You Wouldn't Dare (Khaos Trilogy Book 1), стр. 85

“All women and children head to the safe room. Immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. All women and children go to the safe house immediately. Breach at the western borders, hundreds of wolves are headed in our direction. Warriors at your posts, guards take up your positions. We have opened the armoury. Stay safe wolves, protect the pack!”

“We barely have any warriors left!” I sobbed in a panicked voice. “Between this illness and the search party for Khaos, we are seriously outnumbered!”

Arthur dragged me to my feet, ushering me towards the safe room. “Don’t think about it. We have enough wolves here, don’t forget what we are capable of. One of our warriors can take on ten of their men, I assure you. Stay in here. Stay safe. I’ll be back for you when this is over. I love you.”

“I love you too!” I cried back as he turned and ran down the hall to take up his position as a trained fighter.

Everything was confirmed. We had been singled out for an attack. I didn’t know why, but I knew we had been poisoned as surely as I knew the sky was blue.

My heart broke.

If we had just been given one more day. One more day before an attack, we would have been okay. Arthur would have figured out the source of the poison and we could have regained our strength. As it was, we weren’t going to survive this. I knew it.

Arthur was putting a brave spin on things, but this would be the last time I saw him, I could feel it in my very bones.

All we had needed was one more day.

Amanda’s Diary

Their wolves are weakened, so Nyx tells me. Apparently, the entire pack is simply falling apart without Khaos there to guide them, and they’re utterly lost as to how this has happened. They don’t suspect a thing!

An ally of an ally has told us they simply begged for his help and he had to refuse - this was the fear for all packs. A plague like this could destroy them, and it only takes a moment of contact for one to contract the disease and take it back to their pack. Nobody would risk it!

There is a slight complication though, a niggle of doubt that I can’t seem to shake.

Obviously, the plan is to take out the warriors and men of fighting age. We can’t have Khaos returning to a pack where he can still be protected. But when I asked Nyx what her plan was for the women and children, she grew quiet. I know the way the woman works well enough to know that this was not a thoughtful silence. She already had a plan for them, and I needed to know for myself what that plan was. I would be associated with the unjustified killing of mere pups.

I tried to contact my mate, thinking maybe it would be best if we pulled out. Something was wrong, I just knew it! I sent out the mind-link, but the moment I beckoned him, I felt the sharp stab as a part of my very being was torn from my chest, my heart aching and sore.

Violet was mated.

She was gone from this pack, no longer able to call on us for protection.

We couldn’t save her.

She had given herself over to the Dragonheart pack, and we had made a public vow that they were our sworn enemies.

Well. More fool her the stupid, stupid girl. She was about to see just how much protection her big, strong mate could offer her after all. She’ll be back under my thumb by the end of the week. Only this time, she would feel the full force of my wrath. I know she thought she was an outsider before; she did not understand what life was going to be like for her going forward.

Instead of telling my mate to withdraw, I put a call into Nyx and let her know we were ready to go tonight.

Jasmine

The women and children were all in the safe room. As the last she-wolf entered the room, there was an audible sigh of relief as the door slammed shut and we put the lock into place.

We had built this room for one specific reason, and that was to stop anyone on the outside getting in. Apart from blowing up the entire packhouse, we should be fine.

There was enough food in here to last at least six months, as well as a dozen cot beds.

Not nearly enough for all of us but the children would be well taken care of and that’s all that really mattered.

I settled down on the floor, my knees brought up to my chest. The silence was deafening, broken only by the odd whisper of a child as they sought reassurance from their mum.

Time and time again my eyes were drawn to the cabinet at the back of the room labelled, “last resort”.

We all knew what it was.

Khaos wouldn’t tell us why he felt the need to include this in a safe room, other than saying that there are werewolves out there more evil than we could ever imagine, and no-one should have to suffer from their sick and twisted games. Therefore, every eventuality had to be planned and accounted for.

Should we ever find ourselves in a situation where death was a far better option than what awaited us at the hands of our enemies, we had the choice to take our exit into our own hands.

I had to hope this fight wouldn’t come to that.

Violet

I shot up in bed, clutching my stomach as pain after pain ripped through my body.

“Sweetheart, talk to me, are you okay?”