Chapter 52 — Survivors

Alice's POV:

Meg arrived, shivering in my suit with a rather stern-looking Savannah. I requested that Lucian let me interrogate her alone. He would just frighten her more. Hence, he had left to attend to other business.

"How are you feeling now?" I asked, smiling pleasantly.

"She tried to kill herself," Savannah said, irritated.

"Is that true, Meg?" I asked.

She was tearful. "Madam Luna, I am ashamed of what I did. I don't deserve to be alive anymore. My family has disowned me. I have nothing worth living for," she cried.

"Your punishment is for me to decide. Take this as your trial."

I turned towards Savannah. "Thanks for your help. I would like to talk with her in private."

Savannah looked a bit startled.

"Are you sure? She tried to kill you. It is not advisable to be alone with her. She might try to harm you again."

I rolled my eyes.

"I am capable of protecting myself from an injured Omega, so you don't need to worry about me, Savannah."

Savannah looked reluctant to leave, but she could not defy my command.

Once we were alone, I turned towards Meg and passed her a tissue box.

"Meg, I know you have suffered a lot, and it's not your fault. You were being abused and manipulated. I want to help you, but it is only possible if you help me out. Will you answer my questions?"

She nodded.

"Good, now open your mind to me. You can show me your thoughts if you cannot talk about them?"

She nodded.

"So, Tyler was your mate, I suppose?"

"No, he wasn't my mate. I never found my mate. He was good to me, and I thought we could be together. Then he changed. He wanted to rise in the ranks. He hated being bossed around. He believed he was better than Alphas and the Betas. They were born with privileges. He made some new friends outside the pack. They filled him with all sorts of weird ideas. I asked him to stay away from them, but he hit me instead. He forced me to do things that I didn't like."

"Things like?"

"Spying on the Alpha. He wanted to know about the pack activities, the security, everything. I tried not to help him, and then he abused me."

"Why didn't you just break up with him?"

"I thought I loved him, and he promised me he would take care of me. I fell for his lies. Then, he made me burn the cabin. I refused then he said he would kill my family if I did not help. He ordered me to implicate Eliza so that I would not get caught. He asked me to meet again and wanted me to poison you and the Alpha, but I refused. So, they raped me…" She broke down again.

My wolf wanted to kill her for trying to harm my mate and me, but my human side wanted to forgive her.

"You do have a chance of redemption if you tell me everything you know about this Tyler and his friends. Where do they live? What do they do?"

"They are mostly rogues from other packs. I do not know much about them, but I overheard them saying they have some woman helping them. She has promised them to make them powerful enough to take on all the packs if they cooperate. They are making an army of wolves or something like that to take on all the packs."

I furrowed my brows.

"What woman? Do you know her name? Anything?"

She shook her head.

"Can you tell me more about his friends?"

"Tyler used to go around with these bikers. They called themselves something like Flying Wolves."

I smiled.

"Thank you, Meg, you have been a big help."

***

Lucian's POV:

I was having a hard time focusing on the board meeting, which had been going on for hours.

I had a lot of things running through my mind. It looked like the rogue attacks and the attempts on Alice were all somehow linked. The rogues have always been a problem for packs, but they are usually kept in check. But nowadays, they seemed to have gotten stronger.

"Alpha, there is urgent news," Damon whispered in my ear.

I nodded and dismissed the pointless meeting. I would simply convey my decision later. That is how things usually worked. Meetings were held just to give an illusion to the investors that they participated in the decision-making.

"Tell me," I commanded as soon as everyone had dispersed.

"Last night, there was an attack on the Silver Stone Pack…it was bad. They took away most of the females. The pack has been slaughtered, and…they killed the Alpha," Damon said with a somber face.

My blood chilled! Attacks were normal but destroying an entire pack? This was something that rarely occurred. Not in this age, at least. Most of the packs had upgraded to modern technology and surveillance; hence, why managing the rogues was easier. Silver Stone was one of the smallest and most primitive packs. Its Alpha shunned technology, choosing to rely on wolf strength rather than modern weapons. They rarely ventured out of their pack grounds. Some of their youngsters had never seen a human city or interacted with humans.

They were so aloof that their Alpha rarely attended the Alpha meetings. It was not surprising that it fell to the more sophisticated rogues.

"Shit! We must leave for their land and salvage what we can. Let me call an emergency Alpha meeting."

The next hour was spent talking and coordinating with other Alphas. I called Alice to inform her about the proceedings.

"That's so terrible, Lucian. What will happen to the survivors?"

"They will be taken in by the other packs. I am going to check on them and see what I can do to help. Please prepare the Betas and the packhouse for these people. I am not sure how many of them there will be. Could be anywhere from 50 to 100."

"Don't worry, love. I will accommodate all of them," she assured me.

"And the compound will be in lockdown until I am back. All security protocols have to be observed, which means you need to stay put and obey me," I warned.

There was a pause.

"I won't disobey you. I promise. Love you, Lucian. Please take care," she replied.

I smiled.

"Love you too, Alice," I replied.

"One more thing. I got some information about the rogues from Meg. We need to compare notes when you are back," she said.

"Sure, we will."

***

I reached the Silver Stone Pack in the late evening. The smell of blood and death was overpowering. Both my brothers-in-law, Daniel and Rick, were already there trying to assess the situation.

"They were after the females. Younger and unmated," Rick said grimly.

"I can see that. What about the others?" I asked.

"We found some women and children hidden in one of the basements. They missed that basement somehow. A few injured men. That’s all."

Their packhouse was built in an older style. The entire pack lived in one building with several flats.

The survivors were scared, and they assumed that we were here to capture them. It took a while to calm them down.

A large grey wolf, probably a Beta, was zealously guarding a 5-year-old girl among the kids. He bared his teeth when we approached.

"He is not letting us through," Damon said in frustration.

"Hello there. I am the Alpha of the Crimson Shadow Pack. We are here to help you. Please don't be afraid," I said as gently as I could.

The wolf seemed to relax a little, but then the little girl whimpered, and it bared its teeth again.

"I know you have been attacked, and your Alpha is dead. I am taking over your pack. Submit to me," I commanded.

The wolf seemed to stare at me then bowed its head.

"Shift," I commanded.

He shifted into a burly red-haired man. He was tall with sun-kissed skin. He seemed to be about 45, though still young in appearance.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Dallas," he said sorrowfully. "Please end my life. I don't deserve to live."

"And why is that?" I asked.

"I couldn't save my Alpha and my pack. I don't deserve to live."

"No, Uncle Dallas, you can't die," the little girl held his leg and cried.

It was a pitiful sight.

"Who is she? "I asked.

"She is the youngest daughter of Alpha Smith. I could only save her," he said pitifully.

I looked at the little girl with golden curls.

"She is the Alpha's daughter! She will be protected and taken care of. You have my word. Please come with me. You won't leave her alone amongst strangers, will you?"

The man seemed to contemplate for a few seconds then relented.

It was early morning by the time I got back to the pack with Dallas and 20 other survivors. We had divided the survivors to be taken in by other packs.

I felt a flood of relief when Alice ran out to hug me.

"Gosh! I missed you," she whispered.

"How was my little wolf?" I joked, nuzzling her hair.

"Very well behaved," she joked back.

I hugged her tightly then took her to the SUVs where the survivors were getting out. They looked around fearfully.

"Katherine, I want you to arrange rooms for these people right away," I ordered.

When she did not respond, I turned towards her curiously. Katherine and Dallas were staring at each other as if oblivious of their surroundings.

"Katherine?" I nudged her.

"Alpha, I think I found my mate,” she replied, still staring at Dallas.