#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest
Chapter 24

Gabriel

“What did you and Harlow do?” Ric asked Griff, looking like the curiosity was killing him.

“I took her to the clearing in the west woods and she wanted to see Frost. They laid together the entire time.” Griff replied smugly with a shit-eating grin as he jumped up from the ground.

“She laid with your wolf?” Ric said with an astonished expression. I was grumbling curse words to myself. I had a lot of catching up to do.

“Yep.” Griff popped the p smugly.

“You. Training grounds.” I said, jabbing my finger in Griff’s chest. He glared at me,

“We’re both Alphas. You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Oh can’t I?” I cocked an eyebrow at him and we stared at each other, locked in a silent competition.

“Ugh, fine! Baby.” Griff growled, throwing his hands in the air and walking off in the same direction as Ambrose.

“You’re in a mood.” Ric said, looking at me with a bemused expression.

“You wanna be next?”

“Oh, simmer down. We both know you can’t take me.” Ric scoffed and I said nothing because he was right.

“I’m jealous of how she looks at the two of you.” I confessed as we continued across the packgrounds.

“You’ll get time with her tomorrow and it’ll help the two of you connect, but I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Ric shrugged.

“Really?” I said with timid optimism.

“It’s crazy, man. It’s like there’s three different sides of her and they match us perfectly. She has your stubbornness and approach to things. When she is ready to take on the Luna role, I think she’ll really want to take on a lot of responsibility. She’s definitely not the type of girl to sit around and do nothing.” Ric said, grinning as he thought of our mate.

“What else is she like?” I was so desperate to hear more about my mate that I didn’t even care if I sounded like a gossiping school girl.

“She’s definitely feeling the connection more than she wants to admit, but I think she’s keeping to her promise and being open minded. I also think she’s appreciating the one on one time. She’s opening up more and not on the defensive as much. Everything else you’ll have to replace out on your own.” Ric smirked at me.

“I can’t believe she was so comfortable around Griff’s wolf.” I said and Ric nodded,

“Yeah, I’m jealous of that.” He admits and I nodded in agreement.

“Me too.”

Before I could say anything else, a loud clanging bell sounded throughout the packgrounds and frantic mindlinks were hitting me from all over, all saying the same thing:

“Breach!”

I took one look at Ric and then we were running towards the front gate.

“What’s going on?” I shouted through the link to anyone who would listen.

“Rogues are breaching from all sides!” Micheal, one of the guards who was on patrol on the west side of the pack replied.

“The front gate is compromised.” One of the front guards, Lenny, shouted.

“I have at least a dozen on the east side.” The east guard, Mark, added.

I growled threateningly.

“Thank the Goddess Harlow isn’t here.” Ric said but I was too pissed off to respond. I sent out a pack wide link,

“Breach! Women, children, elderly to the bunker. Closest guards surround the bunker. Move!” I commanded and I heard the pack chorus in response.

“I’ll take the east.” Ric said, not bothering to take off his clothes before he ripped into Quill.

“I’m on command on the west side.” Frost barked in my head and I grunted in response.

I shifted into Lewy and stayed near the front gate. Without much command, the guards and warriors were already in full swing. There were three teams of about a dozen rogues each attacking us from the three sides.

“Nova!” I shouted out in the link.

“Yes?” She came back sounding worried.

“Where are you?”

“We’ve barely made it to Stafford.” Nova said, “What’s going on?”

“The pack is breached. Hunker down where you are and do not move. When it’s all clear, I’ll send for you to come back.” I ordered her and then linked the guard with the same commands.

“Protect your Luna at all costs!” I snarled.

“Yes Alpha!” The guard replied sternly.

Lewy snarled as a few of the rogues made it past the initial defenses and further into the packgrounds. He easily ripped them apart like they were nothing. He shook out his fur, watching as the sticky wet blood splatter the grass at his feet. He was pissed at the idea that his mate could’ve been here during the breach, and that had him attacking with even more vigor. He rushed the gate and put an end to the last few rogues, keeping a couple alive to be questioned.

After about an hour, the entire pack was secured with zero losses on our side. We had captured about ten of the rogues and tossed them into the Tower, which was a tall, square shaped jailhouse.

“We need Harlow back here, now.” Ric snarled when we met up in front of the packhouse.

“Already on it. I had them shelter in place when the attack started and I just linked them to come back.” I said and my brothers nodded thankfully.

“What the hell was that about?” My father stormed across the grounds, his eyes pitch black.

“Where’s Mom?” I asked, immediately concerned.

“She helped with the bunker when the alarm sounded. She’s alright, but she’s still there. Some of the children are pretty freaked out.” Dad said and I relaxed.

“Where is your mate?” He asked, looking around.

“She was out with Nova and the other girls. They’re on their way back.” Griff said,

“Good. Now, what happened?” Dad looked pissed.

“Let’s go to the Tower and replace out.” I snarled, Lewy still in control.

I could tell by Ric and Griff’s eyes that their wolves were pushing forward as well. We hated our pack being attacked anyday, but the fact that we had just gotten our mate here made it even worse. We were very dangerous Alphas at the moment.

“I’m going to kill whoever is responsible for this.” Ric snarled and Quill’s aura pushed itself onto everybody nearby.

We stalked into the jailhouse where the rogues were being kept in individual cells with two guards on each cell.

“Is anyone talking?” I asked the guards who all shook their heads.

“This one seems more lively than the others.” One of the guards said, pointing towards his cell.

The rogue inside had his hands wrapped around the cell’s bars and was glaring viciously at us while the other rogues were hiding away from the door or curled up on the floor. Each rogue had been injected with wolfsbane to hinder their wolf and were bound with silver shackles.

“Okay, bring him to the interrogation room.” I grunted, jabbing my thumb towards the open room at the end of the tunnel.

The guard drug the rogue into the interrogation room and clipped him to the bolts in the cement ceiling so he was dangling just above the ground by the silver cuffs.

“Who was behind this?” I snarled, letting Lewy come to the forefront of my mine with his all consuming Alpha aura.

“We were paid.” The rogue said from between clenched teeth. He clearly didn’t want to talk.

“Paid by who?” I shouted, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and bringing him towards me. The rogue hissed as the silver chains burned into his skin.

“I don’t know! All I know is he’s been gathering rogues together from all over the state for months. He seeks us out and offers us money; half now and half once the job is finished. He sent us all to a camp in Maryland, right over the Potomac. We don’t see him, he sends his rogue Alpha to represent him.”

“What is the job?” Quill growled through Ric from behind me. His aura was even harder to ignore than mine.

“All we were told was that he had been wronged by this pack and wanted revenge. This was the first part, he said. He sent out 36 of us to gauge the response time and reaction of your pack. He was supposed to send in reinforcements for the retreat, but I should’ve known better. We were just a patsy.” The rogue looked pissed and betrayed, to his credit.

“How many of you are there?” Frost’s voice was calm which, somehow, was even more dangerous than when Ric growled or I yelled.

“Easily more than two-hundred and growing.”

“Should I offer him a deal? His life for information?” I asked my brothers.

They all nodded in response.

“If you tell us everything that you know about the rogues, the mysterious leader, and the location of the camp, we won’t kill you.” I offered.

“Yes, yes.” The rogue nodded.

“Put him back in the cell.” I ordered the guard, “We’ll be back to question th rest. I suggest you encourage your friends to make the same deal.”

“Mate! Mate’s back!” Lewy yipped in my head.