“Rane, take them all into the lounge room. Take the ones that are still blue and warm them slowly.” He smiled down at her. “Call my parents and tell them to get over here. Could you please check on Remy? I think even Ben is getting sick of her surliness. If she hears all of the noise she’ll want to know what’s going on. I cannot wait until Arden gets here.”
Half an hour later Faith came to, to a strained room anxiously waiting for the information on the vision. Glancing around, she looked right at Cullen but spoke to Kirby.
“No punishing him, Kirby. Tomorrow will be enough punishment. We need to leave tonight and be ready to hit the demon stronghold at first light.” Tears were streaming down Faith’s face as she looked at Cullen. “You need to be one of the first in, Cullen, and go down the tunnels to the right as far as you can. Keep going right, follow your nose before you open a door, and make sure you are not in half-change mode.” Faith started to sob. “I don’t…I don’t know how long she has been down there, she…she… Oh, she’s so young. I don’t even know if she’s as old as me.” She paused and looked Cullen straight in his eyes. “No growling, don’t growl at her.”
Cullen was pale and was growling, his hands had changed and his fists were clenched.
Faith sobbed again. “We need to go now. We need to go now, please. I know they have thirty-six people down there. Most of them are women. Eight of them… Oh God, eight of those…” She buried her face in Kane’s chest. “Eight of those are children.”
Kirby could feel tears falling down her own face.
Faith then looked around the whole room. “We’re going to need everyone, and I mean everyone.” She looked at Jack. “I mean all the women fighters, even elders capable of leading. You’re going to need someone strong to hand things over to, because you’re going to have to fight too, Jack. It’s a pity Arden won’t arrive until tomorrow afternoon. The poor new werewolves won’t even get to have one peaceful night in a bed before they fight.”
Faith sighed and looked at her. “Kirby, you will have to be like you were today, we’re going to need you. You have to rest now, because tomorrow is going to be a big day. We are going to win. We are going to save them all, because we have to.” She snuggled into Kane and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter 13
Rane carried his sleeping mate to the van. The doors opened and he could see everyone had already been picked up. There was Cullen, Jamie, Devlin, Griffen, Logan, his granddad, Sandra, and Kane, who also had his mate in his arms, Faith. It was one full minibus. His dad was driving, and his mum sat in the passenger seat. Logan looked extremely uncomfortable. When he saw Rane with Kirby in his arms, he had a worried look on his face.
Rane wondered what his sisters were up to and who was looking after them as his grandmother was directing and organizing people so new houses and rooms would be ready for the survivors. “Who’s looking after the girls?”
His mum turned to face him in her seat. “Ava decided to stay back. All the women that are left are pitching in, helping to have everything ready for worst case scenario and best.”
Rane nodded, knowing it was the best plan. His sister Ava had never been a fighter like her twin Eve. Ava was the mothering type, and very bossy. She was always cooking, cleaning, looking after children, and pretty much trying to organize everyone.
Turning to Kane he asked, “What time will we get there? It’s late now and when I spoke to you earlier, you said the ten enforcer groups that were still out patrolling would meet us there.”
“It’ll take about three and half hours to get to our destination, and set up will take twenty to thirty minutes. I’m hoping to sleep now, so I’m more than ready for what’s to come.”
Rane grimaced and hugged Kirby tighter to him before he rested his eyes and drifted to sleep.
Rane woke as the van stopped. He looked around to see hills and grass land—a farming community. A good place to hide, he thought. Rane saw that already three large tents had been put up and everyone around was hauling equipment. He got out, careful not to wake Kirby as he walked over toward six military trucks and two medical military tents. A very determined, tall black man stalked toward them, his eyebrows drawn together and his jaw locked, like he was grinding his teeth. His fists were clenched at his sides.
He turned to Kane. “I know they’ve brought doctors, but who’s that guy headed straight for us, because I know he’s not military.”
Kane kissed Faith’s head and hugged her tighter as he answered. “Faith said we should bring him. She thought we would need him. Jerome Stark is a friend of mine from the hospital I used to work at. He’s the doctor that operated on Faith.” Kane put up his hand awkwardly around Faith. “I know, I know before you say it, Faith said she had a feeling…well, she really said there won’t be enough doctors or medical staff, and I needed to get the military to give us more medical people and call in a friend. She then suggested Jerome. She also said that he would keep our secret and that he would come in handy in the future.”