Dominant Species Ch. 01-06

"ATTACK PROTOCOL, EVERYONE TO THE BUNKERS. ALL PACK MEMBERS REPORT HOME IMMEDIATELY. NOTIFY ME OF ANY SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR."

The defense strategies were known and regularly practiced; although they had good relations with their neighbors and the humans, it may not always be the case. Mary and Rachel rushed upstairs, each grabbing their child. They hugged them tightly as they ran back down the stairs to their hall closet. Mary handed off Michael while she pulled the hatch up that led to the bunker below their house. Once it was up, she climbed down the stairs and raised her arms to take Michael from Rachel. She ran over to a bunk and set the still sleeping boy along the back, then came back to take Raven. As soon as Rachel was in, she secured the heavy steel hatch with cross bolts and came over to the table and chairs where Mary was waiting.

"Alpha, Mary and our boys are secure, Marcus is at North Fork and Tom is at work." It was too far away for Rachel to mind link with her mate, but Tom reassured Mary he was fine. The kids were still sleeping, having unconsciously cuddled up to each other on the bunk.

"Thank goodness we have this battery powered LED lighting so it isn't so dark in here." Mary didn't like being in the shelter, having been born human she did not find them to be as comforting for that side as her wolf side did. She pulled out her cellphone, figuring she could play some Candy Crush to soothe her nerves, but her cellphone wouldn't power up. "That's funny, it was just working before I came over."

Rachel pulled her phone out, and it didn't work either. "Alpha, something happened to the phones, we weren't using them and now they won't even power up."

Alpha Wolfe replied, "Mine either. Can anyone get a cellphone or walkie talkie to work?" A few minutes later, the answer was a resounding NO.

Tom even checked their fire department communications; none of their phones, cellphones or radios worked, and their fire trucks would not start nor would their doors open.

"Mary, I'm coming home. We can't do anything here." Tom kept the link open to the rest of the Pack.

"Tom, what do you see out there?"

"It's a mess. Cars stalled out in the middle of the road, people just wandering about. The sky is weird, it's like we have aurora borealis but it's the middle of the day. The sun hurts my eyes, even with sunglasses on." He paused. "Some of the guys think we may be under attack, a high-altitude nuclear burst or something. I've never seen the sky look like this, it's kind of freaking me out."

There was a pause before the Alpha spoke. "Grab anything you think will be of use and get in the bunker with your family. I want everyone underground until further notice."

Ten minutes later Tom was at the hatch. He had grabbed a cooler out of the garage, tossed in some ice and put all the perishable food he could into it. He lowered it down, then came down the ladder and embraced his mate. "I love you, Mary. I don't know what is happening or how to keep you safe yet, but I will."

She kissed him and then she took the heavy sunglasses off of him. She looked at him, her mouth open, trying to figure out what was going on. "Tom... how long were you outside?"

"Maybe fifteen minutes total." He looked at her quizzically. "Why?"

"You've got a little sunburn on your face." She poked his cheek, and watched how it took a while to return to the normal color.

"That's impossible, werewolves don't sunburn. We heal too fast for that." He walked over to the sink and looked in the mirror. "Huh. That's never happened. It's all right though, I can already see it healing up."

Using the bond, he warned the Pack. "The changes in the sun caused me to burn in under fifteen minutes. Alpha, we need to stay underground until it is dark."

"Agreed. After dark, we'll send a few out to patrol." He cut the communication to just Tom. "Tom, if it did that to you, what is happening to the humans right now?"

He sighed. "Pain."