Chapter 19

Claire's POV

When the rogue nearly took my mask, I hesitated, wondering if I should just shift to take them all out in seconds, but the second the thought crossed my mind, I knew it was impossible.

Every single person in this pack would recognize my wolf, even at half strength. There was too much risk. It would take longer, but I could defeat these rogues without my wolf.

However, that second of hesitation proved to be a huge mistake. The rogues decided that they really did want Leo as their target and took that moment to grab him. One of the rogues partially shifted, taking Leo into fur covered arms.

He gave me a feral grin from a wolf snout that wasn't meant for human expressions. I bared my teeth at him and growled. There wasn't time for me to think about my next move. I just reacted.

I lunged for the wolf holding my son. He was all I could see. And in my panic, I had forgotten about the other two. With my back exposed, one of them raked their claws down my back. I cried out and fell, watching helpless as they began to take my son into the woods.

No. No, I wouldn't allow him to be taken from me again. I began to army crawl through the grass. A guttural laugh came from the one with Leo in his arms, but I paid him no attention. If I could make it to the woods, I could shift freely. They would never be able to outrun me.

One of the rogues whimpered and I looked up in time to see Daphne with an entourage of warriors. As much as I hated her, I was actually happy to see her. My son would be safe, even if I wasn't the one who rescued him.

The warriors quickly overtook the last two rogues, seizing them and dragging them away to some unknown location. I doubted we would ever see them again. The rogues showed us no mercy and we always returned the favor.

Leo wiggled away from one of the pack members and ran to my side, tears streaming down his face. “Miss Warrior, you're hurt!”

I stiffly sat up, trying to keep my eyes from giving away how much pain I was in. The rogue had gotten me pretty badly. I needed medical attention, but calming Leo down was more important.

I wiped his face. “I'm okay, little wolf. It will take more than that to keep me down.”

“Well, well, well. This is the bodyguard that Gideon hired. This is the big bad warrior from Prince Ivan's inner circle. I don't see what's so special about you. All I see is a failure. You are unfit to be Leo's bodyguard. You're fired,” Daphne's red lips curved up into a cruel smile, not even concerned with the fact that Leo was almost kidnapped. She was too busy gloating over her perceived win.

I gave her a searing look that made her flinch. “Alpha Gideon is the one who hired me and Alpha Gideon is the only one who can fire me. Nice try though.”

“I am going to be the Luna of this pack. Whatever I say goes and I say you're fired.

Guards, remove her from pack lands immediately,” Daphne ordered, but they made no move to follow her instructions. They knew as well as I did that she didn't have any real power yet.

“Yeah. Not yet, you aren't. You're just another member of this pack and until then, you can't do shit to me. I'll wait for Alpha Gideon.”

Daphne's hands curled into fists at her side. She actually looked like she was about to attack me herself when Gideon appeared out of nowhere.

“Why the hell is Leo mindlinking with me about some rogue attack? What happened?” Gideon demanded to know and as soon as his eyes landed on me, saw the claw marks on my back, he was kneeling in front of me.

I could hear the soft gasps from the other wolves. Alphas never knelt for anyone, except their Lunas. I stared at him, eyes wide. What was he thinking?

“Gideon! What are you doing? She's not worth your time. She almost let Leo get kidnapped. If I hadn't intervened, she would have lost him. Please just fire her. It's obvious that she's incompetent!” Daphne hissed and I cocked my head at her.

She didn't seem worried about the breach in security at all. That would have been the first thing out of my mouth. Sweet goddess, was Daphne behind the attack? Did she really want to get rid of me that badly?

Gideon cocked an eyebrow at me. “Three rogues broke through the perimeter. I have no idea how they were able to get through. Who was supposed to be patrolling this area tonight and who was in charge of assigning them? How does this keep happening, Alpha Gideon? This is starting to seem like an internal issue. Someone in your pack is betraying you.”

Gideon's mouth pressed into a thin line and he looked back at Daphne. Well that answered that question and further proved my theory that she was the one that let them in.

“She's just making excuses, Gideon. She doesn't actually know anything. She's useless. Get rid of her,” Daphne shrieked and I winced.

She was ridiculous. If this was the kind of woman Gideon was attracted to, what was the goddess thinking making us fated mates? We were nothing alike.

“I've already told you that Raven is here to stay. Leo loves her. She got injured trying to protect him. It's more than I can say for you. If I hear you ask me to fire her one more time…just don't,” Gideon snapped and picked Leo up, who was looking like he was about to faint. I doubt that he had ever seen anyone get injured or have been that close to getting taken. It was a lot to handle for a six year old boy.

“You should get that taken care of. Someone will bring medical supplies to your room. Get cleaned up,” Gideon added and all I could do was nod. I was still surprised by the way he was talking to Daphne. What was going on with them?

I chanced a glance at Daphne. She looked as though she had been slapped. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. It's about time someone put her in her place. When she noticed me looking at her, she bared her teeth. I wiggled my fingers at her and limped toward my room.

When I got there, I carefully began to remove my ruined shirt. The blood had partially congealed and I was going to reopen the wound if I wasn't careful. Bit by bit, I tugged my shirt off, hissing each time pain shot through my back.

I had just removed the last broken piece of my shirt when the door swung open and Gideon walked in, holding a bunch of medical supplies in his hands. Goddess, why did he have the worst timing ever?

I did the most un-warrior like thing and screamed.