False alarm
“We’re under attack!!!”
Ava woke up to the loud noises coming from outside, the dawn soldiers were running around gathering weapons and mobilizing the dawners to move to the pack’s saferoom, the pack’s warning bell rang loudly, alerting all the wolves of an ongoing attack by the rogues.
Kain entered the alpha’s chambers without knocking, on a normal day, he would never have such audacity but in the face of an attack, anything was permitted.
“What’s going on Kain?” Lucas asked startled, getting down from the bed to put on his robe, Ava wasn’t fully dressed, so she used the sheets to cover her body, just above her breasts.
Kain bowed, “we’re under attack sire, the rogues are trying to force their way into our territory.”
“Have the guards set up defenses?”
“They have sire, Kiron is in charge of them, as soon as I found out from one of the guards at the border, I quickly ran to alert the gamma and he’s positioned the soldiers, assigning them tasks; we’ve been successful in keeping them out so far.”
“That’s good, and the dawners?”
“They’ve gathered in the safe room sire, and we have the area heavily guarded, we’re still going round all the rooms to ensure that no one is left behind.”
“Ok then, I will go with you to the forefront to ensure everything is ok.”
“One more thing sire,” Kain alerted.
“What is it?”
“The alpha’s from other packs have returned the messages you sent them, they said to let you know that they are on their way for your wedding sire.”
Lucas shook his head. “Send another message, the wedding has been postponed indefinitely. I cannot risk their safety and that of my people by letting them come here now when there’s a possible war at hand; Ava and I can marry another time.”
Kain bowed again before leaving the room, “as you wish sire.”
Lucas then turned to Ava, who also had a startled look on her face as she heard the conversation between Lucas and his guard. “Ava, the dawn territory is currently under attack by the rogues.”
“The rogues? I don’t understand any of this? Why now? Why does it have to be on our special day of all days???”
He sighed in response. “I’m sorry Ava, but you of all people know that I wouldn’t cancel our wedding for anything else in the world, but now, now is just not the right time!”
Ava nodded, hiding her sadness, “I understand.”
He then ran into his wardrobe, quickly changing out of his nightwear, putting on a pair of pants and a faded t-shirt. “I have to help my men in battle, but I’ll take you to the safe room first, put on your clothes now.”
Ava hurried to put on her clothes, and within minutes, she hurriedly followed Lucas to the safe room located in the basement of the packhouse, it was mostly the elderly, the women and children of the dawn pack that were gathered there, they were holding onto each other for support, fearing what was to come, Kiara was also there, tending to the weaker ones with food and water.
Kain stood at the entrance of the safe room with Cian, waiting for the alpha.
“Where is Nani?” Lucas asked him.
“She’s in the healers’ quarters sire, she and Kozi are attending to wounded soldiers brought in from the battlefield.”
“Make sure you have enough guards protecting them, do you understand?”
Kain nodded, “yes sire.”
Lucas then turned to Ava, “take care of yourself for me, I’ll be back for you precious.”
After receiving a kiss from him, she watched him run off alongside the beta and his personal guard before the gates to the safe room were locked, tears laced in her eyes as she prayed in her heart that this attack would not turn out to be the one that the dawn pack could not handle.
**********
“What are the reports?” Lucas asked Kiron as he approached the border with Kain and Cian. Kiron was the one in charge of assembling the guards, giving them duties, both the ones who stayed behind to protect the dawners, and the ones who went into battle with the rogues, he’d now gotten the full hang of his new job.
“Good sire, those rogues didn’t stand a chance, it seemed so strange why they would want to attack us knowing they would lose.”
“So, how’s the battle going?” Lucas then took a pair of binoculars from Kiron’s hand so he could have a view of what was going on at the forefront.
“It’s so strange,” Kiron said, informing him. “The survivors amongst them are retreating now sire, we killed a handful of them but only a few dawn soldiers were injured, they’ve been taken to the healers’ quarters for treatment.”
After having a view, Lucas handed the binoculars to Cian so he could see too.
“It’s amazing!” Cian remarked as he looked through them too, truly the rogues were retreating. “They didn’t even stay to fight for very long, I’m beginning to wonder what their true aim coming here was for, they only made us raise a false alarm, putting fear in the hearts of the dawners.”
“Probably to test our defenses,” Lucas resonated. “I know their leader, Vulcan, he’s not a stupid person, he wouldn’t send such few soldiers here if he knew he were battling a dawn army…
“Do not kill the survivors, his men will go back to report to him and tell him what he’s up against if he ever dreams to overtake us.”
He then turned to his former personal guard, “I always believed you could do it, Kiron, it’s a good job you did today, handling the soldiers without any assistance, I must admit how proud I am of you.”
Kiron bowed. “Thank you for believing in me sire.”
Lucas began to dish out new sets of instructions. “Since the matter is not a very alarming one, we will announce to the dawners to move back to their various quarters by the end of the day, double the defenses on our borders, and prepare some soldiers for patrol on our lands; make sure there are no rogues left on our territories, and make sure to keep an eye out for them, they might come back with even stronger forces later on.”
“Yes sire,” the men chorused.
“I’m glad that nothing serious happened, I am glad that my people are all right, the only serious loss that was incurred was that I was not able to marry my bride today.”