Secret Identity

chapter twenty-four

        "Victor!" I squealed as his hands groped my sides. "Stop! Stop it!"

"Stop what, darling?" he chuckled in my ear.

"It tickles!" I giggled.

"Is that so?" Victor mused. "Have I finally found my little mate's ticklish spot?"

Victor's body tensed and he stopped tickling me, holding me closer to himself in a protective manner.

What's going on?

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Victor, what happened?"

"There's been an attack on the west side of the border," He breathed out. "You need to get to the basement. Now."

"What? Why?" I gasped. "I could help. I could fight. I do know how to fight and I have a pretty strong wolf too, you know. If you're thinking about the injury, that healed, like, half a year ago."

Victor held my head in his hands and looked into my eyes.

"No. I refuse to give someone else a chance to hurt you," He growled lowly. "Just stay safe, keep the ones who are not fighting calm; be my reason to fight as hard as I can; be what I come home to."

He's never growled at me before.

"Okay..." I whispered.

"I love you, Elena," he murmured, kissing the top of my head gently.

"I love you too, Victor," I hummed as he ran off to go fight. "Be careful out there and, please, whatever you do, don't die."

I... I guess I need to get to the basement now.

        "Alpha Female?" a young, shaky voice gulped.

"Yes, sweetie?" I hummed, bending down to the little girl's height.

She has light blond hair and beautiful, big brown eyes.

"Is everyone that's not here going to be alright?" she wondered with multiplying tears in her eyes.

She looks terrified.

"Well, the other pack is strong..." I sighed, looking to the side.

The child started quietly crying, clinging to me in fright.

I didn't want to scare her even more, that wasn't the plan.

I really need to get better at comforting people.

"But this pack is much stronger," I added with a grin, patting her head. "While the other pack is pretty strong, they cower under anyone stronger than them because that's what they were raised to do. Their Alpha is a big bully and beats the whole pack if he doesn't get his way. Whereas this pack is so bonded, I've never seen anything like it. All of you here work so well together. I know for a fact that your Alpha is going to put them in their place."

She slowly started to stop crying.

"What does cower mean?" she asked.

"It means that they hide from their fears without even trying to face them," I chuckled.

"Oh," she giggled, running back to her mother.

I stood back up and my hands started playing together worriedly.

When I'm not trying to help others calm down, I'm inwardly freaking out myself.

I hope that Victor is alright. I hope that Jack is safe too. Jack's not out there fighting, but he is going through some bad stuff too.

Jack is in a different part of the territory with his mate right now so that he and his mate can get to know each other safely.

Gosh, I hope that Victor doesn't get hurt too badly. The only thing that I can sense is that he's not dead, the mate-bond is at least allowing me to know that. But what if he's hurt badly and can't protect himself?

All this waiting is killing me!

        "Alpha is the strongest wolf I know, there's no reason for you to be worried about his safety," The mother reassured, walking up to me with her child in her arms.

It was the young girl that I helped calm down earlier.

How did she know what I was thinking about? Or could she just be guessing that that's what I'm thinking about?

"I know," I smiled at the ground softly. "He is very strong. I worry for everyone out there, though, not just him. I know how the pack that is attacking works. Their Alpha doesn't take no for an answer and everyone is pretty much trained from the moment they can walk to fight."

"Yet they're not the strongest pack out there?" the woman retorted as she raised an eyebrow at me.

"The Alpha at that pack is like a spoiled child; whoever doesn't give him what he wants, he kills," I whispered. "Everyone in that pack fears him."

"And who did that poor excuse of an Alpha take from you?" she asked softly while placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

How is she able to tell?

Is she psychic or something?

Or is it her 'motherly instincts'?

Are those even a thing? I guess I'll only get the answer to that question when I become one myself.

"My big brother," I whispered. "He killed my big brother and no one but me blinked an eye at it. I don't want to lose Victor by the same hands that I lost the only one I considered real family, too."

"I'm so sorry," She gasped.

I just shook my head and tightly smiled in response.

I'm supposed to be the one comforting others, not the one being comforted.

        "Why aren't they back yet?" I muttered to myself. "They should be back by now, shouldn't they?"

It's been about two days since we were attacked.

Two!

Shouldn't they have returned by now?

"Are you alright?" the mother asked, noticing me shiver.

I hope Victor is alright.

"Yeah... yes... I'm fine," I stuttered. "I'm just... umm... a little cold. It's... it's nothing, honestly. I'll... I'll live."

I think I'm going to go back into Heat again soon... this isn't good.

This is not good at all.

"Are you sure?" she pushed.

Am I sure? No. No I am not.

"Yes," I whispered. "I'm positive,"

"You hesitated," She laughed softly.

I know I did.

"Did I?" I hummed. "I didn't notice."

"Yep!" she nodded. "What's on your mind Alpha Female?"

"Well, umm, shouldn't the ones that are out there be back by now?" I inquired before I could stop myself. "I mean, it's been two days."

"They're going up against the only pack that can rival them. Two days is quite a short time for something like this. Give our pack a few more days to defeat the other pack," She said encouragingly.

"I guess you're right," I sighed, leaning back against the cold wall. "I'm just worried that someone was severely hurt, or worse, killed."

"You're the Alpha Female, that's part of your job to worry, isn't it?" She giggled.

I guess she's right...

"True," I murmured. "True."