Empathy

21- The Attack

A Month Later…

“Are you scared?” Aiden asked softly. We were lying on a blanket in my yard, just enjoying each other’s company. We had less than an hour until we had to get ready for the attack.

I shook my head, afraid that he would know I was lying if I spoke. He knew anyways and reassured me by saying, “It’s okay to be scared, but I promise I’ll protect you. Nothing will happen to either of us.”

“I know and I’m ready for this; I really am.” I replied. I was still scared though. This wasn’t going to be easy, but I had faith that we could do it.

Aiden nodded. “We’re going to take him down and live happily ever after.” I smiled at his words and turned towards him so we were hugging.

“I love you so much,” I whispered. I didn’t know what I’d do if I lost him. The boy who’d saved me from the bullies and the curse I’d lived with my whole life. The man who taught me how to love; who showed me it was real.

“I love you too,” he choked out in a rough voice, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. I sniffed and hugged him tighter, wondering how I would survive today.

Someone cleared their throat. “Hey love birds, this is sweet and all, but we’re leaving soon. I thought you’d want to know.” Kate’s voice was devoid of the smugness it usually held.

“Thanks,” I said quietly, not looking at her. All I wanted was five more minutes in Aiden’s arms, pretending none of this was real.

“We should go inside,” Aiden said, “They’ll be waiting for us.” I sighed and forced myself out of his arms. It suddenly felt as though the temperature had dropped ten degrees.

I wrapped an arm around Aiden’s waist as we started towards the house. I wasn’t ready to let go of him yet. I didn’t ever want to.

We entered my house and I was caught off-guard by all the people inside. Almost all of the Red Moon Pack was here, waiting to help us in the fight. They had all been chatting in quiet voices, but went silent as Aiden and I entered. He cleared his throat.

“I want to thank all of you for coming to help us. This is the safety of the pack at risk and we need to protect our loved ones. I’ll let you have a few minutes to say goodbye to your families and friends that aren’t joining us, but I want everyone to be ready in ten minutes. Meet in the front yard.” Aiden’s voice was calm and smooth, a contradictory of the emotional turmoil I was feeling.

Aiden led me to the front yard, his hand on the small of my back. Once we were outside again, I gulped and asked, “How many people do you think will be there?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully not many; they shouldn’t know about the plan.” He replied automatically. We’d already been over this multiple times. We had planned out every little detail.

I pulled away from him, feeling restless. “Let’s get this over with. I’m sick of Milo hanging around and causing problems.”

“I think-” Whatever Aiden was about to say was interrupted by Kate who had just joined us along with a few of the Pack’s best fighters.

“Hey; you guys ready for this?” She asked. She looked at me and grimaced. “You look frightened.”

I managed a half smile. “I am.” That was easy enough for me to admit. I was terrified of what I was about to do. How was I supposed to capture Milo? He was a powerful Alpha and I barely had any magic training.

“You have nothing to worry about. We’ll take care of them easily,” Kate replied, her over-confidence returning. I could only hope she was right…

Twenty minutes later, we were in Kate’s car, parking outside of Milo’s house. I shivered in disgust, remembering when they kidnapped me. The other members of the pack had already pulled up and gotten out of their cars. They were waiting on the driveway for us to join them. There were only eight of them and two other cars.

“Are you ready?” Aiden’s dad asked. His voice was strong. It seemed like everyone was ready for this except me. I could control my powers well enough now, but I was still scared out of my mind. I’d never done anything like this before. How did I go from a shy, closed off girl to one that was about to either kill or kidnap someone?

Aiden glanced at me and when I nodded he replied, “Let’s do this.” Mr. Hence gave the orders and led the warriors towards the house, Kate, Aiden and I following behind them.

When we reached the door I was shocked as Mr. Hence reached up and simply… knocked. I was expecting something more dramatic; like kicking down the door. But his knock worked and a minute later the door was being opened by one of Milo’s men. I recognized him immediately as the guy that had been driving when Milo kidnapped me. He was one of the guys I mind-controlled.

The instant the guy saw us, his eyes got wide and he went pale. His hands flew up in a surrendering motion. “Please don’t kill me! I only work here because I’m forced to. I have a family that needs me,” he pleaded, looking pitiful.

One of our warriors glanced at Mr. Hence who said, “Keep an eye on him.” The guy nodded once and grabbed Mr. Kidnapper’s arms, pinning them behind his back. He didn’t protest.

Then Mr. Hence proceeded to lead us inside. There were several men standing around and we instantly bombarded them. They didn’t try to fight back. In fact one of them pointed to a door and said, “Milo is in there.” Mr. Hence left three of the guys with them and the rest of us went to the room. This time he kicked down the door. Sure enough, Milo was inside. With two other guys and a young girl that was fast asleep on a couch.

“What do you want?” The man to the right of Milo demanded as the three of them stood up.

Mr. Hence and the warriors from the pack easily took down the two guys. Aiden had covered my eyes when they did that so I assumed it was a violent way of knocking them out.

Milo watched us with an expressionless face, but I could see the fear hidden in his eyes. He knew he was going down. "Well, what a not so pleasant surprise. Samara, you're looking better."

Aiden let a growl slip through. "We didn't come here to chit-chat."

"Oh I know. I know you came here to kill me. But tell me Samara, do you really think you can do it?" He asked; his eyes trained on me. "I am, after all, human."

Aiden grimaced. "Dad, can you and the others leave us?"

"We'll be right outside if you need help." He led the warriors out, taking the two unconscious guys with them. Kate stayed behind, but I didn't argue. I might need her help. She wasn't the type to hesitate, even when it came to murder.

Milo raised an eyebrow at my boyfriend. "What? Did you feel bad about having me so outnumbered? You only made it easier for me to win."

"Actually I made it possible so Samara doesn't have to kill you," he replied. I looked over at him curiously. What did he mean by that?

Milo chuckled. "And how did you do that?"

"Now I can kill you and say it was Samara without having any witnesses." Aiden's voice didn't sound like his own and I shivered in horror at the darkness in it.

Our enemy, however, rolled his eyes. "You think the Elders didn't already put an enchantment on me? I can't be killed by anyone other than the girl."

"Why would they do that?" Kate asked, thrown off guard. It was unusual to see her that way. Usually she knew, or at least acted like she knew, everything. 

Milo groaned in annoyance. "Wow, you're all idiots aren't you? They knew Aiden would try something like this to spare his beloved mate from the guilt." They help a rogue just to make this harder for me? Why were they so respected again?

"It doesn't matter anyways. None of us are killing you; we're capturing you and bringing you to the Elders. They can deal with you." I said, holding out my hands the way Kate had taught me. "I command you to-" And then something hit the back of my head and I passed out before I could finish the sentence.