Chapter Eight: Saving Hope

“Let me take over. I can get us there quicker,” Leah hisses as I run down the dirt path.

“Not yet. We don’t know what we are about to face, and I need you at one hundred percent,” I huff in response, still following Hope’s scent.

My nose picks up on Patricia and the ten pups as well as I make my way south. Being able to mind-link would be very helpful right about now since this is quickly becoming a large-scale rescue. I might be in over my head, but I can’t stop now. My need to protect them is in overdrive. The closer we get, the stronger the stench of the rogues is. It almost completely masks those I’m trying to follow. There’s no telling how many are here.

Suddenly, Patricia and the pups appear as they come running up the path. The little ones are sobbing as she practically drags them along with her. Her terrified eyes meet mine and immediately begin tearing in relief.

“Annie!” she cries.

“Patricia! Are you all okay?” I question, stopping in front of her.

“Yes. No injuries, but you have to get to the garden,” she panics.

“What’s happening?” I question, glancing down the dirt path.

“Rogues surrounded us in the garden, said they were looking for someone. Hope told them who she was and that she would tell them whatever they wanted if they let us go. She traded her life for our safety and made me leave despite my protests. You have to get to her! I mind-linked the Alpha, but there’s no way he’ll make it. He and Harry are trying to get here while the fighters fight the main bulk, but that’ll take too much time,” she rushes out.

“Tell the Alpha I’m heading there. Get the pups out of here and to the pack house!” I run as fast as my legs will carry me. For someone who is supposed to be the fastest in her pack, I feel as if I’m barely moving, time slowing the further I go.

Goddess, let me get there in time.

“Leah, be ready,” I tell her as we get closer. She simply growls in response.

We reach the main gate to the garden when I see them. Hope is backed up against an apple tree, banged up pretty bad with six rogues surrounding her. Her face is covered in bruises and dried blood. The sight makes my blood boil, but I shove it down.

The rogues have their backs to me, and I use that to my advantage. Quietly, I hop over the fence without making a sound, being light as a feather. I tiptoe my way to her, hiding behind the various plants and trees. Once I get close enough, I can hear the conversation between Hope and one of the rogues.

This particular rogue looks almost familiar, but I can’t place him. Surely, I don’t know him from anywhere. I have never associated with rogues, especially considering my family’s past, but I can’t shake this nagging voice in my head that we have crossed paths before.

“Where is the she-wolf?” he growls as he stalks towards her.

Standing tall at about six feet and almost as buff as Harry, his brown, shoulder length hair is disheveled while his blue eyes hold anger and malice. It’s an intimidating sight, but I force the thought away. He is an enemy threatening my family, and I won’t allow that to stand.

“We have a lot of those. You’ll have to be more specific,” Hope sasses defiantly, despite being in apparent distress.

The rogue grips her neck, digging his nails, “Do not test me, woman. You know exactly who I am talking about.”

Hope winces in pain but chuckles, “Do you really think I would sell out my pack members or my own family? You’ll have to kill me first.”

He chuckles moving closer and pressing his body against hers, “You’ll be wishing for death by the time we are done. Maybe I’ll keep you alive after all. Have you give me a couple of pups before I rip that precious head off your body.”

Leah snarls, but I hold her back. I don’t want Leah to come out until the very last second. I need to get into position and take out the two closest to me. The problem will be the other four, especially the one with his hands wrapped around her throat.

The only female rogue and the one closest to me growls, “Enough games, Damen. Have your fun later. We need information. Where is your cousin?”

“Michael? He is back in Lunar Eclipse. I’m sure your buddies knew that already when they attacked last night. I don’t know how well he’d take being referred to as a she-wolf though,” Hope spats, being a smartass.

The female rogue snarls in frustration, “Quit toying with us! We know she’s here. I’m not asking you again. Where. is. Annabeth?”

My eyes widen, “Me? Why would rogues be looking for me?”

Leah seethes, “I don’t know, but they are morons if they think they are taking us. Hope is going to get herself killed, or worse. She won’t tell them anything and we can’t sit here, watching.”

“I know! But, we have to be smart about this,” I snap, stealthy getting closer.

“Was here. She’s gone,” Hope smirks, “Left for Lunar Eclipse first thing this morning. I’ll make sure to let her know you stopped by.”

Damen squeezes her neck, causing her to gasp out. The sight of fresh blood causes Leah to come forward. This time, I don’t stop her.

He roars in her face, “Do not lie to me, bitch. We know she’s still here. She was nowhere near her pack when our brothers and sisters attacked, and your precious Alpha would never allow her to travel back after our assault. Now, tell us where she’s hiding before I-”

I bolt towards the intruders, catching them all off guard. The female and another male rogue cry out as I attack, interrupting his rant. Grabbing the female by her hair, I use her as a weapon and slam her into the male, knocking them to the ground.

Without giving the male a chance to react, I use my foot and slam my heel down against the back of his legs, breaking the bones underneath. He screams out in pain as I grab the back of his head, hitting hard enough against the earth to knock him out. The female quickly recovers and stands up screeching, then runs full speed at me. Timing it just as Dad taught me, I roundhouse kick and knock her out, her body landing next to her fellow rogue.

My blackened eyes meet Damen’s, and I take off heading directly for him. Using Leah’s strength, I am able to dodge the three in between us and before he can react, I kick him away from Hope. Taking a defensive stance in front of her, I stare at them and growl, “Get away from her, you disgusting rogue!”

The rogue gives a dark chuckle as he rises to his feet, “Wow. You really are something, aren’t you, Annabeth? “The fastest of the Pack”, right? Perhaps, even the strongest.”

“Test me, and you’ll find out,” I threaten. Never looking away from him, I address Hope, “Are you okay?”

I hear coughing and a weak laugh, “Never better.”

“She can’t help us fight. This is all on us,” I tell Leah.

“Understood,” she growls, her anger and desire for the rogues’ blood rising.

“At least I get the truth about something. Your cousin here said you left. A family full of liars it seems,” Damen snickers.

I snarl, my voice threatening, “You don’t know a damn thing about my family.”

He snorts, “Oh, I know more than you think. Probably more than you do. The Solomon Family, praised warriors, Betas and Alphas. All I see is a family full of nothing but secrets, lies, and murderers. Not for long. My boss will get the truth out of you, one way or another.”

“No, they won’t, because you aren’t taking us. You even try to lay another finger on her, and I will feed you your own testicles. You won’t have the means to produce any pups by the time I’m done,” I bark out.

He smirks, “My apologies, Luna. Harsh tactic, even for a “disgusting rogue” like me, but I was only trying to get her to talk. Simply a threat.”

“Right. Not like you were being completely serious and would take advantage if you had the chance. Such a noble piece of shit. And unfortunately for you, you are looking for the wrong person. I am not the Luna,” I growl.

He wiggles his finger at me, “Not yet, but your mate is set to be Alpha soon, is he not?”

Leah’s anger flares and causes me to growl involuntarily, “What the hell does Benjamin have to do with this?”

The man chuckles at my reaction, “My boss would rather not have that happen. Since he’s too much of a bitch to attack him and your pack directly, we are going to attack him emotionally. So, we are here to take you to your new home Luna, to get your precious mate to break and hand your pack over on a silver platter.”

“You are a pack of idiots if you think he would just hand over Lunar Eclipse for me,” I scoff.

“Oh, sweet, little Annabeth. That mutt would go retrieve the moon in exchange for you. Did you think he was being so mean and distant because he hated you?” He laughs.

I furrow my eyebrows, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You really have no idea, do you? Only an idiot would not see the way he looks at you, and that was way before the bond showed itself. That moron has been in love with you a long time and how ironic that not only would you turn out to be his mate, but that you would run the moment you found out. Of course, that information would have been useful last night. Would have saved us some trouble and blood spilled,” Damen smirks.

I stare at him, masking my shock, “How would you know anything about us, our past, much less being bonded? That hasn’t been publicly announced yet.”

“How do you think? You’re a smart she-wolf. I’m sure you can put the pieces together,” he says smugly.

“Spies,” Leah seethes in disgust. “We have to warn the Alpha.”

“First thing first, we have to get out of this and protect Hope,” I grumble.

I glance back to Hope, “Get up the tree and do NOT come down, no matter what.”

“Annie-” she starts to protest as I quickly grab her.

“NO. MATTER. WHAT,” I growl, basically throwing her into the tree. She doesn’t say another word as she grabs the nearest limb and scrambles up, the rogues laughing as she retreats.

Damen starts slowly walking towards me, “You think you could take four of us? Come on then. Let’s have some fun. I’ll take pleasure in bruising Benjamin’s precious mate.”

I chuckle, “I think you are forgetting a very important detail, Damen. I’m Krisoff Solomon's daughter, a Beta and the Head Fighter of Lunar Eclipse. The same fighter that took dozens of you out by himself when you killed my grandfather. The same fighter who made sure his children wouldn’t be defenseless, and by the Goddess, he’s a vicious trainer.”

This causes the rogues to hesitate and glance towards Damen in nervousness. I see some fear flash in the leader’s eyes as I smirk, “Benjamin is NOT the one your boss should be afraid of.”

Within a flash, I shift, putting Leah in full control. “Immobilize them. Don’t kill them unless they give you no choice. We need to interrogate them,” I remind her.

Her anger and protectiveness take over as she charges for the one closest to us, “I’ll try, but these assholes have messed with the wrong family.”

All the rogues begin to shift, but not before she tackles one to the ground mid-transformation. The crunch of bones and a blood curdling scream fills the air as she pins the rogue. Before she can knock him out, the three remaining snarl and charge straight for us. They are able to get some hits in, but not enough to knock us down.

Taking her almost no time at all, Leah has everyone but Damen taken out. She was able to incapacitate the first one, but the other two forced her hand and lay dead upon the ground.

Damen’s wolf stares at us almost amused, if not a little impressed. The wolf lunges and jumps back, teasing as if he’s going to attack, but never follows through.

An uneasiness settles in our stomach.

“He’s stalling, toying with us,” Leah tells me, watching him intently as she stalks forward.

“I don’t like this, Leah. We need to end this quickly,” I whisper.

“Leah, Annie!! More are coming!!” Hope screams from the top of the tree.

The sound of heavy paws gets louder as more rogues zone in on our location. We are in some serious trouble.

“Let Susie help!” she says, slowly trying to make her way back down. We can hear her wincing in pain. There’s no way she can safely shift.

Leah growls in response, making her stop. “You can’t fight them by yourself. Dad’s not going to make it!”

“She’s right. We can’t,” Leah’s mind races.

“But, we can stall them until Uncle Marc gets here. You can do this, Leah,” I reassure her.

We are barely able to prepare ourselves when the reinforcements reach us. Everything happens in a blur. Leah dodges and fights all while keeping them from Hope, the sound of bodies dropping filling the air. The momentum is short-lived, however, as I can feel our energy rapidly draining, the rogues getting more bites and scratches in.

This is bad. Very bad.

Leah suddenly cries out. Damen has her pinned beneath him, Leah’s front paw in his mouth. The pain from her now dislocated shoulder radiates down her body. Another set of teeth sinks into her back causing a deep gash, helping drag her body away from the garden.

I can hear Hope scream, but I can’t make out her words. She’s too injured to help, but she’ll be safe until Uncle Marc gets here.

“Annie…I’m sorry. I tried,” Leah whispers.

I smile sadly at her, “It’s okay. We protected Hope. That’s all that matters.”

As we start to slip from exhaustion, the sound of more paws hits our ears. Yelps and cries ring out into the air and fresh blood invades our senses. The weight that had been pulling Leah is gone, her wound now gushing blood onto the hard ground. Shortly after, we hear the rustling of clothes before several pairs of feet run towards us.

I hear Hope call out from somewhere behind me, “I’m okay, Mom. I promise. Daddy, I’m fine. Get to Annie. She’s hurt.”

“Nathan, help the Luna get Hope to the hospital and have them prepare another bed for Annie,” my uncle yells out to one of his fighters as he runs to me.

Leah’s head is placed on someone’s lap while we feel someone else work to stop the bleeding. Weakly, she looks up, and we see Uncle Marc’s teary face looking down at us.

“Oh, girls. I’m so sorry,” his voice breaks.

Leah whines softly, nudging him with her snout. Slightly turning, we see Dr. Wynn trying to control the bleeding and clean the wound as best as he can. He gives us a quick, worried smile before focusing back on the task at hand.

Feeling another presence, her eyes move to the side. We see that Harry is next to us, looking at our shoulder with a pained expression. He touches it softly, causing Leah to whimper.

He sighs, “Leah, Annie. I have to reset this before your body starts healing. I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt.”

He doesn’t give us a second to dwell on it. We feel his hands on us one second and the shoulder slipping into place the next. Leah howls out in pain as Harry whispers to us sweetly, his fingers running through her fur trying to comfort us.

“Alpha, I have the bleeding stopped as best as I can. She’s going to pass out from exhaustion any second,” Dr. Wynn says, moving closer to Leah’s head. “Leah? I need you to shift back to Annie, so I can properly bandage it when we get you two back to the hospital.”

Leah whines but does as he says. A blanket is draped over us as I push back to the front with the little energy I have left. Too weak to even open my eyes, my body slumps against the ground. Harry’s fingers run through my hair, soothing me as I feel Uncle Marc’s arms wrap around me.

Several feet start running, and I feel the cool breeze against my skin. Unable to fight it anymore, my body gives. As I go out, I hear Uncle Marc whisper in my ear.

“I got you, Sunshine.”