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I picked myself up and nodded toward the entrance of the neighborhood. Put them there. “I want them to have a line of sight on just about everyone that’s going to throw themselves into this. We’re going to be flying a lot of flags half-mast tomorrow, but we won’t be able to fly them if our healers can’t keep us up long enough to do so.”
He stood back to his feet and stared directly into my eyes. “And what of you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you going to be okay?”
I turned my back to him. “Check in tomorrow. Right now, we worry about the family.”
The chains of the pack start and end with you.
With the thunder rumbling closer, a weird blue hue settled over the town. It smelled like rotten eggs and wet fur, and I didn’t need to ask anyone to know that bear magic had wafted down the mountain into our little encampment. It illuminated all of our dark spots that would’ve typically shrouded us away from the world, and I snarled at its presence.
“The light, they’re going to see us.”
“Get inside. We can attack from there.”
“Under the porch. That’s a good place as well.”
“Everyone,” I said as I silenced the pack, “don’t panic. That’s what they want. That’s what they need in order to defeat us. Take some deep breaths and cover yourself as best as possible.”
With my men executing their commands, I stalked the length of the road that pierced through the hundreds of chalets that had been built up into the neighborhood that I had once called home. Every time I turned a corner, another memory assaulted me. Every time I stopped in front of a house to help someone get situated beneath the porch, another memory came to life. I saw my father’s smile everywhere. I heard my laughter as I watched ghostly kids run around and play tag with one another.
These bears had filled the streets of my happiness with the blood of our own.
And they’d pay with their lives.
“All right,” Hudson said breathlessly as he sprinted toward me from behind, “the healers are set up.”
Levi’s voice came out of nowhere as he came up to my right side. “The women are in place. They have their orders.”
Then, Dean stalked up to my left side. “Got the men in place. They’re three rows deep all around the edge of the woods.”
I nodded my wolf head. Now, we wait.
Ice ran through my veins as I watched those tumbling trees grow closer. They rolled down the mountain, soaring toward the bottom as wolves leapt into the air, dodging them like pinballs in a machine. The one tactical advantage that bears didn’t have was that they weren’t very sneaky. We knew when they were coming and from what direction, which made focusing the bulk of our fight the easy part.
“I’m proud of you, love bug.”
“Hudson, not now,” I said curtly.
He paused. What?
I looked over at him. “You can’t be distracting me with memories of my father right now.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t touch you.”
“Remember, love bug: the chains of the pack start and end with you.”
As the blue hue hovered all around us like fog in a sleepy mountain town, my mind held me hostage. Flashes of images and snippets of sayings from the guys bombarded my conscious mind. It was all so much, and the headache that started growing behind my eyes pulsed my vision, causing it to rattle in the heat of battle. But then, something happened. Something I’d never be able to explain so long as I lived. My father’s voice kept echoing that one word—chains.
“Chains, lovebug.”
“Chains.”
“Chains.”
“Chains.”
