Chapter 96

The choice of attack during a moonless night was a deliberate decision by the Silver Lake wolves. Although wolves had impeccable night vision, their eyesight struggled without the light from the moon to aid them.

And thanks to this moonless night, none of the guards on patrol noticed the wolves of Silver Lake lurking in the shadows. They waited and watched the patrols as they checked in with their security. And when they were sure that they had memorized their routine, they slowly stepped out of the shadows and waited for their next check-in. The moment all the checks were done, they immediately raised their silenced rifles and shot the guards in the head with silver bullets.

Jason looked to Patrick and Allan who confirmed that all the patrols were down with a nod. Jason then held onto the radio microphone at his neck and gave his order.

“Advance teams, proceed”, he said as he looked up at the high walls.

On the far side of the pack boundaries, two advance recon teams prepared to scale the stone walls. They had chosen places that had blind spots in their surveillance, which they discovered thanks to Councillor Williams’ investigations.

The first to scramble up the walls were their Lycan teammates who used their superior speed and agility to claw their way to the top of the walls. When they got to the top, they fastened a line to the top of the wall before they dropped to the ground on the other side. The Lycans stood guard for pack patrols while the wolf warriors scaled the stone walls and joined them on the other side.

When all the members of the two teams had successfully landed within the pack walls, they all hid in the shadows before proceeding with their missions.

“Check in”, Patrick called out through the radio.

The first advanced team members moved slowly between the storehouses near the location where they scaled the wall and found a secluded spot to hide.

“Thomas checking in”, Thomas said through the radio. “All units in position east of storehouses.”

“Good job, Thomas”, Patrick replied through the radio. “Proceed to the main gate.”

“Copy”, Thomas replied as he and his team moved slowly between the buildings.

The second advanced team on the other hand had scaled the walls a short distance from the supply entrance. There were hardly any cameras in the area, so they had planned to use this entrance as a secondary breach point for their warriors.

They carefully sneaked around the supply building to find two guards and the bookkeeper in his office. When the two guards stepped away from the bookkeeper, the Silver Lake wolves immediately shot and killed the warriors before dragging them away.

One of the warriors of the advanced team then managed to sneak into the bookkeeper's office before he noticed their presence. When he turned around, he was faced with a handgun pointing at his head. Thankfully, the aggressors didn’t want to kill any civilians. So another warrior entered the room and taped his mouth before they tied him to his chair.

Putting his handgun away, Michael touched his radio microphone at his neck and responded to Patrick’s call.

“Michael checking in”, Michael said into the radio. “The service entrance is under our control. Placing explosive charges now.”

As he reported, the other wolf warriors in his team began placing the explosive charges at the hinges and locks holding the gate in place. They however didn’t set off the explosives just yet. Doing so would draw too many warriors to the location and alert Half Moon of their presence.

“Copy that, Michael”, Patrick said over the radio. “Proceed to security and surveillance.”

“On our way”, Michael said as his team regrouped before heading towards the main castle building.

For hundreds of years, the Half Moon pack had occupied the old fortress town believing that no one would ever be able to breach their walls. Unfortunately, they had continued to build and grow within a space with a fixed perimeter. Making their pack boundary riddled with many blind spots and pockets of hiding spaces that could be utilized by anyone who knew where they were.

Thomas’s team made use of these pockets as they silently made their way towards the main gate. As they made their way past the storehouses, they needed to pass by one of the warrior’s barracks to get to the main gates.

The moment they made a corner from behind the last storehouse, they stopped dead in their tracks when they were faced with a woman along their path holding a laundry basket. The woman looked noticeably alarmed to see a group of armed warriors in stealth gear sneaking around the pack. But Thomas watched carefully as the look of surprise on her face seemed to morph into what he could only guess was recognition and gladness.

The woman slowly reached into her basket, making the warriors instinctively point their weapons at her. But she retrieved her hand and flashed them a silver garment from her basket. Thomas realized that the woman might be asking them if they were from Silver Lake, so he nodded in reply.

He then removed one hand from his rifle and raised a finger against his lips as he looked at the woman. Seeing his gesture, the woman slowly nodded at him. But before he could signal for her to move aside, she raised a hand to signal two guards to their left around the building corner.

Thomas raised an eyebrow to the woman, surprised that she was helping invaders onto their pack lands. He then signaled for a couple of the Lycan warriors to double back and flank the guards in the direction the woman had gestured. Not wanting her to get in their way, he raised his hand again and gestured for the woman to get past them. She didn’t hesitate and rushed past them towards the laundry room.

“Was that a good idea?”, one of the warriors whispered to Thomas.

“She knew who we were”, Thomas explained. “Like she was expecting us.”

“The Luna”, the warrior said when he realized what that might mean.

“Yes, she might have told them we would be coming”, Thomas said in reply.

Their hushed conversation was cut short by the Lycan warriors who had successfully and quietly dispatched the two guards. Looking back, Thomas noticed that there was still no alarm or any indication that the Half Moon warriors were on alert. So he decided to trust that the woman he had let go past them wouldn’t stab them in the back.

He then gestured for his team to proceed towards the main gates.

*****

As the laundry lady hurried to the laundry room, she had to stop herself a few times from running faster than she normally would. She had to do whatever she could to look as inconspicuous as possible because all the guards and warriors were now weary of the laundry ladies after two of them were caught trying to sneak the Lycan Luna out of the pack. They had all been glad that they had not been implicated in the escape plot, but they all knew that they were living on borrowed time.

She hurriedly walked into the laundry room, startling all the other ladies and drawing their attention to her when she entered. Looking out the window, she immediately closed the blinds and looked around to make sure that there were no guards in or around the laundry room.

Noticing her behavior, the head lady quietly gestured for the other ladies to keep watch at all the doors and windows in the laundry room.

“What’s wrong?” the head lady asked as she pulled her close.

“They’re here!” She rushed out excitedly.

“What do you mean? Who’s here?” the head lady asked the frantic woman.

“Silver Lake!” she whisper-yelled. “They’re already inside the walls and moving around!”

“Hannah was right…” the head lady said. “They didn’t abandon their Luna.”

“What do we do, head lady?” another one of the ladies asked.

She looked around the room at the desperate yet hopeful faces of the women. They had just about lost all hope for freedom after they had heard that the Luna had been caught before she managed to escape. But a part of her still had hope that they would someday survive whatever the Alpha was planning for them. And now she needed to pass that hope onto them and any others who were as desperate as they were to survive.

“We need to get out of their way”, the head lady said. “I don’t think we’re in danger as long as we get out and stay out of their way.”

This seemed to give the other women some direction on what they needed to do next. And she needed to give them something to fight towards to keep them alive through the night.

“Quietly gather all the women”, the head lady said. “Bring them towards the laundry storeroom near the service entrance. Even if Silver Lake isn’t here for us, we’ll take our chance the moment we get it and leave this godforsaken place.”

“Yes, head lady!” all the women replied.