On the Outskirts of Manhattan

Ryder had decided that the truce had gone on long enough. His pack was over two thousand strong—a higher number than the amount of wolves and humans employed by the Council and in the general area. Sure, he would have liked to have their secret weapon on his side, but the only way he would be able to do that would be if he took over the Council. Ava was a strong woman, and from what Ryder had read in her file, the only time she ever relented was to the Council. If something was a law, Ava consented; if the Council needed her, Ava went; when the Council wanted to rip her and her son out of their pretty little life, Ava let them. The Council was her weak spot. That was how Ryder would get the secret weapon, even if he had to come close to killing her himself to get to the Councilmen and rip them to shreds.

Ryder stood from his desk. The delicate blonde before him looked up from the chair she had been sitting in to send a terrified, adoring stare his way. He had let her get away from him in his fit of rage when she had let Ava go. Since then she had obeyed his every command, terrified of everything he did, constantly freaking out over nothing and feeling completely indebted to him for not killing her. If it were anyone else, she was sure they'd be dead.

“Get Malcolm,” Ryder said to her. “Tell him to prepare for battle. We're heading in.”

Carly's eyes widened at the man in front of her. “But, we haven't brought Ava over to our side yet! I'm sure if we just give her the thrill of the hunt, or let her taste—”

“I SAID,” Ryder burst out, letting a menacing growl ripple through his chest at her. “To get Malcolm. I didn't ask for your input on the matter and I didn't ask for you to defy my orders. You've seen what I can do,” Ryder said. “Don't make me do it to you after all.”

The blonde scurried out of the room and one of his closest friends took her place. Malcolm looked relatively relaxed as he walked in, a gentle smile on his face. He handed Ryder one of the steaming mugs that was in his hands and sat down on the chair in front of Ryder who was perched on the desk impatiently.

“We need to prepare for battle,” Ryder stated.

“I thought you wanted a bigger army first?” Malcolm asked.

“We have a large army. Over two thousand is a large army. We could have used with more training; better training, but we need to act fast. We need to act now. Carly's identity has been compromised, we don't have a reliable and exceptional spy within the Council anymore. We have to act now, while we know their plans—before they can make new ones,” Ryder got up and paced.

“And what about Ava?” Malcolm asked, leaning back in his chair with his leg crossed over the other. He looked relaxed as he sipped from his steaming mug. “Didn't you want her on our side?”

“I want her in general,” Ryder rolled his eyes. “Especially now that I know about how powerful she is. She is an asset to our pack.”

“Well, don't you want to get her to our side first? That would be a guaranteed win. She would be on our side and you would be able to take over the Council. She's the only thing standing in your way,” Malcolm pointed out.

“She will only switch sides when our win is evident. I can deal with her—detain her at least—until the end. You grab someone you trust and map out soldier strategies and give them to everyone. We're going for Ava in an hour. Be ready by then.

***

It was oddly quiet around the Base, Alex noted. It was as if everything in their surroundings was preparing for something—something big. As he laid in his hospital bed with casts and bandages attached to him, his ears perked. He called out to his Beta's, hoping at least one of them was there. Something was bothering him, he could feel it. He had this incredible urge to get out of the bed he was in and shift. He knew shifting would rip open his wounds again, but that incredible urge was there.

The men who walked in at his call were all smiling and chatting. They stopped at the look on his face.

“Something's coming,” he said. “Get the children to safety. Make sure everyone's ready.”

“What's happening?” Blake asked, concerned. As he stared at his Alpha's face, he knew something horrible was going on. His ears perked up, his senses heightened and he tried to hear, feel and sense exactly what his powerful Alpha was sensing. It pricked his consciousness—something; something not quite right.

“I don't know,” Alex said. “Something. Something big.”

The Beta's before him shifted, perking their ears, paying attention to their surroundings and paying attention to their senses, just like Blake had.

“What are you waiting for?!” Alex barked. “That's an order. You, Phoenix!” he pointed to one of the newly appointed Beta's. He was young, looked maybe seventeen years old and carried himself with confidence. His shaggy red hair was always falling in his face, but he had been the top fighter of his class, always proving himself worthy. Once he had graduated, Alex didn't hesitate to promote him. “Find Ava and get her here as fast as you can,” he told the boy. “If she's going to be an Alpha, she better act like one.” Phoenix took off at a jog to find the woman as the rest of the Beta's set to work at preparing the pack. They had hardly left the room when a loud explosion shook the ground. It was close, Alex could feel it. He peeled himself out of his bed, throwing his mental sight around the Base, trying to find where the attack was coming from, and from whom.

He hobbled out of the underground medical facility to see the entrance to the Base crumbled and ruined; small fires could be seen in the wrecked lobby. Men, women and children were filing out of the place, looking around for direction.

“Get the children to safety!” Alex yelled, hobbling quicker as he reached to protect his pack. Beta's were coming out of nowhere to flank and protect him—that was their job above all else: to protect their Alpha. That over-rode the commands he had given them; it was a natural compulsion for them.

Another explosion, this time from the other side of the building. Women and children screamed, people shifted on the spot and several children were running for the bomb shelter on the other side of their property.

“Someone go protect the children on the way. Once they're all safe and accounted for, I need you back here. GO!” he yelled at his Beta's. They moved reluctantly, but quickly at his orders as other pack members moved to surround and protect their wounded Alpha.

There were screams as a third explosion hit the lobby from the other side, several of the people inside caught the blow and Alex watched as bloody limbs were ripped from bodies. He felt helpless at the enemy he couldn't see, helpless and wounded. His wolf growled at him to man up, to protect his pack. His wolf yelled at him until his wolf was controlling him, until he became a wolf. At his transformation, the majority of the pack surrounding him transformed too. Alex stuck his snout in the air, sniffing for the enemy. It was hunting time.

He surged forward at the sudden onslaught of smell as another bomb went off, distantly. Screams, howls of pain and cries of outrage were faint as Alex's sight saw through the smoke surrounding him and to the enemy surging forward in front of him. It was like a mob: all following one leader, all in their human form, all with guns ready to attack. And there were hundreds of them. And they were hungry.

As the two thousand men and women before them converged on them, Alex felt this dire need to survive; to protect his pack. Some of the enemy in front of them changed into their wolf forms, running and attacking any stray in their way. It didn't even seem like they cared who they were attacking—themselves or someone from the Base.

After further deliberation, Alex lunged forward through the pain of his chest wound, attacking wolf after wolf. Blood was pouring everywhere as he went for the quickest deaths—ripping out throats with his powerful jaws. There were carcasses all around him, blood soaking in to water the earth. He let his wolf take over his body. No human thoughts. No human emotions. No human hinderances. He felt the urge to kill, to attack and to protect his pack. They were his to protect.

Snarls ripped through the entire forest as wolves were dismembered, attacked, shot at and killed.

Alex had made it toward the werewolves in human form. They held guns and were shooting at any stray man, woman or wolf they could see. Alex lunged at one of them, ripping the gun out of their grasp and attaching his jaws to the man's throat. As they fell to the ground, several shots rang out around him. Alex felt pain, could feel his body being forced in another direction and then, as a blonde woman stood above him, a sinister, evil smirk on her face, he knew he was dying. She pointed a gun at his head. All he heard was a shot and then he was nothing.

***

Gabriel knew he needed to get information out of Caroline about Ava's condition. The woman had done numerous physical tests on Ava while she had been in shock and Gabriel needed to know if there was anything out of the ordinary. Riley saw nothing when it came to Ava, Gabriel knew. Riley believed she was perfect in every way, he didn't believe his little experiment could have gone wrong with such an amazing wolf.

As he entered the main waiting room of the Council's Chambers for quicker access to Caroline's infirmary, a young red wolf bounded through the doors. His eyes were wide and scared, his body shook from exhaustion, but he changed into his human form and looked around; desperate for guidance.

“Is there something wrong, Sir?” Gabriel asked, walking slowly up to him. Several of the guards in the room took in the boy's haggard appearance and quickly converged around Gabriel in a protective formation.

“The Base...” the boy huffed out. “It's...it's under attack. They had...bombs,” gasps of breath were the majority of the poor boy's capabilities at that time. “So many. So many. We need help. Help us.”

Gabriel clicked his ear piece on. “Felix?” he questioned.

“What's up Gabe?” came the response.

“Check on the Base. We have a verbal report that they're under attack.”

Gabriel could hear the sound of typing, then “Oh, shit!”

“How many?”

“I can't tell, over a thousand. They have guns. They're putting up a good fight. But they're going down.”

“Can you tell who it is?” Gabriel asked, impatiently.

“One second! One, second...AH ha!” Felix smirked in his chair. “I see our friendly neighbourhood human-eater. Looks like he's got himself a huge army.”

“Contact the others, we'll meet where you are. Dispatch Attack Teams One, Two and Three immediately. We'll dispatch more if necessary.”

“On it. See you soon, brother.” Felix disconnected and got to work. In a matter of a minute, all five Councilmen converged around him, staring at the scene before him on the screen.

“How long has this been going on for?” Luther asked.

More typing. “Looks like about thirty minutes,” Felix supplied. “What do you guys think? What's the plan?”

Riley looked up. “Contact Ava. We need her here. Tell her Nolan will be in protective custody within our building.” The rest of the Councilmen nodded, of course Ava would be Riley's top priority.

“We need at least one team of fifty guards in the building for protection reasons. I would prefer two teams. Everyone else is to go fight that army,” Gabriel stated.

“Contact all the packs in the area, within a two-hour radius. Tell them it's obligatory for them and their fighting ranks to come and fight with us. Explain the situation if you have to. Speak to only the Alpha's, no receptionists. Tell them it's a matter of national security.” Gregory spoke up, staring at Felix who was typing away quickly at his station.

“I'll get to work. What about us?” Felix asked.

“We go in,” Riley stated. “It's our battle too. Felix can stay here to keep down the fort and monitor what's going on. Hourly updates if possible.”

“An army of two thousand....” Gregory shook his head. “This should be fun.”

“Suit up boys.”

***

Ava was making breakfast for Nolan when her phone rang. Dawson perked up from his spot where he had been colouring with Nolan and stared at the phone.

“Who knows you're here?” Dawson asked.

“The Council,” Ava replied, moving to the phone attached to the wall. Before she could grab it, Dawson was out of his seat and had the phone to his ear. He didn't say a word, just listened.

“Hello?” finally someone spoke up on the other line—a familiar voice to Dawson.

“Felix?” Dawson asked.

“Dawson? I swear I was calling...nevermind. Listen, we need Ava here immediately. You need to report here and then grab your team—Team Black, and head to the Base. We're under attack.”

“What about Nolan?” Dawson asked.

“Nolan will be here, under protection. We need you to move. Fast. That's an order.”

“Yes, sir.” Dawson hung up the phone. He glanced at Ava who was just sliding an egg onto a plate for Nolan. “We have to move. We're under attack. I'll explain as I drive.”

He was surprised when Ava didn't put up a fight, simply ushered a tired Nolan into his coat, handed him his plate with toast and eggs and ushered everyone out the door. Once Nolan was strapped in and they were flooring it, she glanced at him. “Explain.”