Chapter 19: Brian

As we were walking down from the platform, I saw a glimpse of someone I recognized.

Brian.

I grabbed Alfie and was about to direct his attention to Brian, but it was too late. The split second it took for me to turn my head to let Alfie know that I saw him, Brian leaped towards us and went into his true form. I could see the hurt and anger in his eyes as his body leapt towards me and Pauline. I started to duck, but when he hadn't collided with me for a few moments I looked up. Doc had Brian in his mouth. Brian's body was twitching while Doc clamped down on his neck even harder. I could see his eyes dim until they were completely colorless.

Alfie rushed to crouch down next to me and started making sure we were okay. "Alyssa are you guys okay?! I am so sorry I didn't see him in time; there were so many people around that I didn't even notice that was him standing in the crowd. Are you guys hurt? Is Pauline okay?"

"We are fine, thanks to Doc. Good thing Doc saw him coming or something terrible would have happened." I leaned into my safe spot, Alfie, and listened to his heartbeat until my nerves dissipated.

We stood up in unison to Brian's now limp body to make sure the treat was eliminated. "The Intruder Alpha sent him. We will need to prepare for a war; we can't let him get away with a bold attack like this." Alfie said to me.

"Intruder Alpha? How do you know he sent this male?" Doc questioned; we hadn't told him about Delilah yet.

"Delilah was his daughter, and this male was one of her mates. He must have escaped when my father had her taken away and her mates killed."

"Alfie, our town is not big enough, nor prepared enough for a war with the intruders."

"No, but the City of Forms is." Alfie said blatantly.

Doc turned around to find someone in the crowd, and when he finally found who he was looking for he called him over. "Tate, we need you to fly to the City of Forms to inform the alpha that we were attacked by a male sent by the Intruder Alpha." He patted him on the back to rush him away and the man turned into a large eagle. He took off quickly and set his route for the City of Forms.

"We need to prepare for a fight. I am sure once Brian doesn't return, they will send out more men to find out what happened to him. Alyssa, you, Royce, and Pauline need to stay in the cave until we know we are safe – you know the spot to go to. I will train some of the new males to fight using our style of fighting and Doc will stay with you. Do not leave the cave, understand?"

I nodded my head and grabbed Royce's hand quickly before running to the cave with Doc following. Once we got to the cave, I quickly traveled to the darkest part of the cave and moved a boulder out of the way to reveal another hallway into even more darkness. We briskly entered the hallway and Doc closed the boulder behind us. After traveling in the hallway for many minutes, we finally reached our 'safe place', which was a giant room with a large fire pit and four beds around it. We opened another boulder door and entered, closing it behind us. There was a few salted bodies of buffalos and deer laying in the far corner, but it wouldn't last us too long if the fighting were to continue for a while.

My face was plastered with worry, but I couldn't hide it even if I tried. My true mate was outside training many men to fight when he could be the one to die out there. I was stuck in here with Doc and the kids and I wasn't even able to help at all. I am the shifter, and I couldn't even help my own mate. I sat down on the bed and laid Pauline down for a nap as I just stared at the fire thinking of all the possibilities of what could happen out there.

"You should try to calm down, the stress isn't good for the baby or for you." Doc broke the silence.

I slowly turned my head to look at him, "How could I be calm right now? Please, tell me how, in this situation, I could be calm right now. I just had a male try to attack me and my newborn baby, you killed him in front of me and the kids, we have a powerful alpha about to attack our town, and my mate is out there on the front lines to take the brunt of the attack. You think the Intruder Alpha will allow Alfie to survive when he attacks? Alfie is the son of the alpha of the City of Forms and he mated with Delilah; he will not let him survive even if it is the last thing he does. So, please tell me how I can be calm right now."

Doc couldn't even open his mouth to respond to what I had said. He scooted his body closer to me and wrapped his arms around my mid back to hold me in a tight hug. "I'm sorry." He whispered in my ear and I laid my head on his shoulder while zooning out on the orange fire in front of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had zoned out so much on the fire, I had completely lost track of time and almost forgot where I even was or what was happening just outside our cave. My head was still of Doc's shoulder and as I lifted it up, I turned to look at him. "I'm sorry, I completely spaced out for a bit."

His eyebrows started to curl upwards and I could see that he actually felt compassion. "Please don't feel sorry, if 'spacing out' helped keep your mind off of the fight, I don't mind. You know, I have always cared about you, since the moment you arrived in the village."

I interrupted him before he could go any further, "Doc, you know my mate is out there training for the most dangerous fight ever, right? Please don't make advances for me right now, at least wait until after the fighting is done and everybody makes it out alive."

"Okay, I will do whatever you say. Alfie is the strongest and most skilled fighter I have ever seen, don't worry about him surviving. Once his father's army gets here, the intruders will have no chance of winning."

"Thank you for saying that. I really hope his father's army gets here soon. Do you think they will make it here before the intruders?"

"Yes, Damon has many flying true form males in his army, and they can quickly carry the other males here much faster than it would be to walk."

"Good, so now we just wait."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was starting to get late in the day, I could tell. I played with the kids once Pauline woke up from her nap to try to keep my mind off of the fighting that was about to be going down less than a hundred yards from my cave. Now I understood the wives of soldiers and how they felt when their husbands were shipped off to fight in a foreign country in my world. He wasn't in a foreign country, but it felt like it since I wasn't even able to hear him, see him, touch him, smell him. I prayed to whatever god would listen to just help Alfie get back to us safely so my family would stay whole. I don't know if I could run this town without him, or even if I could raise the kids without him. I am so oblivious to many things in this world and I needed my true mate to teach me the things I am naive about.

As I was staring at space once again, I heard Royce yawn and start to lay down on the bed he claimed for himself. I figured it would be healthy for me to do the same and I laid down on my empty bed, alone. I knew I was going to sleep, but the quality of sleep was going to be poor without my favorite black tail blanket to cover me throughout the night. I curled myself in a tight ball and got as close to the fire as I could to try and replicate the warmth that I felt from Alfie each other night and closed my eyes to slip into the familiar darkness once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once I awoke from what seemed like a short nap, I looked around to make sure everybody was still safe. Pauline was still fast asleep, Royce was talking while he snored, but Doc was awake and sitting up in his bed. "Up so soon?" he said as he turned his head towards me.

"Still up?" I rebutted. I new he was nervous for Alfie as well, they were best friends, but he would never admit that to me, or so I thought.

"You caught me. I couldn't stop thinking about the fight and how I can't be out there to help."

"I get it. I am the shifter, and I am not even out there to help protect my people. What kind of a shifter am I?"

He jerked his head up to face me. His eyebrows curled up once again and his eyes shined a familiar sparkle in them. "You are an amazing shifter. You have birthed the first female to be born in this town in the last forty years, and that female is the first ever recorded female alpha."

"Me giving birth to Pauline does not make me a good shifter."

"No, but your actions do."

"What actions have I done that would make me a good shifter?"

"You have been nothing but compassionate towards other people since you got here. You encourage everybody to work together and be friends instead of enemies like they were before. Females have never treated their males better than they do now. And just because you are the shifter, you don't let people treat you any differently than they would anybody else in the town. You have made history in the short time you have been here."

"The only thing I have done is try to incorporate some of my old culture with the one here."

"And that is changing this world greatly, in only positive ways."

"Thank you for saying that; I really appreciate your kind words."

"I am only following what you have taught us. Before, I would have probably ignored you or been rude to you, but the things you have done for not only this town, but also this village, has made me… never mind, you told me not to talk about that quite yet."

"Doc I understand where you are coming from, but you are not attracted to me, you are only attracted to the things I have said."

"You have it completely wrong. The things you have said have attracted me to you."

"Doc, if I were to have another mate besides Alfie, I would want someone who is attracted to me as a person, not because I am the shifter or because they like the ideas I am spreading."

"Alyssa, wouldn't you want somebody not only attracted to your looks, but also your heart and your brain?"

"I guess you are right, but I am not ready for another mate quite yet. My last one turned out to be a manipulative liar who was the daughter of the Intruder Alpha, so if I am to have another mate in the future, I will make sure I get to know them much better before mating."

"I understand. I will wait."

"Doc, I am not asking you to wait. If you were to find another female, I want you to be with them, don't wait for me to be ready."

"See, this is what I was saying. You have a pure heart, and that is why I love you."