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Alpha Denzel reached out and pulled her to her feet, asking, "How old are they? Go, I will find them," he said with determination.

"They are twins. Both four," she said and began to hasten carefully towards her comrades. She trusted that the Alpha would do as said and left. The warriors arrived soon after as Denzel instructed,

"Help them to the safe house."

Soon, another mindlink flooded his mind. "Val just called. She said she found two kids but cannot bring them because she’s injured."

Alpha Denzel was greatly disturbed by the revelation. "Injured? How?"

Earlier.

It wasn’t long after Ryker left that Valerie woke up to the sound of thunder.

Jolting awake, she was a bit saddened to be left alone.

She realized how thoughtful he was to have closed the doors and windows, including lighting the fire, but when she saw what was on the drawing board, her heart skipped a beat.

No wonder he criticized her painting as he was a master of it. It was also clear that he must have stayed for a few hours to paint that picture of her sleeping. Then the kiss on her forehead. That part was a blur, seemingly dreamy.

Valerie saw his contact under the painting with a note. ’I don’t know if you would miss me, but if you do, please don’t forget to give me a call. Love, Ryker.’

She quickly saved the number, removed the painting, pasting it in her bedroom. It was a treasured gift, but she feared that Alessia or Alpha Denzel might see it and ask her questions she wouldn’t be able to answer.

As she saved the number, she texted a two-word response. ’Thank you.’ But did not get a response.

Assuming that Ryker was busy or might not have heard his phone beep because of the rain, she sat back to relax a little on the sofa when she heard the sound of another thunder.

Running to the door, she opened it and was met by the cold wind and rain hitting her face. About to close the door, she heard screaming. Panicked with worry, she searched the direction of the sound.

If she was not mistaken, she never saw any child around the cottage, but the scream sounded like children crying, afraid of thunder and lightning. Without thinking of getting warm clothes, she dashed into the storm, following where she heard the sound.

One of the kids, a girl, had hit her head on a tree bark and was bleeding. "What are you doing here?" Valerie asked when she reached the kids. Panicked if their parents were around, as she looked around curiously.

Somehow, she feared if Ryker’s presence had exposed her. For whatever reason Alpha Denzel wanted to keep her from the pack, she had no idea but also did not intend to defy his orders. The girl looked up at her, the rainwater washing her tears away, as well as the blood from her head injury.

"Auntie, please help me." Rain poured down on her, and she shivered. The boy added his voice. "Yes, pretty auntie, please help my twin sister."

Though injured, their hands were tightly wrapped around the tree stem. Valerie was moved with sympathy and asked,

"Where are your parents?"

They looked around helplessly, not knowing how they got there. "We don’t know. The storm blew our roof, so our parents ran out to look for help. As soon as we stepped out, the flood carried us here."

Valerie realized how smart they were to cling to the tree. If not, who knew where the rainwater would have taken them? "It’s okay. You can let go of the tree and follow me inside."

Though feeling cold under the pouring rain, the children were self-conscious. The boy asked, "Will you hurt us? Mom said not to enter strangers’ rooms. Please take us to our house," he pleaded.

Valerie was helpless. Aside from the training room, which she struggled to find, she didn’t know anywhere else around the pack. Even if she tried, she wasn’t sure to make out where they lived in this storm.

To ease their fears, she said reassuringly to them. "I will take you as soon as the storm is over. For now, just come with me."

The kids were reluctant, but as Valerie lost her convincing skills.

She also couldn’t leave them stranded like that.

Moreover, her phone was in the house, so she couldn’t call Alessia for help.

Looking up, her eyes blurred with horror, seeing a tree from the opposite direction headed their way. It was a falling tree.

"You have to move now, or we’ll all die," she yelled, the children panicked and released their grip, but it was too late as they couldn’t move fast.

The tree almost crashed into the injured child when Valerie pushed her away, making herself the scapegoat. She tried swerving as much as she could with all her expertise but was not lucky enough as the tree hit her shoulder, she groaned from pain.

The twins, horrified by the whole thing, shed more tears with worry in their voice. "Auntie, are you hurt?" the injured girl was by her side, and so was her brother.

Valerie was in great pain, but seeing the worry and tears in the children’s eyes, could not bring herself to let it show.

"Let’s go inside," she said, knowing they were all going to catch a cold. The children were petrified of what happened, not wanting to make things difficult for her.

Besides, this woman looked like she was in pain, so how could she hurt them? As soon as they were in the safety of the cottage, Valerie reached for her first aid box, but her left shoulder was stiff, and any movement caused her immense pain.

She picked a gauze from the first aid box, wrapped it around her shoulder to her armpit, using her teeth to hold one edge after tying a knot before pulling with her right hand and teeth to tighten it.

As soon as that was done, the pain greatly subsided, enabling her to move around, though not comfortably. She stared at the kids, who stood frozen in the room with their mouths agape.

"Is there a problem?" she asked worriedly. The room was warm, thanks to the fire Ryker lighted for her, so naturally, she expected them to move around, jump on the chairs, and do things normal kids would do, but their response stunned her, bringing tears to her eyes.