Alone H.S.

Chapter 20: Burnt

Lily -

We brought Dylan back from our extended walk, which included Harry giving Dylan a important lesson about how to avoid poison ivy. Seeing as how the boy thought it looked like "pretty leaves" and wanted to pick some. Thankfully Harry managed to stop the two little hands from actually touching the leaves!

We made it back to the packhouse and it was dinner time. Eleanor stood in the kitchen, finishing cooking, wearing nothing but a robe. Okay...

"Louis, your mate is practically naked in here!" Harry shouted, which had Louis running into the kitchen in a hurry, dressed in a t-shirt and boxers only.

"She's wearing a robe, Harry! I didn't know what had happened. You had me worried." Louis snapped, running his hands through his crazy hair.

Harry rolled his eyes at the Beta and headed up to his office.

*********

Bedtime around, and I waited up for Harry. But when midnight passed, and I was still alone in bed, I decided to get up and search for him.

I quietly made my way to his office, and knocked softly.

"You can come in, Lily." I heard him say from the other side of the door.

I walked in, shutting the door behind me and walking over to where he was sat at his desk.

"What are you doing? Coming to check up on me?" He smiled playfully, pulling me into his lap.

"It's midnight." I informed him.

"Seriously?" He glanced around the room until his eyes landed on a clock hanging on the wall.

"Shit. You're right. Sorry, I got caught up in-"

"It's fine, Harry. I was just wondering if you were ever coming to bed." I laugh, climbing off his lap.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Hey, you uh...still considering wearing that black lace thing you dropped earlier in the floor?" He smirks at me and I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.

"I was just wondering." He adds, standing up from where he's been sat, and walking towards me slowly. His eyes never leaving mine.

"Um, I don't...I don't know." I stutter.

"Mm, maybe I could convince you?" He whispers, bringing his face closer to mine.

"Maybe?" I'm nervous.

"Well, what if I-"

"Harry! You need to hurry out here!" Louis shouts from the other side of the door.

"Louis! Shut up!" Harry shouts back.

"The supply house is on fire!" Louis shouts and Harry runs out the door and I watch as he and his Beta run out of the house, shifting into wolf form and disappearing into the woods nearby. A loud howl sounds throughout the cold night air, calling for help to put out the fire.

You can't see the town from here, so I don't see any smoke. But the smell is beginning to reach me as I stand in the front porch.

*********

Harry -

When Louis and I arrived at the supply house it was already ruined. The flames consuming it entirely. All we could really do was put the flames out before they could spread and cause more trouble.

Several other pack members arrived and together we put the flames out. But the winter's supply of food was gone. The pack could survive without the stored food and such, but only if we don't have a difficult winter.

The supply house is hidden in the woods in a secret location, and guarded always. But when we arrived, there were no guards around. Upon putting out the fire, we soon discovered the three guards' bodies not far from the building they had been guarding. Each torn apart by wolves.

I run my hands through my hair, pulling hard enough to cause pain. Something I've always done when I'm frustrated. Who snuck into the territory and killed the guards and destroyed the supply house? No one knows where the building even was except for pack members!

"Harry, you okay?" I turn around to see Louis standing nearby, his skin blackened by the ashes and such from fighting the fire.

"No, I'm not." I growl, looking at what's left of the supply house.

"Does it hurt?" I face louis again and give him a confused look.

"Your arm. It's bleeding." I look down to see louis had been telling the truth. The arm that had been chewed on by the HalfMoon pack was now bandage-less and covered in my own blood.

"You got too close to the fire, and I guess it burned the bandages off." Louis says as he walks over with a new white wrapping and begins to wrap up my bleeding arm.

"You're going to have to be more careful." Louis chuckles as he finally finishes tying off the bandage.

"No, I'm going to have to be more on the lookout. This past week more than enough things have happened to this pack. Four have died, the supply house burnt down, a member kidnapped, a member thrown out...I don't understand what's happening." The moment I finish talking, my dream from the other night flashes before my eyes. No dream, my nightmare. The entire pack wiped out, laying in their own blood. Torn apart by a mysterious darkness. Lily and our pups killed. Laying out in the grass, covered in blood...

"Alpha, we need to hold a meeting. This kind of-"

"Hold a meeting?! You mean sit on our asses and talk! And while we sit down and talk through everything that's happened, someone is out there killing our pack members!" I shoot angrily at the elder who only raises his eyebrows and shakes his head.

"Your father would have handled this all so much better." And he turns away, leaving me wondering why this all has to happen now. Now that I've found Lily and have accepted that I love her. Now that I'm ready to be the mate I should be to her.

"Harry-" Louis starts but I'm quick to cut him off.

"Address me as Alpha, or don't address me at all. I'm still the one in charge here." And I shift into wolf form and run into the woods.

I just want to go home and see Lily and Dylan. At least they don't tell me I'm not as good an Alpha as my father was.