Aaron's POV
After the camping trip everyone seemed to have a whole new respect for Bayne. They started bowing their head when she passed them, or when they passed her, they stopped questioning her training techniques and started following her instructions blindly, and now when she does the mental training they don't get angry when she reprimands them. She had them wrapped around her little finger, but she didn't flaunt it.
We had been staying in Jeremy's pack house for close to three months now and Jeremy wanted to formally invite us into his pack. There was going to be a 'welcome to the pack' party tonight followed by a pack run. Bayne was not too excited for the party, and she had been on edge the whole week; always double checking the area around her, taking extra precautions during runs and training. I tried to get her to relax as much as she would, but that just resulted in me getting an ear full of angry Bayne.
"Hey Aaron, is Bayne going to show up at the party, or should I tell everyone they can relax?" a man named Richard joked.
"You're not funny Richard, just because Bayne doesn't take a day off doesn't mean everyone else has to be on duty 24/7." I told him calmly, but humorlessly.
"I'm trying to ask if I should bring booze..." Richard continued. "Is her all-mighty-ness okay with a little alcohol?"
"As long as you complete the patrol before the party, you can do whatever you want Richard, I don't care." Bayne said as she came down the stairs. The look in his eyes made me smile, his face visibly paled three shades and you could literally see his stomach drop. He nodded and left out the back door as quickly as his two legs could carry him. "How long is this party supposed to go and when does it start?"
"It starts at 7 and goes until midnight." I told her. She sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"Okay, well I'm going to be late. I have to run patrol and make sure everything is secure because I'm sure Richard is going to be too drunk to do it himself. Cover for me until I get there." She left no room for argument and I wasn't going to say anything. Honestly I would much rather deal with an angry alpha then a pissed Bayne.
~
The party had started about thirty minutes ago and everyone was partying like there was no tomorrow. Some were already drunk and others were not far behind. I hadn't seen Bayne yet, but I was trying to avoid running into Jeremy so I wouldn't have to answer any questions. But unfortunately Jeremy found me.
"Aaron, where is Bayne? I thought she knew this was going on." He looked around the crowd as if he had missed her somehow.
"She does know she just went to run patrol. This really isn't her type of thing, she doesn't like being the center of attention, unless she's ripping someone's throat out."
"Well find her, and soon. I want to initiate her before everyone's too drunk to remember."
"Too late." I said under my breath.
"What was that?" Jeremy asked knowingly I just shrugged my shoulders and held my hands up in surrender. After he walked away I pulled Greg away from the crowd.
"Have you seen Bayne?" I asked hoping someone had had visual contact with her after I spoke with her this afternoon.
"No, but you look like you need a drink." His speech was slow and slurred. Great, just what I need, a drunken Beta.
"Okay, no more booze for you. Why don't you go over to the kitchen and ask for a large glass of water." I turned him around and pushed him to the house. Great, if Greg hadn't seen her the chance of anyone else seeing her was slim to none.
~
Bayne still hadn't showed up and it was already close to midnight. I don't know where she is and have no way of getting in contact with her. If this was her way of saying she didn't want to be part of the pack, it was a really childish way of making her point. She could have just said no.
"Where is she?" Jeremy asked, his alpha tone coming through more than normal. He had held off the entire ceremony so Bayne could be present, and was not happy that he had to tell everyone that their efforts in making the back yard look amazing with the lights and decorations was just so that a five hundred year old woman could blow everyone off.
"I don't know, but if I did you would be the first person I would tell. I don't get it, just this afternoon she asked what time this started. She said she would be late but that she would just be running patrols." I told him.
"Can you pick up her scent?" he asked me, I quickly sniffed the air and caught a whiff of something that sent my wolf on a rampage.
"Rogues..." was all I got out before they started coming out of the bushes. The night air was filled with women and teenagers screaming, trying to get everyone to the pack house while also fighting off all the rogues. And we were not up to snuff with our fighting, seeing as how at least half of our warriors were completely wasted.
I watched as Jeremy shifted and went after some rogues as they went after some teenage girls. I quickly shifted myself and went after the first rogue I saw. One wolf, then another, and another; one by one they all fell. Some taking less effort than others but still putting up a fight. I hadn't seen Bayne join us but I did catch her ripping one wolfs head off as it lunged for a woman who had twisted her ankle trying to get away. I watched on and off as she pulled the woman over to the house and out of harm's way. Then she jumped right back into the fight. Killing every wolf she came up against, some with just one bite, others with some tearing and gnawing, but they all eventually went down, normally without their head.
After most had died, those who were still breathing ran off with injuries. I shifted and looked around, the cleanup was going to be the worst part of this, most of the wolves had been decapitated and even in the dark the ground was red with blood. Everyone had shifted and started picking up the scraps of party decorations that were scattered around the yard, everyone that is except Bayne. She had fixated on a place near the tree line and crept forward, completely ignoring the calls of the men.
"Bayne, come on, help us clean this up." Howie called when he noticed she was walking away. I dropped everything in my hands as my eyes followed her path.
"Shit." I said under my breath. Bayne started growling, gaining everyone's attention as she crept towards a man with a large machine gun that reeked of silver. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end as I saw the face of the man standing behind the gunner. "Sercko..." I whispered. He smiled and whispered something in the gunner's ear, and then in a flash he was gone.
"RUN!" I heard someone yell. Everything seemed to go in slow motion; the people running to the house, the man pulling the trigger, Bayne bolting to the gunner. Everyone made it to the house within seconds of the man firing, but it wasn't without a price.
"GET THE PACK DOCTOR, NOW!" I turned around to look at Jeremy as he yelled out orders to find Greg and Howie lying on the floor with bullet wounds in their stomach. I scanned the crowd mentally checking that everyone I knew was here, everyone except...
"Where's Bayne?" Jeremy asked. My eyes grew wide as my body became stiff. I slowly looked up at him, then turned to the door and gulped. We could still hear the gunshots, but none were coming through the house.
"She'll be fine." I said, but even as I said it I knew it would take a lot for her to be truly 'fine'.
"But she's out there all alone, she'll never make it out of there alive." A teenage boy who had just started training said with fear.
"She's the only one who can survive a silver bullet. If any of us were to go out there right now we would be gunned down immediately." I reminded them. The pack doctor had arrived and patched up both Greg and Howie. The gun shots stopped and everything went quiet for a minute, and it felt like the longest minute that ever passed.
"How will we know if it's safe?" A woman asked as she helped Howie sit up on the couch. I was about to answer when a single howl rang through the night air. I smiled and pointed up.
"That's how." I got up and went for the door when someone held me back.
"How do we know that's her?" Jeremy asked, I removed his hand from my arm and responded.
"Trust me, it's her." He hesitated, but only for a moment, then nodded. I opened the door just in time to see Bayne walking out from behind a tree, fully clothed, and digging slugs out of her chest, stomach and arms.
"Took you long enough, the bastard got a shot at my shoulder." She walked up to me and turned around. Without thinking twice about it I stuck my fingers in the little bullet whole and dug the slug out. "Is everyone okay?" She asked looking behind me.
"Yah... two bullet wounds, but nothing fatal..." She nodded and continued picking bullets out of her own body.
"How many were there?" Jeremy asked as he looked around the back yard. Bodies were scattered everywhere, some wolf and some human.
"About fifteen hunters each with guns, and close to fifty rogues, I ran into the second wave on my patrol and took them out, but some got away and came to start this wave." Her voice was steady and calm, nothing in her voice showed any evidence of her pulling bullets out of her body. I looked up at everyone to see them staring wide eyed at Bayne, some openly gaped at her bleeding wounds and others snuck glances.
"You mean you took out a whole other wave of rogues by yourself? And then came here to finish them off? And on top of that you took out all the hunters on your own..." Greg clarified as he leaned up against the door frame, he had sobered up a little bit from the drug the pack doctor gave him and Howie for the silver, but was still slurring his words together.
"I do believe that is what I just said." she took a few steps forward while still digging around for bullets. "But unfortunately Sercko didn't stick around long enough for me to get my jaws around his scrawny little neck." She frowned as she continued inside with everyone else following, still astounded that she had done all that.