Before I Rise

Marcus’s POV

I looked at the different types of maps that were scattered around the circular table in the conference room. Though this was considered a conference room, it was used for a more specific reason. It was the only big room under the building we use for training the Elites, other than our jail cells and interrogation rooms. It had everything one would need to form a plan of attack. We had maps that consisted of our pack land, secret escape tunnels, and areas surrounding our land. I’ve only really been in this room a handful of times since I became Alpha.

Even though it had been a half hour since the rogues left, my heart was still refusing to return to a normal beat. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, making me almost want to crawl out of my skin. It didn’t help that I was worried about Em. Alicia informed me as soon as she found Em and got her to safety, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to be the one to protect her and watch out for her safety. How was I ever going to be able to defend the pack while all my focus is on Em? If I didn’t have a clear head going into battle, that could cost a lot of innocent lives.

My heart immediately calmed down as soon as Em grabbed my hand. She gave it a small reassuring squeeze, instantly relaxing me and clearing my head. It amazed me that through such a small act, my whole nervous system relaxed. I was hesitant to even bring her here and have her listen to what was about to be discussed, but now I had no doubts that it was a wise decision. She deserved to be here and know what the plan is. I gave her a squeeze back, before turning and looking around at who was all here.

All the important people that needed to make this decision in the pack were gathered around this table. Dave, Jacoby, Jules, Alexis, the twins, and Em. I was going to ask Alicia if she wanted to come too, but I haven’t been able to mindlink her ever since she ran out of the safety room.

After a few moments of silence, Alexis cleared her throat. “So, how many rogues do you guys estimate showed up?”

All of us looked around at each other before Luke spoke up, “Well, by the looks of it, it seems they may have grown in numbers. According to the map that contains your pack border, Alpha Alexis, it seems your pack is slightly smaller than ours. The rogues stood shoulder to shoulder surrounding us. There is no way they would have been able to do that unless they added more rogues to their cause, whatever that might be.”

“That’s not good if they were able to not only replace the rogues that were killed when attacking Alpha Alexis’s pack, but to then increase their numbers. That’s almost unheard of for a group of rogues.” Dave said, as he looked perplexed.

I was glad I included him in this. He may be retired from being the Beta, but he had knowledge that nobody in this room had. He also had a keen way of seeing things.

Dave continued his original thought. “They not only added numbers, but to wipe out a pack a few days ago and then go after another back to back is ballsy. I don’t think we are messing with the typical rogues, this group is way too organized.”

“They move like a pack does.” Alexis said, as we all turned to look at her. She still was standing by the door, hesitant to get closer.

“Meaning what?” Asked Jacoby.

Alexis let out a sigh and finally moved closer to the table. “I mean they move like they are communicating with each other while they are in wolf form.”

“That’s impossible!” Luke shouted out. “The only way we can communicate to each other in our wolf form is if we are in the same pack. Rogues aren’t in a pack, there’s no way they can.”

“I know that! But, I also know what I saw. There is no way they could have done the damage they did to my pack without being able to communicate while shifted. Not to mention the way their blood burned us when we attacked back. It was a losing fight before it had even begun.”

I felt a slight headache beginning to form. This was becoming too much. If they were able to communicate with each other, that would take away one of our advantages that we have on rogues. And, the fact that their blood was poisonous isn’t all that great either.

“Dave, have you ever heard about this before? About blood burning on contact?” I asked, interrupting Alexis and Luke’s bickering.

He thought for a few seconds before answering, “No. I’m not even sure what could cause it. However, I can for sure say that someone is behind this. This is way too advanced for rogues to pull off alone. Someone has to be in control of them.”

“Agreed. I know you called and asked a while back, but has any other pack had any rogue activity recently?” Jake asked me.

“No. I called all the packs on the west and east coast after Alexis’s pack was attacked. The only thing they consistently said was that they haven’t had a rogue sighting in months, which is unusual.”

Em cleared her throat, gaining all of our attention. “So, are we sure that a pack or an Alpha isn’t actually behind all this?”

“No, we aren’t ruling that out yet. It is possible, but there isn’t really a way to know yet. I agree though, it does seem like someone is behind all this.” I moved a few maps around the table before finding the one I wanted. “I want a twenty four hour patrol on the border. We need to place people in groups of three and have groups only separated by a few miles. Luke, Jake, Julie, and Jacoby, I want the four of you to make a schedule for every pack member that is an adult for patrol. Lets do six weeks night patrol then six weeks day patrol and so on. I want Jacoby and I to be on opposite schedules. I also want Luke and Jake on opposites as well since you both are third in command. Does that sound fair?”

The four of them nodded in agreement. Just as I was about to pull out another map, I was interrupted.

“May I suggest something?” Em whispered in my ear. I nodded for her to go ahead.

She walked closer to the map that was an outline of our pack. “Is there any way to have a couple of groups of three closer to the middle of the pack, like an inner layer? That way if a rogue breaks through our boundary and manages to make it pass the outer patrol, we have people on standby that can stop them from reaching any of the houses, especially the pack house.”

Pride ripped through my heart. I was not expecting for Em to give out ideas on how to best defend the pack. It was a great idea, I just wasn’t sure if we had the numbers to do so.

“Can we do that?” I asked the twins. It was their job to know how many Elite warriors and capable pack members we had ready to defend our pack at all times. They were usually the ones that made the patrol schedule.

“Yeah, it will be tight. But, we can definitely do it. It’s a smart move.” Jake said, as he sent Em an encouraging smile.

I shuffled the maps around until I found the one with the escape tunnels. Now it was time to talk about the thing I was most avoiding.

“This is our tunnel system. The exits are located near packs that we have an alliance with. If things go south, we need to know which tunnel route we are taking.” I said, as I straightened the map out.

“Truthfully, I think we should use the exit that is on my pack land. All our cars are still there and any supplies that we might need if anyone gets injured. We can also drive to another pack after we get to my land. It would be safer that way to move everyone in cars instead of on foot. The rogues would be stupid to attack us while we are driving. They don’t want to expose themselves to any humans and it would be faster that way.” Alexis suggested to us.

“That’s a good idea. Ok, then we’ll take tunnel system three. Alexis, I know this isn’t really fair of me to ask you this, but would you be willing to lead the escape? I would feel better knowing an Alpha is with the people that escape, for protection and other things.” I didn’t want to admit out loud that the ‘other things’ were mostly about Em. If I couldn’t be there with her, at least Alexis would be.

“Of course, I’m willing to do whatever you need me to do.” She said, while nodding her head.

“Wait a minute, who does that include?” Em asked out loud to everyone.

I took a deep breath before answering, knowing she wasn’t going to like what I was going to say.

“The elderly, injured, children, and any woman that is unable to fight… Also you.”

Em’s deep green eyes widened as she processed what I had just said. “And you right? Right?”

I shook my head. “No, I will be staying behind and fighting. The longer we can hold the rogues back, the better the chances for everyone escaping.”

Em’s eyes began to get misty and her breathing increased drastically. I knew she wasn’t going to like this.

“Why don’t we all take a break. Can you four make that schedule, I want the changes to take effect today. Let’s all meet up again in a few hours and make some final touches. Sound good?”

Everyone nodded their heads and walked out of the room, leaving Em and I alone. I went to pull her into my arms, but she backed away out of my reach leaving me confused.

“If you are staying here and fighting, then so am I.” She declared.

I immediately saw red. There was no way in hell she would be staying behind with me. “Absolutely not” I stated, not leaving any room to debate with me.

She instantly crossed her arms and pushed her shoulders back. “Yes. I. Am.”

It took everything in me not to show the shock that I felt. What was she thinking?

“Do you understand the threat we are facing? Do you really think you can stay behind and fight?” I had no idea what was going through her head. There was no way I was going to let her stay, it was just too dangerous.

“If you stay behind, then so do I!” She screamed.

“No! I am not going to let you get yourself killed. I am not going to lose you, not when I just found you!” I screamed back at her. My adrenaline was pumping through my body, making me feel like a mad man. The thought of losing her after the little time I have had with her, made me want to throw up.

I took a few steps towards her just to have her take a few steps back, keeping space between us. We did this for a few seconds, before she backed herself against the wall. I closed the distance between us and grabbed her face with my hands. Tears were streaming down her face and she was beginning to sob. I saw the fear as soon as I pulled her face up to look at me. It nearly shattered my heart. She was terrified, but I wasn’t sure if it was for her life or for mine.

I placed my forehead against hers, just taking a few seconds to let the heat simmer down. Before I could break the silence, she broke it first.

“I don’t… I don’t want to lose you either. I don’t want to be separated from you. Please Marcus, don’t make me go. Let me stay with you.” She whispered with a whimper.

“Listen to me my love, this may or may not happen. What we are preparing for is worse case scenario. It may not even come to that. I just want us all to be prepared if it does. And, if it does, I promise you that I will come back to you. No matter what, I will always come back to you. But, I can not have you stay behind. I need you to go. Not only for your safety, but I need you to lead our people without me there. I love you and I need you to be safe. Please?”

She closed her eyes and finally nodded her head. “Ok, but please come back to me. I can not lose you.”

I wrapped my arms around her and held her as tight as I could.

“I will, I always will.” We stayed like that for a while, just holding onto each other before she pulled back.

“What now?” She asked me.

“Now, I have to make some phone calls and do some more planning before meeting back up with everyone. I’m not sure when I will be done with everything, but I will try to make it home at a somewhat decent hour.”

“Can I help you? Please? I really need something to do right now and I want to help ease the burden for you, we are mates after all.” She said, as she wiped the tears off her face with a small smile.

I thought for a few seconds before I came up with an idea. “Actually what would be really helpful is if you could talk to Elder Morgan for me. I really need to talk to her about the rogue’s blood and also about your unique mark. Do you mind doing that for me? We can meet up at the end of the night and you can fill me in on what she says.”

“Yeah! I’m willing to do anything that helps you. Where can I find her?” She asked me.

“There’s a little stone pathway towards the left side of the pack house. Just follow it and it will lead you to her little house. Just promise me you’ll be back in the pack house before dark.”

“I promise.” She said, as she sealed her promise with a kiss. I deepened the kiss immediately, pouring every emotion I could into it.

We finally separated after we ran out of breath. “I love you.” I whispered to her.

“I love you, too.” She whispered back to me. She kissed my cheek before parting ways.

As soon as she walked out of the door, my nerves went haywire. I felt like I was drowning. I wasn’t even sure if our plan would work or not. We were clearly outnumbered and the rogues were operating like a well oiled machine.

I thought for a few minutes before an idea came to me. I quickly walked over to the one phone in the room and picked it up before dialing a number I knew by heart. After it rang three times, it was picked up by someone on the other line.

“It’s me… I need your help.”