Disclaimers: See Part 1
Okay, I know it's been… uhm… some time *cough* since my last update. I got a lot of mails encouraging me to write and a few more asking if I was still writing at all -.- Both helped me get over my writer's block, so thanks to all who sent me comments or threatened to kick my ass ; )
I had a small problem with my email account in the last weeks (okay, months…), so if you wrote me and didn't get an answer, I was not intentionally ignoring you but either didn't get your mail or you didn't get my answer. Either way I'm sorry, I really love feedback (yeah, that's a hint ^^) and do my best to answer every mail.
And as always thanks to my beta Mac and to my Darling who stopped this chapter from becoming a complete disaster XD (Yeah, an XD only for you ; )
So, enough babbling, enjoy ^^
Send comments, questions or complaints to Sammet82@t-online.de
Chapter 7 – Of Amazons and Mavericks
It was dark and foggy except for the bright, colored lasers flashing from the ceiling; the air was heavy with the smells of perfume, sweat and arousal, the booming music palpable in every fiber of her body. Alice was in the middle of the overcrowded dance floor, dancing and shaking her ass for all it was worth. She had just fed and was practically brimming with energy, her senses near overload. She was full up, dancing with a very pretty brunette and there was no way she could get in trouble here, as long as –
“ Alice !”
Alice cringed and slowly turned around. The last time she had seen Max, the warrior had been at the bar, flirting heavily with a tall blond guy looking like a half-dead but attractive Viking, so Alice was surprised to now see her looking decidedly pissed off. “I've just smelled a Male,” the warrior screamed against the music, “I'm going to chuck him out, you stay here!”
Alice only nodded, relieved she hadn't been the one to ignite Max's anger, and turned to the brunette again. It wasn't unusual that the warriors had to chase away Mavericks who were new in town and didn't know that the clan claimed the northern part of the city solely for themselves. Mavericks and members of other clans could sojourn in the southern area as long as they behaved and didn't draw too much attention to them. However, everything north of the river was the clan's hunting ground only. This had practical reasons as well as rather petty ones – most of the good clubs and shops were located here and the clan needed a safe playground for the youngsters. They saw to it never to draw attention to themselves here, but sometimes went on a little rampage downtown to remind the Hunters that the action took place here – little Gina throwing a 400 pound guy across a bar had been one of those demonstrations. The Hunters had fallen for it, obviously believing vampires lived only south of the river and so barely showed up uptown.
Alice felt the brunette's hands stroking her sides, drawing her closer and growling happily she buried her face against the slender neck. On closer examination, she could do with a second helping…
***
Even with the Hunters gone for the moment, there was no vacation for the warriors. Luca, her leg completely healed by now, and Sonya were getting ready to go on patrol; Cheyenne and Nox had gathered the youngsters in the patio and were giving them a fighting demonstration. After long discussions, Erin had agreed that Gabriel could take Wolf out to watch and now the three of them were sitting on one of the marble benches, enjoying a highly skilled staff fight. Gabriel was very impressed; she had known how good Nox was but Cheyenne had been a rookie on Gabriel's last visit and now she really was giving Nox a hard time.
Wolf growled contentedly. This was good. She had Mine close by and there were so many new things to see. Like sky and stars . And the moon was really impressive; it made a lot of light, but unlike other lights didn't hurt her eyes. It was hard to decide where to look and what to watch for it all was new and exciting. The smells alone were overwhelming and while she had trouble relating them all, she knew for sure that Gabriel smelled best. Mine was leaning against her side, her eyes on the fight in front of them, but her hand kept stroking Wolf's knee and that was good, too.
Everything was new, and everything was better. She wasn't hurting anymore and no one here tried to make her hurt. And she didn't feel hungry, or cold or anything else unpleasant.
Even the curly one – Erin - didn't seem so bad now. She made Gabriel smile and laugh a lot and while Wolf usually didn't see anything funny in her comments, she really appreciated the sparkle in Gabriel's eyes. Erin seemed to be kind of the leader here. The other Females – Gabriel had explained they all were not monsters but Females – sometimes called her Queen and Wolf remembered that this was some kind of title. The others did what she told them – mostly at least. The others. Wolf sighed. There were so many of them that she just couldn't tell them all apart.
Of course she knew Cheyenne . Apart from Mine , the big one seemed to be the smartest here; she didn't talk all the time and she always seemed to understand what Wolf wanted to say, even if the right words eluded her.
Cheyenne currently was fighting against a Female called Nox. Wolf could remember that name because somehow she knew it meant ‘night' and that seemed fitting for the Female with the deep black skin. She didn't know why they were fighting, because Gabriel had insisted they all were friends and it didn't look like they were really trying to hurt each other, but still it was fascinating to watch. The way they were moving, so fast and powerful was intriguing, she had half a mind to go over to them and try it herself, but at that moment Gabriel snuggled up closer to her and Wolf relaxed. Later, she decided. Fighting couldn't be as good as being close to Mine .
Yet her eyes stayed fixed on the combat in front of her. Something about it stirred her memory, bringing up a word she had known before. Something like…
Gabriel felt Wolf tug at her sleeve and tore her eyes away from the fight to see her point excitedly at Nox and Cheyenne .
“Amazons!”
Erin laughed at this, until Wolf directed her blue eyes at her.
“Amazon Queen!”
They heard giggling and laughter from the youngsters and Erin buried her face in her hands. “I'll never get rid of that!”
***
Alice was starting to feel queasy. This was taking too long. Maxine was a capable warrior and knew how to make herself clear, she should have been back by now. Without further thought, Alice turned her back on her dancing partner and fought her way through the swaying and grinding crowd. She tried to sniff for Max, but when she started to concentrate, the dry smell of artificial fog and the patchouli perfume gothics seemed so fond of were burning in her nose. The noise of the crowd and the music swelled to a deafening crescendo, thrumming painfully in her ears, the lights got blinding, cutting into her eyes like knives…
Just peachy. Sensory overload. Kara had told her this could happen if she drank too much and that she needed to kind of meditate, to shut off her senses, to get rid of this bothersome effect. But she didn't have the time for that now. First she needed to find Max and make sure she was okay.
By pure luck rather than sight, she finally made it to the back entrance where she surmised Max must have taken the Maverick to talk.
The heavy steel door slammed shut behind her with a clang that reverberated like thunder in her head, leaving her outside in a narrow side street. In the blinding light of a streetlamp she could make out two blurry figures; by now her eyes were hurting so much, she could only tell the smaller one was Max because of the distinctive cut of her dress. Max seemed to be growling at the Male, but Alice couldn't make out any words.
Before Alice had the chance to draw attention to herself, the big form suddenly grabbed Max like a rag doll and threw her headfirst against the wall. Max hit the building with a sickening crunch and dropped lifelessly to the floor.
Alice screamed, frozen in shock. The blurry form took a step towards her and she thought he would come after her, but the next moment he turned and disappeared in the shadows. For a moment Alice stood paralyzed, torn between going after him and helping Max, then her concern for her friend won out.
Max was lying motionless when Alice ran over to her.
“Max?”
No answer. Alice still couldn't see more than shadows, but she could smell fresh blood, a lot of it. She needed to see what was wrong with Max, she needed to calm down. Ignoring her need to take immediate action, she closed her eyes, blocking out every sound and smell, concentrating on her own heartbeat.
It probably took her only a few minutes to calm down, but they felt like hours. When she finally opened her eyes again, she cried out in shock. Max was lying in a crumpled heap, her head bent at an odd angle, her face a bloody mess, so shattered she was barely recognizable. With a trembling hand she reached out, touching Max's chest. There was a heartbeat, but painfully slow and way too weak. She needed to get her home. Perhaps the Elders could save her. But how… the car. Parked only a block away.
She picked Max up, afraid she might leave some parts of her behind if she wasn't careful, and headed for the car in a quick pace, Max's slender form hanging limply in her arms.
***
Gabriel leaned back against the bench, enjoying the feel of mild moonlight on her skin and Wolf cuddling up against her side. Her friends had really made a good choice buying this house. Located in the suburban area there was barely any traffic noise, the air was filled with the smells of flowers and sweet herbs Candace had planted in small patches around the patio and a soft wind was whistling in the leafs of the line of birches dividing the training zone from the area where the warriors' motorcycles were parked.
The youngsters now were training in pairs, overseen by Cheyenne who now and again grunted in approval or discontent. Nox had taken a seat on another bench, but jumped up every other minute to correct the youngsters' grips on their staffs, their stances or their moves.
Wolf had an arm around her shoulder, her fingertips were stroking her bare arm, but she didn't notice the pleasant little shivers she sent through Gabriel with that. Now and again she bent down to kiss her cheek or ask for a word, but for the most part her light eyes stayed on the youngsters, flickering from one movement to the next and Gabriel was sure she even saw her ears twitch now and again.
Erin was in the middle of an anecdote about the clan's last Christmas party when her cell phone started vibrating. She drew it out of her pocket and glanced at the display. “ Alice … bet she's gotten into a brawl again,” she laughed. “I swear, this girl's going to drive me insane…” she answered the call. “What's up, kiddo?”
Gabriel could hear Alice on the other end, it sounded like she was crying. “ Erin ? Max has been hurt, she – she's not moving and her head… I… so much blood…”
Erin 's voice lost all playfulness. “Is she alive?”
“I… I don't know, she –”
“Where are you now?”
“Car… Sears – driving home, I –”
“Good. Alice , drive as fast as you can, got me? Slow down for nothing and no one, we'll be awaiting you in the driveway.”
“O… okay…” Alice hung up and Erin immediately punched in speed dial for Sonya.
“Son, I need you and Luca to come back right now, we had an incident here.”
After a heartbeat of nonplussed silence, Sonya answered. “Fifteen minutes, boss.”
Erin hung up and turned to the others.
“Y'all heard?”
That was one of the downsides of living with vampires – they were likely to hear both sides of a phone call. The youngsters looked visibly shaken, Nox and Cheyenne grim and Gabriel concerned. Even the Wolf was staring at her suspiciously.
Nox growled. “You shoulda asked her what happened!”
“She can tell us once she gets Max here.” Erin stood up, pocketing her phone. “You both,” she looked from Nox to Cheyenne , “go gather everyone in the living room. Kids, you take Gabriel and her Wolf to the shed, you all stay there till one of us comes to get you!”
“Why? We want to help!”
“I want to know what happened!”
“We want to see if Max is…”
“You can't make us –”
“Stop it!” Erin bellowed, her eyes flashing bright gold. “The house is soon going to smell of blood and we don't know how the Wolf will react, so I need her as far away as possible – and you all will go along so you're not in the way,” she snorted. “At least now you get to gawk at her all you want. Go. Now!”
Wolf slowly stood up and stepped in front of Gabriel. Something was very wrong. The curly one looked seriously dangerous now; all of them seemed to be angry and were screaming at each other. She felt Gabriel step up to her, gently stroking her arms.
“It's okay, Wolf. They'll all calm down now, won't they ?”
Those last words Gabriel spoke rather harshly, and the bickering stopped immediately. Erin pointedly cleared her throat and Cheyenne and Nox sped off to alert the clan; the kids, rather grudgingly, moved in the other direction.
Gabriel took Wolf's hand and they followed the youngsters through the big arch leading from the patio to the grounds. Gabriel was impressed, she had known her friends wouldn't settle for a small back garden, but the estate actually was so big that she couldn't make out the borders. To the left there was a big pool, surrounded by canvas chairs, to the right a basketball field. With fleeting amusement she noticed that Wolf was dividing her attention between the interesting new surroundings and the twittering youngsters.
“What's this shed?” she asked, more to distract the youngsters than out of real curiosity.
“An old garage.” Kara pointed over to a small flat roof building half hidden behind a row of trees. “The warriors hang out there sometimes.”
“I hate it there,” Robyn complained. “It's always dirty and dusty and they haven't even put real furniture in there…”
‘Shed' seemed a pretty apt term. It was an old double garage, with the paint peeling from the walls and probably a few holes in the roof. Inside stood an old Camarro, missing the hood and most of the windows, and next to it a tattered couch and a couple of folding chairs. Empty beer bottles littered the floor, a pyramid of six packs filled one of the corners. On the back wall stood an old-fashioned forge with the hammers and tools hanging above it being the only tidy thing in the whole room.
“Well,” Gabriel sighed and sat down on the slightly clammy sofa. “Guess we'll be in here for a while. So why don't you all tell me about yourselves? The only one I know is CJ,” she smiled warmly at the lanky blonde, “and you were still human the last time I visited. So how did you finally convince Erin to Turn you?”
***
“Perhaps they had an accident?”
“:..might really have gotten into a brawl…”
“Now what kind of brawl could take out Max?”
“I tell you Black's clan's got something to do with it!”
“We've been at peace with them for over 50 years! No, it…”
Erin had finally managed to assemble everyone in the living room and had given them a short overview of what little she knew. Now they all were talking their heads off; with the exception of Gina who was typing on her laptop, probably informing Penny. Erin was on the verge of telling her off – they didn't need Penny and Kat all worried, too - when her cell phone rang once more.
“ Alice again.” she announced. The room immediately went quiet and Erin , not bothering to hold the phone to her ear, accepted the call.
“Yes?”
“ Erin , problem!”
“What is it?”
“The freaking cops! Right behind me!”
“How long till you're here?”
“I'm on Berman Drive , two minutes perhaps.”
“Then just go as fast as possible, we'll take care of the cops when you get here.”
“'Kay.”
The line went dead and Erin took a deep breath to calm down. Someone had to keep a cool head and unfortunately it was her. She could feel the tension mounting around her, could see the determination on the warriors' faces to kill the cops if need be. They really didn't need that kind of complication now.
“Fine.” She announced in the strained silence. “No big deal. Just one more little problem. We'll see how many more we can pile up tonight. Okay, here goes. Sarah and Danny already got the infirmary ready. I'll get Alice , Chey takes Max and Sonny gets rid of the cops. Nox, you go with her in case she fails and we need a more… drastic approach. Everyone else stays here.”
She was relieved no one put up an argument about this.
***
The street lights were only blurry dots as Alice sped the little Roadster through the streets, the police car on her heels, its sirens cutting through her thoughts, making it impossible to concentrate. She only knew she needed to get Max to safety. The warrior was hanging lifelessly in the seat belt, shaken around by every bump and every corner the car took.
Alice roughly wiped away the tears that were dimming her vision. It was all her fault. If she only hadn't asked Max to accompany her, if she hadn't let her go after that Male alone…
One last corner and she finally saw the mansion, with Erin and some others already standing in the driveway. She stopped as smoothly as possible so as not to shake Max any more than needed. The next second the doors were ripped open and Erin practically yanked her out of the car.
Alice saw Cheyenne rushing in to lift Max out of the car and Sonny put on her friendliest smile and walk towards the police car that just stopped in the driveway with screeching breaks, but then Erin laid an arm around her and dragged her into the house. Alice didn't want to leave Max out of her sight and tried to run back, but her struggles didn't even make Erin falter in her steps. She shoved Alice into the living room and let herself sink onto the couch, simply drawing the resisting girl with her.
Alice tried to jump up again, but Erin tightened the arm around her shoulder. “It's okay, Alice , we'll take care of everything now. Look at me!”
Alice looked up, her eyes wide and uncomprehending, she clearly was in shock. Erin ground her teeth. She really wished Gabriel wasn't Wolf-sitting right now, she was so much better at the sensitive stuff. She forced herself to smile.
“I need you to concentrate, kid. I need to know what happened!”
“I want to see Max!”
“Sarah and Danny are tending to her. But you have to tell me what exactly happened. Now.”
“I – don't know – didn't see him, he grabbed her and simply smashed her against the wall…”
“Who – he?”
“I don't know! Didn't see him…”
“Easy, Alice . Start from the beginning, please.”
It easily took ten minutes to get the whole story from the distraught youngster. When she had ended, Erin had to scream her orders for everyone to stay put. The room was filled with cries of outrage, even the calmer ones like Candace and Corey were agitated and bent on revenge. The warriors were seething, one by one they disappeared to come back dressed in combat gear, bloodlust in their eyes. They were only waiting to find out how Max was doing, then they would go and hunt the Male down. Erin surely wouldn't try to stop them. She was just as angry, it was her clan and she took this attack very personal. She desperately wanted to let her anger have free reign, to go and get the bastard, but she knew she needed to keep calm till Sonya got here.
Alice still was shaking like a leaf and every other minute tried to jump up to go looking for Max. Her tears had made her mascara run in dark streaks over her cheeks, but below it she still looked deadly pale. Erin clumsily petted the youngster's shoulder.
“You've done a good job, kid, but try to calm down. There's nothing you can do now.”
“Good job?” Alice screeched. “I shouldn't have let her go alone! She told me she would kick him out and I didn't –”
Erin tightened her grip on Alice . “Stop that right now,” she growled. “If that Male was strong enough to beat Max, there's nothing you could have done. Be glad he didn't turn on you after he was through with her.”
***
Gabriel was doing her best to keep the youngsters distracted. She kept asking them about their background and about life in the clan. It seemed to work, they were talking animatedly, only glancing over to the mansion every other minute. Val had picked up an old baseball from the floor and started throwing it around, the Wolf's eyes following it attentively as it passed from girl to girl. As always she was sitting close to Gabriel, their bodies touching. She seemed to sense the tension in the room, her beautiful eyes taking in every movement, her clawed fingers twitching when one of the youngsters gesticulated too wildly.
Wolf sighed. Those kids, as Gabriel called them, were a bit annoying. They were talking all at once and at a speed that she just couldn't keep up with. On top of that, they kept staring at her funny. Not maliciously, but - somehow greedy. Well, they smelled very young, perhaps they were not yet able to really control their facial expressions. Wolf was rather proud that she was finally coming to terms with hers. She'd obviously mastered the smiling-thing, because when she tried, it made Gabriel smile as well. She'd also learned a very cold look that made everyone take a step back. It wasn't quite as effective as growling and flashing her teeth, but pretty useful nonetheless. She used it when she wanted to be alone with Mine .
Kara threw the ball over to Gabriel, but before the blonde could catch it, Wolf's hand shot out, snatching it out of the air. Wolf looked closely at the ball, poked it and even sniffed at it before she seemed convinced that it was not dangerous, then gently laid the ball in Gabriel's hand.
Gabriel smiled and kissed her temple. “Thank you, beautiful.”
Wolf growled contentedly and Gabriel threw the ball back to Kara.
“Oh darn!” Kara, staring in rapt fascination at Wolf, had missed the ball and it bounced from the wall behind her to roll straight under the car. She knelt down, trying to fish it out, but it had stopped exactly in the middle, just an inch away from her fingertips.
Suddenly Wolf jumped up, went around the couch and effortlessly lifted the car up by the bumper. Completely baffled, Kara stared up at her and with her free hand Wolf politely motioned for her to pick up the ball. Kara obeyed, not taking her eyes off of her, and Wolf carefully set the car down.
Turning back to Gabriel, she saw that not only Mine , but all of the Females were staring at her wide-eyed. “Not good?” she asked sheepishly.
Gabriel shook herself from her stupor. “No, that was very nice of you, darling, you only surprised us a bit. Come here.”
The youngsters kept staring at Wolf as if she'd suddenly grown a second head. CJ found her voice first.
“She shouldn't be able to do that, should she?”
Gabriel scratched her head. “Uhm… I don't think so. At least not with such ease.” She tugged at Wolf's hand, gently urging her to sit down again. “On the other hand,” she mused, “Wolves are very strong cause they don't think about what they want to do, they just do it… but still…”
“What if she actually is an Elder?” Kara piped in.
Val snorted. “Don't be stupid. Hunters never take Elders to make a Wolf.”
“Why not? They'd be stronger!”
Gabriel sighed. “Yes and no. While our kind become stronger the older we get, so does our mind. Do you remember your Turning? How you felt afterwards?”
Kara scrunched up her face. “Hazily. I remember feeling all weak and confused and… and Erin and the others kept asking me all sorts of questions… what my name was, or my favorite color or what movie I had seen last. And it was so hard to answer them, I so had to concentrate to remember…”
“Exactly. Right after the Change your mind is in complete turmoil, as the Beast, the vampire part, is trying to take control. It takes a lot of work to get your mind functioning normally again. If they hadn't forced you to remember, your self could have been swallowed up completely by the Beast. That's what happenes to Wolves. It takes weeks, sometimes months after the Turning till a vampire's mind is completely stable again and if the Hunters get their hands on a youngster in this critical time, it's possible to Turn them into a Wolf. I suppose it'd be possible to make an Elder lose their mind, but they wouldn't get them to function properly. They'd never follow the Hunters' orders and they wouldn't completely forget who they are. So our Wolf here…” she smiled at the tall Female who, obviously bored by the talking, had laid her head in Gabriel's lap and was gazing at the youngsters through sleepy blue eyes, “is most assuredly a youngster.” And a really hot one at that.
***
Erin drew Alice closer, talking to her softly so she wouldn't disturb Sonya who was bent over the city map with the rest of the warriors, planning their search pattern. The Chief had come in a few minutes ago, demanding to know ‘what the hell was going on' and had immediately taken over command. That left Erin to comfort Alice while, at the same time, she was straining to hear what was going on in the infirmary across the house. Unfortunately she had bought this house because of the thick walls and doors – after all, vampires had good hearing and she cherished her privacy. So she forced herself to remain calm and wait for the sound of the infirmary door opening.
Obviously she wasn't the only one, because when it finally did, every talk stopped abruptly.
Still it was another five minutes of strained silence till Danny finally came in. There were splatters of blood on her shirt and she looked strained but not particularly worried.
“She'll be okay.” She announced before someone could snap at her for making them wait so long. “A few days rest and some more blood and she'll be up and about again. Sarah will stay with her till she wakes up, but we don't think she's in danger anymore.” she looked at Alice , a small smile breaking the tension on her face. “Thanks to you, kid. You did the right thing, bringing her here so fast.”
“B… but all the blood! She wasn't moving anymore, her face –”
“Sure.” Danny shrugged. “Her skull's shattered. But we're not so easily killed. She started healing the moment we fed her. Gave her all the units of stored blood that were meant for the Wolf – just told Sonny to go get some more,” she smiled tiredly. “Thought she wanted to strangle me.”
Sonya growled. “Is she already on her way?”
“No, she's upstairs, getting changed. Said she didn't want to ruin another good suit in the air-duct.”
“Good. Corey, run and tell her not to leave the house alone. I want at least two warriors with her!”
Corey nodded and took off up the stairs, Cheyenne drew her cell phone to call CJ – the youngsters and Gabriel would want to know that they could stop worrying.
Suddenly Alice 's head snapped up. “Sonny – the cops! I led the cops here!”
“Don't worry, Alice .” Sonya smiled tightly. “Saw them drive off when Luca and I arrived. Sonny got rid of them in no time at all; they won't remember any of this.” As always when things got serious, Sonya was the epitome of calmness. She looked at Erin . “So we're going to get the bastard now?”
Erin nodded emphatically. “Yeah! I'll just take Alice to bed and then we –”
“No!” Alice finally broke free of Erin 's grip and jumped up. “I want to see her! I want to see Max!” Despite the mascara streaks on her face she looked quite serious and finally Erin nodded.
“Guess you better. Don't wanna have to guard your door to make sure you stay put.” She stood up, looking around. “No one leaves this room till I'm back. I'll bring Alice Cooper here to Max and afterwards we'll go get that asshole!”
The infirmary, a small room with tiled walls, was dead quiet. Sarah was sitting on a stool next to the only occupied bed, reading in a medical reference book. She looked up when she heard them entering. “Hey there.” she said softly.
“Hey.” Erin murmured, staring down at Max.
The warrior was lying motionless on the bed. A pristine white bandage wrapped neatly around her head, her face so covered in tiny stitches it looked like a roadmap.
Alice started shaking again. “Are you sure she'll be okay?”
Sarah laid the book aside. “Absolutely. Her heart's beating stronger now and she's breathing again.”
“Has she woke up yet?”
Sarah shook her head. “No, that will take some time. Healing such damage takes all the strength one has.”
Erin nodded. “Fine. Come one now Alice , you've seen her, now –”
“Can I stay here? Please? I won't disturb her, I promise, I just –” she broke off, staring helplessly at Max.
Erin really didn't have the time to argue. After seeing Max like this, her blood was boiling, her rage threatening to overpower her senses. She looked at Sarah. “What do you think?”
Sarah smiled at the youngster. “Tell you what, Alice. You go get cleaned up and then come back here and keep me company.”
***
Cheyenne and Luca accompanied Sonny to the blood bank while the rest of the warriors started their search in the alley behind the ‘Sears', spreading out from there in groups of three.
The remaining Elders had cleaned the house from all traces of blood before calling Gabriel, Wolf and the youngsters back in.
The youngsters joined the others in the living room to wait for news from the hunting party, but Gabriel, albeit as concerned and furious as everyone else, decided to take her sleepy Wolf back to their room.
Wolf felt that something wasn't right. Mine had been tense all night and she seemed reluctant to leave the others alone. Wolf understood enough by now to know that someone had been hurt and she knew from experience that wasn't a good thing. She would have liked to help, but she didn't know how to make that clear. And she was really tired again, so when Gabriel took her to their room and gave her soft clothes to sleep in, she didn't complain but happily joined her on the bed. This was her favorite part of the night anyway. She got to have Mine all to herself and sleeping with her head in Gabriel's lap, she could be sure the small blonde wouldn't suddenly disappear. Gabriel was soft and warm and kept stroking her and Wolf slept peaceful as she knew Mine was safe as long as she was with her.
Sonya called the mansion every hour to report, but there was no trace of Max's attacker, and when, only minutes before dawn, the last warriors arrived at the mansion, they still didn't have the slightest clue where he might be. Angry and frustrated they gathered in the living room to discuss their next course of action. One aggressive Maverick wasn't really a problem. But if that Male was strong enough to almost kill a trained warrior in a single move, they wouldn't allow anyone to leave the house on their own till he was eliminated. Not only the youngsters protested heatedly at this point, but Sonya was adamant about it and Erin backed her up. She wouldn't risk anyone else getting hurt.