"Eenie, Meenie," Alex pointed at the hunters that had all been disarmed. "Miney, Moe. Catch an asshole by his toe."

"Let us go, you demon!"

"If he hollers," Alex gave them a devilish smirk. "Hear the blow." He pointed the gun at the man and shot. It went straight through his head. "Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe."

Oh, they all looked so terrified. He almost felt bad for them. He would have, at least a little, if he didn't see them shooting at all the people he had known his whole life. Now, they got a taste of their own medicine.

"Alex!" Luke called for him again. "I kinda need your help over here!"

He shot the rest of the hunters in both the head and the heart and ran over there. The other Valor warriors were fighting at the city's exits at the moment. Some of them were trying to escape. And that was just something that he couldn't let happen. Because, if any of them escape, that meant that they would come back.

Like the idiots they were.

"You know, Luke," Alex helped him swing a hunter to the other side of the street. "That was the second time you asked me for help tonight."

"Hunters don't count towards that dumb tally of yours, Alex," Luke rolled his eyes. "We've got bigger fish to fry."

"I missed you too."

"Like Hell you do."

"This seems like Hell at the moment," he flashed him a smile. Talking while fighting was a passion of his. Especially when he had someone as nice looking as Luke to talk to. They had quite a lot of fun together just a few short years ago. Alex really thought he found the closest thing to a mate that he could possibly get with Luke.

But, like everything in life, things don't always work out. And, unfortunately for him, that meant that Luke found his actual mate while they were having their fun nights.

Alex wasn't too bothered by it. He rather enjoyed telling his mate just how much fun the two of them had. The lake of fire was nothing compared to Luke's rage back then. It sure was a fun story though.

Three more hunters down, and it really seemed like they were just multiplying like cells in a body at this point. The more he killed, the more appeared. Jett was right when he told him that a whole town must have gone batshit insane.

"So," Alex asked. "What happened with Teddy?"

"It was a fling in high school," Luke said. "We didn't take it far."

"How come I didn't see him then?" he asked. He had gone to high school at the same time as Luke.

"Because you were too busy trying to find an easy lay?" Luke said. "I don't know, man. Everyone from that pack knows how to blend in too much. They've perfected the art of being wall flowers."

"Was he good?"

"Why do you want to know?" Luke snapped the neck of another hunter. "He is definitely not your type."

"Just curious," he laughed. Luke's reaction was great.

"What about that beta that was with us just before this?" he asked.

"What about him?"

"Aren't you trying to get him?"

"There is no try in this kind of game," he smirked at him.

"Oh please," Luke laughed. "Do you always have to act like an overconfident asshole when you want someone?"

"Confidence is key," Alex told him. "How do you think I got you?"

"Sheer luck!" he threw a hunter into a wall.

"Then just call me the Lucky Man!"

He was expecting a laugh or something. He didn't have time to look over to him while fighting the hunters. But he was met with silence. When he finally had the chance to look over to Luke, he saw his friend's face grow serious and alarmed.

"Luke?" he grabbed his shoulder. "Talk to me."

"Alpha Nir!" was all he said before he started booking it in one direction. Alex didn't exactly know what he meant, but he hoped for the best. Because the first thing that popped into his mind was the Alpha getting killed. And there was no way the Noble Pack would handle that well.

He wouldn't either. He knew the man personally. They had gotten a drink or two with Jett and a bunch of buddies plenty of times. The dude had the best bar stories around.

They ran through the streets, trying to avoid all the stray bullets that were flying at them. It seemed like a lot of the warriors were headed in that direction. But one person in particular that he noticed was Kenji of the Reverence Pack. Only, he was running the opposite way.

Fuck. He swore if the Reverence warriors backed down now, he was going to strangle them. They were crucial to taking all of these hunters down at the moment. The other pack's warriors were stretched thin as they dealt with defending the exits of the city.

He didn't have time to think about that, though. Soon it became clear as to why Luke was running like a madman to his Alpha. He was being held at gunpoint. And that hunter looked like he was going to shoot to kill.

This wasn't good. They had no chance of getting there in time. All it would take was one click of the trigger and the man that he had known for almost his whole life would be killed before his eyes.

It all happened too fast for even him to comprehend. One second Alpha Nir is looking down the barrel of a rifle. The next he's on the ground with Geo on top of him while Teddy took care of the hunter.

"You just saved my life," Alpha Nir told Geo. Alex just stood there in shock. He hadn't even seen him until he was on the ground with Nir. He had no idea where the beta had even come from! "What's your name?"

"I'm afraid we don't have time for formalities, sir," Geo said. He looked so serious when he was in battle. It looked good on him. What Alex didn't quite understand, though, was why the Reverence Pack would let their young take command like this. Usually, it was the older warriors that took the lead.

Then he was just gone. He disappeared into the shadows and left. Teddy was gone too.

"Alpha Nir!" Luke ran for his leader. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," Nir frowned, looking in the direction that Geo had ran in. "I wonder what the rush is."

"Well, it's the opposite way of where Kenji was going," Alex said. "I'd say we follow him."

"Kenji was here?" Nir asked. "I saw Reverence warriors, but I didn't think I'd see him."

"I'm pretty sure he was on his way out, as usual," Alex said. "It seems like his son is a little rebel."

"His son?" Luke looked back to him. "You're telling me that Geo is Kenji's kid?!"

"He said he was the Second Beta in command," Alex said. "I heard him yelling with his father the other day on the roof."

"He just jumped off from one, by the looks of it," Nir looked towards the area that Geo had first come from. The only thing that was there was another building. There weren't even any alleys that he could have hid in.

"We have to follow him," Alex said. "He's probably gotten word of more sightings of them."

The Reverence warriors weren't really the best at communicating. It seemed like their focus on stealth made it to where they didn't really talk that much. Alex had to key in on Geo's body language to really try and figure out what he was thinking.

"How do we know where he's even going?" Luke asked. "There's too many scents to pick up on his alone."

"Leave that," Alex smiled. "To me."

He started running before Luke and Nir could even think of what to say. He needed to figure out where this little beta was going. Even if he didn't have much to go on as far as finding him, he had a gut feeling that he was going with. And if there was one thing that Valor warriors always followed, it was their guts.

He ran straight to downtown. It was so creepy that it was quiet that early in the night. The street lights were dim compared to the thick shadows that loomed. Alex slowed down and walked quietly through the streets. All it would take was one small noise to give him a hint of where these pests were. Then it would be easy pickings.

He hadn't known that Luke and Alpha Nir were following him until he looked behind him. They seemed just as curious as he was as to where this beta warrior went. This wasn't exactly in the direction of home for them.

It wasn't until they got to a construction lot that he saw the real battle begin.

"Blake," he called for the delta.

"What's up?" he answered immediately.

"I'm going to need you in downtown by the construction lot," he told him. "Tell Manny to keep the rest of the people you have with you safe."

"How bad is it?"

"Let's just say I think we found the rest of them."

They had swarmed the lot, all quietly looking for the warriors that were there. Alex noticed Geo in the dark. He was looking at someone else, probably waiting to give them a signal. Blake might be a few minutes away, but that didn't mean that he really needed to stall for time. And he really wanted to make sure that Geo didn't get hurt or killed by those cretins. With how much he had helped them all, he deserved to have a little more back up.

Alex motioned for Luke to go to one side. Nir had already picked up on the idea. He went to the other side, both of them slowly sneaking closer to the lot. Alex just watched and waited. The second that one jumped at them, the second he would nab them.

Before he could even get one, though, a tall, lanky man snuck up on the one that he had his eyes on. The kill was silent. It took him a second to realize that it was Jin. He hadn't really known the guy for that long. To think that the peaceful looking guy could kill that flawlessly was a bit disturbing.

Alex had to hand it to them, these warriors were pretty skilled. But it wasn't going to be enough. There were so many hunters in that area alone. It seemed like they had all corralled them to that area. This was most likely the last bit of them.

"The last of the hunters are gone by the exits," one of his warriors told him.

"Perfect. Send half of them to the city. Tell them to follow my scent."

"It might be a while," the warrior said. "Some of them are wounded."

"Make sure the wounded get to the pack house first then," he told him. That would mean that he would be by himself for a little longer, but he could handle that. Blake would be there soon anyway. And they needed to take care of their wounded first.

Before he could even think of finding a new target, or giving his warriors a new order, the hunters had caught them all by surprise. Bright lights shined down on the lot, showing each and every fighter that was there.

Alex had never seen so many damn warriors in one place. Most of them were Reverence too. How they got so many warriors, he had no clue.

"Gotcha now!" one of the hunters said.

Man, they were cockier than him. And that was saying something.

Alex quickly worked his way through the lot, pushing every one of the warriors out of the way of a bullet as he was doing so. These guys weren't used to fighting in plain sight. But they all showed a hatred on their face. Something had happened to make them keep going.

It reminded him of when Teddy was asking Geo if Shiro was alright. He had this look on his face like he wanted to murder half the town. All of these guys were fighting with that expression now. And they were fighting well, at that.

But why would Kenji fall back if all of his other warriors were here?

"Alex!" Blake called out to him. "Watch out! This place is riddled with bombs!"

"Bombs?!"

"Scrap bombs," he told him. "When they blow up, chunks of metal come out of them. And, knowing these hunters, they're probably stocked with silver."

So, they were trying to blow them away, huh? That would explain why they were all trying to fall back. The best place to plant them would be a construction site, too.

"Teddy!" Alex grabbed the little guy. He was taking cover by one of the construction vehicles.

"Fancy seeing you here!" he hollered over the fighting. "Still trying to get Geo?"

"Not at the moment," he shook his head. "I need you to tell your warriors that there's bombs here!"

"What?!"

"Get out of the construction lot, all of you!" he told him. "Just fall back to the outer rims and catch all the hunters there as they're trying to escape!"

He saw those irises get big for a second, then they shrank and he nodded.

"Thanks for the help!" Teddy told him. "I'll try and pass word!"

"Don't worry about that! I'll handle that! You just get all of these guys out of here as fast as you can!"

He wasn't of their pack, but he was still a beta, so Teddy would probably listen to him. He had to get to Luke and Nir next. He wasn't going to deal with another fear for that Alpha's life. He still wanted to make sure all of them made it through this mess alive.

"I got to Alpha Nir," Blake told him. He was so relieved to hear that. "Him and his warriors are retreating to the outer perimeter."

"Good thinking."

"Just doing what I can at the moment," Blake said. "You're in the heart of it all, Alex. Be careful."

"There's not really a way to be careful when you're in the heart of bombs, dude."

"Well, then I pray that you are extra lucky tonight."

"Thanks," he scanned the area. He wanted to make sure that everyone could make it out. Even if that meant that he had to distract some of these hunters. Alex was running around from cover to cover to make it seem like there were multiple werewolves still there. So far everything was going according to plan. These guys had no idea that they knew what they were up to.

But there was one person he hadn't seen yet.

"Blake, have you seen Geo anywhere?"

"No, I haven't."

"Ask one of the Reverence warriors," he told him. He didn't know if Geo was trying to play hero at the lot, but it was a very bad idea.

Well, Alex was doing it himself, but he wasn't supposed to be the smart one here. He was supposed to be the idiotically brave one that got out by the skin of his teeth.

You see, Geo was supposed to be the hot brainiac that knew how to strategize like a damn navy general.

He would probably look great in that suit, too...

"Blake?"

"It's a bit difficult to find these warriors," he sounded a bit sheepish as he answered him.

Great. That meant he was going to have to search this whole minefield for him.

What if he was wounded? What if he was unconscious somewhere?

What if he was dead?

That struck fear into his heart a little more than he thought it would. He just met the guy, but he feared for his life. It fueled his legs to go faster as he ran through the lot. It was a giant one. They were actually planning on building a mall in the lot soon. But, at the moment, it was just a pile of sand. Which made for a great hunting ground for these guys it seemed.

He still hadn't found him. Fear was turning into panic as he forced himself to stay focused. He didn't have much time left.

Just when he got to the center of the lot, a gunshot went off right by his ear. He turned to see three of the hunters pointing their rifles at him.

Shit. Was this his end? He'd admit, it would be an honorable death. He wasn't exactly the best person, but he didn't want to leave this world as young as he was. He still had to find his mate and help lead a pack. He still had so many years to figure out what he wanted to do with life.

There was a split second where he stared down the barrel of those guns, completely frozen and unsure what to do. He always knew what to do. He had gone through so many worse situations than this one and made it out alive. But, for some reason, this struck him. Because the whole reason he had gone this far in was to find someone who could already be dead at this point.

The hunter smiled as if he had just found a feast for his starving family. The other two looking like they merely wanted revenge for their fallen brothers and sisters. They didn't want to talk, surprisingly. Alex couldn't even use that to buy time.

Then all the lights went out on the lot. And Alex thought, for a second, that he was actually dead. That he had gone to the skies or something. You know, all those sappy things you think about when you're about to die.

Is that relatable to most people?

Probably not. But, for werewolves he supposed it was. Warriors have plenty of near-death experiences.

Then he felt something drop on him.

"What the fuck are you still doing here?!" Geo yelled at him. He must have dropped from somewhere up high, because it was enough force to bring Alex down to the ground.

The upside was he avoided the gunshots from the hunters, and had a guy on top of him.

The downside? His back was going to kill him after this was said and done.

"I was looking for you, Puppy," he groaned. "At this point I should call you a monkey or something, though. You sure know how to fall right in the nick of time."

"Save the flirting for later, will you?" Geo whispered to him. His mouth was right by his ear. "They have this whole place infested with bombs and you want to flirt. You're such a dumbass."

"Call me all you want," Alex breathed out a laugh. "I'm just happy that you're alive." Just realizing that he was okay made Alex feel ten times lighter. He would hug him if he had the time.

"We won't be for long if we don't get moving!"

They both got up and started booking it out of the lot. They had until the hunters got to their safe zone to get away from all of the bombs. But, by the looks of it, they were running out of time. With the darkness finally coming back to the lot, he could finally see all the red lights of the bombs. They were blinking, and the blinking was getting faster and faster with every second they ran.

That's when he realized that they weren't going to have enough time.

That's when he realized that he didn't want to die, but he also didn't want Geo to die.

His instinct kicked in. He grabbed Geo and made them both fall to the ground. He hugged him, using his body as a shield for him. He'd much rather one of them go than both of them. Geo tried to squirm out of his grip, but it was too late. The bombs erupted, causing a massive sound. He lost hearing for a second, but he kept his hold tight. The main pain came from the whole back side of him. He almost lost consciousness at that point. How he was still awake was through willpower alone.

"Jett," he mind linked with him. "Construction lot. Bombs...." It was too difficult to think at the moment. All he really could do was enjoy the scent of whatever he was holding. It felt like hugging a pillow. One that smelt like lily pads and that smell that came right before a rainfall.

Were there such thing as scented pillows?

"Alex!"

Maybe he could just picture himself in that pond. He wondered if there were frogs there or not. They were always fun to tease his sisters with when he was a kid.

"Alex!"

"Over here!"

Where were these voices coming from? He barely recognized them at the moment. The pond he was relaxing in was now getting foggy. He hated the fog. It always hid the beauties of the forest. On the rare sunny days, it looked like a wonderland. He would have so much fun on those days.

"Shit! What happened?"

"He covered me while the bombs went off."