“Kaidid a very stupid thing telling the humans.” He told me.
Well,I guess he was against it.
“Maybenot!” Trent called from the side of the house. He was hiking up from a walkingpath in the woods and he was followed by a bunch of armed humans.
Trentwas worried about Diya, he was also mourning Devon. I could feel everything.
‘Diya’sfine. She’s inside with Emma,’Itold him. Wow, being Alpha was hard work, constantly having to keep everyone’semotions in check, being able to communicate with everyone’s mind. I also had thisunderlying fear that someone would threaten my position as the leader.
Iglanced at Alexa as the humans drew closer.‘The second I deal with thissituation, we’re going to get Kai back. So, I hope you have a good idea wherethey are hiding him.’
Isifted through her thoughts. Alexa and I were closer than most, now that I wasAlpha, I could access all of her memories. She did know of a place. She didn’tthink they would take him to the closest holding facility in Portland, theywould go a bit farther to get him to the most secluded and heavily guarded facility.It was hidden in a stretch of woods near Seaside, Oregon. It was on the way tothe beach. I had driven through there many times and admired the thick woods. Isaw them for what they were, a good place to hide. I nodded to her.
Trenthad approached our group with a bunch of our pack and a dozen humans. He wavedhis hand to a tall, older man with a handle bar mustache and grey hair. He hadtan leather skin and a strong jaw. The man tipped his cowboy hat to me andreadjusted his semiautomatic rifle.
“Howdy,ma’am. I’m Earl, the leader of the Northwest Militia Group.” He extended hishand and kept his eyes locked on mine. I forgave him for not knowing he waschallenging me but my wolf couldn’t. I felt my eyes go yellow. Trent clearedhis throat. “You shouldn’t stare an Alpha in the eye, sir,” he told Earl as Itook his hand. Earl dropped his gaze.
“Apologies,this is new to us.” He shrugged as more and more humans came through the trees;they had backpacks and gear. It looked like they were ready for to fight.
“Don’tworry about it,” I told him. “Militia? You guys seem pretty prepared.”
Hewas handling it really well. He flashed me a big smile and I instantly likedhim. My wolf did too.
“Ourmilitia was founded in 1929. We are prepared for anything. An overthrow ofgovernment, martial law, earth quake, zombies.” He chuckled at the last one.
Ismiled. “I’ll bet this falls in the zombie category.”
Henodded.
Iwatched more and more people come out of the trees. “How many of you arethere?”
Hepuffed his chest with pride. “Six hundred and ninety-seven, ready to bug out ata moment’s notice. We have other chapters in other states. They arerendezvousing at their local parks as we speak.”
Igave a low whistle. Seven hundred! Oh Kai, you did the right thing. I lookedback at Raj. His face was blank, but I could tell he was impressed with theirnumbers.
“Let’swalk,” I told Earl. Max moved to follow. “I’ll be fine, Max.” I dismissed him.Was Max my second? Where did that leave Kai? I shook off my thoughts. Once Earland I were out of earshot, I gave him 100% honesty.
“Earl,I’m going to hit you with a lot of crazy stuff right now. Can you handle it?”
Henodded, but I saw a flash of fear flicker across his face.
“Iwas a human too, up until a few months ago.” I told him about my car accidentand that werewolves onlychangehumans if it’s to save their life. Itold him about the vampires being after me for my blood. I told him that ifthey got my blood, they might be able to conceive. His eyes widened at that,but he stayed quiet and let me speak. Lastly, I told him about our experienceat the night club and the information we had found out about not all vampiresbeing bad. I left out the Devi stuff. It wasn’t relevant to gaining his trust.He had heard enough weirdness.
“Heroin?”He gave a low whistle. Anger replaced his fear. “Vampires hooking teenagers onheroin and drinking them dry. Oh, they’re gonna die.” He put a firm hand on hisrifle.
Inodded. “We need your help. You seem like an old fashioned guy. Back in the dayyou could give someone your word and shake hands and you knew you had a soliddeal.” I extended my hand. “Partners?”
Hesmiled and nodded, taking my hand with a firm grip. “Partners.”
Wemade our way back to Emma’s yard. “I don’t think I have lodging for all ofyou,” I said, embarrassed. Not very hospitable of me.
Helaughed. “We’re preppers. We go on dry run camp outs all the time to test ourgear. We could hunt and forage and live in these woods for a year if need be.”
Iraised my eyebrows. “Well, my woods are your woods.” I opened my arms gesturingto the land. I told him about the heated barn and where the local creeks werefor fresh water. He nodded and went to talk to his people.
Alexaran over to me, looking stressed.
“Whatis it?” I asked. She had a small tablet that was playing the news.
