19

The four of us crossed the main square of the village and headed towards the pack house. A man with slanted, feline eyes stepped in front of Drokor, blocking his way.

"Your alpha is wondering where you are," he said in a shockingly high-pitched voice. "Now I'm here." He turned to me. "Matthias, this is Alina. Alina, this is Matthias, the son of Beta of the Wester Pack.” “I'm pleased.” Matthias nodded in reply. Then we continued on our way. We stopped in front of the front door and Drokor looked at Benjamin and Amelia.

The former disappeared immediately, but Amelia remained stubborn. "You don't mean that seriously, do you? Do you really think I'll wait outside now?” “You can't come in with me.” “Yes, she has to,” I rushed to help my friend. "I need them for mental support." Drokor sighed, but then nodded in surrender. Amelia leaned in to me, grinning widely, and whispered, "You're a darling." I just winked at her.

Then I looked back at the door and took a deep breath. Smiling, I lifted my chin and said, "Let the show begin." I palmed open the door and in the same instant stalked into the room. All pairs of eyes turned to me. Oh yes, right now I really loved attention. Amelia stood to one side while I walked over to the large table. In the next moment, a smiling Lerhome darted to my side and placed a chair right next to Damian's. I nodded my thanks and sank into the chair. Then I fixed the astonished, partly angry pairs of eyes.

"So, what did I miss?” An eyebrow shot up in question. An older man with drab gray hair said to Damian, "What the hell is this about? What is a girl doing here? Is that your whore?” Damian tried to formulate a few words, but was so amazed to see me here that he didn't want to succeed. So I took the floor. “Are you the alpha of the Wester pack?”

“I am. My name is Egbert." "Very nice. First things first: My name is Alina and I am not a prostitute. My presence was considered important by some, which is why, unlike other people," jabs at Damian, "they felt it was important to let me know." Another man joined the conversation.

"And I'm Karl, the beta. The woman next to me is Saphira, my soul mate. Saphira gave me a friendly smile. She had been the only woman in this room before Amelia and I came. Since Egbert was probably still too outraged that a woman had taken over the speaking, Karl continued. "We have heard that murders have also occurred in your country. We just exchanged about it. It was the exact same pattern. Mutilated body, a severed leg or arm, and an undamaged head." "Quite so. We were just about to say that we assume that they were conspecifics when the human burst in here.”

Egbert only spoke to Damian. As if he were too good to speak to a mortal. "We think it was people trying to get us out of here. They're not werewolves, we're absolutely sure of that." said Damian. "But since the same murders happened with you, it can't be because they wanted to expel us. That would be too great a coincidence.” Egbert nodded thoughtfully and rubbed his chin.

“Humans are far too weak to do something like that. Besides, what other reason could they frame us for the murders?" "Maybe it all serves a greater purpose. It's not just about individual packs, but about the entire mass of werewolves.”

“I didn't ask you,” Egbert snapped at me. I realized Damian tensing up next to me and wanting to rush to my aid, but I shook my head.

"Listen, old man. It's totally irrelevant right now if they hold grudges against mortals. Because they seem to be causing you a few problems right now. So please put your baby problems aside and behave like an alpha, even if it's probably very difficult for you.” Upset, the alpha jumped out of his chair and yelled, “Don't talk to me like that!”

"I'll talk to you how I want and now sit back down." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ethan move a little further toward me, as if he might throw himself in front of me to protect me in an emergency.

"That's enough for me. We're going. Fix your problems yourself. Come on, Karl!" "Sit down again, I said!" My voice thundered through the room and in the next second the Alpha flopped back into place and looked at me in shock. The others also gave me confused looks. I knew what had just happened. Even though I always assumed it wouldn't work. An alpha could issue commands in its alpha voice, which were then immediately followed by its packmates.

They became like robots. And that's exactly what I had just done, but not in the position of an alpha or a luna, but as a moon goddess. Alpha Egbert was now sitting bolt upright in his chair. Karl rubbed his forehead as if suffering from a migraine. Saphira eyed me with interest and Amelia gave me a proud grin. "So again: Assuming that we are correct in our conclusions, the people are to blame for the murders. Probably some organization, but we don't know why." "Right," Jack intervened, who of course also sat at the table in his position as Beta, but had previously held back.

"Nevertheless, we have to remember that humans are weaker by nature," Egbert said cautiously, as if not wanting to upset me again. "But they continue to advance in their technical progress. Maybe they want to challenge us, lure us out."

"So you think they're planning something big, whatever it is?" "Imaginable," Karl Jack replied. "We shouldn't underestimate the humans. There's a good chance that over the years that you've oppressed them, they've secretly evolved and are plotting revenge." Although it was difficult for the werewolves present, they all agreed with me.

Think about Mr. Tally. If even his family secretly grew krecanos, then many others could do the same. Or other things that they could then use as a weapon against you.

Yes, we destroyed most of it at the time, but apparently not everything. Are you actually mad because I didn't let you know? I would like to. But since I'm keeping a lot of things secret from you, I have to look past it. I winked at him. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. That's not exactly reassuring. Oh, it shouldn't be either. "So how do we want to proceed?" Egbert asked. A few wrinkles had appeared on his forehead. It really seemed to bother him that the humans could pose a threat to the wolves. Though they hadn't openly attacked her yet. "

After his words died away, chaos broke out. Egbert assured Damian that he would support him with the wolves he had taken with him. Amelia had gone to the window and then called out: "People are barricading themselves in their houses." I turned to Damian. "Will they last? The houses I mean." "Most of them are. However, some of the renovations are not yet complete, or they are made of materials that break easily."

Suddenly, Amelia let out a choked scream and pointed her finger outside. "The kids. A group of kids with their handlers are out there. They're surrounding them." "Enough chatter," Jack growled irritably, transforming into his wolf form.

Everyone followed suit and ran out of the house. I grabbed Amelia's arm. " I looked back at the white wolf. I could help him, but then I wouldn't get to the children in time. Meanwhile, Amelia tugged at my sleeve. If I hurried, I might still be able to get back to him. But first the children. Together we made our way to the children.

Then a red-shrouded figure appeared in front of us. The symbol of a lion was pinned to the left sleeve of his jacket. The figure raised its arm, aiming its weapon at us. Amelia and I slowed down abruptly. Although I couldn't see the person's face, I could have sworn they were grinning. Suddenly Amelia transformed next to me and while she was still jumping she pounced on the figure. A crack of a whip made me turn and look at the werewolf who was now limping and trying to flee from three red figures.

A moment later, a black wolf and a tan wolf leapt onto the attackers' unprotected backs. A yelp and I turned back to Amelia, who in human form was staring, panting, at the inanimate person in front of us. "I killed him. I killed someone," she gasped, stunned. I quickly ran to her side and checked the attacker's pulse. He was weak but he lived. I took Amelia's face in my hands and started talking to her.

"He's not dead. You just hurt him. And you had to do that. You defended yourself and saved us. Now we're going to save the children. All right?" She looked away from him and gave a short nod. I pulled her behind me. The werewolves let us pass and enter the circle. The children were completely alone as their carers had also placed themselves in the circle to protect them. A girl turned into a wolf and tried to escape from the cage in a panic. I grabbed her with my hand and carried her back to the others. I knelt in front of the children, careful to get everyone's attention. "We will get you out of here and to safety. But we can only do this together. So you have to help me. We will run to the pack house together and then you will be safe. Will you help me?"

I looked at young men, invitingly. A boy and girl stood in the background, hands clasped together.

Nobody knew what to do. A red-haired boy finally stepped forward first and said in a squeaky voice, "I'll help you." After a short time, everyone followed suit. "Is there a basement in the packhouse where they can barricade themselves?" I asked Amelia. She nodded. "Yes, it's like a bunker. Equipped with food, drink and a toilet." That was good, I could do something with that. Then the defense circle broke.

Men and women dressed in red and armed with stun guns fought their way through the crowd. Any wolf that got shocked lay on the ground in agony. Red, burned spots remained. I instructed the children to each take a different person's hand and then start running.

The first did what I asked. A wolf broke free from a fight and ran alongside the children, head ramming an attacker aside. The next raced off. Amelia nodded to me and then walked alongside the children in the form of a gray and brown wolf. All that was left now was the girl and the boy, still holding hands, and the red-haired boy who had been the first to agree to my plan. I was about to give the signal to run when I saw Amelia get hit with a whip. At first she slapped the powerful wolf's back hard, and later on the second swipe, wrapped herself around one of her hind legs.

The wolf yelped in pain and tried to struggle back up. The youths at her side had also stopped short in shock. A tan werewolf bit the attacker's shoulder and yanked him off Amelia. The wolf was still injured on the ground, but now Niklas was there and protected her from further attacks. I turned back to the three kids and said, "Run as fast as you can!" And they did. The red-haired boy even switched into his wolf form for a short time, but quickly realized that he was faster otherwise. Younger wolves did not yet have the strength and training to do better in their second form than in human form.

We reached the other children, who were still staring in horror at the injured Amelia. I pushed them further and grabbed one by the hand. "Do not stop." We ran faster and faster towards the pack house and kept dodging falling wolves or red figures. Suddenly, three red figures pushed themselves in front of us, flashing their stun guns dangerously. One cracked the floor with his whip. A black wolf darted out and rammed the three aside.

I immediately urged the children to keep running, but turned around as I ran to see that Damian had been joined by Jack and Benjamin. The red-haired boy was the first of us to scoot into the house. The rest of us followed shortly after. The children seemed to know exactly where to run. Down a flight of stairs and into a large room where the others had already gathered. I nodded briefly and then asked: "Is anyone missing?" The children looked around and then all shook their heads.

"Good. So you all stay here until someone you know gets you out of here. Got it?" Some nodded bravely. Others clung to each other in fear. I left the room and closed the thick steel door behind me. A bolt squeaked from the other side of the door. So far so good. I left the pack house behind and then stopped on the stairs. From here, I could see the whole chaos. You could clearly see more wolves on the ground than red figures.

While most of the werewolves weren't dead, they were injured enough to lie still. I could also see the white wolf. It would take far too long to heal them all. time we didn't have. Because eventually the last wolf would be hit. There were just too many. I had to do more than just stand there stupidly. I could do more than just stand there stupid. I trudged down the steps with a grim expression on my fa