Their smiles both disappeared quickly and Cain stood “Lily? Are you okay?” I could feel the blood draining from my face. Tobias got up too and they rushed to my sides. They helped me to sit down on the edge of the fountain again. Cain sat down beside me while Tobias knelt in front of me, “What’s wrong?” Cain asked as he brushed a lock of hair back behind my ear, “I-I-I can’t” I shook my head, “I cannot take up such a lofty position. I am not strong at all and I am far under qualified.” A thought floated up in my mind and it triggered the sting of incoming tears and a lump in my throat. Why did the thought hurt so bad? “Maybe the council was right.” My eyes met Tobias’ beautiful, worry filled green eyes, “You should let them choose someone fit for such a position.” Surprise, anger, and then something similar to sympathetic sadness all danced across Tobias’ features. He shook his head, “Why would I do that?” He reached up and caressed my cheek. I whimpered and my bottom lip trembled as tingles bloomed from his touch and my body relaxed a bit in response, “I have found the Luna the Moon Goddess meant for me to have. There is obviously something this pack needs that she knows you can provide.” He gave a soft chuckle, “In fact, she was so certain of it that she chose to gift Cain with you as well. The mate of a Beta is incredibly important to the pack too.” I shook my head and gave them a feeble smile, “I can’t tell if that makes me feel better or not.” I choked out a small giggle through my tears, “I’m just a nineteen year old college student who works as a receptionist. Royal Moon Fire Pack has existed for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands and been the governing pack over the peace of the worlds wolf and lycan packs for most of that time. What could I possibly contribute to such a legacy?” Their brows shot up as they looked at each other then back to me, “Well…you seem to know about the reputation of our pack. That’s a good start.” I glanced over at Cain and his reassuring words, “I like the library here.” I confessed. 

They both smiled. Tobias stood and then sat on the other side of me, “Something else that comes with the mate bond. There is an in-” I looked over at him confused as to why he stopped. His eyes looked distant, a mindlink. I glanced over at Cain, he had the same look on his face but his features suddenly hardened. Then they both stood up pulling me to my feet, “Go to your uncle.” I looked back at them as Cain pushed me towards the entrance inside, “What?” He looked a little frustrated, “There’s been a breach of one of our borders. Get inside!” I could hear the tension in his voice. I nodded and rushed inside making my way to my uncle’s just as Lynelle left. She was a warrior so of course she would be called out for whatever was happening. 

I walked into their house suite and closed the door behind me, “Lily!” Abby came over to me and gave me a hug before pulling back and looking at me. She made a pout face, “You’ve been crying. What did they say to you?” I shook my head, “They didn’t say anything to make me cry. I just had some realizations…and upset myself. They were working on talking me through it and making me feel better when they were mindlinked about a breach.” Abby nodded, “Yeah, Lynelle was mindlinked too.” Uncle Anthony came out of the back room, “Yeah, no matter how long we’ve been married…It still stresses me out when she gets called out like this. But I know she’s strong and skilled and it is her job.” He went over to their bar and pulled out a bottle and looked at us as if we were going to judge him, “What? It's lunch time. That’s close enough to five for me on a day as stressful as today.” Abby giggled and shrugged, “You better pour me one too then. Then I’ll have no excuse to judge you.” He chuckled and pulled out a second glass. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, “Since I’m the only one here who can’t drink…and probably needs it the most…I’ll go make us sandwiches. Lord knows you two will need them.” Uncle Anthony pointed at me, “You better make extra for yourself! I know you haven’t eaten today.” I nodded and headed into the kitchen.

Over lunch Uncle Anthony filled us in on the incursions they’ve been having lately. They’ve been happening more frequently over the last year. It was during the second incursion that Cain’s mate was killed. He said that in the last six months they have been more frequent, going from once every two months or so to once every couple of weeks now. He said the last one was only two weeks ago. With this, I honestly don’t blame Uncle Anthony for worrying about Lynelle. He said in total there have been 6 warrior deaths and 4 citizen deaths related to the attacks. Cain’s mate had been the first of the warrior deaths. This topic wasn’t exactly appetite stimulating and I only ate half of my sandwich, “Does anyone know why these attacks have been happening?” He shook his head, “No, all we know is that the attacks involve members of Raging Tide. We have yet to capture any of the attacking warriors alive.” My brows knit together, “They must have some reason.” My uncle nodded, “There have always been tensions between Raging Tide and Royal Moon Fire but this is different from the usual conflicts. Not that I know a whole lot only having been here for the last two years but according to Lynelle this change started to happen about a year after their new Alpha took over.” I thought about it for a moment, “Well, clearly the new Alpha must be trying to prove something? Or maybe he’s overly ambitious?” I shook my head as I mentally disagreed with myself, “No, an Alpha wouldn’t continually send his warriors to their death for something as trivial as that…would they?” I was of course basing this assumption off of what I knew of Tobias and his devotion to the people of his pack. I may not know him on a personal level…yet, but it is something that can be seen both in his overall actions as well as the level of devotion and happiness of the people of his pack.

There were so many questions but the conversation had to stop there as Uncle Anthony quickly got to his feet, “Lynelle says that we lost four warriors and three more are injured.” I popped up to my feet, “Do you need to go help?” He didn’t answer, Lynelle must still be telling him something, he then headed for the door, “Extra hands are always helpful.” I followed after him, “That being the case, is there anything we can do to help?” He hesitated at the door, “Like I said, extra hands are always helpful. Abby, I know you don’t have a strong stomach.” She nodded, “I’ll stay here and work on an idea for dinner and get that started while you guys are out.” He smiled, “That is very helpful too.” Uncle Anthony and I then left. 

In the medical wing we stepped into chaos. They were still working on bringing in the injured as we arrived. Naturally blood was everywhere. I stay tight on my uncle’s heels. I didn’t want to be in the way but I wanted to be close to lend a hand as I could. The first patient…I should have been expecting this since lycans usually heal quickly and don’t usually need medical care, the wounds were horrible and looked absolutely painful. The obvious was how deep they were and all the blood spilling from the gashes. This lycan’s wounds were two deep cuts down his right arm and two more running diagonally down his chest. I moved quickly grabbing gauze as my uncle directed and set to putting pressure on the wounds to try to help stop the bleeding.

The bleeding was not slowing down. I looked to my uncle. His lips were pursed as he looked at the wounds, “Why aren’t his wounds healing?” My uncle leaned forward, “They used silver weapons. That’s why we’ve been losing warriors.” My brows knit together, “Can anything be done to help him?” Other nurses were around us now, one was helping me put pressure on the wounds, “His healing will be slower. We need to stop the bleeding and get him sutured up. He needs to be treated like us humans for now until his lycan blood can compensate and recover.” He looked at one of the nurses, “A blood transfusion will help too.” She nodded and another nurse stepped in to take over for me.