Chapter 20: I Love You

"You have a pure heart, and that is why I love you." Doc said as he started deeply into my eyes. I wanted to believe I imagined him saying that and it wasn't real, but when I didn't say anything back, he said, "I'm sorry, that was not okay for me to say right now, I just…" he was interrupted by the sounds of fighting near our cave.

I looked up to Doc and I could tell he heard it too. The intruders must have made it here already, I just hoped Damon's army got here before they did. 'Alfie, is everything okay out there?' I thought. I didn't here a response for a few moments and I started to get worried. My entire body started shaking and sweat instantly started forming throughout me entire body.

'The intruders are here. My father's army made it here just in time, so we are winning pretty easily. We are tracking their alpha right now with some of the strongest fighters we have. Is everything okay there?' thankfully he responded before I had a full-blown panic attack.

'Yeah, we are fine. There is fighting somewhere near the cave, though so we are trying to be as quiet as we can, so we aren't found. Please be careful out there. Me and the kids need you here, and so does the town.'

'I will, but we need to get rid of him once and for all. I love you, Alyssa.'

'I love you too.' And our connection diminished after I finished. He must be pretty far away, I just hoped he was going to make it back to us.

"Is everything okay?" Doc said, snapping me back to reality.

"Yeah, I was just contacting Alfie to make sure everything was okay. They are tracking the alpha now with their strongest fighters. Damon is with him and his army is fighting here."

"Okay, good thing they made it here in time."

"Yeah…" I was interrupted by the scent of someone I didn't recognize. I held my finger to my mouth as Royce woke up. He listened and I motioned for him to grab Pauline and hide. When he grabbed her out of her crib, she was about to let out a cry when Royce turned into a mouse while touching her. While holding her, Pauline turned into a baby mouse as well! Doc and I didn't know that shifters could turn someone else if they were touching them when they turned, but it happened in front of our eyes. Royce carried a tiny pink mouse Pauline to a small tunnel we dug under one of the beds. Without even thinking, I grabbed Doc's hand and turned into a mouse with him just like Royce did. We crawled into the tunnel and started running through the long hallway of darkness until we reached our second safe place. It was a tiny room; it was just big enough for the four of us to fit in while in our mouse forms. I looked at Doc and he nodded. It was almost like he could read my thought, but I knew that wasn't possible now.

I whispered to Royce to stay here with Pauline and to howl if he needed me. Simultaneously me and Doc started crawling through another long hallway until we saw light. This was our escape route for emergencies. Once we exited the hole, we both turned into our true forms and started entering the fight. There were thousands of intruders and tens of thousands of people on our side, but the intruders were much more skilled fighters. They were knocking out and killing multiple men. Good thing we came out when we did. This battle was most likely not going to end in our favor if we had. Since Alfie took his strongest soldiers with him, the ones left here weren't strong enough to hold back the platoons of intruders that continued to come.

I flew up above the fighting to grab one intruder in each of my claws as I few straight up into the air and over an empty area, so I didn't drop them on anybody. Once it was safe to drop them, they started tumbling down trying to grab at anything they could. By the time they reached the ground, they were falling too fast to land safely and they both landed head-first. I could see the blood splatter around them from all the way up in the sky, but I felt no remorse. Those men were attacking my town and my family; I would kill all of them myself if I had to. I flew down to grab another set of intruders and continued while Doc fought them from the ground.

Doc was a beautiful pure white fox, and his movements were so fast he looked like a while blur. He would jump past an intruder and slice his throat wile he was gliding through the air. Then, he would land and launch his body at another and bite their neck. After that, he shook his head to throw the intruder body and grabbed one intruder by the neck in each paw and crushed their bones until their entire body went limp. At this rate, it wouldn't take long for us to kill each and every one of the intruders.

Flying over the battlefield I noticed that there was a higher concentration of intruders near my cave. I focused on my hearing to listen in that direction and I heard him. The alpha was here.

'Alfie, you need to come back, NOW' I thought I didn't expect to be able to reach him and was hoping I wouldn't have to fight him alone, but I got a reply instantly.

'Why, what's wrong? Are you okay? Are the kids ok?'

'The alpha is here. He's in our cave and Royce and Pauline are still in there. He is looking for them.'

'Shit! We are on our way. Don't attack him until we get there, just keep an eye on the cave and listen to make sure the kids are okay.'

'Okay, but if I hear Royce howl, I'm going in.'

'I am going to run ahead of my group. I'll be there before anything happens, just don't run in there until you have to.'

'Okay, just hurry, I love you.'

'I love you too.' After that, I turned into a fly so I wouldn't be spotted and flew down to the emergency exit hole. I flew into it and transformed into a mouse once again as I navigated through the tunnels until I found Royce holding a sleeping Pauline. I was so glad newborns slept so much, or we would be in trouble. I just hoped Doc could handle the army out there without my help.

I could hear talking in our first safe room. They were trying to figure out where we had gone but couldn't find an escape route. As I heard a man yell to his alpha that he found our tunnel, Alfie started communicating with me. 'I am only a few moments away, where are you?'

'We are in the second safe room. They found the first one and now they found our tunnel.'

'How did you get Pauline in there?... never mind that, meet me at the cave entrance in five seconds.' I quickly kissed Royce and Pauline's foreheads and I ran out with lightning speed towards the exit so I could meet Alfie. Just as I got to the cave entrance, Alfie ran up and we entered without even glancing at each other. Doc had already killed many of the intruders outside the cave, so we didn't have much resistance getting inside.

We ran down the dark halls until we found an exploded boulder that once hid the safe room. We ran in and blindsided the men as Alfie went for the alpha and I went for the other men. Soon, the many men outnumbered me, and I was being grabbed and pulled from many different directions. Thankfully, the men that were with Alfie ran in to take over for me and fight the other men. I got ready to pounce on the Intruder Alpha who was now on top of Alfie and about to snap his neck. I tackled him to the ground beside him and Alfie quickly got up without even a moments hesitation. Alfie held the alpha down as I wrapped my wolf claws around his neck and started to penetrate his skin. Blood oozed out all over the ground and into his mouth. His face started to turn purple before I twisted my arms as fast and hard as I could, and I ripped his head right from his body.

I could hear intruders outside the cave howl and hundreds of footsteps running into the woods that they came from. Doc ran in to make sure we were okay, and when he saw me with a large head in my hands, he released a large sign of relief. "Royce, you can come up now" Alfie said, and we could hear tiny footsteps running up the tunnel and into the now bloody safe room.

Royce ran into the room as he and Pauline both turned back into humans and he ran into Alfie and my arms. We held them tight as Royce looked up at Alfie, "Mom, Dad, you guys are amazing." My eyes opened wide. Royce has never called Alfie 'Dad' before, he's always just called him Alfie. I smiled as I looked over at Alfie. His smile reached across his entire face. I have never seen him so happy before besides when I gave birth to Pauline a few days ago. It was like he had finally gained a son officially.

I glanced over at Doc to see that he felt left out and out of place watching our family hug. I could see the dread on his face as he hoped he could join us. I lifted my hand from Royce's upper back and waved for Doc to come in and join us. I could hear his heart skip a beat as he saw me looking at him straight in the eyes. Doc quickly complied and joined our group hug just as Pauline started to wiggle and wake up to be fed. She opened her eyes and looked for me until her gorgeous eyes landed on me and he reached her hands for me to pick her up. Without even thinking, I pulled my breast from my shirt and put it in her mouth. I had honestly forgotten anybody else was even in the room, especially Doc. When I sat on the ground with my back against the wall I looked up and saw Alfie and Doc's surprised looks. Quickly after Doc met my gaze, he turned his head to look down towards the ground and turned his body so his back was towards me. "Oh, come one Doc. It's just a breast, you don't have to get so embarrassed about seeing them. It's not like this is the first time you have seen breasts before."

"Yes, it is. Female's don't feed children in front of any other males besides her mates."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay." He would not move from that spot.

"So, Doc, why don't you tell Alfie what you were telling me earlier before we were rudely interrupted by intruders."

I could tell I made him nervous. He flinched without Alfie even moving a millimeter. Alfie looked at me and turned his head to look at Doc. "What were you telling her, Doc?"