The moment I heard those words, it was like the glowy haze I was experiencing just a moment ago shattered right before my eyes. What? My pack? Attacked? And right after we were attacked, too?

I was suddenly reminded of what I'd thought during the attack. This - two attacks on people from my pack - had been planned. By who and why, I didn't know, but there was no other explanation. This couldn't just be a coincidence. It was too soon, too close together.

Someone was attacking my pack.

I quickly scrambled out of Joshua's bed, slipping on my robe and rushing over to the two by the door. "My pack was attacked?" I asked frantically.

Mark glanced at me for a moment before nodding his head grimly. "Yeah. Your friends want to leave as soon as possible to head back. They were wondering if you were coming with them."

I glanced up at Joshua, who nodded back. "Yeah, we're heading back."

Mark raised a questioning eyebrow at that. Joshua stepped in this time to explain what we agreed upon. "Wren and I figured we could spend one more month at his pack while he tied up any loose ends so we could move him in here."

The future alpha nodded his head. "I see. Well, I guess I'll see you two in a month. Feel free to leave whenever you need to, by the way. And we're always a call away." He then smirked, glancing at both of us. "I see you guys were busy, huh. I didn't want to say anything just yet, but congrats."

After he left, I looked at Joshua in slight disbelief. Joshua seemed to understand and pulled me into a hug. Mark's final comment went right over our heads as the situation before us began to heavily press on our minds. "It'll be okay. We'll be able to see for ourselves that everyone is okay and safe soon. Just try and stay calm."

"Joshua..."

I looked up at him, and I noticed how sad his eyes looked. It didn't suit him. "I think this was all planned."

He frowned, obviously not having expected me to say something like that. "What? Wren, where is this coming from?"

"Think about it," I stressed. "We leave on a trip in the middle of the woods with the entire next generation of our pack leaders. If we'd been attacked by more rogues, we could've all died. That would've been a powerful blow to the hierarchy in my pack. And then within a day, the pack itself gets attacked? How is this not supposed to be connected?"

Joshua went silent, glancing away so he could think for a moment. "We need to talk with everyone else about this, but we should wait until we get back to your pack so we can tell your alpha as well."

I nodded my head slightly. Great goddess, why now? Why my pack? My head was spinning as I tried to process everything that was going on. I felt a warm hand move to gently guide me by my lower back further into the room.

"Come on," Joshua said softly. "Let's go eat a quick breakfast and get on the road."

.

.

.

Breakfast was deathly quiet. My friends and I didn't utter a single word and I could tell that everyone else could feel the negative energy emanating from us. I was glad this hadn't been a pack breakfast and it was just those that lived in the packhouse. It made things a lot easier.

We left shortly after that. Joshua offered to drive my car and told me to try and sleep. The entire time, he held my hand over the center console, knowing I'd need the silent support. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sleep. How could I when I was so worried?

As soon as we entered pack lands, I scrunched my nose up. I didn't have to be good at smelling to detect the hint of something that made my blood run cold - a distinct burning scent that seemed to quickly fill the car.

The sight ahead didn't make anything better. My eyes widened as we passed the bony corpses of trees burnt to a crisp, the ground around them darkened with ash and soot. The graveyard went on for way too long before it was overtaken by greenery. They set our forest on fire too? I felt Joshua's hand squeeze mine as we neared the packhouse.

We all didn't bother unpacking the cars as we got out to greet our families. I was kind of surprised mine and Marie's parents showed up, but I was relieved to see that everyone was okay. Joshua hesitated by my side as we walked to my parents. "Are those...?"

"Yeah," I said back. "That's my family."

My parents rushed me the moment they saw me. My father pulled me close, practically cutting off my air with how tightly he held on to me. He was a tall and handsome man with dark brown hair and kind brown eyes. Since he was a warrior, he was muscular and very strong from training, but everyone knew that he was a huge softie.

I heard my mom sniffle and looked at her. Her black hair was up in a messy bun and her dark eyes were rimmed with red. She then engulfed me in a hug from my back once she was done wiping away any tears. "We heard what happened," she whispered. "We're just glad you're okay."

"Me? What about you guys? How's everyone else? What happened here?" I asked them, trying to wiggle out a bit so I could get some proper answers.

They let me go and my father's face fell. "Rogues. They killed two young patrols and slipped through. By the time we realized what was going on, they'd already started a fire completely opposite from where they were entering."

My stomach dropped at the mention of the two patrols. Those poor families. I could tell my father was angry. He'd always prided himself on doing a good job as a warrior. Even if he tried to hide it, I could see in the slight hunch of his shoulders that he was very upset.

"I think we should head inside now," my mom spoke up, glancing over at the others.

They were all moving towards the packhouse. I noticed that Joshua was by the door, looking at me. I wished now could've been the time I introduced him to my family, but it really wasn't. I had to tell the alpha my theory and comfort my parents. I knew Joshua understood, though.

My parents went ahead of me, seeming to pay no mind as they passed Joshua. I walked over to him, reaching out to take his hand. He offered a gentle smile. "Your parents look so much like you, especially your mom."

I laughed lightly. "Yeah. The Korean genes were strong," I joked, trying to be a bit more positive.

This situation made me want to curl up into a ball and ignore it until it went away, but I couldn't do that. No one could. We had to face this head-on and create a plan of attack. Because, what if this happened again? What if the rogues came back and killed more people? We couldn't have that. Lives didn't need to be lost anymore.

"Come on, let's go inside now," Joshua said, pulling me along.

We quickly made our way to the alpha's office where everyone of importance was packed into. I'd noticed that those that weren't of high authority - like my parents, Marie's, and the beta, gamma, and alpha spouses - had situated themselves in the common room. I have no doubt that my parents caught sight of Joshua and me holding hands, but that would have to wait.

"Have a seat, you two," Alpha James said to us, motioning to the loveseat situated to face another one where Marie, Ryder, and Erin sat. Aaron had made himself comfortable in a chair that was also positioned to face the other seating. At the head of the room were the three adults, with Alpha James seated at his desk and his beta and gamma deciding to stay standing.

"Okay, to start off, why don't we hear what happened to you all first? We were notified of what happened, but we want to know the details," Alpha James spoke up, leaning forward.

"Wren and I were by the river that Whitewater is on when about four or five rogues surrounded us. I didn't even smell them until they were right on top of us, and even then it was faint. We heard their growls first," Marie spoke up first.

That was odd. Rogues usually had a very distinct smell. That's what I'd always been told by my father. There was something about their scent that is uniquely rogue; it couldn't be replicated. So, if their scents had been hidden, then that further confirmed my suspicions that this was all planned.

"They attacked us immediately. It was almost like they knew Wren wasn't as strong, because one of them went for his back as soon as he made a move to run for help. The others ambushed me," Marie continued, and I noticed Ryder's arm around her shoulder, comforting her as she told the story.

"Joshua and I ran over as fast as we could. Erin and Aaron came over not too long after and we all dealt with the rogues and rushed Marie and Wren to Whitewater to treat their wounds," Ryder filled in the rest.

"Hmm," Alpha James hummed, his hands folded over his mouth in thought.

"What happened here?" Erin asked.

"My father told me some stuff, but..." I added, looking at our alpha.

The one that spoke up was the beta. "Miguel probably wanted to spare you the details. The rogues were able to sneak up on two of our less-experienced patrol members and didn't bother to hide the bodies. In fact, the wolves that killed our men..."

The beta took a moment to choose his words carefully. My stomach dropped again at his next words.

"They wore the blood of our men on their fur. They had it all over their bodies, but it looked like it was drawn on and not just splatter from a messy kill. When we recovered the bodies, they were dismembered and one of their eyes was missing each."

The room went silent after that. I noticed that Aaron looked considerably pale and sickened by the mental image. I mean, who wouldn't be at least a little disturbed? Rogues didn't usually do that. Yeah, they could be a bit messy and brutal when killing, but they never went this far. And what was with the eye thing? 

"They started the fire on the opposite side of our territory as a distraction. We all rushed to it. By the time we knew what was going on, it was too late," Alpha James continued. "We hadn't picked up on their scent either, so we had no clue until we heard the screams of pack members. We had to split our forces to put out the fire and deal with the rogues. I headed the group going after the rogues."

The alpha looked grim as he stared blankly at the wood of his desk. He glanced up at us, his eyes flashing with pain. "They slaughtered eight people. All of them were dismembered the same way as the patrolmen, each with an eye missing. They were all varying ages. The oldest was eighty-two, the youngest seven."

"Seven years old?" Marie gasped, her face pale, eyes wide in the same horror we all felt.

Alpha James nodded. "The rogues killed those innocent people, but what was even more concerning was the message they left behind."

"Message?" Erin echoed, a frown on his face.

"Yes. I have it right here, actually."

Alpha James pulled out a piece of paper and held it out for us to see. My blood ran cold when I realized that the ink that had been used was blood.

The fires of purity cease for no one.

Retribution is coming.

Judgment is upon us.

The Eye knows all.

Joshua tensed beside me, scooting closer. We all went silent after reading the message as Alpha James put it away again.

"This can't be a coincidence," I spoke up. "Someone's targetting us and they have help."

Alpha James nodded, looking to his gamma. The gamma straightened up slightly and said, "We figured the same thing. Upon further inspection, we noticed that the rogues hadn't used any scent maskers that we know of. There were no scent trails of them that could be properly traced. It was like they had never entered in the first place."

A chill went down my spine at that. Rogues that coordinated an elaborate attack and masked their scent in a way that was unknown to us?

Just who exactly was behind all this?

~~~

So... what's going on now? What's The Eye?

Y'all I told you things would pick up. I'm pretty sure that with the way things are going, the 2nd book is going to have to be rated mature simply for the amount of gore I might put into it.

Anyway, are y'all still enjoying this? To be honest, I never expected for things to start getting so dark, especially in this book. It started out as really fluffy and light, but I quickly realized I could do more with it lol XD

So I hope you enjoy it!

Stay tuned for more insanity and please stay healthy and safe!

Thank you so much for reading <3

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