The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 71

Zane POV

The last of the boxes were stuck, three quarters of the way down the ventilator shaft, and as quietly as we could, we tried to dislodge them by pulling on the ropes that are secured to the boxes, but we could not dislodge them. Then, in my horror, I watched Madison jump onto the side of the shaft and lower herself into danger. It happened so quickly, I hardly had a chance to move and attempt to stop her, before her head disappeared out of sight and into the shaft, inside my head. I am screaming at her to come back. Madison refuses and ends up blocking me from our mind-link.

I was crushed. My mate had to be the one to go down the shaft. None of us were small enough to slide down. Don’t get me wrong, Madison is not tiny, as far as girls go, she is tall with a slim build, and it is that slim build that made her the best candidate to enter the shaft. It was easy for her to slide into the shaft and out of sight, so fast, none of us had even reached the thought of someone needing to go the shaft to dislodge them, but Madison, always the quick thinker, took the matter into her own hands and found a solution and acted on it, with the efficiency she is noted for.

It was very hard to walk away from that shaft.

My mate was at the bottom and was not going to climb back out and it was getting dark. I had no choice, but to return to the packhouse and report, with a sad heart and a wolf screaming in my head, to try and go down the shaft too, though he knew as well as I did, that my muscular build, that we are so proud of, would not fit down the shaft.

To my annoyance, by the time I had returned to the packhouse, dad had already had the report and a nice chat with Alpha Alex, that Madison had set up, he told me she looked fine and not to worry, and there was little I could do about it.

I then met up with the other pack, Alpha’s, and discussed the fight that was about to happen. Everything was in place. Tomorrow we could head out and attack the rogues and the advisor.

It felt like it had taken forever to get this far.

My sleep was spasmodic, catching small naps rather than a deep sleep.

No matter what I tried, sleep eluded me, I missed holding my mate.

The alarm went off, and for maybe the first time in my life. I was happy to hear that sound.

Today was the day we would fight the rogues and Madison would be able to leave the caves.

I mind-linked Madison, ‘Wakey, Wakey. Sweetheart.’ I said in a sing song voice in my mind.

My wolf’s ears pricked up when we heard back.

‘Too early.’ She g*****d, the sweetest sound I had heard today.

‘We have rogues to kill, get up, it is four am, time to rise and prepare.’ I say as I climb into the shower and start my day in a good mood. I got to see my mate today. If all goes as planned, nothing could bring me down.

The dining hall was full of warriors and Alpha eating and talking happily.

You would not know we were about to go to battle.

I noted that there were no women seated there, even the serving staff were male, working hard to keep the trays full of food and the coffee pot full. I grabbed a plate and sat down on the first empty seat, not heading up to the table to sit with dad or Mitch, not that there was a chair empty near them, but I could have sat a couple of seats away and heard what they were discussing. but I was content to just sit and eat my fill and listen to the chatter around me.

I was so calm, it surprised me. I had expected this day I would be full of nerves and eagerness, but I was far from that. There was no sign of fear or anxiety.

I joined the line of warriors and leaders to get their nails painted and those of us got a communicator.

Each person was explained how the communicator worked and that it would stay on their ear until it is physically removed. Blow darts were issued to those who had used one before, they were placed in a special bag so they could be transported in both human and wolf form.

Madison had thought of everything. In those bags included the antidote for anyone being accidentally scratched while in battle. Madison was concerned that when they fight as a group, one may get scratched and would need attention as soon as possible.

We were in groups of two hundred, with one Alpha per grouping and an assistant, who could guide a group. If they needed to split up for any reason, they each were assigned a cave entrance to attack, and a larger body would go to the mine site.

Dad called all the leaders together one final time before we left for our battle.

‘Gerome, anything new happen overnight, that we need to be aware of?’ dad asked as he had his nailed painted by a warrior.

‘Yes, there have been changes, but whether they are bad or not I cannot tell.’ Gerome started.

‘Speak clearly, you make no sense.’ Mitch grumbles before Gerome could continue, showing signs he just wanted to get out there and get this battle done.

‘The patrols have stopped. I have not seen one rogue patrol since one am this morning. At the mine site, a person was being taken into the container, though I could not see who it was, due to them being covered up, and we were right. The container is a bed. So, whoever was taken there is either a chemical experiment that they want contained in the metal box, or someone is very sick. We are unsure at this point.’ Gerome concluded.

‘Madison, can you hear us?’ Dad asked, hoping the communicator was on.

‘Yes, Alpha, Alex agreed something had changed and the scrapping noises of digging had also ceased. Alex, would you like to say something?’ Madison asked.

‘How does this work, am I on?’ Alex asked, not knowing we could hear all he said.

‘Yes Alex, they can hear you, just speak normally and they will hear.’ Madison reassures Alpha Alex.

‘My lookouts agree that they have not seen any rogues since, early this morning, all sounds of activity in the tunnels had stopped. We have the openings at the two caves furthest away from you, have had the rubble cleared, ready to break the last part of the blockage and. We are ready to attack from the inside. We had not risked clearing any other opening, we were concerned that if we cleared those and were overpowered, we would have no line of defence from our young and old ones, who are deep in the bowels of our cave system. These rogues have not ventured deeper, staying at the top two levels of the caves.’ Alex gave his report, clearly and gave only the relevant information.

‘Deeper, how much deeper?’ Mitch asked.

‘Mitch.’ Madison’s voice is heard, ‘They have more than twenty levels and each year goes deeper as the pack grows. It is amazing. Now can we stick to battle plans, for now, and you can ask all your questions when this is over.’ Madison is a no-nonsense war warrior, my chest filled with pride at her reprimand, but also how well she did it, gave a reply and an order all in one go.