Chapter 212: I Knew You'd Say That

Chapter 212: I Knew You'd Say That
Evelyn's POV

After the meeting ended, the whole territory fell into this strange quiet. Not peaceful—tense. Like a bowstring pulled back, waiting to release.

Cyrus had monitoring equipment running all the way to the outer borders. Mark was marking rally points on his map. Sophia got temporary med stations set up. Everyone had a job. Nobody was sitting around.

I stood outside the pack house watching people work.

This waiting sucked worse than actual fighting.

At least they all know what to do, my wolf said. Could be worse.

When Magnus and Lucian were about to head north, I was still going over backup comm channels with Cyrus.

Lucian didn't just leave. He walked over, dropped his hand on my shoulder, and leaned in way too close.

"Heading out now," he said with that grin I wanted to smack off his face. "You miss me, just hit the link."

I turned my head away. My face felt warm. "Go already."

"Sure thing," Lucian said, looking way too pleased. "You don't miss me, hit the link anyway. I'm not picky."

I shot him a look. "I'll send Mark to find you instead."

Mark raised his hand from nearby. "Not going."

He always does this.

Your face turns red every time, my wolf pointed out.

Shut up.

Magnus came around from Lucian's other side and looked down at me. No teasing. Just serious for a second before he said, "We'll be back."

I didn't know what to say to that. Just managed, "Yeah. Go."

He nodded and turned toward the north border. Lucian followed, threw me a wink over his shoulder, then caught up. They disappeared into the dark together.

I stood there with my face heating up again.

Freya walked past, mouth twitching like she was holding back a comment. She didn't say anything though. Just kept walking.

She definitely saw.

Obviously, my wolf said. You're bright red.

Freya made her own call about positioning. Didn't ask permission. Just pinged me through the link. Taking west. I'll move when it counts.

Got it.

Simple as that.

That's just how she operates. Never waits to be told what to do.

Pre-dawn watch meant walking the border with Orion. We took it slow. Didn't talk much. He'd point out a broken light here, loose fencing there. I'd write it down. We kept moving.

Halfway around, I stopped and looked north.

"Missing them?" Orion asked.

"No. Just checking."

"Your mouth just went up at the corner."

I glared. "Wind did that."

Orion didn't push it. Took a couple steps forward, then stopped completely.

"They're here."

Sky was still dark, but something was happening on the horizon. Not a few people. A lot. That low rumble you feel more than hear when something big is moving. Ground trembling under it.

I sent the alert through the link immediately. Everyone on watch got to their positions inside three minutes.

The first group hit the north border right as the sky started going pale.

Elliot's patrol made first contact. He didn't rush in. Had his team fall back twenty steps, hold position, watch for thirty seconds.

Then his voice came through the link. Lot of them. Eyes are red. Moving strange—like robots or something. Same motion, no variation, just pushing forward, not dodging anything. Think going hard at them is wrong. Stalling instead.

Yeah, stall. I'm coming, I said.

Figured you'd say that, Elliot said. Already on it.

I felt better as I ran north. Elliot's instincts just bought us time.

Freya was in position west. Mark had the right side. Orion stayed with me.

Sky got lighter. North border sounds got clearer. Not normal combat noise—two groups going at each other, yelling, chaos. This was different. One-directional. Made your back go cold. The attackers didn't shout. Didn't make any sound. Eyes had nothing in them except that bloodshot red. Like sick animals in the growing light.

When I got to the fight, Elliot's people were struggling.

These fighters moved wrong. Didn't dodge. Didn't circle around. Just straight lines forward. You hit them, they didn't back up. They went down and tried to stand right back up. Like pain meant nothing. Some of Elliot's team had their timing thrown off completely.

I shifted.

My wolf runs smaller than most females, but I'm fast. Circled the edge, used speed to mess up their straight push, cut that wall of bodies right down the middle.

Elliot grabbed the opening. Drove his team into the gap, split them into two groups. Smaller numbers. Way easier to handle. Actually possible to restrain people now.

Freya's wolf came in from the west at an angle. 

We fight different. I'm all speed and cuts. She's power, straight-up suppression. She went for their biggest guys, took down the hardest targets, made it easier on my team.

We hadn't planned any of this. Still looked like we'd been doing it together for years.

Knew she'd move like that.

Milo was working the right side. His wolf's faster than most males his age. Fast enough it looks impossible. He wasn't hitting head-on—came in from angles, used their reaction gaps to drop them. One after another. Looked like he was running a drill.

Mark's voice hit the link. Just counted. Milo dropped seven in five minutes. That's insane.

Cyrus said, Delta's kid.

Mark said, Oh. Makes sense.

Fight went about forty minutes. Got most of the frontline cleared.

Captured ones were tied up. Downed stayed down. Runners took off.

Elliot shifted back, brushed dirt off, looked up at the sky.

"When's the next wave coming."

Cyrus said, "Brandon himself is moving forward."

Elliot said, "Good. So right now."