#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest

Griffin

This woman was going to kill me. Her mouth and body tempted me without her even having to try. I was furious that she left the safety of the packhouse in the middle of a war, but I was beside myself with that fact that she did so to check on me.

“We need to interrogate the rogues in the prison, check on the state of the pack, help with the clean up, and make sure that everyone who needs help is getting it.” Gabriel said once we joined them outside of the infirmary.

“I’ll gladly take on the interrogations.” Godric growled, looking pissed.

I looked down at Harlow who was tucked into my side and she gazed up at me. I nodded towards Godric and she smiled, seeming to understand. She slipped away from me and tucked her hand into Godric’s. He looked at her and immediately relaxed, looping his arm around her waist and leaning into her small frame.

“I want to help.” Harlow said, “I can go check on the women and children.” She offered hopefully and I beamed at her with pride.

“I think that’s perfect, precious.” Godric said, kissing the top of her head.

“I’ll survey the pack and make sure everything’s being taken care of.” I said,

“I’ll go back into the hospital and then I’ll join Godric in interrogations.” Gabriel declared and we all nodded in agreement to the plan.

“I’ll walk you to the bunker, it’s on the way to the Tower.” Godric told Harlow and they walked off.

“You good?” Gabriel asked, eyeing me cautiously. I clapped him on the back with a grin,

“Nothing like our beautiful mate to give me a jump start.” Gabriel shook his head at me and smirked,

“Alright, simmer down.” He mocked me before heading back inside the hospital.

I started making laps around the pack, overseeing the clean up, disposal of rogue bodies, and whatever else needed to be handled. The front gate needed fixed, so I helped with the clean up and then made the proper calls to get more materials in for a more secure fence. Some of the houses had been destroyed and we needed more material to build new ones, so I made those calls as well and organized a clean up for the debris. I also found some other pack members who were willing to host the displaced families.

There were way more rogues this time around by nearly double, therefore there were more dead bodies to deal with. I helped the pack set up five large bonfires for the burn pits. When a wolf died, they turned back into their human form so it could be a bit unnerving to have to burn a human body, almost worse than if they were in the wolf form, but it had to be done. Rogues were disgraced wolves and now they were traitors since they attacked our pack, and the only way to dispose of them was by an unceremonial fire.

“Alpha.” Callie ran up to me. She had some cuts on her face and a huge bruise on her thigh, but she didn’t seem affected by it at all.

“Callie, have you seen the doctor?” I already knew the answer. She rolled her eyes at me and shook her head,

“Wade is here. He’s coming down the lane.” She said, ignoring my question.

“Well doesn’t he just have great timing.” I grumbled and started walking towards the front of the packgrounds.

Wade’s black truck came bumping down the stone road and screeched to a halt when he saw me. He jumped out and a she-wolf with short black hair, wild green eyes, and a spunky attitude slid out of the passenger side. She grabbed Wade’s hand as they hurried to meet up with me.

“Wade, Sammy, what are you two doing here?” I asked my brother and his mate.

“I heard a rumor that you three met your mate and wanted to come home to meet the poor gal. What the hell happened here?” Wade asked, looking around with concern.

“We were just attacked by rogues for the second time.” I grumbled in frustration.

“What?” They both asked in shock.

“Yeah. Once the integrations are finished, we’ll all meet in the packhouse and fill you in on everything. Right now, there’s a lot that needs done.” I sighed.

“We’ll jump in.” Wade said without hesitation.

“Thank you. Sammy, our mate went to the bunker to help the women and children, maybe you could go help her?” I asked and Sammy grinned,

“Oh absolutely!” She cheered, giving Wade a quick kiss before running off.

“So, the rumors are true?” Wade smirked at me.

“They are. Her name is Harlow and she’s human. It’s been an eventful few days.” I said,

“Nova filled me in. Kidnapping?” He cocked an eyebrow at me, “You know I can arrest you three for that, right?” I jabbed my elbow into his ribs and sulked off to the sound of his hysterical laughter.

I went towards the community center to see what damage was done there. Luckily, it was still standing strong with just a bit of damage done to the front porch. I was happy to see that some of our pack members were already working on the repairs. I went inside the CC and saw that it was filled with activity.

The kitchen staff was busy making food to feed the now very hungry warriors and some of the teachers from the schoolhouse were watching over the children as they played in the living room and backyard. Some of the children were upset, but most of them had no idea what had just happened.

“Everything okay here?” I asked one of the teachers and she nodded,

“Yes, Alpha, we’ve got the kids under control. The Luna was amazing with them when she left us out of the bunker.” She smiled proudly.

“Our Luna is pretty amazing.” I guess that cat was out of the bag now.

I went into the kitchen and thanked the staff for working, checking to make sure that everyone there had gotten medical attention if they needed it before working on the food. After ensuring that things were under control here, I left the CC.

“Hey, Griff, the hospital is a bit of a mess. Can you go help Ric at the Tower?” Gabriel mindlinked me.

“Sure thing. Everything’s under control on the grounds.” I reported back.

I made my way quickly to the Tower and went down to the rogues’ cells. I could hear Godric torturing someone in the interrogation room. I walked down the dark, moist dungeon hallway and arrived in the room to see one of the rogues dangling from silver chains that were hooked to the ceiling.

“This bunch of rogues are a bit more stubborn than the first. It’s fine though, more fun for me.” Godric grinned sickeningly at me when he sensed my presence.

“What do we know so far?” I asked, leaning against the cinder block wall.

“They are related to the first 36 who were sent and they served the same purpose; to test our response.” Godric said before whipping the rogue across his bare chest with a silver whip.

“Now, I would like him to tell me more about his boss, but it would seem that the cat has gotten his tongue.” Godric sighed in annoyance. It was a little scary how much fun Ric had when it came to the aggressive negotiation of information.

“Who is your boss?” I snarled, letting Frost out to play. He didn’t get pissed often, but, screw with his mate’s safety, and you’ll get to see one very enraged Alpha.

I took the silver whip from Ric’s hands and went to town on the rogue’s body. Once he was dripping with blood and riving in pain, he finally started to talk.

“We don’t see the boss. We only deal with the rogues, Christopher and Cairo, they’re father and son.” The rogue cried out.

“What do you know about the boss?”

“He’s rich, that’s it. He’s providing all the money.” The rogue said,

“Get this rogue out of my sight.” I growled at one of the guards on duty.

“Damn, dude, I didn’t think Frost or you had it in ya.” Ric chuckled.

“He fucked with our mate.” I let out a viscous growl that shook the Tower.

“She’s okay, man.” Ric said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“Do you think we can get any more information out of them?” I asked, motioning around the cells.

“No, probably not. No one seems to know who this Mr. Money Bags is. The names of the two rogues is a new bit of information though. That rogue from the last attack gave us the location of the camp so we should send some guys out there.” Ric said,

“What does this batch of rogues say about the camp? Are they even still there?”

“The first guy I integrated said they were dispatched from the camp at the same time as the first 36 but told to wait two days to attack. So they’ve been in the area since before the first attack.” Ric replied.

“I need to hit something.” I grumbled, stomping back down the dingy hallway.

“You didn’t get all the anger out with that whip?” Ric laughed at me and I grunted at him in response.

We left the darkness of the Tower and made our way across the packgrounds to see what else needed done.