The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 185

Zane POV

The snow was deeper than I had expected, and it was not long before we were stripped down to shirts and pants, the cold snow making little impact on our hard labour. The first few traps were laid and the Deep Earth men quickly learned how to make them and place a marker informing them where they were hidden.

We worked together for a few hours, Alex and Zakary joining in with me, making our task a little easier. Alex already knew how to make them after we made many near his cave entrances, and he was happy with it. So far, none of the traps have been sprung and the pack members have been taught the warning signs for where they are.

Not long after we had finished our tenth trap, some ladies found us with food and drink, which we were grateful for.

Sitting sheltered from the cold wind, we enjoyed sandwiches and hot coffee, and some good conversation. These men were happy-go-lucky men and were quick to laugh and joke around, which helped make the day go smoothly.

Our Blue River man had decided to stay there with his mate, and she was so excited to have gained such a good man as her mate. I think Zeek is happy too, knowing his daughter was not leaving the pack and that the Blue River warrior had a good reputation, though being mates, he would have had little say over it. If he had a bad one, fate can play mean tricks on us sometimes.

What our Blue River warrior does not know and we are not going to be the ones to explain it to him, as it was not our story to tell, was that his mate was the first born of the Alpha family, meaning the daughter will be the future Alpha and he will be the Alpha mate, like we have a Luna, he will be the male version of a Luna, and I am pleased for him.

We got back to working on the next ten traps, before we returned to the tunnels due to the light diminishing fast and the wind started to pick up, making it feel even colder.

I found my mate in the diorama room. It seems Gladys had more men arriving soon, those that were in the furthest town away were on the move towards her pack-grounds, and others had arrived from the other town. Rogues were coming out of the forest, answering the call from her. We assumed. I am still confused about how she managed to call them. Rogers can’t be mind-linked. Maybe these men were already on the way, and it just happened to be now that they are arriving. So many thoughts were running through my head and I was concerned she had somehow managed an extra three hundred men within a few days, we would have our hands full.

‘Don’t worry about how many men she is amassing, let us keep working on what we need to do before they arrive and how we will defend ourselves. We cannot hide away in the tunnels this time, we have reached the end of our hiding, we must protect what has been ours for over a thousand years.’ Growled Peggy to those of us who had gathered in the room to talk about the pending attack and the best way to proceed. Peggy had asked us to partake in the suggested tactics for this attack and defence and Madison was in her zone having been given the trust to advise Peggy and she had many good suggestions.

The planning around the pending attack was hard and fast. In the end, we had all chipped in with suggestions, some would work. Others would not due to the terrain and lack of visibility. Madison gave more ideas than the rest of us. Every time an idea was refused because a situation was not suitable, Madison was quick with another way around it, her mind was quick and her war tactics were flowing. Peggy had nodded a few times when Madison came back quickly with a counter or way around a stumbling block. Madison did not want others to stop putting in their thoughts and ideas, as she could expand on these ideas and she was good at making the person who made the suggestion feel good and be more inclined to keep giving ideas. It worked, the team seemed to be happy to chip in, Alex and Zakary both joined in, with ideas from their previous experience of above-ground attacks, and Madison complimented all who gave a suggestion, soothing egos along the way.

If the wind is strong, then using arrows will have reduced accuracy from a distance, and the Deep Earth men had little experience with hand-to-hand combat. Although they train often, doing it in training is completely different to having to go and actually kill someone, and it won’t be one on one with the rogues. If they can and often do, they will play dirty and if they see you have been weakened, they are like hungry wolves, they will strike together.

We shall check the weather in the morning and send out more scouts around the area, see if any have ventured this close yet. According to Peggy, none of the rogues that were in town had made it even half way from the town to the Chrystal Mountain pack grounds. At the rate they are moving, it would be two days. They had come across some obstacles , deep snow drifts and fallen trees, that had made travelling a little difficult. The ones that came out of the forest have settled in the pack-grounds and are waiting for orders. Gladys appeared to be happy to wait, she had not even sent out any patrols to the cave sites, and that worried Madison and me.

Something is still amiss.

Could we have another traitor in the pack?

I hope not, or Gladys could be so confident that she will overcome the Deep Earth pack, thinking that from her previous experience with them, she had easily won. Maybe she thinks it will be easy again and is over confident.

Having done all we could for the night, and a quick meal, we were given a new room for the night and boy was I glad this one had a decent bed and bathroom.

We climbed into the bathroom together. It was a tight squeeze, but Madison wanted to wash me, so I stood in the small bath tub and allowed her to soap me up and rinse me off.