Louve and Casper joined Logan in the library within a few minutes. They burst through the door, their faces twin masks of worry.

"Logan, what happened? What's wrong?" Louve asked, frowning with concern at her cousin. She took a seat in front of him and Casper followed suit.

"Everything is fine." He said, but his face gave him away. Louve looked at her own mate, then back at him.

"I know that face, Logan. You're not fine." She said, a tone of warning in her voice. "You had better start talking this instant."

Logan put his elbows on the desktop and placed his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes shut. He didn't even know where to start. All the different emotions he had felt today alone: the happiness from being with Aella in the morning, the fear and anxiety after she had disappeared, and the rage and hatred, he had felt towards Elias mere minutes ago, were overwhelming.

He raised his head as Louve and Casper watched and waited for him patiently. His eyes were red-rimmed with tears and stress. He sighed heavily, then said. "Aella was kidnapped earlier today. After I came to see you guys in the morning, I went back and discovered that she had gone. Some trails inside the cabin show that she was taken away."

"What?" Casper whispered.

"What do you mean she was kidnapped? Logan, what do you mean?! How could you let that happen?" Louve yelled.

"It wasn't my fault!" Logan said, his voice shaky with emotion. "I didn't kidnap her myself, did I?"

"Oh, shit!" Louve stood up from the chair and walked to the end of the room, then back. She was taking the news harder than anyone else in the room. "I hope she's fine."

"I don't know, honestly," Logan said resignedly. "Last night she was fine. We were fine. I don't know..."

"Did she say anything...strange, last night? As in, anything out of the ordinary?" Casper asked Logan.

"She sounded and looked...distant. Like her body was with me but her mind was miles away." Logan replied. "she told me to trust her no matter what she did. She also told me that she loved me and that I should be prepared for what was coming. I don't know what she meant by that."

"I feel like she told you all that because she somehow knows that a war is coming closer," Casper said after a long gap of silence.

"Probably because we have all been making preparations for a war, building a bunker and all of that?" Louve said, sitting back on the chair.

"No, not that," Casper said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I mean, think about it. She disappears just when there is unrest following the discovery of her tattoo after telling Logan to 'be prepared for what's coming', also somehow coinciding with the imminent war. Don't you think there's more to this than meets the ordinary eye? I feel like Aella knows something about the war that's certainly coming, and someone kidnapped her because she knows too much."

Logan frowned and thought about this for a moment, then shook his head. If Aella had known anything that he didn't already know, he would have sensed it somehow. After all, they shared a mating bond.

"I do hope she's okay," Louve murmured with worry etched on her face.

"Hey, did you see Elias in the strategy room?" Casper asked after a minute of silence. "He was sitting on the Alpha's Seat. I told him to get up but he was, as usual, being a dick."

"Yes, I saw. That's definitely a worry, but it's the least of my worries right now. Elias has always been a dick and he would not stop being a dick just because one of us tells him to stop." Logan said, massaging his temples with his fingers. He could feel another headache coming. He was also beginning to develop a fever, another sign of physical strain caused by Aella's disappearance.

"A war is coming, definitely. And we need to prepare our minds for it." He continued, leaning forward so that his elbows were on the desk again. "The rogue wolves can attack at any time, and I feel like we're not very prepared for if they come. We have made progress, thanks to Louve." He nodded in her direction. "But it's only the beginning."

"So, what should we do, Logan? How can we help?" Casper asked.

"We can start by making sure the women and the children have an escape plan ready in case the rogue wolves find out where the underground bunker is. Louve, do you have any ideas?" Logan asked.

"Way ahead of you, cousin," Louve answered, smirking. "I instructed the builders to construct a tunnel inside the underground bunker. It would lead to the edge of the border so the women and their children can make a run for it if the rogue wolves decide to attack the hideout. It's part of the building plan for the bunker. Hold on." Louve said, stood up, and walked out of the room.

Logan and Casper looked at each other, wondering what she was on about. Louve came back holding a rolled-up sheet and gave it to Logan. He collected it without a word and spread it on his desk. On it was a blueprint that showed the entire building plan of the underground bunker.

Louve pointed to a place on the upper left of the blueprint, where Logan could see a trail that led somewhere. "That's the tunnel right there." She said. "It opens up on the other side of the mountain. From there the women and children can escape in case there's a war."

Logan was once again wowed by Louve's ability to plan ahead. He looked at his cousin with admiration. He felt so lucky to have her in his inner circle. She had foreseen the possibility of the rogue wolves breaking into the underground bunker and had created a mode of escape ahead. He wasn't sure he would have been able to see that potential problem if he had been the one in charge of the underground bunker.

"Alright, that's settled." He said, then turned to Casper. "We have 900 warriors from the South Pack, right?" He asked and Casper nodded in the affirmative.

"And combined with our own numbers, that should amount to how many warriors?" He asked.

"1154," Casper answered. "We only have 254 able-bodied men that would be able to fight if there is a battle. And some of them are teenagers too."

"Okay," Logan replied, nodding satisfactorily. "That should do, I think. Get 50 warriors to stand by the entrance of the underground bunker. 25 from the South Pack's numbers and 24 from our own numbers. Instruct them to never leave the entrance. They must guard the women and the children inside with their lives, and kill anything that tries to enter inside without prior notice. Then position ten soldiers each at the northern, southern, eastern, and western wings of the pack house in case the rogue wolves try to infiltrate it."

"Yes, alpha," Casper said and bowed slightly.

"Alright, guys. This is it." He said, standing up. Louve and Casper followed suit. "We leave this room with the certainty that war will break out. May the Goddess protect us all."