I tried to put some space between the Beta and me and accidentally knocked over a small box of staples. I caught it before it hit the ground by reflex; I needn't have bothered. The room next door was too noisy to hear us.
The gunshots continued. Where the hell was our ground patrol?
I heard a really bad noise, a fierce snarl and then a low, angry growl… I think Dad was shot.
I cracked the window open, just a sliver, to let in the air and sniff out more information. I could smell the gunfire.
That's the problem with guns. Once shot, the lingering odor of gunpowder was like splashing neon paint on the gun in question. Our trained warriors would be able to trace them for up to 72 hours.
Not that I felt it would take them 72 whole hours to catch rogues dumb enough to shoot firearms so close to our packhouse, but… I looked at the staple box in my hand. And I had an idea.
Prank time.
The drawback with pranks was that they usually took lots of time to prepare, which we didn't have, and there were only two of us. But we weren't posting on Instagram, so it didn't have to be picture-perfect. It just had to work.
"Help me with this," I said. I pulled out a large easel and some card paper and, with a large pair of scissors, made an ugly human-shaped standee.
My first step was to distract the gunners outside, and hopefully confuse the enemy. In other words, I was just going to throw a spanner into the works and hope it jammed something important.
If not, I've got plenty more spanners where that came from.
Harvey helped me sneak it to the room next door. Why he was going along with my plan was beyond me.
We set up the standee in the middle of the room. I added a large stapler that might pass off as a shotgun; hopefully it would seem like Mr. Standee was armed too. With the day curtains still drawn, we flipped on the lights. Harvey slammed the door just before the gunshots sounded, breaking another window.
I immediately ran to the supply closet with Harvey close at heel. Once in, I slammed the door loudly, and then poured out the staples onto the floor in front of us.
{Rogue approaches}
Singular. Just one.
Pressing myself to the back of the cupboard, I patted Harvey on his shoulder and handed him the long metal bar from the old filing cabinet. "Fight time. Just keep your shoes on."
The door flung open before Harvey could respond. I grabbed the nearest thing to me and threw it before I even saw what it was. It turned out to be a metal hole puncher, and it hit the rogue in the eye. Lucky!
The rogue was naked and armed with a short dagger. He stepped backward, his unarmed hand grabbing his eye. Angrily, he charged in—or he meant to—but once he stepped forward, his bare feet landed in quick succession on the staples, which silently did their job.
I only smelled a bit of fresh blood, but the rogue pretty much screamed bloody murder. And then Harvey charged. Beta could fight, and three hits was all it took to get the big rogue down. I bet if the space hadn't constrained Harvey's swings so much, he could've finished the job sooner. I smelled a lot of blood by now, but this time the rogue was silent.
The fact that one of the office rogues came out to check meant that the rogues had secured their win in the office. But Dad was still alive. I knew this.
{Rogues below}
Downstairs, Wolfie? Plural. How many, Wolfie? Can wolves count?
Harvey sensed the intrusion too. He looked at me as if asking, "What now?"
If they were here for my dad, they would still check out the smell of blood from the room next door. Let's make it a show to welcome them.
"Drag him out halfway," I told Harvey.
He did, but dragging the rogue across the staples turned out to be unexpectedly gruesome. Harvey made a face. I acted like I didn't notice, and pocketed the rogue's flip knife.
At my signal, we ran across the corridor into the library. I bolted it from inside. I'm sure the rogues would have sensed us, but I hoped seeing their dead friend on the threshold of the supply closet would distract them and buy us more time.
Harvey was still carrying the metal bar. I took it from him. "There's better stuff here."
I undid the secret catch and lifted the lid of the reading table in the middle of the library. Nice.
{Rogues approach}
S***. Out of time.
"Grab what you can use," I told Harvey.
He picked a dagger and a shotgun. That suited him.
I already had a flip knife. And I didn't have any more pockets or the ability to carry sharp objects without cutting myself. After a moment of consideration, I decided the other blades in the selection would sooner cut me than anyone else.
Dropping the tabletop down, I led Harvey to the back of the library. Harvey offered me the gun, but I'd never shot one before, so I shook my head at it.
If we took shelter among the library shelves and hung out at the back, we might be able to take them down one by one. Like an indoor hunting game, which was a variation of hide-and-seek tag. I played this kind of game with the gang a lot, sometimes in this actual library room. Except this time, we were using real weapons and hunting real rogues.
The rogues sounded like they were having trouble getting the door open. Seriously? Maybe I overestimated them.
They weren't going downstairs to the training hall either? Why? Not enough numbers, or they didn't know it existed, or perhaps they thought having the Alpha held hostage was enough.
I heard the rogues push something heavy against the library door to keep us trapped in. Idiots—the door swung inward…
Wait, don't tell me they weren't able to crash open the library doors because they were pulling on a push door?
But knowing they didn't plan to come for us anytime soon, I started moving out to the library's window.
"Careful of their snipers, princess," Harvey warned quietly. But he forgot—this was my castle.
There was a row of large old evergreens outside the library balcony, and in the dark, they wouldn't see us.
Oh wait, I was wearing highlighter stripes. I drew back to pull off my T-shirt so that it was just my black sports bra and yoga pants.
Dropping my T-shirt on the floor, I cracked the sliding glass door open. I heard a zipper and turned around. Harvey held up his gym jacket to me. He had a tight black T-shirt under.
I put on his hooded jacket, and tucked my hair into the hood so it wouldn't get in the way. Then I slipped out onto the balcony.
Harvey followed me; he put himself between me and any possible oncoming bullet. The gesture was sweet but completely unnecessary. I ignored it. I had to focus on dealing with the rogues right now.
We crept along the balcony wall until we reached the end of the balcony closest to the broken office window.
We could see three rogues discussing what to do in the lit room. Actually, two of them were discussing. One of them was working… in front of my dad's computer.
I pointed to the geek rogue and made my hand like a gun to Harvey. If they were here for information, they wouldn't get it without the nerd.
Harvey looked terribly unsure. "Your dad's there."
"Yeah, I know. Do it quickly."
The angle was a bit wonky to get a good shot. Harvey aimed anyway. He missed the first time, hitting the computer screen. His second shot hit home.
Our two gunshots were matched immediately. The whizzing bullets kept us pinned in our corner of the balcony.
Another rogue looked out of the office window. Harvey took the opportunity to shoot him in the face before dropping quickly back next to me. I covered my ears and shut my eyes and waited out the gunshots.
One more rogue left in the room. Our job's not done yet.
The moment the guns ceased (presumably they had decided to actually see a target before shooting again), I snuck back into the library, careful to keep low behind the balcony wall and out of their line of sight.
My heart was hammering, but I couldn't stop now. We needed to keep going and get my dad.
Harvey and I made it back into the library. I ran to the library entrance and threw it open.
Time was of the essence. Just one rogue left alone with my dad, and we needed to get in there before more rogues came. I jumped over the heavy chest of drawers the idiot rogues had put in front of the door.
{Approaching rogue}
I know I am Wolfie, but thanks for noticing.
At the last moment, I changed my mind and made an about-face, but not before pushing Harvey into the office on his own. I pressed myself against the corridor wall to listen in.
"Was it just you alone, boy?" the rogue snarled. "Drop your weapon. I have your Alpha."
Harvey looked at the gun in his hand. He was pretty calm for someone who was just shoved into the situation.
"Drop it!" the rogue half-screamed at him.
Harvey dropped it and kicked it outside. Was that for me, Beta? You aren't mad I keep pushing you headfirst into danger?
"Don't hurt my Alpha," Harvey said. His voice was dead calm.
Good beta. It's good for Betas (e.g., Harvey) to trust their Alphas (e.g., me). I adjusted Harvey's gym jacket on me. It was oversized and just covered my butt. I had yoga pants stretched under it. I pulled my hair out of its hiding place in the hood, combing it down over both shoulders the way I've seen Jessica do with her hair. Then I hooded up again, but I knew my long hair was on display.
Oh yeah, the flip knife. I took it out of my yoga pants' stretch pocket over my thigh, and slipped it into Harvey's jacket pocket to keep it out of sight.
Then I saw the gun on the floor. I put that in the other pocket.
Okay, Wolfie, let's do something crazy.
"Big brother?" I made my voice as cute as possible. "I'm scared. Is it over?"
I stepped out into view and tugged at the hem of my jacket.
I saw Harvey's mouth drop open. My dad's face fell, but he remained quiet. It was almost like he hadn't wanted to see me here.
"Oh," the rogue looked surprised. "Come here, girl."
"But you're scary," I told him. "And you have a gun."
"I told you to go back, sis," Harvey had no choice but to play along. "It's dangerous here."
"Come here, girl!" the rogue said. "Or I'll shoot him." He pointed the gun at Dad's head.
Would that kill him?
{Rogues are near}
{Gammas are near}
Wolfie's succinct reports could be annoying sometimes. Gammas? We only had Gamma Harry… but I've got no time for guess-who games.
"Who's he?" I asked, looking at my dad. At this moment, for lack of inspiration, I decided to pretend to be an airhead. Sometimes I did this when I was alone with Savy. It always either annoyed her or amused her terribly, depending on her mood.
"He's our Alpha, sis. Man, you're dumb," Harvey answered, rolling his eyes. Wow, Harvey was so natural at dissing his little sister. Did he have a lot of practice?
I was still scared of the possibility of the guns shooting through the window from outside, so I walked over to where my dad was and crouched down in front of his desk next to him. "You're our Alpha? Why are your hands tied behind you? Are you hurt? Oooooh, your shoulder looks bad. Are you really my Alpha?"
Dad barely growled. His wolf felt faint. His shoulder was bleeding badly. I recognized the trace smell of Wolfbane.
The rogue smirked down at me. "Stupid and pretty. Just the way I like them."
I felt my hair stand. Grrr…
"Grrr…" Dad did growl then. I was happy to see his wolf, but I gripped him tightly on the rope around his wrists to keep him from trying to get up and chew out the rogue.
"Yeah, she's pretty stupid," Harvey said. I think he just spoke out to get the rogue's attention. It worked, and the rogue failed to notice the Alpha's protectiveness over me.
I'm not sure how Harvey intended to continue holding the rogue's attention—was he going to just keep insulting me?
A fight broke out downstairs. I guessed the Gammas and rogues finally met.
I had a flip knife in my pocket. And Harvey's gun.
I took out the knife and put the handle in my father's hand.
I think Dad would have preferred if I cut him free so he could fight the rogue with Harvey.
But the rogue still had a gun in hand. And it would look suspicious if I was suddenly too focused on my Alpha's backside. I watched the rogue carefully instead, using my body to block Dad's attempt to saw off the thick rope from his sight.
Suddenly, I saw my chance. The noises from the fight downstairs were distracting our rogue. He was trying to hear if his team was winning or losing, and forgot that he was on the pitch too.
His gun was not pointing quite at Dad anymore. I stood up at lightning speed and kicked the gun away. It went off, the shot hitting the floor and ricocheting into the sofa. Scary.
{Gammas approach}
Guess our team won downstairs.
Then, before I could think again, I took out Harvey's gun and pointed it point-blank at the rogue. The rogue put up his hands. A shot rang out. It wasn't me, though.
Harvey had fired the gun I kicked off the rogue.
"He's not dead," he assured me.
"Ah, no. That just surprised me." I mumbled. Also, the rogue looked pretty dead to me.
The next thing I knew, Dad and Harvey had me tackled onto the floor in front of Dad's desk. Oh right! There were gunners outside!
I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for another volley of gunshots. I officially hated guns now.
But nothing happened.
I felt the arms around me loosen and opened my eyes. Dad and Harvey had shifted away from me to sense the air for danger. I'm guessing the ground patrol caught up to all the snipers by now. About time too!
Gamma Harry and Jonah burst into the office. They were breathing hard from running straight up after the fight below.
"What happened here?" Gamma Harry asked.
Dad stood up. "It's all right now." His deep voice was reassuring.
Harvey and I stood up too.
"Dad's injured," I told Gamma Harry.
Dad nodded. "Silver bullet in my shoulder. Bit of Wolfbane."
"Delta Simon is on his way," Gamma Harry said.
"No need, I'm fine," Dad decided. "We'll go downstairs. My lovely Luna is missing a daughter."
Oh right. I'm so dead.
Jonah had the mind to pull open a side cupboard and take out Dad's extra clothes for him. Oh right again. My dear Dad was still naked. I really should notice these things more often.
Dad held up the flip knife I had passed him earlier. "Is this yours?"
"Rogue's," I answered. "Can I keep it?"
The other guys were picking through the litter around the office. They put the gun from the library onto Dad's desk. Harvey returned the unused dagger, and the rogue's gun.
Dad put the flip knife on the desk. I sighed. I tried. Goodbye, flip knife. It was nice knowing you.