Monster
Rick's POV.

I’m sitting at my desk going over everything. One day after Kat was taken, we had a suspicion that it was hunters and I immediately started to make arrangements to move the pack. I warned every Alpha around here and they’re all making moving plans too, but the truth is, we don’t really know what to do. There could be hunters everywhere we go.

I called the Elders and told them what happened. They should get here today. Alpha Harry is here too. So is Dalton, Jason’s dad, Eric, and Harry’s Beta. Eric is standing in for Jason, since he won’t leave Kat’s side and I can’t blame him. I didn’t want to leave her either, but I have a pack to run.

“When will they be here?” Harry asks. I look at my watch and sigh before I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Any minute now.” Harry paces around the room and says, “I don’t like the elders.”

“Trust me, I’m not their biggest fan either, but last time they were here, there was a new woman with them who seemed like she wanted to help us. I can only hope she has convinced the others to do so too.”

Janet pokes her head inside the office and says, “they’re here.” We follow her into the meeting room where we usually hold ‘church’ with the MC club. Opening the door, we all go inside. I scan the room and see that there’s only five elders and two of them are new.

Elder Cassandra comes over with furrowed brows. “Alpha Rick, it’s good to see you again. Although I would have preferred it would be under different circumstances.”

“Me too, Elder Cassandra. Please, sit down.” We gather around the table and Kirsten, Dalton’s mate, comes in with a tray filled with a coffee can and cups.

“Thank you for coming so soon,” I say. She gives me a small, soft smile. “Of course we came." “Especially because it’s about hunters. How is Kat?”

“She’s still unconscious.” I’m surprised Elder Cassandra is the one doing the talking and she senses it. “I’m head Elder now. Oh, and I don’t believe you’ve met Elder Henrietta and Elder Benjamin.”

We all bow our heads in respect. “As you can see, we’ve made some change," Elder Cassandra says. “It turned out that the packs the old members were responsible for had the most complaints, so they were fired. They were also responsible for the Red Rock pack...”

I clench my jaw. That was the pack Kat ran away from. The fired Elders were also the ones who grabbed Kat at the last meeting.

“So, this hunter business. How did you replace them?” Elder Cassandra asks. I scratch my neck “I have a good... Hacker in my pack.” They raise their eyebrows, but some of them tries to hide a smile.

“Right. You know our position on that law, but In this case, it’s good that you have one. How did your...hacker... replace it?” Elder Cassandra asks with a small smirk on her lips.

“He followed a white van on the CCTV, and it disappeared after a while, so he hacked his way into the different facilities in the area and he stumbled across some very disturbing footage in one of them.”

Dalton puts down a laptop in front of the Elders and presses play on one of the videos. The rest of us turn away because it’s a video of Kat being tortured with white hot iron pokers and her screams makes us want to vomit.

They look horrified and one of them actually takes a trashcan and vomits in it. Cassandra quickly stops the video, looking pale and she clears her throat. “Okay.” She swallows and clears her throat again. “When you told us about hunters the last time we met, we looked into it, but we haven’t been able to replace anything anywhere. This is proof that they exist, and trust me when I say, we will put all our manpower into investigating this. Is Kat in your infirmary here?”

Alpha Harry skakes his head and says, “.o, she’s at my pack, Silver Stone pack.” Elder Cassandra smiles at him. “Ahh, yes. I’ve only heard good things about it. You’re a good Alpha.”

“Uh, thank you,” he says. She nods. "The only reason I’m asking is because I brought two of the best healers I know. They are from the Witch council.” That makes me raise my brows in surprise. She brought witches from the witch council? That’s a big deal. The fact that it’s even possible must mean that they really take this seriously. Elder Cassandra looks back at me. “So, what happens now? Will you move?”

“Yes. Both Alpha Harry and I are preparing to move our packs, so we wanted to ask you if you have a large piece of land we can live on. We don’t care where it is and we’re ready to merge our packs if necessary.”

She thinks for a moment. “If you merge, you will be one of the biggest packs in the world.” I simply nod, so she continues, Elder “Well, we don’t get any complaints from your packs, so I don’t see why not.” She looks around at the others, and they all nod. “That’s settled then. We have a piece of land up north that will suit your pack’s size.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, I bow my head in respect. “Thank you very much. I know we don’t know if there are hunters there, but we have to get away. They must know we’re here.”

“Yes, we can’t be sure that there’s no hunters there, but we will investigate the area around the land, and then the rest of the country.” She sighs while shaking her head. “This is big. It’s going to take a lot of recourses, but we will pull every string and favor we have in the country.” Then she smirks. “And we could use your hacker.”

I’m really starting to like her and the fact that she’s head Elder now means things are about to change for the better.

“Alright. We will help you with the move and we will start to get more houses build on the land for you," she says. "There’s a big wolf town nearby, so it won’t be a problem to get jobs or places to live but since your pack is this large, we need more housing. Some of you might need to camp out and share houses until it’s all settled.”

“That’s not a problem,” I quickly say. “Good. And I’m guessing that Kat and Jason are going with you?”

I know that they will. We’re going to be a bigger pack now, and I know they will come with us to protect us. I think they need to start working with the Elders so they will take some trips together, but they will have a base with us.

“Yes, they are, but not before Kat wakes up. We don’t want to move her until then.” Looking serious, she nods. “Understandable. Did she really get shot in the head?”

“Yes but... her brain is healing by itself.” All the Elders raises their eyebrows and look at each other. “How is that possible,” Elder Cassandra ask with surprise in her voice.

“I have no idea.” There’s a moment of silence before she says, “right. Well, we would like to go with you to Silver Stone pack if you don’t mind, Alpha Harry? Then we can see if the Elder witches can do something for Kat.” Harry and I raise our eyebrows. Did they just ask if it was okay they came with us? The Elders usually don’t ask permission to do anything.

Things really are changing.

~~~~

We arrive at Alpha Harry’s pack, and we immediately go into the infirmary. Jason is asleep in his bed next to Kat's, holding her hand. Janet goes over to him, takes his other hand and gives it a little squeeze.

“Jason? Wake up, honey. We have company.” He stirs and slowly open his eyes. When he sees us, he tries to sit up, but he winces and groans in pain. Eric goes over to him and helps him lie down again. “Easy, Jason.”

Elder Cassandra gives him a loving smile. “Hello Jason. It’s nice to meet you again.” He looks at us confused. “Uh, hello. Nice to meet you too, Elder Cassandra.” She looks at Kat and Jason’s brows knit together. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

“We’re here because the most important creatures in this world are wounded.” All of us, except the elders, raise our eyebrows. I haven’t thought about it that way, but she’s right. A hellcat is the most important creature because they are our protectors and rulers. That makes me feel incredible humble.

“Okay,” Jason says, looking surprised. “You are, and if there’s anything we can do to help, please ask,” Elder Cassandra says with a smile on her face. Jason looks confused and I can’t blame him. “We brought our best witches with us to see if they can do anything to help,” she says.

“I... Thank you?” She chuckles. “You’re very welcome.” The witches go over to Kat’s bed at gets started. A moment later, one of them stops and frowns. “Her brain has already healed.”

Doc, who has been standing next to Kats’ bed, says, “yes. As soon as the bullet were pulled out of her brain, it started to heal on its own. We don’t know how it’s possible.”

“Fascinating,” the healer says. It’s quiet for a while as the healers continue their thing. “Why don’t we give them some space,” Elder Cassandra says. Without saying anything, we all nod and start to leave. Jason calls me over, so I go over to him. “What the fuck was that? he asks, looking surprised.”

I smile. “They came down to our pack as soon as I told them about what happened. They want to help us with the move and everything else. They have a big piece of land up north that we can live on, and we’re merging with Silver Stone pack.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Well, fuck.” I nod before I say, “yeah. A lot has happened the last couple of days.”

“You got that right.”

With furrowed eyebrows, I nod towards Kat. “How is she? Any change in your bond?” His face turns sad and worried. “No. But it’s still there. That can only be a good thing, right?”

“Yes,” I say while I nod again. Do you want to come inside and talk with the elders?” I know he doesn’t, but he should at least get the offer. I could help him into a wheelchair and take him up to the pack house but I no he won’t. “No, I’m staying with her,” he says.

“Okay, I’ll bring you some food when we're done.” He smiles at me gratefully. “Thanks Rick.” Putting my hand on his shoulder, I give it a little squeeze.

“No problem.” I walk out of the infirmary and into the pack house. When I get into the large living room, there’s a big tray of sandwiches and I ask if they could make three more I could take to Jason.

“Three sandwiches?” Alpha Harry asks with raised eyebrows and wave my hand in front of me. “It’s a hellcat thing.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Right. Hey, how are you doing?” The question surprises me. How am I doing? I’m tired, I’m frustrated, and I’m worried. A lot of things are happening right now, and the big move is stressing me out. I also feel overwhelmed, but luckily Alpha Harry and the pack is with me so we can help each other.

He pats my shoulder. “It’s okay, Rick. I’m overwhelmed too but we can do this. We have to.”

Putting her phone into her pocket, Elder Cassandra walks over to us with a smile on her face. “Our builders will start building houses for you immediately and I have arranged to get moving vans down here starting tomorrow. We’ll send people down to help you pack. It’s a big move, so you can use all the help you can get.”

I raise my brows in surprise. She’s very efficient. It stresses me even more that it’s starting already, but she’s right. We need to get away from here as fast as we can, and it wouldn’t matter if it’s now or in a year. The stress will be the same.

I look at the people around me and they all look tired. The attack on the hunter facility took a lot out of us and we’re mourning. We lost seven soldiers in the attack, and I need to arrange their funerals.

We all sit down and start to eat. I’m not particular hungry so I only take one bite of the sandwich I got. Janet notices, comes over to me, and sits down on my lap. Wrapping her arms around me, she gives me a light and loving kiss.

“Are you okay, honey?” I sigh. I can always lean on Janet. She always has my back and when it comes to planning, she’s a pro. “Yeah, I’m just a little out of it. Cassandra is sending moving vans down here tomorrow.”

Janet quirks a brow and says, “that was fast.” I nod. “Yes. It’s going to be a lot of work. She’s also sending people down to help us pack.”

“Alright. That’s a good thing. She really gets shit done, huh,” she says with a small smile on her face. I chuckle and wrap an arm around her waist. “She does. Getting all this help from the Elders is confusing. I can’t quite wrap my head around it.”

“Yes, if she didn’t seem so sincere, I would get suspicious.”

“I was just thinking the same thing, but I somehow know we can trust her.”

Janet leans her head against mine and we just sit back, watching people. I have no idea how we’re going to do this, but I know that we will. We have to and I’m grateful for the help the Elders are giving us. That way, it will go a lot smoother and faster.

Eric sits down in the chair next to me before he says, “we’re going with you.” I nod. “Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He nods a thank you. I know they want to come, but I also know they're scared. Seeing what happened to Kat have made us all scared because if we get caught by the hunters, we will go feral. None of us will be able to take that. Just the fact that Kat screamed out in pain when they tortured her says it all.

She doesn’t scream.

For fucks sake, Doc did surgery on her without any pain medication when he removed a bullet from her body, and she didn’t even flinch.

Janet gives Erics shoulder a squeeze. “How are you and Hillary doing?” He pinches the bridge of his nose.

“We’re managing. First of all, it’s tough because Jason got hurt. Second of all, it’s hard to see him hurting because of Kat, but we understand. I don’t know what I would do if... If the same thing happened to Hillary. And of course, we want Kat to wake up. What happened to her is horrible. Just horrible.”

A shiver runs down my spine and not in a good way. I don’t even want to think about what I would do if something happened to Janet.