Chapter Ten

I turned and Marcus stepped up through the other Alphas looking angry. Keith and Noah were also right behind him with the same looks on their faces. I flattened my ears to my head waiting for whatever would come but Marcus just turned and walked away silently. I don't know what hurt more, the look he gave me or him walking away. "You should go back to your room Serenity." I looked up at Brandon and his face was completely blank. I lowered my head and walked past the Alphas towards the house. I heard some of them start talking as I left, they had managed to pin one of the rogues. I flicked my ears to listen a little more. "Don't even think about." I flinched at the tone behind me and glanced back while still walking. Noah was right behind me. I kept walking and stopped as I reached the house. I had to shift back before entering but I also knew there was a heap of people not far from me and Noah right behind me. I looked at him and he crossed his arms. "Here." Marcus stepped up next to me and raised a blanket blocking me from the other men's view. I shifted and he wrapped the blanket around me quickly.

I pulled it in close against me and looked down at the ground. Noah was still glaring at me and Marcus was watching me intensely. "Thank you." Noah stepped up next to Marcus. "What were you thinking?" I cringed slightly. "I'll take her up to her room and get Clarisa to check out that leg wound." Noah looked at Marcus. "Fine." He stormed away and I watched him until he was out of sight. I looked back up at Marcus carefully. "I have to agree with him Serenity. What were you thinking?" I sighed and my shoulders slumped slightly. "I wanted to help, no I needed to help. Marcus..." He sighed and stepped forward. "Come on let's get you looked at first, then we will talk." He scooped me up and carried me inside the house. Stephanie was rushing down the stairs at us as we approached. "What on earth were you thinking?! And why didn't you tell me?!" I sighed and closed my eyes for a second. "Stephanie can you please go get your mum? She's going to need more healing." Stephanie looked at Marcus and stopped. "Yeah... Of course I can." She frowned lightly before turning and walking away back up the stairs.

We reached my room and Marcus carried me in placing me on the bed. He sighed heavily as he walked over and closed the door. He turned around and looked at me seriously for a moment. "Marcus, I'm sorry..." He shook his head and walked over to the bed. Sitting down he took my hand looking at it. "We will talk once I know you're OK." As if on cue there was a knock at the door and Clarisa rushed in looking worried. "Serenity!" Marcus stood up from the bed. "It's alright Clarisa, we're going to have a talk after you check her out..." Clarisa flashed him a look but held whatever she wanted to say to herself. She lifted the blanket and looked at my lower leg. The wound wasn't as large as I thought it would be and it didn't look as deep as my other one had. Clarisa pulled out an ointment and gently rubbed it around the wound. She passed her hands over it whispering something in a language that I didn't understand. The wound started to heal over and watched in amazement as the even the deeper areas started to try and mesh together. She finished and looked at me. "You need to stay off the leg for at least twenty four hours Serenity. Strictly no walking." She put the ointment away and walked over towards the door. She placed her hand on Marcus' arm and looked up at him before glancing back at me and leaving.

Marcus closed the door and turned back to me. He sighed as he walked towards me and sat down on the bed. "Why did you do it? Do you know how dangerous what you did was?" I looked down at my hands in my lap then back up at him. "Yes...Well, I think yes...At the time because I mean clearly I messed up that judgment. I just wanted and needed to do something Marcus. I've spent almost my whole life running and hiding and...I can't do that anymore. I won't do that anymore..." His face softened as he listened to me. "I need to be able to protect the ones that I care about. I can't keep feeling like a burden." He tilted his head sideways at me and moved closer. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into his lap. "Love, you're not a burden and I understand the need to protect the ones you love. I'm an Alpha, it's not just my duty to protect the ones I love but a need. That includes you now. Being a Luna means that you will feel the same. I'm going to make a suggestion before I fill you in on everything I now know OK?" I looked at him and nodded. "Let me teach you to fight first." I laughed lightly at him. "I'm serious! You have great potential as a fighter and if you're going to insist on putting yourself in positions were you have to fight then I want to know that you can, and properly." I smiled at him. "OK. Thank you Marcus." He kissed me softly.

"OK, now to other matters so you don't try killing yourself again." He said looking at me seriously. "The rogues aren't just here for Stephanie." I looked at him shocked. "It seems the pack that is after you have teamed up with the rogues. They've been told that if they have the chance they are to take you too." My mouth fell open. I had nothing for that. It did explain why they attacked me the way they did though. They couldn't get Stephanie so they were trying to take me as the next best thing. Marcus watched my reaction closely. "That's why you were all so angry..." I realized. Marcus nodded and laid his head against mine. "It was a combination of Alpha instincts and the fact we love you, on top of knowing what we did." Now I felt bad. I could have gotten myself killed. I cuddled into Marcus for comfort as everything started dawning on me. As much as I wanted to be able to protect the ones I cared about that also meant I had to try and work with them not against them or behind them.

I cuddled into Marcus and just sat there with him for awhile in silence. Finally I sat back slightly and looked at him. "Can I talk to the rogue that was caught? Preferably before anyone kills him? Please?" I heard a rumble build in his chest and placed my hand against him. "It's OK, you can take me there and stay if that's what you need, but I need to do this. If I'm going to try and help properly I need you all to let me be a part of it as well. I can't give in completely and just sit back while all of you do the planning and fighting. You said you would teach me to fight Marcus, but that's not enough. I want to be a part of all of it." He looked at me intensely for a moment and the rumbling eased in his chest. "Alright. Your right, we can't stop you from doing what you need to do but we can at least make sure your safe while doing it. I will make sure no one touches the rogue until your leg is healed enough to take you down to him." I smiled happily and snuggled back into him.

We were lying on the bed comfortably with him stroking my hair when someone knocked at the door. We both looked over and Marcus got up to answer it. Stephanie and Blake walked in. Stephanie walked over to me quickly and climbed up onto the bed next to me. "Are you completely insane? What on earth do you think you were doing going after the rogues on your own Serenity? You could have been killed!" I looked over at Blake and Marcus. They just looked away. Nice, thanks for the help. "I'm sorry Stephanie. I wanted to get more information." She looked at me crossly. "So you went alone? Why didn't you get me to come with you?!" Blake growled and Marcus smirked. I threw both of them a look which shut them up quickly. "I couldn't risk taking you Stephanie. We thought they were only after you, so I figured it would be safer to go without you. I didn't want to risk them getting at you. I just didn't count on how many were actually still out there or the fact that they were after me too..." I trailed off. Stephanie frowned and looked back at Marcus and Blake. "What does she mean?" Blake fidgeted under her stare and Marcus stepped forward. "The rogues are after both of you Stephanie. The pack chasing Serenity has started working with the rogues." Her mouth fell open as she turned to look at me. I nodded.

Stephanie fell back slightly on the bed processing what Marcus just told her. She had gone pale and I moved closer to her for comfort. Blake looked worriedly at her. "Stephanie?" She looked at me. "It's going to be OK. I've also promised not to do anything stupid again. Marcus and the others will know everything I do and Marcus has said he'll teach me to fight. He's also going to make sure that I know everything that's going on." She nodded silently and I sighed as I hugged her. I looked at Blake and he moved to the bed next to Stephanie. She looked up at him. "We have to stop him...and the others. If the rogues are working with a pack now then they are more dangerous. We seriously need to come up with a plan to stop them. I want a normal life again. I want Serenity to have a normal life! I want her to get to know her family now that she's found us Blake!" Marcus looked at her softer and Blake wrapped his arms around her. "I know and we will. Wont we Marcus." He looked at Marcus pointedly. Marcus looked to me. "We will, and we will destroy them."

Blake picked Stephanie up from the bed and she cuddled into him. He smiled at us both and turned leaving the room with Stephanie in his arms. Marcus looked to me. "I have a couple of things I need to fill you in on, but you can't say a word to anyone. We've decided to keep the information on a need to know basis." I nodded at him. "We are going to be sending someone in to get information on the pack and the rogues from within. Once we obtain the information we need, we plan on confronting them with the full force of two packs." My eyes widened in surprise, but then I thought about it. Marcus was not going to like my suggestion. I needed him to get me in a room with Keith and my grandfather. Maybe even the other Alphas. I was going to need someone to think clearly and listen to me not just react on wanting to protect me. "I have an idea, but I'm going to need you to trust me and take me to the council chambers. I need to talk with all of you at the same time." He looked at me for a moment then nodded. "I'll call them to council and take you there once they are all ready."

Marcus left the room and I sat there making sure that I had the plan set out in my head properly. I needed to make it sound as fool proof as I could but there was going to be one thing that I needed to test first otherwise the whole plan could fall apart. I just wasn't sure whether to test it on my own or wait until I put the plan forward to everyone. I decided to put the plan forward first because if there was too much opposition then it would be pointless. Plus I was going to need help with the test anyway. I moved myself around on the bed and realized my bladder was screaming at me. Great. I wasn't supposed to walk but no one was around to help me to toilet. Apparently I was going to have to run that test now. I opened the link in my mind and reached out to Clarisa. I felt the slight snap as I found her. "Clarisa?" I felt her surprise through the link. "I need your help...Please?!" She felt the urgency. "Is everything OK?" I smiled slightly in embarrassment. "I need to go to the toilet and no ones here at the moment." I felt her ease slightly. "I'll be there in a minute sweetheart." I closed the link off and wondered how far away she had been.

I moved myself around so I was sitting on the edge of the bed as I heard a knock at the door. "Come in." Clarisa stepped through and closed the door. "Stephanie mentioned you could link whoever you wanted...But that was very strange to actually experience." I looked at her a little confused. She laughed lightly as she walked over to me. "Being a witch and not a werewolf means that only my husband can link me Serenity." My eyes widened. "I didn't know. I just assumed you could link those in your pack like the others." She laughed harder. "Well now you know sweetheart. That is a rather unique gift that you have though." She stood sideways next to the bed and carefully helped me to stand on one leg from the bed. "Alright, I want you to keep your weight of that leg all together. I will support that side of you while you hop on your other leg. So take it as slow as you need OK." I nodded while holding my leg up off the ground. She helped me hop all the way over to the bathroom door. "I need to stop for a minute." We stopped and I held onto the door frame. "OK." We entered the bathroom and Clarisa got me to the toilet.

Clarisa stood by the door with her back to me as I went to the toilet awkwardly. I finished and cleared my throat so she could come and help me again. We slowly made our way back to the bed and she sat me back down on the edge of it. "So where did Marcus go? I didn't think he was going to leave you alone at all." I smiled at her. "He's gone to speak with the council and get them together so I can talk with them all about what's going on. I have an idea on how to hopefully solve our problem. Not that I think he is going to like it one little bit." She raised an eyebrow at me curiously. "Care to share that idea with me?" I half smiled at her. "I don't think you'll like the idea either to be honest." She nodded and sat down next to me. "I'm worried that you're going to get hurt unnecessarily. The Alphas can handle the rogues and the pack sweetheart. I also know that Noah doesn't want to lose you so soon after finding you." I nodded. "I know. Thing is, if we don't deal with them and soon they could continue to interfere with everything. I want to get to know the world I was supposed to a part of and I want the chance to know all of you without constantly having to look over my shoulder." She patted my leg gently. "I understand. Just remember when you put this plan forward the first thing all of them are going to want to do is protect you. Make sure your plan sounds safe, or at least as safe as possible, and get them to think it is the only option left." I nodded. "Thank you." She smiled at me.

Marcus walked in as Clarisa was hugging me. "They're ready for you Serenity." We looked up at him and Clarisa got up from the bed. She patted his arm gently as she passed by and walked out the room. Marcus stepped closer to me. "Are you sure about what you're doing?" I looked at him seriously. "No, but it's the safest and only option I can think of to get everything dealt with." He nodded at me and picked me up from the bed. "Well, I'm at least carrying to the council chambers." I laughed. "I kind of guest you would." He walked to the door and stopped for a moment. He looked at me then lifted me higher so he could kiss me. My cheeks blushed and my breath hitched as he stopped. He smiled at me before opening the door and stepping through leaving the door open as he went.