Driving back to the pack, I'm pretty sure Xavier broke more road laws than I could count on both hands. It was slightly terrifying, but I was more afraid of what we were driving towards. Xavier had said Noah had only uttered the words 'rogues on perimeter' before Xavier had hung up, racing out of the diner. His explanation was that he couldn't waste a single second, but surely he could have listened a little longer? 

Heading towards the unknown was nerve wracking. 

Xavier's whole body was tense and his focus was only on one thing: speed. Knowing Xavier, he probably had some kind of in with the traffic enforcers anyway, so he wouldn't see the consequences of his speeding, but I was still scared of crashing. Deep down, however, I knew that Xavier was completely in control. After all, his reaction times were supernaturally good. 

We finally pulled up to the pack gates and he slammed his brakes on, jumping out of the car. I scrambled to undo my seatbelt, but before I could even get out of the car he was long gone. He shifted quicker than I had ever seen it happen before, shredding his clothes as he leapt into the air. In a blink of an eye, he had run off into the distance. 

I sat there, unsure of what the hell to do. I sure as hell wasn't running after him if there were rogues out there, but was I supposed to just stay here? 

"Cameron?" A voice called, tapping on the glass at the car window. 

While I had been staring into the distance where Xavier had disappeared to, the gates had crept open and Gracie had appeared. She gestured for me to get out of the car and I did as she said, my eyes widening at what I saw. In just three weeks, she had gotten so much bigger. 

"Are you about to pop?" I muttered, eyeing the bump warily.

"Not long now." She beamed, "No time for chit chat, unfortunately. Let's get you inside... Can you drive?" 

I simply shook my head. Xavier hadn't had the chance to teach me yet, so I was pretty clueless. 

"Now's as good of a time as any to learn, I guess." She giggled, "I'm certainly not driving that thing- Xavier would kill me if I scratched it. Well, hurry up! No time to lose; I'm pregnant and in no mood to see Jude."

I scrambled into the drivers seat, nervously adjusting how close to the steering wheel I was- I could only dream of having legs as long as Xavier, after all. Gracie took a while to climb into the car, but she made it in eventually. 

"Okay, pull down that lever to drive and press the accelerator with your right foot; It's literally as easy as that in Xavier's car because it's an automatic." Gracie explained, "It's barely even driving. You don't have to worry about shifting gears ,or a clutch, or anything."

I did as she said and the car began to move, making my stomach flip with nervousness. This was such an expensive car that I was scared of scratching it. Gracie was right that Xavier wouldn't kill me if I did, but I still didn't want to hurt his pride and joy.

"They were circling the perimeter, trying to find ways in." Gracie explained, "Take a left here... I'm taking you to the pack house for an emergency meeting. Xavier will join us as soon as he and a few others have chased them away. It might not sound like a lot, but this is closer than any rogue has dared to come before."

Not knowing what to think about the whole situation and trying to concentrate on not crashing the expensive car, I simply nodded at what Gracie told me. My mind was whizzing with scenarios where Xavier was hurt or worse, killing me with worry as I drove. I was only travelling at roughly ten miles per hour, but it was still hard to concentrate on the road.

"Cameron, honey, relax." Gracie soothed me, resting her hand on mine.

Realising that I had a death grip on the steering wheel, I loosened up my clasp. My fingers had turned white, but they quickly returned to their normal colour once I relaxed a little. Despite physically relaxing, my chest still felt really tense.I couldn't relaxing knowing that Xavier was facing that psycho Jude alone. 

"How are you so calm?" It was a genuine question, since Gracie seemed to be chilling right now.

"I've bonded with Noah, so I can feel what he's feeling. I'd know if they were in danger, because I would feel it too. Right now, the worst feeling that Noah feels is hunger, so I think they're both fine." Gracie giggled, "When your mate is high ranking, it's reassuring to have marked each other, Cam- you should consider it." 

I rolled to a stop outside of the pack house and Gracie gave me a quick clap, patting my shoulder well done. It wasn't that hard- it was kind of like playing Mario kart but a very realistic 3D version. 

"Will you let me know if anything changes?" I requested Gracie, still worrying about Xavier.

"Of course." Gracie nodded, "Give me a hand getting out of this car? It's too low down for me to get out gracefully anymore." 

I chuckled at that, jogging around the car and helping her to her feet. She really was large now- it must be a big baby... Pup? I'm not quite sure what to call it, I'd have to ask Xavier. 

The pack house seemed deserted as we rolled up, confusing me slightly. Usually the pack house was crawling with people at all hours of the day, so it was strange to see it while it was so empty. It seemed almost unnatural.

"That lockdown drill you suggested worked a treat- I wish you were here to see it, all of those practices we did really paid off." Gracie beamed, "Even if the threat level isn't that high, we thought we would put it into action today just in case." 

"Take that, Elder." I smiled cheekily, relieved that our efforts weren't wasted.

"Can we take the lift to the office? Bump's really not feeling all of those stairs." Gracie patted her tummy, shaking her head at the stairs.

"You call it Bump?" I cooed, "That's adorable... Hold on, there's a lift? You mean Xavier's been making me take the stairs this entire time for no reason?" 

"When you're a wolf, you forget that humans get tired easily." Gracie's smile was sheepish, "I completely forgot about the lift until I fell pregnant. It was installed in one of the turrets a few years back." 

She lead me to where the mystical lift was and called it to our floor with the button, blowing me away. This was house was huge, but I hadn't expected there to be a personal lift in the house. I suppose it made sense when you considered the huge number of stairs in the house, but it was still amazing to me. 

Once inside, she turned a key in the lift pad that allowed us to access a special button. 

"What's that?" I gestured to the special button, since it seemed secretive and I was nosy.

"You need a key to access Xavier's office from the lift. It's only because the kids in the young ones in the pack would find it hilarious to send the lift to Xavier's office constantly as a prank- they tend to be shit bags like that, in the most endearing way." 

 I had noticed that about the kids in the pack too, so I couldn't help the chuckle that passed my lips. The pack house was like a social spot for all of the kids to come and play, despite the fact it was the hub for important business and pack meetings. Xavier and I had been rushing to a meeting quite a few times when we had stumbled into kids up to no good. 

"That's gonna be your kid soon." I reminded her, just as the lift doors finally opened.

"If they're anything like Noah as a kid, god help us." Gracie grimaced, waddling out of the lift.

"You've known Noah since you were kids?" The idea that they had known each other for that long hadn't even occurred to me until now, but it made sense since they were in the same pack.

"Oh, yeah. Xavier, Noah, Jude and I were all quite good friends actually." Gracie mused, "Funny how things work out..."

"Funny's one word for it." 

I helped Gracie into her chair at Xavier's table before I went to retrieve us both a drink from Xavier's hidden mini fridge, pressing a finger to my lips and telling Gracie to keep a secret. 

"He keeps all the good drinks hidden." I informed her, passing her a cold bottle of j2o. 

"That greedy bastard." She gasped incredulously, "He's been making me drink room temp water for the last few months for no reason?"

"Now you know how I feel about the lift situation." I joked, joining her at the table.

"They're on their way back here now, I can sense Noah." 

Strange, I couldn't sense Xavier just yet- it must be to do with the whole bonding/mating thing. i needed to ask Xavier more about that, because after today I wanted to be able to tell whether Xavier was okay or not. If it weren't for Gracie being here, I wouldn't know what the hell was happening with Xavier.

"Are the elders coming?" I asked in order to mentally prepare myself for whatever this meeting was going to entail.

"I highly doubt it. They're probably freaked that rogues came that close and a little ashamed that their insistent mocking of your lock down drill backfired since it actually came in handy." Gracie seemed slightly smug, which matched my own emotions about the situation.

"Oh, I can sense him now." I noted, getting that feeling in my chest that Xavier was close by. 

"Strange, before Noah and I marked each other I couldn't sense him unless he was literally in the room..."  

"I've always been able to tell he was there even when he was like a football field away." I shrugged, the feeling intensifying gradually until he finally walked through the doors.

"Noah, it's no fair! Xavier and Cameron's bond is stronger than ours was." Gracie pouted once Noah entered the room, making them both look at us with confused expressions.

"I'm not sure what you mean, but it's probably just because they're both sex deprived." Noah dismissed her, "Besides, nobody loves their mate as much as I love you." 

"I'm pretty sure every person says that to their mate." Xavier deadpanned, "Don't be threatened by Cameron and I's bond, we're just special; it can't be helped." 

"Smug prick." Noah muttered, rolling his eyes playfully.

Xavier crossed the room and I stood up to greet him, revelling in the tingles that engulfed my every sense as he wrapped his arm around me. The sigh he let out was full of tension and I felt slightly bad that I couldn't exactly do more about what had just happened. After all, bringing a human to a werewolf fight was like bringing a spoon to a gun fight. 

"Sorry for running off like that." Xavier murmured in my ear, "I knew Gracie was waiting by the gate to collect you, so I didn't want to waste a second." 

"Don't apologise." I chuckled, "I'm sorry I can't be more help."

"You're beyond helpful, didn't Gracie tell you about how well the lockdown went?" Xavier defended me, seemingly offended that I even spoke poorly about myself in the first place. 

"She did, I just feel a bit useless sat in an office while you're facing it front on." I shrugged, "What happened anyway?" 

"We chased them all the way to the forest edge, but they managed to get away. They have distraction units they deploy to get us off their tail and confuse us- there's a lot more of them working together than we originally thought. I think we need to call for reinforcements from a neighbouring pack and really push with self defence training and security." Xavier's face was grave, "They were looking for weak points in the defence line and it looks like they found a few..." 

"You mean they're planning to attack inside the pack walls?" Gracie gasped.

"Yes and soon."