy." we had a great tactic understanding. "I am not trying to scare anyone but it is better to be safe than sorry. Go to bed early, we meet tomorrow morning."

Just how tired was Alison? By the time I was done, she was already dozing off in her seat. This was the same person that had spent the whole afternoon sleeping. "Let's get you to bed." Mary had drilled it into my head to make sure Alison got enough sleep. Apparently, it was good for the development of the baby.

"Congratulation Luna."

"Congratulations Alpha."

Several voices rang together as we made our way out of the hall. "Thank you, guys." This was the only good news I had today and even though it wasn't enough to offset all the bad, it was better than nothing. There was a downside to this good news. The amount of worry that I had increased tenfold. I needed to ensure her and my pup's safety. Nothing could happen to either of them.

I spent the night tossing and turning in bed, trying to come up with strategies. Morning reached without me getting even a wink of sleep. I tiptoed out of the house not to wake up my snoring mate. A small smile appeared on my face when I got to the arena, it wasn't 4 am yet nearly half of the pack was already there. "Elvis, Mason, Timothy, and Jeremy please come and see me. The rest of you start warming up, we will be back in less than five minutes." I know I said that I would supervise the training but I couldn't do the whole thing by myself.

"Elvis, I would like you to increase the intensity of the pack warriors' training. Timothy, can you fight? Umm never mind." The bloody scene Alison and I walked into at Seraph came to my mind right after the question had left my mouth. "Timothy, you will be in charge of the men. Just be careful, I think some of them may use this opportunity to challenge you."

"Let them dare, I am itching for a fight." I guess I spoke too soon. I knew that there were people that wanted a fair chance to go at him and this here was a perfect opportunity.

"Jeremy, you will be in charge of the young adults while Mason, with help from all of us from time to time, will take care of the women. If anyone has an issue with my arrangement, keep it to yourself. I am not changing my mind" That earned me a laugh from everyone except Jeremy, as usual. This man must have been a stone in his previous life!

Guess who was in the arena when we got back? The person I had stabbed my toe on the corner of the bed for just because I didn't want to wake her up. "What are you doing here?" She was supposed to be resting! I could already feel Mary throwing glares at me as if I was the one that forced Alsion to come. No wonder she was snoring when I left the room. She never snored but I thought she did today because she was overly tired. Looking back, she was probably awake all that time and just waiting for me to leave.

She looked at me as if I was foolish to ask that. "Of course, I came to train with you guys. I can't be left behind when everyone else gets stronger. God forbid, I may need to use what I have learned." She was right, this had been the reason I had given everyone, but I was determined to protect her myself,

"Alison! What are you thinking? This is only your first trimester, you can't be here now. It is dangerous!" Mary spoke before me. Things like miscarriages weren't common among werewolves, but why should we take risks?

"I am fine! I have been pregnant before and nothing happened to me then." I couldn't help but smile, she had used the same words against me when she saw the renovations I had done to the house.

"No Alison, Mary is quite right. This is a dangerous stage, there is no need for you to take any risks. As your doctor, I am saying no to training". I almost clapped for Jeremy when he was done talking. "Don't use being pregnant before as your excuse, it is different each time." He quickly added, seeing that Alison was about to say something.

Seeing her face fall with disappointment, I almost let her join the training. She had always felt bad for being weaker than most pack members, and yet when a chance for training had arrived she could not join. She must be so disappointed. "You can watch from the side as we train. Feel free to give your input if you notice anything." What choice did she have?

By the time training was done for today, I had decided that this should be the normal pack routine even after the whole thing with Dr. Hann was done. I have never seen such unfit werewolves in my life. If an attack were to happen anytime soon, then we would be doomed.

DOOMED!