Lure To The Woods

XL

"Gracie, are you okay?" I rushed out the second she answered the phone, worried that I was taking too long at the pack house.

"I'm fine, honestly. Not much has happened with me." She answered calmly, acting as a voice of reason despite being in labour.

"I'm just finishing up here and then I'll be right over." I promised, "The drills are all finished, so I'm just checking on everyone to make sure they're okay."

"Make sure you come back with a guard, Cam. Xavier will kill me if anything happens to you." Gracie warned, "My car keys should be in Noah and I's room if you want to take the car."

"It's okay, I don't want to drum up too much attention so close to the hospital. We were walking as a group from a neighbourhood near there and it still seemed pretty untouched, so I'd rather not draw the rogues away from the border."

"That's considerate of you Cameron, but don't sideline your own safety too much."

"Sure thing, Gracie. Speak soon."

"Stay safe, Cam." Gracie hung up quickly, not wanting to waste any time.

I tucked my phone into my pocket and slipped back into the kitchen of the pack house, everyone looking over at me instantly as if they could sense my presence. According to Gracie, I had an aura similar to Xavier's since I was Luna, so people could always tell when I was nearby around here. At first, the idea had freaked me out, but I was used to it by this point.

I scooped up a tea pot and started making my rounds, offering people a warm drink as I checked on them and reassured them that everything was running smoothly. I didn't know that it was going smoothly, exactly, but Grace had a pretty good idea of what was going on (because she had marked Noah) and she seemed pretty calm, which was a good sign as far as I'm concerned.

"Luna Cameron?" A familiar small voice called from my side, tugging on Xavier's hoodie sleeve.

"Lilah, are you okay?" I smiled, crouching down to his height so that I could see him properly.

"I'm fine, Cam." Lilah nodded enthusiastically, "A few of the others didn't believe me when I said you told me Alpha Xavier was already sorting the baddies."

I smiled softly at that, finding it sweet that he believed my words so strongly that he was telling all of his friends, too. It made me feel a little better that I had brought comfort to at least one person during these difficult times.

"Why don't you lead me to them and we'll have a little chat, then?" I smiled sweetly, taking his little outstretched hand.

I had to take tiny steps in order to not walk tot fast for him as I followed behind, being lead to a table right in the corner that was surrounded by fabric. It looked as if they had built a little fort with the pillows and blankets that had been brought down here to make people comfortable- it was lit up by the yellow glow of a torch and honestly looked pretty cosy.

"In there?" I double checked once Lilah came to a stop outside of it.

"The password is 'I'm not a rogue'." He whispered, making me chuckle under my breath.

"Thanks for the intel." I laughed, crouching down at the entrance to the tent.

I knocked on the floor outside of the entrance, hearing a chorus of hushed whispers from inside the tent bicker over who should answer the door- they decided to just play a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who the unfortunate soul would be, the rest of them scrambling away from the entrance. They thought I couldn't hear because I was human, but they weren't exactly being quiet. Not to mention, I could see each of their shadowy outlines through the sheet because of the torch glow. Watching them interact was like watching a terrible shadow-puppet theatre.