"Mia wake up!" I hear as someone pounds on my door. Nice way to be woken up.
Stumbling out of bed I open the door still rubbing my eyes. "What time is it?"
Olive stands at my door looking like he had just woken up also. "Come on! We don't have time." He pushes me out of the way and enters my room. He then goes over to my closet and takes a pair of jeans and a plain black shirt and throws it on my bed.
Still confused and waking up I sit down. "I think I can dress myself. I'm a big girl." I joke.
"Throw this on and let's go." His face is full of worry, so I don't argue.
I rush over and grab the clothes he laid out and go to change in the bathroom. Looking in the mirror I decide to just throw my hair in a pony tail. If Oliver is all worked up like this then something must really be wrong. Normally he is all for sleeping in. The sun wasn't even shinning in my room when I woke up meaning it must be early still. Glancing at the small clock on my bathroom wall I read 3:34. That means that I only got about an hour of sleep. I am extremely tired.
Rushing out of the bathroom I ask, "Where are we going and what happened?"
He goes to the door and holds it open for me. "We are going to the meeting room. There is a meeting being held with all of the leaders, us included, and the top worriers along with some elders."
Crap this doesn't sound good. A surprise meeting at any time is bad news.
As we walk out of the room and shut my door Colton's door opens. He only has boxers on meaning we woke him up.
"What is going on?" He is fully awake and on alert. That must be something he gets from his time as a hunter.
A cold chill ran down my back. Just thinking about him hunting my kind makes me want to attack him. Then the thought of attacking him makes me want to attack myself. Why do I feel so protective of him! I shouldn't feel this way about an ex-hunter.
"Nothing go back to sleep." Oliver snaps as we rush past Colton.
Colton retreats inside his room only to appear seconds later with jeans and a shirt on. "I'm going with you."
Stopping Oliver turns to him. "No, you aren't. You have no business knowing so just go crawl back in bed and sleep."
I have been silent the whole time they have been bickering, but I can't take it anymore. If this is important then we don't have time for them to argue. "Shut up both of you before you wake everyone up."
They both stop then and look at me. Glad to see people actually listening to me.
I point to Colton first, "You can walk us to the meeting room, but you won't be able to go in with us." I then turn to Oliver. "You shouldn't be talking to him like he is beneath you. Yes, he is a human, but he is a part of this pack now. You are going to be my beta so start acting like it."
Colton looks proud while Oliver looks ashamed. I continue walking to get to the room, so we don't keep the people waiting any longer.
"So, what is going on? It's a little early for you guys to be up." Colton starts walking again to catch up to me.
I sigh. "Honestly I'm not sure. Why don't you fill us both in Oliver?" I state it as a question but really, I mean 'tell me now'.
"There has been an attack on a pack." Oliver's voice is full of hatred.
Shocked I stop dead in my tracks. Did I hear him correctly? An attack? No, it can't be. There hasn't been an attack on a pack in forever. There will be an attack on a member sometimes but that's very rare. For them to be calling a meeting at this time it must have been really bad.
I turn and look at the boys behind me. Oliver's face showed how much he wants to kill who ever hurt his kind while Colton's shows the same shock as me.
"How bad?" I ask as I start to walk again.
Getting to the meeting doors Oliver says, "Pretty bad."
I look at Colton about to tell him that I'll find him after but before I could say anything he nods. I hope with all my might that this isn't Colton's band of hunters.
Oliver ushers me inside as he holds the door open. Going in I find the first open seat I spot in at the end of the long table.
My dad's voice speaks up when the door is firmly shut. "Now that everyone is here we can begin. I'm sure that most of you have heard but for those who haven't I'll go over it. There has been an attack on one of our neighboring packs. The hunters attacked them not long after midnight. At the moment we don't know how many are hurt and how many were taken exactly but right now the count is up to 15 injured and 6 missing."
A few people suck air in in shock. No one expects this.
"What are we going to do to make sure our pack doesn't get attacked?" One of the elders asks when no one speaks up.
My dad thinks for a moment. "One thing that I was thinking that we could do is move all of the defenseless members into the pack house and step up security to keep them safe. That way they have someone watching them at all time. Does anyone else have any ideas?"
Robin speaks up then. "I think that moving the children in the house will be a great idea."
People nodded in agreement.
"Then it's settled we will move everyone in at noon. And as for the pack that got attacked I'll be sending some worriers out this afternoon along with a few healers. With that settled this meeting is now ended. My apologizes for waking everyone up at this hour."
Everyone stands up slowly to leave. Moving the children and elders into the pack house is a good idea except for the part of watching them. Only the mothers of newborns will be able to stay overnight meaning those of us that live here will have to help care for the young ones.
Doing a quick head count I realize that there are at least 9 babies and 48 kids between the ages of 3 and 12. Great this is going to be fun.
Leaving the meeting room, I bump into Colton. Immediately he guides me back in the direction of our rooms.
"What happened? How bad was it?"
"We aren't sure exactly how many are hurt or dead yet and at least 6 are missing."
When we make it to my room I drag him inside. I don't want anyone to over hear what I'm going to ask him and inside my room no one will.
"Please tell me your old gang didn't have anything to do with this." I plead.
He looks guilty, " I can't tell you that because I honestly don't know."
Nodding I pray his family members didn't just kill mine. "You should know that by noon there will be a lot of little kids running around."
"Why?"
I walk over to one of my chairs by my window and sit down. Colton follows and takes the seat across from me. "They are stepping up our defenses. By bringing the children under 12 here we can keep an eye on them while their parents are on patrol. Also, some of our elders will be moved in as well."
He places his hand on my knee and gives it a light squeeze. "You should get some rest."
I look into his eyes for the first time really tonight. I can see the dark circles under his eyes and know that he could really use some sleep as well. "How about we both get some sleep."
"That's a good idea." He gets up to leave then.
Before he could get to the door I stop him. "Wait." Stopping and turning to me I continue, "Can you stay with me? At least until I fall asleep."
Nodding he walks me over to my bed. I climb in and watch as he goes and sits in the chair I was sitting in moments before.
Closing my eyes I fall back asleep. The dream soon comes again. Me running through the forest away from the men and Colton saving me. Everything takes place just as it always does. I walk back to the pack like always then wake up.
Sitting up I notice that Colton is still in the chair but now the chair is right next to my bed. He must have moved it closer after I fell asleep.
I get up and walk over to my closet to find one of my throw blankets. After I grab one of my nice ones I walk over to where he is still sleeping and lay it over him.
I then go to my bathroom and take a shower. Seeing all of the dirt roll off of my body into the drain is disgusting. I really should have showered last night after the run, but I was just too exhausted to even think about dragging my butt to the shower.
The hot water runs down my body and relaxes me some. A lot has happened in the last day that I just need some time to think and relax. The water loosens all of my tight muscles as well as cleans me.
After just standing there letting the water wash over me for a while I get out. Wrapping myself in my towel I realize that I forgot to grab some clothes and that Colton is still in my room.
Praying he is still asleep I peak my head out of the door. Seeing his chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm I figure it's safe. Tip toeing to my walk-in closet I think I'm safe until I suddenly hear a chuckle.
"Maybe I should fall asleep in your room more often. I could get use to getting woken up this way."
Startled I run in and shut the closet door. I then dress quickly before stepping.
"That is something you will never see again. I can't believe you are awake! Of course, you pick that moment to wake up." Mad I walk over to him and slap him on the arm. The tingling shoots up my arm but only for a moment as my hand disconnects from his arm.
He must have felt it again because he grabs my hand with his. It starts up again.
I've never heard of such a thing. Why would his touch tingle and make me melt inside? He is just a stupid human. He's not even a werewolf so it can't be a wolf thing.
Dropping the subject, I pull my hand away. "Go get ready. You're going to have to help move everyone in while I help set up where everyone will go."
I walk over to my door and before stepping out I turn back to him, "please try not to get caught sneaking out of my room." I then walk out and leave him starring at the door.