Protector | Sequel to Protected

Problem

I was tired for the rest of the day, so I slept it off. The next morning, when I woke up, Lucas was already up and gone. I went to the kitchen, where Riley was helping Lucas feed Isabella and Connor. Mason was already crawling across the floor, and Scarlet was sucking on a mango. I gasped and ran to Mason, who crawled to me immediately. They were growing up, quite literally, so fast! All I did was sleep for a day and Mason could crawl?

I scooped Mason up, and he smiled toothily. He pulled on my nose, and I laughed and kissed him on the forehead.

"Hey," Lucas said, hugging me, "Feeling better?"

I nodded and pecked him on the lips, "Much, much better."

Lucas took Mason from me so I could get breakfast. Lucas had already abandoned the whole five-food-groups-for-every-meal thing, so I ate one of those flip yogurt thingies where you flip different stuff into Greek yogurt. I hated Greek yogurt, but the peanut butter clusters and the chocolate chips made it bearable.

Connor sat on one of my legs. I held him up with one hand and ate my breakfast with the other. Isabella sat in front of me on the table, supported by the napkin holder. I made faces at her while she giggled at me. The sayings were right; hearing a baby's laugh was the best thing ever. 

Suddenly, I got the strangest feeling. It was a tingling, then a shooting sensation in my neck, then a warm feeling in my head. I felt lightheaded, then it was like someone threw a bucket of ice water over me. I handed Connor to Riley so I wouldn't risk dropping him. Then I got a faint, floating image of August, that cowardly little worm. And then another blurry image of a pretty girl with red hair and ice blue eyes. I shook my head, and as quickly as it came, the feeling went. 

I looked over at Lucas, who looked similarly dazed, like I had felt. Riley was too focused on getting Mason to eat to notice anything. Then, just as I had, Lucas twitched his head, and the cloudy, dazed look was gone from his eyes.

"You felt it too, right?" I asked him quietly.

"Yeah, I did, I just don't know what it was," he said, looking troubled.

"Something involving August," I said. I wanted to know what it was; anything involving August had to be bad, unless he was killed, but I didn't know enough about wolfhood to know what the feeling meant. Apparently, neither did Lucas. I could tell that this upset him.

Seconds later, Josh burst into the kitchen.

"Guys!" he yelled, his face wild. We all looked up in concern, but Mason and Scarlet continued their determined gnawing on different fruits; Mason had come across a pear.

"What is it, Josh?" Lucas asked, standing up.

"It's August! You guys felt it too, right?" Josh said.

"Yeah," I replied, standing next to Lucas, "What was it?"

"He's Morphed to a girl," Josh said, chewing on his lip.

"No!" Lucas cried.

"What is it? What's the problem?" I asked frantically. Wouldn't August Morphing mean that he would forget us? Leave us alone?

"If August Morphed, then his pride will get in the way of his judgement. He'll come back for us, trying to impress her," he said. 

Zay ran downstairs at that moment.

"Guys, it's fine, we can fight him off! Five against one!" he said with an air of confidence.

"I am not putting my babies in danger like that!" I yelled.

"Maya's right," Lucas said, shaking his head, "It's too much of a risk."

"What do we do, then?" Zay asked, wilting into a chair.

"The only thing we can do," Lucas said grimly.

"What is that, exactly?" I asked.

"We have to leave."