Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,147

the police. A pair of cops waved them over, letting them know where to go, but they just kept coming. My eyes scanned each one, looking for a face I recognized, but I had nothing. Then Ashley let out a rush of air as if she recognized someone.

"That's Lucy," she said, lifting her phone to start texting.

"I'll get her," Trent told us.

Then another door opened. This time, the kids weren't running. They all had their hands up, and they walked as fast as they could, but they looked terrified. I could see blood splattered across their clothes, which confirmed my worst nightmare - until Gabby came into view.

"Gabby!" I screamed.

Her head snapped up, but she didn't head my way. Instead, she opened the door wider as Roman, Olivia, and Xander came through it. The problem was that Xander didn't look too good. The boy was pale and while his arm was wrapped around Olivia, Roman's hand on his back was helping to push him forward.

As soon as they were completely outside, all four of them lifted their hands like the rest of the kids, but Xander was moving a little slow. The others seemed overly focused on him as well, but he was moving. Then another batch came through behind them.

"She's ok," I breathed, wanting to rush to my daughter.

Only the line of cops kept me from doing it. As each student reached them, they were checked quickly and allowed to keep going. Once Gabby, Olivia, Roman, and Xander were cleared, they turned right for us. That was all Trent and Seth needed. The guys rushed forward as Pax's arms tightened around my waist again.

"Shit," Ashley breathed. "Xander's hurt."

"I'm fine," Xander said when he was close enough.

"He got shot," Gabby told us. "We put a maxi pad on it so the medics wouldn't try to treat him, but he needs to see Bridget."

"Where?" Pax demanded, letting me go to help the boy into the back seat of Trent's truck.

"Hip," Xander said, lifting his shirt and pushing at his pants to show a wound right across the side of his waist. Thankfully, it didn't look fatal, just very painful. "Fucking Mason wanted to kill us."

That was when Trent came back with the other girl and a boy I didn't recognize. The girl looked right at me. "What do we need to do, Alpha?"

"Call your parents," I said without thinking. "Let them know you're ok, and then find the others. We need to make sure the entire pack's safe."

"You heard her," Seth said, taking over.

I had to grab Gabby and look her over. "Are you hurt at all?"

"I'm fine, Mom," she promised. "I don't think Mason killed anyone, but he wanted to."

"He was coming after us," Olivia said. "Where's Ian?"

Which was the problem. I didn't know, so I just shook my head. "He's around here somewhere. Olivia, have you talked to your mom?"

She nodded. "We all did after Roman chased Mason out the back."

"That's where Ian was," Roman told me. "He and Lane. Lane told me to retreat, so I ducked back in, got dressed again, and helped the girls with the wounded."

"Was anyone exposed?" Seth asked.

"No," Gabby promised. "The only one of ours that was hurt - that I know of - was Xander. Olivia and I took care of him. A few other kids were shot, but nothing fatal."

"Gabby made all the girls pull out tampons and maxi pads," Olivia told us. "We used those to stop the bleeding, and the pack kept Mason from just shooting everyone."

Then Gabby's head snapped up. "There's Sam." Before I could keep up, she hurried to the front of Trent's truck. "Samantha!"

"Oh thank god," her human friend wailed, running over to hug Gabby so hard. "Is Xander going to be ok?"

"I'm fine," he growled from the back seat.

Samantha's entire body tensed. "There's an ambulance. He needs - "

"No," Gabby said.

Which was when I realized what was going on. "What did you do, Gabby?" I asked.

My daughter licked her lips. "We had to, Mom. He was going to kill us, and Sam was there."

"What," I demanded, "did you do?"

Samantha just reached up to touch my arm. "They saved all of us, Ms. Castillo. I was in the closet with Roman, Olivia, and Gabby. Mason found us, and he was going to shoot up the whole room, but Xander came in and tackled him. And then Mason shot Xander, so Roman started taking off his clothes, and..." She looked at Gabby, who nodded, then Samantha kept