Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,146

officers heading into the building in what looked like some kind of tactical formation. Then there were the ambulances all taking over the parking lot.

"What if she's hurt?" I asked, not sure who my words were for. "What if she's dead?"

"She'll be ok," Pax promised, holding me a little tighter. "She has to be, honey. Our girl's a strong one. She's smart enough to make it through this."

"What about the other kids?" The words were almost a sob.

Because how many bodies were lying in those halls? How many children had their lives changed forever today? Standing out here, I felt so helpless, but there wasn't anything I could be doing. If I tried, I'd only make it worse, and I knew that, yet every second felt like it took an eternity. Time was moving so slow. Nothing was happening, and my child needed me.

More than all of that, I needed her. To see her, to hear her, to know she was safe. My daughter was my entire world, and I was sure that every other parent felt the same way. Right now, Kim and Heather would be losing their minds, trying to get here to find their children. So would all the other parents in our pack. But that, at least, was something I could deal with.

"We need to make sure the kids can get home without waiting for their parents," I said, my eyes jumping over to Ashley. "There's no way they're going to be able to make it through the cops to pick them up. And if we see them, we need to let them know they're ok."

"Ok," Ashley said, pulling out her phone. "I'm having Dad make a group chat for all the parents. He's in the office, so has the records. What else, Elena?"

"We need to know if anyone stayed home today. Someone else will need to check on the middle school and elementary school kids."

"On it," she promised.

Pax turned us so he was leaning against the car, letting me use his chest to rest against while I kept going. "If anyone is hurt, we'll need to help the parents get to see them..." And then the reality of that hit me.

"Blood..."

"Shit," Seth breathed, moving closer. "We'll need to track exposure."

"If anyone's even hurt," Pax reminded him. "For all we know, that kid could've been shooting at the walls."

"In a school this size?" Seth asked.

"Seth," Pax warned. "Shut the fuck up."

Ignoring him, Seth grabbed my hand. "Elena, someone is going to have been hurt. Hopefully, no one was killed. Your job is just to take care of Gabby, but if some of these kids were exposed when they tried to do first aid?"

"I know," I agreed. "If they're left alone, they'll get hit by cars, right?"

He canted his head as if that wasn't quite right. "It's one problem. Being alone is another. We'll have to figure out how to keep track of them, or visit them - "

"The kids," I broke in. "We have enough in the community. Someone is going to be in the same grade, or same class, or same group of friends. One of them will have a reason to check in and make sure they're ok. The trick is going to be figuring out who could've been exposed."

"Which," Pax pointed out, "means that we're assuming one of ours got shot!"

"Mason's been barking at them!" I yelled, spinning to face him. "I know you want to protect me, but acting like everything is perfectly fine when cops are storming into my kid's school isn't helping, Pax! My daughter is inside there, and someone's going to be hurt, so I'd much rather think about what to do next than pretend like a fucking rainbow's about to shoot out of my ass!"

He caught both sides of my face. "Breathe, Elena. Yell at me if it helps, hit if you have to, but take a breath, honey. You're as pale as a sheet and I can feel you trembling."

He was right. I knew he was. I also appreciated that he wasn't mad at me for snapping, but I couldn't think about that. I just had to keep moving forward, making plans because then I'd know what to do when the worst happened. If I thought it out already, I'd have a blueprint to follow and -

The sight of teenagers pouring from one of the doors made my mind stall out.

Dozens of kids, all in a straight line, ran from the side door of the building toward