It was risky, but he didn't have much choice.

It had been five days now since Harry had returned to the human base under the pretence that he had managed to escape from the werewolves. Luckily, they seemed to believe him after a few basic questions about what had happened or the things that he had seen, all of which he had managed to get away with very minimal and vague explanations as answers.

But it had been five days now and he had made no progress in finding out what the hunters' plan was or even when they planned to attack the werewolves.

Harry had skipped supervising werewolf training sessions that morning to listen in on the meeting. He was sure that it wasn't the wisest nor the best decision, but he couldn't just come out and tell everyone why he had really missed it. It was pretty early so if anybody asked, he could easily say that he had slept in.

Everyone pitied him anyway. Being captured by a dangerous group of werewolves and watching his wife be killed by one of them before his very eyes did gain him some sympathy points, but he just hoped that they were enough.

And it also helped that his wife, Poppy was probably the safest she had ever been since she had joined the human revolution, but they didn't know that.

For now, he would play the sympathy card for as long as he possibly could.

However, it clearly wasn't enough as it had been five days and he had been kept in the dark for all of it, no one wanting to stress him out or upset him after the immense 'trauma' he had been through.

Though Harry had to admit, if he wasn't traumatised before then he certainly would more.

His conscious, guilt and moral compass were all making him do wild things. First, leaving his wife for a second time with a bunch of werewolves so that he could spy on a bunch of humans who planned on wiping them all out for world domination and now, crawling through the air vents to spy on some conversation he didn't even know where it was taking place.

If all the spiders that he came across during his expedition through the air vents didn't traumatise him, some of the things he heard definitely would. Grimacing as he crawled away from an unsuccessful and rather disturbing conversation he now wishes he hadn't heart, he continued to crawl forward, all the while going slow and being cautious of making any noise that would give away his location and would potentially get him in some hot water.

Every time he got to an opening of a vent, he pressed his ear against it.

It was only after the fourth try did he finally come across a conversation worth listening to, the one he had climbed into the vents for in the first place.

"How do we plan on masking our scents?" One of the humans asked.

Harry couldn't exactly see properly into the vents, only being able to make out two familiar faces as they sat around a conference table, but he recognised the voice to be one of the commanders that made it his personal duty to make sure that the wolves fought as hard against one another as possible, only allowing them to stop when at least one of them was on the verge of either passing out temporarily or permanently. He even used whips to break in the new pups whenever a new batch were kidnapped and brought it.

Harry didn't necessarily agree with it but there was nothing he could have done about it, and sometimes it was just easier to ignore something that was going on than getting into an argument that he was sure he wouldn't come out of alive.

He was wasn't surprised to hear the commander's voice in that meeting.

"We were planning on using that same gas that we used to mask our scent when we drove the wolves off the road."

"The accident that A1 was in?" That was the commander again.

Some of the words seemed slightly muffled which led in Harry trying to figure them out. Not wanting to miss a word, he lay himself down flat on his stomach, his ear propped up against the ear vent, his hands braced on either side of his chest in a push-up notion.

A1 was most likely Artemis. He recalled Alpha Solomon mentioning it once.

"Yes," one of the other humans in the meeting confirmed. "We've worked on the gas some more so it's stronger now?"

"What are the benefits of it being stronger?"

"It will be able to cover the scent of a larger group."

"How many people in a large group?"

"About twelve to fifteen."

A hand slammed down on the table. "That's not enough!" A rough voice barked out which resulted in a few gasps and whimpers to run across the table. This wasn't the commander. No, this voice held much more power and authority, one that demanded respect regardless of whether he had earned it or not. "How much of this gas have you made?"

"About three batches, Alpha Eaton."

Alpha Eaton?

"And how many groups will that cover?"

"We're hoping for ten."

"Your hope isn't going to help us win this war." The same man, the Alpha scoffed. "We need more of this gas!" He barked out the order.

"Yes, Alpha Eaton."

"And how do you know that this works? Have you tested it yet?"

"We haven't tested the new batches yet Alpha."

"So, how do you know it works?"

"We don't know yet. We haven't had a chance to test it. We managed to finish the third batch last night."

"That's not good enough." The Alpha barked again, his voice rising in both pitch and tone the angrier he got. Harry was glad that he wasn't in that room with the rest of the humans. "Test it on the wolves, see if it works."

"Your pack?"

"Not my pack!" The Alpha roared. Harry could hear the sound of a chair scraping back against the tiled floor that ran across every single room in the base before it tumbled down to the floor with a loud clang. "Test it on the army of wolves you've been collecting over the years."

"Yes, Alpha."

"And what of that substance that keeps the wolves in their wolf form?"

"We have made sufficient amounts of that." A new voice squeaked from what seemed to be on the opposite end of the table from the werewolf Alpha.

"And have you tested that?"

"Yes, Alpha. On A1."

Harry was sure now that A1 was code for Artemis.

"Well, that doesn't help us does it? We don't have her in our captivity anymore." The Alpha visibly sighed. "How long did she stay in wolf form?"

"A few weeks."

"And how long will that last on wolves that are in battle?"

"With the amount of strength, power and energy that these wolves will exert in in battle, I would say at least a couple of days."

"Good," it seemed that this had finally appeased the Almighty Alpha that was ever so hard to please. "That's plenty of time wipe out the werewolf nation."

Murmurs of agreement ran across the table before the commander silenced them, shushing them.

"We need to decide on a date for the attack Alpha."

Silence ensured after that, even the Alpha remained quiet, presumably thinking.

"We're not ready yet."

Again, a few murmurs of agreement ran across the table. Harry presumed that they were all just scared of disagreeing with the Alpha and having to atone for it.

"Remind me what we're lacking at the moment."

"We need more batches of the gas that masks our scent and we also need to train some more of the wolves."

"Okay," the Alpha voiced aloud. "Put more of your people on making the gas and I will get my pack to help train the wolves."

"It's the younger ones that we need to focus on especially. The others are ready."

"Good. We shall attack the wolves in two weeks from today, one pack at a time. We'll do it so fast that they won't even have time to warn any of the other packs of what is happening."

"That should also be enough time

The rest of the conversation was very much small talk, nothing out of the ordinary and nothing that he needed to report back to the wolves. Just to be on the safe side, Harry remained in the vents about fifteen minutes after it seemed like everyone had cleared from the conference room.

Getting back up on his hands and knees, he crawled out of the air vents and back into the laundry room he had entered it from. A sigh of relief escaped him as there was no in the room and the door was closed just like he had left it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary since he had climbed into the vents less than an hour ago.

Jumping down on one of the dryers with a small thud, he grimaced slightly at the sound before grabbing the vent cover and placing it back into the ground.

Dropping himself to the ground, he grabbed one of his shirts from the dryer before walking out of the room and walking down the hallway. If anyone had seen him come in and out of the laundry room that morning, they wouldn't be suspicious if he actually had some laundry to show for it even if it was just a simple shirt. Worst case scenario, he could just always say that he had trouble working the machine. He was sure that people would overlook the issue very quickly and put it down to the 'trauma' of watching his wife being murdered before his own eyes.

A shiver ran down his spine at the thought.

He trusted the wolves that were with his wife more than he did the humans he was now walking amongst. Harry was sure that if the need ever arrived, Alpha Eaton would go back on his word and wipe out all the humans, leaving just his pack of werewolves and the army that the humans had grown to destroy all of civilisation, leaving him to conquer the world.

The whole scenario was beyond extreme.

A werewolf wiping out all werewolves just so he could have world domination.

Clearly being an Alpha to one of the ten -now nine since the Shadow Keeper's had been annihilated- packs in all of America wasn't enough for the man. And Harry had no doubt that Alpha Eaton played a big role in wiping out Alpha Solomon's pack though he doubted that anyone but the humans he worked closely with would be able to prove that.

Once again, he found himself disgusted with having been proud to be part of such an organisation before.

He really had been blinded by the pain that he let consume him.

Walking down the hallway with a clean, freshly laundered shirt in his hands, he attempted to be as discrete as possibly not wanting to raise any eyebrows. Smiling at a few familiar faces he recognised, he didn't stop to make small talk as he made his way towards his lab with the intent of sneaking out through the back door which was monitored far less frequently than any other exit in the base. Plus, if anyone questioned him regarding it he could very easily say that he was just walking by and decided to take a short cut to his home which was in the second building, or even that he had left something behind earlier.

It seemed that being a lab geek did have its perks.

Just when the door to the lab came into view, his spine straightened and he could feel his body going stiff and tense at the sound of someone calling out to him.

"Harry!"

He froze, his worried facial expression would surely raise suspicious eyebrows.

Clearing his throat, he turned around to find one of the guards that he was friends with, Thomas, jogging to catch up to him. Thomas was a friend of his but he wasn't someone he could trust. As a matter of fact, he could trust no one but his wife and possibly those wolves that were currently keeping his wife safe as he volunteered himself for this undercover scheme he was now coming to regret.

If Thomas got the idea that Harry was committing treason then the word would spread around the base like quick fire and he was sure that he couldn't live to eat dinner.

"Thomas," he greeted the guard in a friendly manner, a small smile on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

He could feel a few beads of sweat dripping down the back of his neck before dripping down his back, leaving him feeling both uncomfortable and nervous but now wasn't the time to panic. "I was just heading into the lab."

"And why would you be doing that?"

"I was going to take a shortcut back home." He admitted, not being entirely honest but he didn't need to know that.

The guard nodded but still eyed him for a prolonged period of time. His eyes travelled down to the material in his hand. "You been doing some laundry?"

Harry glanced down briefly before his eyes travelled up to meet the guard's." Yes," he nodded and offered a light chuckle. Thankfully, the sound was airy and breezy, the exact opposite of what was going on in his mind. "What's with all the questions."

"Nothing," the guard denied before he sighed and reached out.

Harry had to hold himself back from flinching as the guard placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. His eyes trailed down to the hand, wondering briefly if the guard would rip his arm out of its socket if he were to try and run right now, but he decided against it at the last minute.

"I'm just worried about you."

"Worried?" He asked. "About me?"

"Yes." The guard nodded his head, sympathy shining in his eyes though pity seemed to overrule it. "With everything that you've gone through in the past week, I just hope that you've been holding up fine. How are you?"

"I'm good," he trailed off as he still stared at Thomas warily. "It's just hard to get used to the fact that I'm never going to see Poppy again." He hiccupped, attempting to appear as if he was holding back his hysterical sobs over his deceased wife -whom was very much still alive, breathing and healthy. Though he was sure that she was absolutely worried out of her mind, but that was besides the moment.

A squeak escaped him as the guard pulled him into a brief hug. "I'm so sorry man. You know you can speak to me anytime." He tried to assure him as he pulled away.

Harry nodded and looked up at the guard with a few tears glistening in his eyes. "Thanks, Thomas. I really appreciate that."

"Let me know if I can do anything for you."

He attempted to smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes even though this was all for show. "Thanks, but I think I'm just going to head back to my apartment and take a nap." He told the guard in hopes that he would leave now.

Thomas nodded in understanding and the two shared goodbyes with the former forcing the latter promise to call him if he wanted to talk about it all. When Harry agreed, Thomas turned around to walk away.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips but he must have reacted too soon because the guard came to a stop. "Wait." He called out.

Turning around, Thomas smiled, showing off all his teeth as she reached down and grabbed something from the floor. "You dropped this." He held his hand out, holding the shirt that he had washed in the laundry room.

A sigh of relief escaped him which earned him a quizzical brow from the guard, but he was safe for the most part.

Grabbing the shirt from him, he thanked his friend graciously. Harry stood back and watched as Thomas headed away from him, until he had turned the corner and was away from sight. Once he was sure that the guard didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary, his feet moved quickly towards the lab.

Scanning himself in, he made quick work to head out of the fire exit, making sure to close the door behind him.

There, he had two options.

He could head back to his apartment in the opposite building or he could sneak out of under the fence just as he had been doing every day for the past five days. The first was the safe option, it was the one that would keep him safe. But the second, it was the right option, the one that would keep so many others alive.

Still clutching his freshly cleaned shirt in his hand, he headed over to a secluded part of the base that no one really had any reason to venture out to. It helped that there was a large oak tree that stood tall and proud, the width of it wide enough to hide him in case there was anyone else in the general area.

While he was hidden away from human eyes, the werewolves could see him clearly form where they were hiding, watching the base as they planned which sections would be the best to start their attack.

On the first day the werewolves had dug out a small hole under a section of the fence that was hidden by the large oak tree. If at any time he found some papers or documents that would be useful for them, passing them through under the fence was the way to go. Not once had it been that he had pushed his body through the hole under the fence, but he suspected that was what he would end up doing today for he had got the information that they needed.

"The attack will happen in two weeks," he informed one of the wolves that had approached the fence.

The warrior nodded and started to dig out the hole again with his bare hands after having covered it up with some dirt and leaves the previous day. "We need to get you back to the Lupine Woodland pack." He informed the human once he had crawled out from under the fence and was back on his feet.

"I'm going with you?" He found himself asking, not wanting to give himself any false hope that he would actually survive the fight that was sure to go down now that they knew exactly what the humans had planned.

Harry couldn't bring himself to blame the werewolves if they decided to leave him here and fend for himself.

But they were more gracious and forgiving than he had thought.

The wolf nodded and glanced over his shoulder, nodding at the other two warriors whom both went back into hiding, staying behind to continue spying on the human base while the rest of the werewolf nation prepared themselves for war. Turning back him, respect shined in the werewolf's eyes. "You're one of us now," he informed him, not realising just how much his words meant to the human. "And we don't leave anyone behind." And with that, he transformed into his wolf, waited patiently as human Harry climbed onto him, holding onto him tight, his laundered shirt sandwiched between him and the wolf.

With the speed the warrior was travelling at, he would be back to his wife before dinner.

-

You can read the rest of the book for FREE on Inkitt! Just search 'Solomon [COMPLETE]' or use this link: https://inkitt.app.link/RA__illuminating_

Support me to read chapters from Beating Hearts and Alejandro before they're released to anywhere else! https://www.patreon.com/LaylaKnight

Both links can also be found on my Wattpad profile.

Layla Knight

01.10.19