赤裸裸的滑稽故事

When the team returned to Winter, they drove straight to the Safe Zone. The hospitals from the southern territory had been reduced to nothing more than a medical triage outpost. Cold Warriors and Frostbite soldiers stayed in the patient rooms between their rotations. Any new refugees were first checked there before being sent north.

Inside the Safe Zone, the SUVs drove straight through to the hospital, where Bell and Axel waited for them.

As they pulled up, Ashleigh was the first one taken inside. Peter called ahead and let them know about the wounds. Alice was quickly taken in after her.

Axel watched as both his sister and his mate were taken inside the emergency room unconscious.

"I\'ve got them, Axel," Bell whispered, nodding to him reassuringly before rushing inside to follow after her patients.

Axel took a deep breath and swallowed, calming his nerves.

"How long have they been out?" he asked the team leader.

The team leader shook his head.

"We don\'t know exactly," he said. "From what Myka told us, Luna Ashleigh had been out for a while before we arrived, but Alice had only lost consciousness a few minutes before we arrived. Both have been out for at least four hours."

Axel clenched his jaw.

"Alpha!" someone called from inside.

He took a deep breath and excused the team as he hurried inside.

"What is it?" Axel said, walking through the doors of the hospital.

"Your phone, sir. It\'s one of the scouts assigned to Burning Ember."

Axel took the phone and looked at the caller. It was Penelope.

"Hello?" he answered.

There was no response, only a soft crackling on the line.

"Hello?" he called again.

"… no.. please, you…..to …. me!"

"Penelope? I can hardly hear you. Are you and Mateas all right? Has something happened?" Axel called to her.

"…….War party….. fae….. huge…! ….. wrong. They … n.. ……. attack Burning ..ber. …. … attack… ..erywhere!"

Her voice was cutting in and out. He could only hear some of what she was saying.

"I can\'t hear her…." Axel whispered to the man beside him. "Penelope?"

"Winter, and … hea…."

Her voice cut out even more, but he could hear the panic.

"… Summer! Please … hear me!"

The sound cut out entirely for a few seconds.

"Penelope?!" Axel shouted.

"Burning Ember has fallen!"

Axel\'s eyes widened as he heard the words loud and clear.

"Protect–"

The line cut out before she could finish her sentence.

Axel was left with his heart pounding in his ears. He lowered the phone, swallowing down the knot in his throat.

"Call Alpha Caleb," he whispered.

"We can\'t," the man said. "We heard from Beta Galen this morning; he said that Alpha Caleb was traveling through the south lands. He is unreachable for the next ten days."

Axel took a deep breath. If Caleb was traveling through the south, he had gotten there in time to get the pack out safely.

"Then call Beta Galen," he whispered.

"Why?" the man asked.

"Call him now!" Axel growled.

As Axel waited, he tried to piece together what Penelope had been trying to tell him.

The war party, huge, attack, what sounded like \'everywhere,\' both Winter and Summer had been mentioned. Burning Ember has fallen… that had to mean that the fae attacked the settlement. The lands of Burning Ember were gone. But with any luck, the people were traveling south with Caleb.

"I\'ve got him," the man whispered.

Axel took the phone and stepped away to a more private space.

"Galen?" Axel asked.

"I\'m here," Galen replied.

"When did you speak with Caleb?" Axel asked.

"Last night, it was brief enough to let me know that he had made it to Burning Ember and was headed south."

"He didn\'t report any troubles?"

"He did say that one of the wolves, one of Alpha Sofia\'s lovers, had died saving him and Saul from a bad situation."

"That is unfortunate," Axel replied solemnly. "But, otherwise, he was able to get the rest of the pack out safely?"

"Yes, well, no."

"Which is it?" Axel asked.

"He took most of the pack, but Alpha Sofia remained with the twenty or so smiths finishing up the weapons. But they were supposed to finish this morning and follow after him."

Axel closed his eyes.

"So, we cannot know if Alpha Sofia made it out…." Axel whispered.

"What\'s going on, Axel?" Galen asked.

Axel told Galen about the call, what he could hear and what he thought he heard.

"I\'m sorry," Galen sighed.

Axel nodded.

They both suspected that Penelope was telling him that she and Mateas would not survive the attack. By saying, \'Burning Ember has fallen,\' she was saying that no one was left alive.

"I think we both need to prepare," Galen said. "It sounds like Penelope saw something that made her think Winter and Summer are both about to receive unwanted attention."

"I agree," Axel said. "I have moved all the civilians to the Safe Zone. We have assumed Winter would host a war party since this started."

"Good," Galen replied. "In the past few days, I have sent three different groups of refugees your way. I coordinated with the Frostbite contact and sent some of my men along. They should arrive in the next day or two, but perhaps you might send someone to hurry them along."

"I will send someone out as soon as we hang up," Axel sighed.

"I\'ll call Fiona and let her know about the call. Hopefully, nothing will happen before my men and I return."

"What about you?" Axel asked. "Are you all right?"

Galen sighed.

"Things… haven\'t gone as planned. We have lost a few men, and the patrol group we searched for seems to have vanished. We found weapons, and gear, all belonging to our men, but they were gone. We pushed ahead and took care of the other civilian checkpoints, but we are going back to look for our men before we push home."

"That\'s rough," Axel sighed. "I wish you luck in your search."

"Thanks," Galen replied before adding. "Any word from my Luna?"

Axel swallowed.

"They are back," he said softly.

"That\'s great," Galen smiled. "I wish I could tell Caleb."

"Maybe not," Axel replied. "Both Ashleigh and Alice took some serious wounds and wore themselves out. They arrived here unconscious and already had been for more than four hours."

Galen took a deep breath.

"Bell is taking care of them," Axel continued. "All we can do now is wait."

Galen nodded.