Reagan’s POV
“Can Henry, Jon, and I got into the woods to hang out and play?” Trevor ran up and asked me. Before I can answer him, he gets an emphatic, “No!” from both Clive and Aaron. Trevor was speaking to all of us, but both men were quick to answer him, and shut him down. I know that something has happened, and I guess I have been kept out of the loop on this too. They clearly know something that I don’t, as they know that the children like to go into the woods. I need to sort this out. Clive and I usually make up what they can and can’t do, but Aaron is the father to all three of them, and he is very protective of them.
“I am sorry son, I know that you three are bored, but how about you guys just run some laps, racing each other to see who is fastest, and then spar a little. I will see what is going on, with the woods being off limits” I told him. He nodded at me, as he was surprised at how vehement both Clive and Aaron just were to him, I was too. He ran off to go tell his brothers that they couldn’t go into the woods. I could see the disappointment from here on their faces. They liked to climb and try to sneak up on each other in the woods. It is good practice to be stealthy, and it will come in handy for them one of these days. It was a game to try to catch the other two, before being found. Jon was seriously the best of the three of them. Trevor was 15 now and he was the largest of them. They were all Aarons sons, and they were the most independent of all of my children. They liked to explore. They liked to get out and do things, hanging out at home was not anything that any of them liked to do.
The older they get the harder it is to keep them safe, but my Trevor is a rule follower, thankfully. I wasn’t when I was growing up, I was a rule breaker. He clearly gets that following the rules thing from Aaron. They all started racing against each other on the far side of the playground. Some of their younger brothers started racing with them. They had no way to beat their big brothers. They were younger, and their legs were not as long as their big brother’s legs were just yet. But they had fun running along behind them and being included in whatever they were doing.
“OK, you two, just what in the hell is going on? You both know that the boys play out there. Why can’t they go out into the woods? They have played in them their whole lives. I can go with them, if you would prefer them to be watched when they go” I said to them and Clive said, "No! It is not safe in the woods anymore. Stay out of the woods until we either get the border put up, or have caught them. We have a problem, and two members of the pack have already been killed” Clive told me and I could tell that he was very upset at what had happened. The potential danger for our family was obviously not a low threat level.
“OK, guys. I am going to need to know what we are up against. How can I protect the children if I don’t know what the problem is?” I asked them and Aaron sighed and leaned his head on the back of the chair to look up at the sky.
“The two pack members that were killed, were warriors who were on patrol last night. They were not mated, thankfully, but it was bad enough that we had to go and tell their parents. The fact is, and keep this to yourself, there are vampires in our territory. We have sent some trackers out to try to find them. It looks like there were at least 2 of them, potentially 3 of them. The men barely had time to call for help before they were knocked unconscious. They were both basically drained of their blood. It was a horrible way to go and we have increased the night patrols to deal with them. Since they can;t come out during the day, we have been looking into places that they can be hiding. We just haven’t been able to locate them. I believe that they could be in a local town and staying at a hotel during the day, and coming out at night. I called Blake earlier today, to beg for funds for me to be able to build a fence like he has on his property, here at Blood Tracker. But it will take at least 2 months to get it completed. We have to get the raw materials here, and I don’t need the fancy pressure plates at the top of the wall, like he has. I just need for my pack members to be safe” Aaron told me, and I am shocked.
I have gone my whole life and never seen a vampire, unless you count Robert Pattinson in those movies he made. I am suddenly very frightened and worried about my children. I went from happily watching the children play, to wanting to take them inside right now.
“It is OK, Beauty. I will protect you and the children” Clive said to me to try to calm me down. I feel like my chest is tight, and I realize that I am having a panic attack. Aaron looks upset that I have gotten so upset over this, but I have real fear right now. I don’t want anything to happen to my children, or him. He is a ranked wolf. He could be in danger if they go to search for them, and they are found. The men will have to deal with them. I know nothing about vampires, other then they drink blood. How often do they have to do it? Why were they here? We have never had this problem in our area, ever. Why now? Clive reaches out for my hand and starts rubbing circles on the back of it. I love it when he does that for me, but I am not calming down this time. I am absolutely terrified. I am sure they know that this is a pack, they have an unlimited food source here. I know that they have heightened senses and speed. We cannot outrun them, my babies would not stand a chance against them.
“Is this why you came to visit us? To let us know. You could have told Clive that he could tell me, as the mother to 4 of your children I should have known, so I could be prepared to protect them. I am terrified for my pups now. Goddess, why are they even here? We need to get rid of them as soon as possible. They cannot stay here. We need to kill them right now. I will not take a chance on them getting one of my babies” I said to them both.
“Aaron!” we all heard a yell coming from behind us.
We turn to see a scared looking Eloise standing there and she is not playing scared, she really is scared right this minute. “What is wrong? What happened?” Aaron asked her as he ran to her side.
“Austin wanted to go see a vampire in real life, apparently, and snuck out of the packhouse to go find one. I found this note in his room. I don’t know when exactly he left, but I cannot find him anywhere, and he isn’t replying to the mindlink” Eloise said, and I realized that the men were killed last night. Almost 24 hours, and he told his family, and not mine. Is he serious? How could he have done that, he knows his sons love to play in the woods all the time.
“Aaron, were you going to wait until one of our pups was killed to tell me about the vampires? Why didn’t you tell me last night too? Or is it just Eloise, and her two pups that you want to protect? I know that she is on you day and night to allow Austin to inherit the pack, is this your new way of getting rid of trevor?” I said to him. I saw the color on his cheeks and she had the same bloom of embarrassed color on hers too. I hit the nail on the head, I knew that she was planning on it, that has been her goal in life. To take it away from Trevor, and give it to her own son. I am disgusted at them both, at least Aaron couldn;t go through with it and wouldn;t let them go into the woods. But Austin may be out there, or this could be a trap. I honestly do not know what to do. My gut reaction, is to go into the house with my children right now. I am terririfed down to my bones right now.
“I was coming to tell you, Reagan, I just did tell you. We just don’t want the boys in the woods. I want them safe too” Aaron said, carefully dancing around the subject of his named heir. He had already named Trevor as his heir, but all he would have to do to change it, would be to make another announcement. Just tell the pack that he was going to allow his son with his mate to take the position away from Trevor. That was it. I know that she has been on him constantly to do just that. She doesn’t tell me to my face, but she always implies what she is going to do. Aaron really needs to grow a pair. He is led too easily by this woman. Eloise is not a good person, and she is never going to stop, until her own child is ready to take over the pack. She is just terribly greedy. I never asked for my child to be made the Alpha. That was always Aaron’s idea. Just like it was his idea to name his first born after himself. Aaron Trevor, who goes by Trevor to avoid confusion.
Eloise didn’t know that was his name and and when she gave birth to Austin, she wanted to name him Aaron, after his father. I heard that Aaron hemmed and hawed for 5 minutes before finally telling her that he had a namesake already. She was mad. She already had a plan to name all their children with the initials A and E for their initials. She went with Austin after that, but she never forgave me for allowing Aaron to name our son as his namesake. See, delusional, because that was all on Aaron, not me. I can feel the fear on her, as I was scared for my children too, and I started gathering them up. I always line them up into 2 lines to go back inside. I started that process with the oldest in front to lead them. I follow behind them after counting and making sure that they are all there.
It helps me be able to keep a track of them better as we head inside. The girls usually go to my room and Tatiana, mine and Clive’s oldest, helps get the shower started for her sisters, while I run the tub for the youngest one, Sara Beth. Trevor and Henry start the showers for the boys to get theirs, and I cannot tell you what a big help they are. I had just gotten my children lined up to go in, when we all heard an ear piercing scream coming from the woods. I send the kids on to the house and told Trevor and Tatiana to take the children upstairs, and lock all of the doors. I will help Clive with this. I see no other warriors, and it is just me, him, and Aaron here to be able to fight well.
“No, Reagan, you have to go with them. They will not know what to do, and what if something happens to both of us? You need to go with them and secure all the doors and windows on the first floor. Warriors are coming now to help, they are heading here already with weapons. Go get the gun from our room and protect our babies, remember what I told you about the safety. If you see red, then they are dead, because the safety will be off. If you see the red dot, remember one is already in the chamber, all you have to do is point and shoot. Use both hands to hold the gun steady, Reagan. I love you.” Clive told me, and I am scared. I don’t want him to go. He gives me a quick kiss and then shreds his clothes as he runs towards the vampires chasing Austin right back into the pack from the woods. Austin is bringing them here, to kill our pack members. I know he is young, but that was incredibly stupid. Why in the hell would he do this? I already know the answer already, he does what he wants. Maybe this will scare him straight.
I am already yelling out instructions to Trevor, Henry, and Jon, as we approach the house. I need them to help me make sure all the window on the 1st floor are securely locked. I am having Tatiana and Atlas take the kids upstairs to our master bedroom, we will be right behind them. We will need for them to check the windows up there and make sure that they are secure too. We got all the windows on the first floor checks and we racked up to the second floor, we all split up to get the windows on the second floor. Tatiana did what I told her to and put the children nearest the door, in case we needed to run out of here. She had them all sitting on the floor. She is on one end of them, and Atlas is at the other. He has our youngest, Sara, with him, and she is crying. Hell, I feel like crying too little one. I feel helpless, like I cannot do anything at all to help with this.
I can hear screaming outside from Eloise, and I have to look out to see what is going on. I had already grabbed my gun, the moment I entered the room. I kept my finger lying flat alongside the barrel. I was taught well, you only put your finger on the trigger, when you need to shoot. Never at any other time. If you did you could get scared, and your hand could unconsciously tighten your grip and shoot. Noone wants that to happen. I am OK with a gun, they do make me nervous, but right now, I am very thankful for it. I am not the best shooter here, but I am not the worst either. I am glad of all the practice hours that Clive forced me to do. Until I wasn’t as scared of the gun, as I used to be. I see that there are indeed three vampires, two men, and one woman. I see warriors pouring in to help from several different directions, as Clive, and Aaron fight them. It seems like it is the female that is after young Austin, as she slipped past Aaron and Clive. Eloise is even helping as the female has Austin pinned against the tree outside of our room. She is trying to bite the female to get her to release him, but she is jumping away when the female turns.
Why is she giving the female time to attack Austin? She needs to grab that vampire's leg, and slam the vampire into the base of the tree. While she is dazed, just tear her throat out. That is what I would do, I would kill her before she even had a chance to touch one of my pups. Why is our Luna so bad at fighting? Just like Blake wants everyone to train in his pack, Aaron does too. Except Aaron always does what his mate wants. This time it looks like it is going to cost them. I see Clive and Aaron struggling, they are fighting two surprisingly strong vampires. They may look frail because they are so pale, but I know how strong Clive and Aaron are. These vampires must be very strong to not be being beaten down by them. I am looking for my shot. I opened my window, and it is silent in the room. Trevor locked the door as soon as they all entered. He is on the far end with Atlas. Henry and Jon both stopped and sat by Tatiana, so they can help the children escape from our room if needed. I am glad that they got all the windows on the second floor locked.
I cannot allow anything to happen to Clive. He is the love of my life. He has been with me for 15 years, and I don’t know if I can make it without him. I never want to know the answer to that question. I can hear the scream come up from Austin, as the female vampire latches onto his neck and start to drink from him. She is desperate to get his blood, and I believe that they can tell that the warriors are heading this way. I opened the window as I can tell that Austin is done for. The bigger male punches Aaron hard and he falls to the ground unconscious. I see Clive really struggling with his too. As the male comes to Austin and starts drinking from him with the female, Eloise shrieks louder. The one fighting Clive goes to knock him out too, and my bullet caches him in the shoulder. He glances up in surprise straight up at my window and before I can even scream he is jumping up from the ground and walking up the shingles to get to me. I am not waiting for him to get to me. I emptied my entire magazine into him.
I dropped the empty magazine from my gun and slammed the new magazine in, as the vampire rose back up and looked at me in surprise at shooting him. I had three full magazines in my jeans pocket, and I heard the nightstand drawer open, and then Trevor crawls across the floor quickly with them to start reloading the empty one next to me. I am glad he did it without being told to. I am so proud of him. I might need him to do this for a little while. I slowed him down, but I didn;t hurt him like I wanted to. I remember that I needed to hit him in the heart, and the head. I have silver bullets in this gun. It was loaded for werewolves, but silver is alleged to work on vampires too. So we have like a 50/50 shot at this to work. I honestly do not know if it will or not. I was hitting him center mass, but it just slowed him down. I know that we needed a wooden stake, or to cut their heads off. But since I wasn’t informed we even had this problem, I am woefully unprepared for this. I will work with what I have right now. I am almost sick with fear, and our warriors are almost here. I can see them in the distance pouring in from different directions.
Eloise is screaming her head off, and I feel relief when the male vampire falls on her and starts drinking her blood. I only care about Clive out there. She had her chance to end the fight by killing the female, and she didn’t take it. She just kept lunging away from the vampire in fear. You can’t do that, it is your pup you are protecting, what In the hell was she thinking? Eloise’s shrieking voice is echoing in the air, but I can’t look at her. The female has now joined the male drinking from Eloise. The male vampire in front of me is smiling as he approaches me again and started cooing at me, “Oh, I cannot wait to taste your blood my fierce little wolf. I can smell fear all over you, and yet you still fight. I see why now, you are protecting the children. I have hit a jackpot at this house, haven’t I lovely?”
I heard something else hit the roof of the first floor, and I see Clive’s furious face as he approaches the vampire from the side. I started shooting at the vampire again as he approaches me as I kneel on the floor in front of the window. I change up this time, and move my shots higher as he backs away from the forceful blow with each shot that hits him. He still has the same cocky grin on his face, and all of a sudden he kisses at me, and then jumps gracefully from the roof to the ground. They all three run away from us back in the direction they came. They are amazingly fast, I would have been impressed at their speed, if I weren’t so terrified. The first two immediately ran into the woods ahead of him. But he stopped and turned to look at me. He then bowed at me before his laughter rang out as he followed them into the woods and out of my sight.
Clive climbs in the window to pull me to him, and tries to calm me down. All my adrenaline is gone now, and I am shivering in fear. I cannot stop shaking, and the warriors outside are helping to take Aaron, Eloise, and Austin to the hospital. I know Austin is gone, I don;t know about Eloise yet. I feel bad for her and Aaron. Austin was a spoiled kid, but no one deserved to go that way. I shuddered again. It is over 5 minutes later before Clive finally gets me to calm down, and leaves me there in the house with three warriors watching over us. The children are all scared too, and it is hard getting them down tonight. I will not be able to sleep at night anymore. Everytime I close my eyes, I keep seeing him keep coming at me. I had shot him at least 18 times. I have never had to shoot at anything that was not a target before. It was not a great experience. But I will do anything to keep him away from my children. I am scared that he is coming after me, and my family. My stomach is in knots right now, and my heart is in my throat. I am just going through the motions of normalcy right now. My thought are scattered all around. I have never been this upset before. But I have to focus right now. Two of the warriors are downstairs. The third is at the top of the stairs.
Clive told me to stay calm, but I cannot. Once I get the kids all tucked in. I go to the same window, and look out to where they had disappeared into the woods. I am glad that Aaron is getting the fence on the border built quickly. I pick up my phone to call my dad to give him the money for it. I sit on the end of my bed and listen to the call go to voicemail. I called several times with the same results.The fence has to be built. But dad didn't answer, so I will try mom. If dad is in a meeting, he won't answer. I tried mom’s phone too, but she doesn’t answer either. I hope that they are OK. My light was turned off once I got back into the room, and I had gotten a mindlink that Aaron was still unconscious and that Clive would be staying with him tonight. He linked me that he has sent two more warriors to stay upstairs with us until the morning. Clive feels bad because when Aaron wakes up, he has to tell him that his mate, and son were dead. Darren is running the pack right now per the pack's protocol.
I hate doing it but I feel like I need to move to the window. I look out to where they ran off into the woods again, and I see him standing perfectly still right where he disappeared. He was looking right at me. He waves, he fucking waves at me. How can he even see me. I gasp in shock at seeing him. His smile is huge and I can see him actually start laughing, as he sees my reaction to him. My heart is racing and I am scared. I swear it seemed like he licked his lips at the sound of my heartbeat going into overtime. But that is impossible, he couldn’t hear that from at over 600 feet away. It just wasn’t possible. I mindlinked Clive who immediately got a patrol heading to the area. The vampire seemed to know what I did, and shook his head at me, like he was disappointed that I had told on him. He waved good night to me and took off into the woods.
He seems to think that he is cute, but he is not. I mean he was handsome, but he isn’t doing anything for me personally. Why he came back is worrying me. Why did he come back? How did I know that he was there? Most importantly, where are his friends?What possessed me to go and look out the window? How in the hell could he see me from that far away, it was almost like he knew when I saw him out there. When my heartrate increased in fear, I know I saw him lick his lips. Is it because of who I am descended from? Is that why he wants my blood? I do not feel safe, at all. As cocky as he is, I would not put it past him to try to crawl in my window tonight. He made that jump easily. But would it be to kill me as he drank my blood, or for another reason. I have no reason to trust him at all. I slid my gun under my pillow and fell into a fitful sleep. If he shows back up here again. I will show him the true error of his ways.
Reagan takes Control