Chapter 56

-Farley-

Kelsey was sitting in a tall tree, her arms clasped around the bark whilst her legs hung down. She was shaking, the colour of her face was washed out, and she looked mortified.

"Kelsey, what are you doing up there?" I asked and rushed to the base of the tree. She wasn't moving, her hands looked like sculpted stone. "You can come down."

She shook her head frantically. "They took him, they took Pax. I'm sorry I couldn't be any help to him, but they were wolves."

I felt the colour drain from my own face. "Did you see anyone you knew?" It was probably a stupid thing to ask, given the fact that they were werewolves that she didn't know anyway.

She looked at me as though she had the same thoughts as I had. "No, Farley. I don't know any wolves, not personally. I've never invited a wolf over for a tea party."

I opened my mouth to correct her, as she had, in fact, invited me to one, but I thought that it wouldn't have been the best comment to make.

"I'll go get the others," Arkin informed before he backed away and ran in the direction we came. At least we wouldn't have to shout for them to come. He was our best chance, as not many would know he was with us. Well, nobody would if they didn't know about werewolves. Arkin and his pack were some of the most secluded wolves in the country, they wouldn't be recognised.

"Do you need help?" Randall asked as he looked up at Kelsey. "I'm not sure that you're gonna last much longer up there."

Kelsey whined like a dog, literally. I was used to werewolves doing it, but I didn't actually know that humans did it too. I guess that says a lot about my social life.

"I don't know how you would be able to help," Kelsey answered.

Randall didn't give anyone enough time to comprehend what he was doing before he started to climb the tree. It was as though he were simply just walking up the tree. He wrapped his arms around Kelsey's back and was soon on the ground with her in his arms.

"Wow, you're shaking like a leaf," he commented and set her down on the forest floor. "You must've seen something truly horrifying."

"Nothing can be more horrifying than your hero alter-ego," Beaumont joked and patted Randall on the back.

"So, what did you see?" I asked Kelsey as I sat next to her. I took one of her hands in mine, they were cold and covered with spelks.

"They fought Pax and took him somewhere," she explained with very little emotion. She sounded like she was just coming down from an immense burst of energy, like she had used up all her joy. "They were wolves, I think I recognised one of them from the gym."

I cursed and had to consciously stop the hand which was holding hers from curling into a fist. Pax had been taken again.

"Seems that people have a thing for kidnapping," I commented bitterly. "That seems to be the only thing that they can freaking do." My voice was undoubtedly getting louder as anger started to drizzle through the filter that was disintegrating like Styrofoam being crumbled under water.

"It's a tried and tested technique," Ralph said.

I jumped in surprise as a crowd of werewolves approached. "That was fast," Randall commented. "That was awesome."

"Did the wolves drag him away?" Moss asked Kelsey with his hands in his pockets. "Or did they have a human with them?"

Kelsey stuttered a few times. "I could've sworn I saw someone with very dark hair and a beard. He looked to be in his early thirties. He was probably one of the wolves." It took her two minutes to get the entire sentence out as she stuttered so much.

"Cedar?" I asked. It was somewhat rhetorical, not many of us had actually seen Cedar. I doubted that many people knew what he looked like. Surprisingly, I got a few nods in confirmation. "Where would they take him?"

"I know," a small voice came from in the middle of the crowd. Rowan stood, looking pale and skinnier than he had a few weeks ago. He held a phone in his hand and his eyes scanned the screen, going over the information several times, judging by the movement of his eyes and the fact he wasn't scrolling. "They're at the abandoned St. June's hospital about an hour and a half away."

"And how do you know that?" Arkin asked. He didn't sound too mean. If you Googled 'curiosity', then his face would come up in the image search.

"Werewolf dark web," was Rowan's simple answer. "They're going to auction him."

My eyes flashed red, and I had to stop myself from growling loudly. A very small rumble escaped from my chest, but I managed to restrain myself. "Are we going to surround it? Go straight through the door? Sneak in?" I asked quickly. I was determined to ensure that Pax was safe.

"We need to put a stop to this," Caspian said. He stepped out of the crowd and put a hand on my shoulder. "We can't just protect him this time. We can't just take him away and hope that nobody would find him. We need to get to the bottom of why the black wolves are the enemy."

"And I can help with that," Arkin announced as he stepped forward. "Well, my pack and I can."

"We can sneak in," Moss commented. "Nobody knows us."

"We could pose as bidders," Rhodes agreed. "We could try to make sure that Pax doesn't go off with a complete moron."

"They'll be a rich person attending an auction to buy a person. They're already morons," Beaumont commented. He clapped his hands together. "Okay, so who's going?"

"I think that Hollis, Rhodes, Elowen, and Beaumont should go," Ralph said. "That would probably be best, you're less intimidating when you're together."

"What about us?" Tempest asked and crossed her arms.

"You're even more intimidating when you're together," Randall commented. "What about the other packs?"

Ralph looked back at the group behind him. "I suppose it would be up to them and their alphas?"

Arkin nodded. "I've got a couple who might be able to help." A grin came to his face. "But I'm sure they're intimidating enough for you guys to look like kittens."

I hated the fact that I couldn't do anything. Daphne would be able to spot me straight away and know that there was something wrong. I couldn't be in the crowd and fool them well enough to let me past the front door. I had to watch whilst around ten wolves got into Arkin's van and drove towards the abandoned hospital.

"They'll stop this," Iris told me. "We're not going to be far behind."

I nodded and turned my back to the road. Aiden, Harlow, my parents, those under eighteen, and Kelsey would all be staying in the safe house. That seemed to not be targeted anymore. I thought that was a very bad idea on Daphne's part, and wondered if she was only doing that so we let our guard down. But whilst we were gone, someone from Carme's pack had done some alarm system building. Apparently, no wolf would want to get near the house without the inhabitants pressing something to deactivate the security measures. It sounded very sinister and creepy when they were describing it to me,

"The hospital has many buildings which are connected to each other," Moss explained as he put Rowan's phone in the middle of the table. "I think that we should spread out, each pack taking a different entrance."

"We would need to time that extremely precisely," a member of Arkin's pack commented. "To stop them from fleeing."

"That shouldn't be too difficult," Clementine commented. "If we know how quick we can run and the distance between each exit."

"We could also work from the least obvious exit to the most," I added. "Although, if they have security, it might be an issue."

"They shouldn't," Rowan denied. "The wiring in the hospital would be completely trashed by now. Unless they did something similar to us with the safe house."

Rowan would also be staying in the safe house, at least I hope he will. He hadn't actually said anything about where he would be going. I had the suspicion that Clementine would put him and Iris in there no matter what is said. They were both under eighteen, and thus still children. She would drag them there herself, even if it meant missing any and all action. She had tried to get me to stay there with them too, but she gave up quickly.

"That's possible," another member of Arkin's pack said. "But I don't think we should worry about that too much. If we're all at the exits, then we could catch everyone."

"How about secret entrances?" Tempest asked. "We've had many experiences with those."

"There's one," Rowan announced. "In the tunnels under the hospital. It's not so secret. The hospital is old enough for the bodies to have been sent down there for removal."

I scrunched up my nose and asked, "Do you know where the exit is?"

Rowan just shook his head.

"We'll just need to hope that they don't know about it," Caspian said. "If we can't find the exit, maybe they can't."

I wasn't really willing to take that chance, but I nodded anyway and stood up. A few others joined me in standing, for reasons I didn't know.

"We should plan out who's going with who," Arkin said as he stood. "Then we can head off straight away."

I stood in my wolf form at one of the alternative entrances to St. June's hospital. The entire building was filled to the brim with werewolves, or at least it smelled like it. There were so many mixes and combinations of scents, my stomach was twisting with both nerves and disgust. It wouldn't have been so bad if they were diluted with other, pleasant smells, but the stale chlorine and disinfectant burned my nostrils and made me want to turn back.

Most wolves have a distinctive scent, one part of it defines them as a wolf, whilst another is associated with a certain place. I had once been told that those in my pack smelled like a mix of flowers, paint, and glue. I thought that it was rather insulting at the time, apart from the flowers part. I then realised it came in extremely helpful, and it was probably down to the fact that it was probably due to the twins and Clementine being such keen artists, though Rowan wouldn't admit it. It was the consequential smell of primary school, an experience that not many packs had under their belt.

The wolves who were inside the hospital mainly smelled of smoke and money. The scent of money was extremely overwhelming. I supposed that made sense, it was meant to be an auction, but it was unsettling. That much money should belong in a bank, not an abandoned hospital where there'd be illegal auctions.

Caspian nudged my side, bringing my attention to the wolf who was twenty feet away from us. She was the one who was meant to tell us that we would be heading inside.

I lowered my body and charged at the door. The pressure of around ten wolves was nothing against the door which was barely hanging on its hinges.

We ran through the halls and followed the noise of shouting, the numbers which were being called abruptly ended. They had caught us.

Our claws clicked against the floor, small growls were heard among us, or they were coming from my throat.

As soon as I reached the centre of the hospital, my heart stopped. Pax was stood on a stage, Daphne next to him, two men holding his arms. He was restrained and his expression was unimpressed and confused. I didn't blame him. He was probably wondering what on earth was going on.

Then the rest of the crowd caught my attention. There had to be about one hundred wolves here, wolves that were my enemy, wolves which tried to steal my Pax.

I shook my head as I felt the territorial side of me kick in. This wasn't the time for me to get possessive. This was the time to fight the wolves who threatened my boyfriend. This is the woman who kidnapped and poisoned me. This was the final fight which could mean peace.

There was no time for second guessing me. There was no time for peace-talks or moral checks.

Yet, I still waited for the enemy to pounce first.

There was a hurricane of shredded fabrics as human after human shifted into their wolf forms. Teeth and claws came at me from every angle. I both tried to retaliate and reach Pax. It was like running against the wind on the coldest of days. Where the wind would prick at my skin, causing it to sting and my eyes to water. I pushed against the pressure and leaped out of the way of the sharp weapons which were apart of each wolf.

I wasn't trained for this. I was well aware of the fact I was incredibly out of my depth here. I had never really fought against more than three wolves at once, never mind nearly a hundred. I wasn't alone. If I was alone then I would've been dead long before entering this room.

"Farley!" Pax shouted from the front of the room. "What's going on?" he asked quieter. I wanted to stop to assure him that it was alright, but it wasn't, and I couldn't. He was still standing with his arms bound, at least, I assumed he was. His voice hadn't changed direction.

I think I would've preferred the distraction of his voice to the silence which followed. It wasn't complete silence, there were still growls and noises of fabric being shredded, or chairs being knocked over and clattering to the ground. The chairs had been made of metal, so every time they fell, it echoed through the room and my head.

I lost track of Caspian and Clementine quickly. I recognised Moss and Tempest's wolves from when we planned to infiltrate the hospital, along with a select other members of their pack. I couldn't see Cedar or Rosary, a thought which bothered me immensely. They were key players in the game, they had to know something.

Even though I was ahead of everyone, most wolves went for the people behind me. It was strange and suspicious, but I couldn't think about it as I reached the podium.

I rubbed myself against Pax's leg before pulling on his hand with my teeth.

"Farley?" he asked with a squeak.

I huffed and licked his hand before continuing to drag him. I was aiming for the door, which was behind the stage, but I didn't get there. Five wolves blocked my path.

I growled and lowered myself to the floor, waiting to lunge at the first one to attack. But they didn't aim for me.

They went for the easier target, Pax. The smallest wolf, who I knew to be Rosary, lunged forward and her teeth scraped against Pax's leg.

Pax's breathing hitched and he kicked her chin. He wasn't a human for much longer as he shifted into his wolf form awkwardly. His paws struggled to land correctly, I heard a faint cracking and a whimper as his paw broke due to the awkward twisting.

The whimpering turned into an aggravated growl. The black wolf beside me looked angrier than I had ever seen him before. He didn't lower himself like I did, instead he rose up and towered above the other wolves.

It was a powerful stance, and a threatening one. Two of the other wolves aimed for us, each one of us taking one on. The wolf which I faced aimed for my stomach, but I quickly blocked them as I clamped my teeth around their neck.

Hello lovelies! I hope that you're all doing well and had a wonderful weekend!

The question of the chapter is: Do you have vivid dreams?

I feel like I do to be honest, but it depends on many things. I used to think that it had something to do with the moon, but it might also be due to the music which I listen to before falling asleep, because I always seem to dream a lot when I listen to music before bed.