Chapter 12

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Today was our first day at the new base and so we got up earlier than normal so we could be there on time. We're going through the woods with Lucas at around 5 this morning but I had to be up an hour early to meet with my team thirty minutes before we leave. We all met in my living room and I gave them a little pep talk.
"Ok guys, you know the drill, work as a team and do what you're told, a new base is just another base." I told everyone "And Sam just follow orders and you'll be fine, I still remember the first time I was transferred and it was just like when you had to move schools when your father moved bases." I told Sam since he's the newest to our team and this is his first transfer. Soon Lucas was knocking on my front door and I looked at the men. "Everyone ready?" I asked and they nodded.
"Good, and Sam, how's that arm?" I asked him and he told me. "It's better, healing nicely." He said and I nodded. "Alright men, let's get a move on." I told the team and we went out the door.
We started back to the base this time with me and Lucas both as wolves with a few of the men on each of our backs and we got there in about five minutes with the speed we were going.
We shifted back and the guards let us all in. "Welcome men, Captain Phillips can I see you for a minute with your team?" The Admiral asked when we got in the gates. "Yes sir, just tell us what you want us to do and we'll do it." I told him and he took us to the meeting room.
"We may have you a mission depending on how things go with the SEAL team that's already on this one, we may have to send you there as backup and I need all of you to be ready for anything." He said and I nodded. "As our team's motto says we'll always be ready for anything, no matter the cost." I told him and he nodded. "Good, I'll be seeing you in a few hours to update you on the situation." He said and I nodded and we left the room as we were dismissed.
We started working on some more training and while I was on the bench press weights Lucas came up to me. I finished lifting the weight one last time and sat up to look at him.
"There's something more you need to know about who superior shifters are in the power chain." He said and I nodded for him to go on. "Most shifters are descendants of royal families from Siberia and Romania and a few from Austria." He said and I needed to know more right then so I told him to go on and tell me the rest.
"You are a possible direct descendant of a royal family in Siberia, the family that has the power to speak while in animal form and only a descendant of the royal can turn a human." He said and I nodded. "So basically I'm supposedly related to a king and queen of Siberia?" I asked and he nodded. "That family is still living, but they don't exactly know of any family here in the states so it might be a little difficult to find anymore information, even Ruvel can't get that kind of info." He said and I nodded.
"Well I'll have to look into it more later but for now I gotta train with my men so I guess I'll see you later." I told him and he nodded and went to his own team. We worked some more on some of the harder equipment because we needed to be ready for this mission just incase we're called to go.
That's the reason for the tattoo on my shoulder, to remind me of that every day. 'Always ready for anything, no matter the cost.' Means we are always ready even at the cost of our lives although we will always fight to stay alive.
There's another saying we go by to remember the dead and honor the living so we never forget the fallen who have gone before us and always honor and respect the ones we work with.
After a few hours of training the admiral called us back to the meeting room so we met up with him. "Alright gentlemen, suit up, you're going in." He said and so we got ready getting our gear on. We got back to the meeting room ready for the mission and I looked to the admiral. "Any specific details we need to know about this mission?" I asked him and he told us what we needed to know.
"You're going in as backup for a SEAL team that's been sent to Afghanistan, a local militia is holed up in a warehouse there and enemy numbers were greatly underestimated, you're to get in there, help the other team clear out the militia, and get out quick and easy." He said and I nodded. "You get all that team?" I asked the team and they all looked to me.
"Yes sir!" They shouted together. "Good, when do we leave?" I asked him. "As soon as the chopper is prepped, you're taking a stealth helicopter silent as a breeze." He said and I nodded.
We got all the weapons and ammunition ready to go and Lucas met me at the chopper. "Tell Georgia I won't be home tonight." I told him and he nodded. "Will do." He said and I boarded the chopper after the team was in and we left for Afghanistan.
"Hamilton, you ready for this?" I asked Sam and he nodded. "It's what I signed up for, to help serve my country and protect the only family I have left." He said and I nodded.
"Good, just try to stay alive and maintain stealth." I told him and he nodded saying he would.
"Ok gentlemen, all militiamen are hostile but check for hostages and watch for civilians, don't want any civilian casualties." I told them and they agreed.
We landed near where the other SEAL team was dug in and met up with them. "Alright, so about how many are in there?" I asked the captain of that team. "Somewhere between twenty and thirty." He said and I thought about how we would do this. "Any ideas?" He asked. "I'm thinking." I said and thought a simple plan.
"Do you or your team know what I am?" I asked and he looked at me. "What?" He asked and I asked him again. "I think the admiral said something about a shifter?" He said and I nodded.
"I could shift into a wolf or something like that to clear out the guards around the perimeter and sniff out any hostages." I told him and he nodded. "When I get them taken care of I can give you some sort of signal and you can join me at the front door and we'll go from there." I told him and he agreed.
"That could work, ok we can try that." He said and I nodded and shifted into a black wolf to blend in with the shadows. "Good luck Phillips." He said. "Ok men, you know what to do right?" I asked my team. "Yes sir." They whispered and I jumped down from cover straight into the shadows.
I found one guard by the door and went for his throat taking him out quickly and quietly. I done the same with about five more and then saw two together so I created a distraction. "Hey, over here." I whispered and one of them heard me and walked over towards the other side of the building. I took him out and then went for the other guy.
'All clear.' I mind-linked Marcus and they met me by the front door and I shifted back to my form. "Ok I think there are five guys in the front room, use silenced weapons and we breach on three." I told them and they nodded. "One, two, three." I whispered and we opened the door and took them out one by one everything seemed to be going nicely so far, too nicely, but that might just be me.
We went to the next room and found nobody there then the door shut and locked. "What the?" Someone said and then I saw the canisters of tear gas being thrown in the room.
A few seconds before we hit the ground I told Sam to get under something then I was out. A few hours later I woke up tied to a chair in a room and my team and the other team were all in here except Sam, maybe they didn't find him and he can find a way to get us out.
'Sam, can you hear me?' I asked him through the mind-link. 'I'm here, with a headache the size of Texas but I'm here.' He said and I thought of something. 'See if you can contact Lucas and tell him to let the admiral know what's going on and see if you can get a way to get us out of here.' I told him and he said he would.
'Don't do anything stupid, get out of the warehouse and hide somewhere and if you have to take anyone out do it silently.' I told him and he agreed and I cut the connection.
Someone came in a few minutes later with a civilian hostage and he threw her on the floor, she's just a little girl probably around Sarah's age. I looked at the little girl and she looked beaten and might have some broken bones and that made me mad. How could they do this to a little girl?
A few minutes later the rest of the teams woke up and looked around. "How do we get out of here?" Marcus whispered to me. "Sam got clear, he's going to try to get help." I told him and he nodded.
Then a man came through the door and looked straight at me. I narrowed my eyes at him as he came closer. "So, what are you?" He asked and I was a little surprised but I kept a straight face and kept quiet. "Not going to tell me are you?" He asked and I answered him. "That's a secret you will never find out." I told him and he punched me.
"That all you got?" I asked. "Because that felt like a pillow." I finished and he looked angry I need to stall as long as possible so our rescue can get here. Then he took a knife and stabbed me in the lung.
"Now I can make it worse." He said and I smirked. "If you only knew the kind of pain I can endure." I told him and his face went red. Soon Sam contacted me again. 'Can't get Lucas, I'm going to try something else.' He said and I told him to hurry and cut the connection.
With the knife still in my lung he let go of the handle and went to get something else. It was getting a little difficult to breathe and with my hands tied behind me I couldn't pull the knife out. He came back this time with a pistol. "The bullets are lined with poison that won't kill you but will put you through pain for about five minutes." He said and then shot me in the gut.
I felt a familiar pain from the undercover mission gone wrong but it was getting worse. Soon my body locked up for a minute and I couldn't move. "Captain!" Someone shouted and the man slapped whoever it was.
"You can't help him, he will have to deal with anything he gets." The man said and when the other guy spoke again I recognized his voice, it was Marcus. "Why do you want to know what he is so badly?" He asked and the man answered.
"So we can get his DNA and test it on our people after we kill you." He said and once I could speak again I spoke to Marcus. "Stay out of this, he's after me no need in you getting hurt too." I told him. "Yes sir." He said and I had a feeling he wouldn't by his tone of voice so I enforced the order more. "I mean it, if I die the team will need you, stay out of it." I told him and he finally relented.
"Now, as for you, there's no way you're ever going to find out what I am and plus whatever you plan to do with my blood will kill your men one by one a slow painful death, my blood is not replicable." I told him weakly and he got angry again.
Then he got something else and came up to me. The knife was still in my lung and I was losing a lot of blood, I was slowly bleeding out and if Sam didn't get someone quick I wouldn't make it.
He had a syringe full of some sort of liquid and injected it into me. It started a slow burning, nothing like the pain I've been through, but I figured it would do some damage. Soon I was unconscious and just before I passed out I thought of the little girl in here with us and mind-linked for Marcus to keep an eye on her and keep them away from her.
Marcus's POV:
When Lucian passed out and told me to keep them away from the little girl in the room I understood why. She's about Sarah's age and she's just a kid, it made me mad seeing the way she was and when that guy that came in started torturing Lucian I almost snapped.
He deserves respect, not this. Even after he passed out the man kept beating on him and left the room after a while. Lucian was losing a lot of blood and I feared he wouldn't make it, but he knows the grim reaper so maybe he's got that to his advantage.
And he's also possibly got royal blood and I don't know much about shifters but maybe it'll make him stronger and help him survive. I just hope he will then Sam mind-linked me I guess because he couldn't get Lucian.
'Hey I can't get Lucian, what's going on?' He asked and I told him. 'He's unconscious, passed out from pain and blood loss, get someone quick, try to get Ruvel all you have to do is say Ruvel we need your help and he'll appear, it worked for Lucian and Lucas, maybe it'll work for anyone.' I told him and he said he would try.
A few minutes later the man came back in and Lucian was barely breathing. 'Did you get him?' I asked Sam and he replied instantly. 'Yes, we're on our way in.' He said and I was relieved.
While the militia guy was beating on Lucian I saw the door fly off the hinges and Ruvel came storming in. "Who are you?" The man asked the fear evident in his voice and Ruvel told him.
"Well Marco Reich, I'm your worst nightmare." He said and then killed him. Sam took the girl to a village after Ruvel untied us and I carried Lucian out to the chopper after I pulled the knife from his body and put a bandage over it to slow the bleeding.
"Is there a way you can teleport us all back to Mississippi with the helicopter?" I asked Ruvel once the others finished clearing out the compound and Sam got back and he nodded. A few seconds later we were back at the base in Mississippi and we got Lucian out of the chopper and onto a waiting stretcher. Ruvel told Lucas what was going on so the admiral knew and had a hospital chopper waiting.
A minute into the ride to the hospital he started coughing up blood and I knew it was because of his lung. I hope whatever that Marco guy injected Lucian with last won't do too much damage.
Soon we were at the hospital and they rushed him to a surgery station to work on his lung. A few hours of waiting and a doctor finally came out with some news. "Well, we have some good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?" He asked. "Just tell us all of it." I told him and he did.
"The good news is we fixed his lung and they got the bullet out, the bad news is we don't know when or if he'll wake up." He said and I felt light headed. What would we do without Lucian? What would happen to the team, because I'm not ready to lead them yet.
"Thank you doctor, what room will he be in?" I asked and he told me. I took the team up to the room to wait for them to bring him up and once they did I got a better look at how badly he was injured. The area around where the bullet was is bruised and he had bruises forming where they beat him after he passed out and the area where Reich injected that liquid into him was turning an angry red like a bad sunburn.
We got in the room after the doctors cleared out and sat around in the chairs. A few hours later Lucas came in. "Hey I wasn't sure if I should bring his family so I told them to stay home." He said and went silent seeing Lucian. "What happened?" He asked and I told him everything.
When I finished Lucas looked livid and I asked if he was ok. "Hey man, you ok?" I asked him and he shook his head. "When I was captured in Vietnam they had more respect for me than they had for him." He said and I nodded understanding.
A few minutes later a couple in elegant clothing came in asking about Lucian. "I'm sorry, but are you sure you have the right Lucian?" I asked them and they looked at me. "Is his last name Phillips?" The man asked and I nodded. "We're his royal family from Siberia, we felt his soul calling out to us, we're the only ones who can help him right now." The woman said and I motioned to him and the woman knelt by his side and whispered in his ear and he opened his eyes.
Lucian's POV:
While I was unconscious I smelled the disinfectants and knew I was in the hospital. I began to hear a voice, like a sweet melody to the ears and felt a pull, one I've never felt before.
I submitted to the pull and soon I was standing in front of a glowing woman. "Who are you?" I asked and she told me. "I am Alexandria Phillips." She said and asked why my soul called to hers. "I don't know, I felt a pull and ended up here." I told her and she nodded. A few minutes later I heard whispering in my ear and looked beside me to see nobody there.
I began listening to the voice and made out the words "wake up Prince Lucian." And then I felt myself falling, falling back into the real world. Soon I opened my eyes and saw a couple standing over me and my team around me. "Hey gentlemen, how's it going?" I asked them and they looked up hearing my voice. "You're awake." They said and I nodded. "And who are these two standing over me?" I asked them and Marcus told me. "These two are your royal family." He said and I was surprised.
"Yep, seems you're royalty captain." Sam said and the guy spoke up. "What does he mean by 'captain'?" He asked. "Well I'm the captain of this SEAL team." I told him and he looked surprised.
Pretty soon the admiral came in and he brought my wife and kids in with him. "Daddy!" Sarah shouted and ran to me hugging me. "Hey baby, how was your first day of school?" I asked and she told me. "It was good, I made some new friends." She said and I smiled. "Good, just remember to always be nice to all of your friends and they'll follow you a long way if they're true friends." I told her and she nodded. "I know daddy." She said and I kissed her forehead and set her on her feet.
"Commander, what ever happened to that little girl they had in the warehouse?" I asked him and he told me. "Hamilton took her to a nearby village medical center." He said and I nodded relieved she would be alright. "Good work men, now as for you two, what are you doing here and how did you know where to find me?" I asked them and the woman spoke up. "Your soul called to mine and I followed its pull." She said and I nodded.
When I looked to Nick he was a little tiger. "Oh so now you've went from shifting to a chimp to shifting to a tiger cub? Get back to your little boy form." I told him and he did and giggled.
"Bring him over here Georgia and get over here yourself." I told her and she did. I got Nick and told Georgia to sit right beside me and I raised the bed up so I was halfway sitting. "How are you?" I asked her. "I was afraid you had died, I'm afraid you'll end up dead and I'll be left alone." She said and I hugged her.
"Hey, I'm not going to die, I'll be alright and we'll live a long life even as I go on missions with my team." I told her and she nodded drying her tears.
"Just try to remember, I'll always try my best to make it back to you alive." I told her and she nodded. "I will." She said and I nodded approving. "Good, because you know you and our two kids are my reason to live." I told her smiling and she got up.
"As for you little man, don't shift much, if a human that's not military catches you shifting I might have to rescue you." I told him and he nodded. "Ok daddy." He said and I smiled and handed him back to Georgia.
The team left a few minutes ago so it's just my family and the admiral left in the room with me. "So admiral, the mission was successful, Ruvel helped the team get rid of the militia while they were waiting on Sam to get back from taking that girl to the village hospital." I told him and he nodded. "A job well done." He said and I nodded saluting him.
"So what kind of family are you to me?" I asked my royal family and they told me. "We are your aunt and uncle, we have lived for over five hundred years and you are our only heir to the throne if we are killed." They said and told me their names and I nodded. "So we're pretty much immortal, we can talk in animal form, and I'm a royal, anything else I need to know?" I asked and my uncle Diego spoke up.
"You have the ability to control the elements, your aunt Alexandria has the ability to heal, I have the ability of thermal vision, and your son, we don't know yet he's too young for us to know his, and your daughter has the ability to read people and know their true feelings or motives." He said and I nodded.
"So I can bend water, earth, air, and fire to my will?" I asked and he nodded. "As well as blood, if someone takes your blood for an evil purpose you can poison what they take and make it do whatever you want it to, but that's a family ability shared among all of us." He said. "Where's your father?" My aunt Alexandria asked. "Probably still in Florida unless he was informed when Admiral Sutherland was informed and if he was he'll be here soon." I told her and she nodded.
A few minutes later dad walked in. "And speaking of the devil, here he is. I'm guessing one of my team told you what happened?" I asked him.
"Lieutenant Martin told me and came to pick me up in a chopper." He said and I nodded. "Alexandria, Diego, what are you doing here?" He asked and they told him what they told me.
"So I'm guessing you told him everything he can do as a superior shifter?" He asked. "Yes, he needed to know." They said and he nodded.
"For once I approve of your decision." He said and they nodded with a smile. "Ok so Georgia, how's Russell?" I asked her and she told me. "He's adjusting well to the pack and loves to run with them when they go on their runs in wolf form." She said and I smiled. "Good, I'm glad he wasn't terrified of them and he could use the exercise that little bit of land we had back in Florida wasn't enough for him to stretch his legs." I told her and she nodded.
"Who's Russell?" My aunt and uncle asked and I told them. "He's our blue pitbull, gentle with kids and a great guard dog." I told them and they nodded.
"So when can I go back home?" I asked the doctor who just walked in. "Depending on how you're doing you might can go home tomorrow night." He said and I nodded. "Good, I'm ready to get home and get back to work." I said and the admiral looked at me as the doctor left the room.
"Why don't you take a day off since you just found out you had more living family?" He asked and I nodded. "I guess I could take an extra day off, get a day with my wife and kids." I said and he nodded approving of my decision.
"But just one extra day because if I'm physically able to work I'm going to work." I told him and he nodded. "Now that's the attitude I need from all the sailors and SEALS alike." He said and I laughed.
"Well, my old captain drilled the idea into me and the rest of the team and I don't know about the others but I stuck with it because I enjoy serving my country." I told him and he nodded.
"So, how is Siberia?" I asked my aunt and uncle. "Good, they accept our rule without question and we have someone running things while we're here in the states." Uncle Diego said and I nodded.
"I believe I've been to one part of Siberia before to help get rid of some terrorists on my first mission with the SEALS." I said and Aunt Alexandria looked like she remembered it.
"Ah yes, the Lion group, they had a strange name for their group." She said and I nodded. "Yeah that was them, more like kittens when they were going up against us and I didn't even know about being a shifter back then so I couldn't shift into anything." I said and they laughed.
Then the admiral laughed harder pointing to Nick and I looked to him, he was a lion cub. "I guess he knew what you were talking about." He said and I nodded laughing.
"Nicholas Riley Phillips, get back in your little boy form there's too many humans around." I told him and he did and giggled. "That's my good little man." I told him and he laughed some more and clapped.
"Well I better get back to base, take care Lucian and I'll see you Sunday." The admiral said and I nodded. "Yes sir, you too." I told him just before he left. "I need to get home too and get the kids to bed." Georgia said and came up to me. "Ok drive safe and goodnight." I told her and gave her a kiss goodbye. "Bye daddy." Sarah and Nick both said and I gave them both a hug goodbye.
"I'll see you both tomorrow, remember Sarah, be good in school." I told her and she nodded. "I know daddy, I will." She said and I nodded smiling. "Good." I said and then they left.
My aunt and uncle sat on the couch in the room and looked to me. "So how old were you when you stopped aging?" I asked them and they told me. "Twenty years old, but we've lived somewhere between five and six hundred years." They said and I was amazed.
"So I'm basically still twenty while also being forty?" I asked and they nodded. "Same goes for your wife, she won't age anymore because you aren't aging." They said and I nodded. "Good to know I won't outlive her as far as age goes." I said and they nodded. "You have a lovely wife and two beautiful kids." Aunt Alexandria said and I smiled. "Thanks, I'm glad you approve, I married my best friend and the love of my life." I told them and they nodded. After a while I lay the bed back down and went to sleep.

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