My Way ||| Ateez

48

"Colonel!" Mingi ran into the camp and straight for where everyone was gathered. "Colonel we have stop!"

The man looked up. "What's wrong?"

"Lizbeth said that it's a trap. They are waiting for us."

"Are you sure?"

Mingi bent forward and placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "Yes. They might not be expecting us to come with an army, but I don't want to risk it."

The Colonel glanced at his men, then nodded, indicating they could disperse for now. "So what do you want to do?"

The alpha sighed and straightened out. He honestly had no idea how he wanted to handle this now. If the Alpha Pack was waiting for them, then they must have lookouts everywhere. He should have thought of this, of course they would anticipate him coming to rescue everyone, especially since they have Seonghwa.

He was such an idiot...

"I don't know. The hard thing is that the mind link doesn't work within the walls, otherwise I'd say I'd let them take me. But I'd have no way of contacting any of you..."

"Well Lizbeth knows things about spells, can't she do something?" Colonel Gregson glanced at the motel.

"She's too weak. Plus it's a different pack that specializes in it. Each pack used to have their own specialty when the race was still young. We call then the ancient packs now. I might be able to figure something out if I had access to some of their books, but I'm sure they are all gone or at the fortress..."

Then the Colonel straightened out and ran back to his tent. "Follow me." He called and Mingi didn't hesitate.

Inside, the man started digging through a chest. Mingi cringed because it smelled of death. He didn't know if he wanted to know what was in there, until the Colonel pulled out a giant, leather bound book. He felt his jaw drop as he looked at it. "Where did you get that?"

Colonel Gregson carefully handed the book to Mingi. "It was passed down to me when I took over as head of the Hunters. Apparently we've had it for generations. It's all gibberish to us though, it's written in some ancient language. Maybe this will help you."

Mingi gently stroked the cover. It was embossed with a crescent moon and stars. He could tell it was old just by the cracks in the leather and the yellowing of the pages. His heart pounded as he carefully opened it to the first page.

The man was right, it was an ancient language. He had come across some books when he was growing up, but he had never been taught to read it. He had a feeling his father didn't know how to either and that's why he joined forces with Primera.

"Thank you." Mingi said softly. "May I take this to Lizbeth?"

The Colonel nodded. "We will lay low here until we figure out a better plan."

The alpha bowed low and then hurried back to the motel room. He was happy to see that Lizbeth was still awake. She turned to him immediately and her eyes widened. "Where did you get that?" She held out shaky hands and took the book from Mingi.

"Colonel Gregson had it..."

The three pack members all gathered around Lizbeth as she opened the book. "It's... It's Primera's..." She gasped, running her fingers over the pages.

"Do you think there could be something in there that can help us?" Yunho asked, leaning closer to her and placing a hand on her back.

"I don't know, I've never seen this one before. It's going to take time for me to decipher it." She gave Mingi an apologetic look.