( Pick above is character inspiration for Marcus 😍 )

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( Pic above is character inspiration for Zendaya. Actual person, is actress Nona Gaye💗)

Marcus POV

"Baby girl, if this idiot doesn't shut up I swear to Goddess, I'm going to strangle him, and it's not going to be my fault!" I said through the link to Zendaya.

"Thaddeus will never forgive you if you go and kill our brother." My baby girl said, laughing at my expense.

"That's okay, he'll still have me!" I said.

I swear, this lady just doesn't understand my pain. I can't believe she actually likes listening to Xander's lame jokes. I mean, COME ON! This idiot can talk anyone's head off!

"We only have half an hour left for patrol. Suck it up baby, you can do this," she said.

"Fine!" I huff.

Zendaya's on the other side of the territory doing patrols. I think she just finds it amusing when I'm tortured by Xander.

"How do you follow Will Smith in the snow?....

You follow the fresh prints!"

Xander said laughing at his stupid dad joke. I roll my eyes and try to ignore him

"I'm afraid for the calendar. Its days are numbered!" He said and actually laughed at the stupid joke.

I growled while staring him down.

"Xander, I swear to Goddess, if you don't stop with those fucking jokes I'm going to rip your tongue out and shove it down your throat!" I said glaring at him.

He threw his hands up in surrender while laughing.

"Okay man, okay I'm done."

We continue walking in silence for the next few moments until this clown opens his mouth again.

"Dear Math, grow up and solve your own problems!"

I growl and lunge for him, but he takes off running like a little bitch, laughing.

I stopped and stood there with my eyes closed, taking deep breaths then began to stay over and over again,

"He's not worth it, he's not worth it!"

Xander continued to run until I couldn't see him anymore. But I hear him yell in the distance,

"What did the ocean say to the beach?...

Nothing, it just waved!"

"Fuck it!" I growled out and took off after him. I'm going to rip this asshole to shreds!

"Honey I'm sorry I couldn't do it. We're going to be short a pack member here in a minute!" I said as

I quickly linked Zendaya.

I swear I just heard her roll her eyes.

****

Aiden's POV

Waking up I feel so comfy and warm. I snuggle into my warm pillow when the weight around me squeezes.

That's when I realize I'm laying on top of Thaddeus again. I feel the steady rise and fall of his chest with his arms wrapped around me. I feel my cheeks heat up embarrassed that I somehow managed to climb on him again while sleeping. Suddenly my warm comfy bed starts moving as I hear him chuckle.

"You're so adorable!" He says.

I bury my face into his chest trying to hide my embarrassment.

"No, I'm not!" I whined, and he rubbed my back.

"Yes you are, you're very adorable."

I lift my head to look at him and rest my chin on his chest.

"Hi!' I said and a big smile spread across his face.

"Hi!" He said, and I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.

I opened my mouth to say something when his eyes glazed over, indicating someone was linking him. His body tensed, and his grip tightened around me.

His eyes went back to normal, and he looked at me.

"Rogues!" He said, then rolled me off of him, and sat up.

"Stay here, and don't leave this room!" He said firmly, giving me a stern look.

The next thing I know, the door flies open as Xander quickly opens it.

Thaddeus leans forward off the bed and shifts to his wolf.

"Stay here, don't leave the room," Xander said then closed the door behind him. Next, I hear the sound of the lock clicking.

I jumped out of bed and ran over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked from the other side.

I ran to the door wall, sliding it open, and ran out to the balcony and looked around. I saw pack members running in different directions. Some were running into the woods, probably in the direction of the rogues, and others running to safety.

I slowly back away back into the room and close the door then lock it.

My heart pounds in my chest as I start to breathe faster. I keep backing up until I reach the bed.

What the hell is going on, are we being attacked? I wondered as I climbed into bed and sat with my back against the headboard. I pulled the blankets up, grabbed his pillow, and squeezed it into my chest.

****

Thaddeus POV

Rogues, and a lot of them. I run as fast as I can toward the western border. They're gaining entrance into our territory by the river. I ran with Xander right behind me.

Marcus links me and sounds like he's struggling.

"They just keep coming, there's so many of them!"

"Hang on buddy we're almost there," I said.

"I link four team leaders and tell them to bring their teams to the river.

I could hear the chaos before I even broke through the tree line. But as I break through the tree line, I can see the chaos and the carnage.

There are so many rogues I couldn't even count them. I can see dead bodies, body parts, blood, and gore of both my men, and rogues all over the place. It was a gruesome scene.

Zeus and I were pissed. We felt the pain each time a pack member died. I felt their tether to me snap when they died.

I jump on the first rouge we come across, ripping its throat out. I moved from rogue to rogue. Zeus is fast and swift as he moves through the chaos, tearing apart the rogues.

As Zeus moves, Thaddeus realizes he seems faster, and stronger than normal. He wonders if it has something to do with Aiden, and being mated to him.

I feel claws sinking into my sides as a rogue jumps onto my back while I am fighting two others. I feel his canines sinking into my shoulder as he bites down and I grit my teeth, then turn my head and reach back, grabbing a hold of him with my jaws and yanking him over the top of me. His back hits the ground, my claws tear through his stomach that was exposed when his back hit the ground. I watch as his guts spill out onto the ground before lunging for the next rogue.

As I lunch for the next rogue, I went for his throat and instantly clamped down. I pulled my head back and shook my head, effectively tearing his throat out.

As I did this, I heard the loud howl of Marcus's wolf, at the same time, I could hear the painful cry of Zendaya's wolf.

I instantly turned, looking for Zendaya, and saw her on the ground, with three wolves on top of her. My stomach dropped as I could feel her link to me getting weaker and slipping away.

I immediately took off, barreling into the three rogues, and knocking them off of her. I whipped around and lunged at the one closest to me, ripping his throat out, then pushing off the ground toward the second one.

I leaped onto its back and gripped it by the back of the neck. In one swift movement, I flung my body over his head, twisting my body and hearing the satisfying sound of his neck breaking.

Marcus took care of the third and slid to a stop in front of Zendaya who was forced to shift back to her human form, due to her wounds.

He shifted and scooped her bloody body up. I gave him a nod and he took off toward the pack hospital.

Just as I turned around all four teams came bursting through the tree line. I watched it as 200 of my men tore through the rest of the roads in a matter of seconds.

After making sure the area was all clear, I had my men carry the injured back to the pack hospital, then I had Xander help me with the heartbreaking task of trying to identify all the fallen members. When there are several deaths, it's hard for me to tell who died so we have to go through and try to identify the bodies.

When only one member, or even two or three die, at separate times I can tell who died. But when there are this many deaths, and they happen so close together, some at the same time, I don't know who actually died. I could just feel the painful sensation, almost like a rubber band breaking in my chest each time a member died.

After identifying all the fallen members, I threw my head to the sky and howled, mourning the loss of my falling pact members.

These people weren't simply warriors. These warriors had families. They were someone's child, someone's brother or sister. They were fathers, and mothers. They were someone's mate.

My wolf howled as loud as he could, mourning every single one. I heard howls in the distance, as my pack responded to my call, throwing their head to the sky and howling.

Xander didn't walk away from this unharmed. He had some pretty good bite marks in several deep claw marks on his back, stomach, and sides.

I followed him back to the pack hospital, to make sure he was taken care of, otherwise, he would probably ignore it, or try to take care of it himself.

I also wanted to check in on Zendaya, to see how she's doing, along with the other injured members.