✔️| The Gift of a Curse {1}

~ 17 ~

For an hour, I managed to get Shadow and the kiss out of my mind and actually get things done. I called for a pack meeting in the training field. Standing before my pack, my family reminded me why I have to fight as hard as I can to defeat this threat, their safety and their lives are my responsibility.
I decided that it would not be harmful if we took extra measures to ensure everyone's safety. I told the pack about the warriors and about Shadow –minus the fact that she is their luna- and I told them the plan. I also declared that everyone young and old male or female are required to head to the trap floor underneath infirmary.
I built the floor almost four years ago when the packs' attacks on us got to the absolute extreme. Apparently, even then they were not satisfied with us being locked up, they wanted to obliterate us. Each time, they were so close to succeeding, and they would have if my pack's warriors had not insisted on keeping up with the patrols. Just because we cannot leave the territory does not mean others cannot enter it. Eventually, we came up with a more efficient solution; the trap floor, it had protected the pack many times before. And I hoped it would do so again.
After I finished my declarations, one of the warriors claimed that we should have a back-up plan. He said and I quote: 'I respect your judgment alpha, but I really reckon we should be more cautious. Even though we have three people take care of the warriors, we should assume that perhaps one might manage to escape. We should do something; we should be prepared.'
When I asked whether he has an idea, he said: 'We should not leave the border undefended. Joshua's spell might prevent them from entering the territory, but they can still unleash the poison right outside the border.' His words are why I always listen to my people's opinions and ideas. Therefore, we came up with a solution, people, men and women, between the ages of twenty to thirty seven are free to either volunteer to guard the border or go to the trap floor.
In the end, there were two hundred and seventy six volunteers. Since Owen was hiding in his house, Chance took the job of organizing the positions. It was decided that weapons such as daggers and swords would be useless. Thus, the archers would be the attackers while the rest would either look out or have the archers' backs. This is the first time the pack's training with weapons would come in handy. It was another decision that was made after we got detained, and I am glad to know that I had made the smart choice. Everyone in the pack, male or female, practices either archery or knife throwing; some of them even know how to use a gun. Unfortunately, guns would result unnecessary noise that might alarm our foe, so it was off the table.
Everyone was told to get ready in fifteen minutes while we went and checked on Joshua. It barely took a few minutes for my parents, Lorenza and Brook to start the evacuation, and for Chance and Nolan to go and make sure the volunteers are ready with their weapons. I, however, stayed with Joshua and Shadow. It was so hard to see Joshua literally use every ounce of his and his brother's energy to create that wall. He was screaming rather than chanting, and he almost collapsed to the floor once the spell was complete.
Luckily, he regained most of his strength by the time they had to cross the border. Of course, I did not let them take a single step before I went into the mind-link and received the confirmation that the border is secured and the pack had been evacuated.
Watching them disappear into the woods made me feel helpless, like I was chained to the ground, in a way I was. However, I refrained from whimpering or growling because I knew that some of my pack members were nearby guarding the border. I did not want them to think that something was wrong even though I could hear some of their rapid heartbeats, they were just as nervous as I was. After all, this is a fight for survival, and we would either survive or we would die.