Third Person POV
The pack was in chaos. Everywhere, bodies began to pile. The Alpha had little time to stop to help. Instead, he had his warriors disperse from around him and the pack grounds, taking the rogues down as best they could. Several tried to stop him but he'd never been more determined. He wouldn't lose her again. He couldn't.
Lycer was close on his tail. Several of the rogues aimed for him on their path. He took them down with a newfound energy he didn't know he had in him. He sank his teeth into a burly rogue with blistered skin, throwing it over his shoulder. The snow falling around them was coming in faster now, blanketing the Earth beneath them in a fresh layer. When he was a child, Lycer was told that snowfall cleaned the world. Made it new. He couldn't decide if that was true. Rather, he felt thrown into the past. That day when he was taken was right at the front of his mind. Yelling for Celestial to run as he tried to fight off several of the experiments.
They stopped at a small house in the town square. The door was busted down, broken into several splintered pieces. The living room was in similar disarray. "Celeste!" The Alpha had shifted, charging through the house, stepping over trampled furniture to get down the hallway. He tried the door at the end of the hall. It didn't budge.
'Celestial,' Lycer tried. There was no response.
Xavier slammed his shoulder into the door. One, two, three times. It gave way with a loud crash from the other side of the room, a shriek following suit along with the loud cry of baby Wesley. "Celeste!" Pushing his way through the door, Xavier saw broken glass on the floor with the occasional spot of blood. The room was a mess, the bed sideways slightly covering the closet door. A side table was on the floor along with everything from on top of it. "Celeste!" She was gone.
Lycer budged his way in, his heart beating loudly. Cries continued from inside the small closet. Lycer pushed past a frantic Xavier, shoving the bed away and opening the door. Inside, Lesa clung tightly to her child who let out loud wails. Tears streaked her pale cheeks. "Are you okay?" She nodded, accepting his helping hands as he pulled her to shaky legs.
"He took her." She gulped, feeling her throat choking up as tears continued to fall. "I- I heard him."
Xavier turned towards his sister, his breathing harsh as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Xavier," she pleaded, turning towards her big brother. "Xavier, it was Christopher."
A blue glow had begun to form around the pack house. Shia had begun to sweat as she concentrated most of her effort on the task at hand, nearly done with the perimeter of the house. She had a decent percentage of her concentration also stretching around the pack, tracking her beloved. Zay had run off with a medical kit, helping the pack members she could. Occasionally, she would return to the pack house with someone's arm slung around her shoulder as she helped them into the living room of the large house. Josh had briefly left the pups to help clear out space in the living room in order to fit more people.
Shia could feel her going further and further away. Giving a second to tune further into their bond, she could feel when Zay's heart would break at finding someone too far gone. "Keep going, my darling," she muttered. The beginning of the barrier met the end and she took a step back, taking a breath of relief. She needed a moment. She had made plenty of barriers in her time but never one so large. She should move on to the town square now, protecting the hospital and perhaps the library. The hospital for obvious reasons but the library was large enough that people were likely taking shelter there too.
"Josh!" She called, going into the house. He peaked his head out from the entertainment room which was too quiet for so many kids to be in there. "I'm moving on to the hospital, everything okay here?" Several of the pack healers were floating around people in the living room, bandaging wounds and checking head wounds.
"The kids are still scared but there's not much you can do there." Delian poked her head out, eyeing Shia wearily.
"Miss Magi?"
She smiled softly, walking closer and crouching down to the small pup. "Yes, Miss Delian?"
"Is my daddy okay?" She held out her hand, gesturing for Delian to put hers on top. When she complied, she sandwiched her hand between hers.
"Think about your dad, okay? Think really hard, find him." Delian closes her eyes, her nose scrunching as she focuses. "Can you feel him?"
"I can see him," she whispered. "He's fighting with one of the rogues." Her lip wobbles.
"That's good. Now send him your love, okay? Think of all your happy memories with him and cast them out." A blue glow formed from Shia's palms, flowing into Delians. She gasped. "Good. Open your eyes." The image of her father stopped as her eyes landed on the blue woman in front of her. "Feel better?" She nodded, biting her lip. "Now go back with Uncle Josh, okay?" She nods, following Josh back into the room with a pat on her head.
Zay was sweating despite the freezing cold. There was only so much she could do with a small medical kit. Her heart broke every time she was too late. She had counted 7 pack members so far who were already gone. As she got closer to the town square, she found poor Hanna and her parents, all dead. Hanna was out in the yard with her father at the door and her mother inside. Their throats were ripped out. Zay's heart lept to her throat as she thought of the lives and futures lost. She knew Celeste would be heart broken when she found out.
"Zay!" She turned her head and spotted her gorgeous mate making her way to her, a small package in her hands.
"Shia, what are you doing here?" Zay's hands trembled as she brought them to her mates face. She didn't know if it was from the cold or the fatigue.
"The pack house is protected." She brushed a hair out of Zay's face. There were tear tracks on her face. "Are you okay?"
"It's not good," she confessed. "Hanna is dead- and I-" She bites her lip, willing the tears to go away. "I don't feel like I'm doing enough."
"The dozen or so people you've helped to the pack house says otherwise. You're doing great, my darling." She pressed her lips to the corner of Zay's mouth, squeezing her shoulder. "Bring anyone here to the hospital. I'm going there next." Zay nods, her hands still shaking. "I'll see you soon." Shia hands Zay the package in her hand, a new med kit. She opens it, more bandages, gauze, and alcohol wipes.
Growls filled the air as Jacob and Jared stood tail to tail, throwing rogues about as though they were rag dolls. These beasts that sought to destroy their peace would not prosper, this they felt sure of. They had been surrounded only moments before and then a feeling of weightlessness struck Jared. He lunged, his teeth sinking into the upper face of a deformed rogue. It howled as its eye burst beneath Jared's mighty teeth. Jared flung the rogue at another of the advancing group and they both fell in that single swoop. At the same time, Jacob sank his claws down another's face, dragging away flesh from the cheek and jaw. The rogue howled, the sound echoing around and ultimately being swallowed up by the snow that increased with every minute.
A rogue lunged for Jacob, his teeth finding success in Jacob's side. Jacob kicked him off, feeling the sting at the teeth ripped away from his flesh. Josh would be upset if he knew he got hurt and this motivated Jacob to turn on his tail and pounce on the attacker. He sunk his claws into it's chest before it would stand, lunging his teeth down into the rogue's jugular and ripping away. The injured rogue not yet finished in it's battle lunged again for Jacob. He turned, raising up in time to meet it paw for paw. It was strong, stronger than other rogues Jacob had previously fought. It got the best of him, knocking him to the ground. Jacob refused to give way, twisting out of the way as it lunged for him again. It met with the snow in a flurry and Jacob pounced for it's head, pushing it into the snow with the force of his entire upper body. He raised a paw, swiping down his claws into the rogue's chest. It let out a whimper and Jacob realized that these beasts still felt pain. No moment for remorse, he raised his paw again and struck down at it's throat. It gurgled, choking on it's own blood for only a moment before going limp underneath him.
Taking advantage of this, another rogue launched itself onto Jacob's back, sinking it's teeth into his shoulder. Jacob let out a growl, bucking the creature off of him but not without the rogue taking his flesh with him. Before he could turn, Jared was there, pinning the rogue to the ground, his teeth taking purchase in the rogue's throat.
All five rogues had fallen from around them.
'You okay?' Jared linked to Jacob. Jacob hobbled over to him, blood seeping from his several wounds.
'Let's keep going.'
The rogues seemed to thin but the tension was still in the air.
'Jacob, Jared, I need you,' Xavier's voice reached them. 'They have Celeste.'