Chapter 41 War
“Who’s going to tell Payton?” I asked as we walked over to the infirmary.
Alpha Knox and Diesel exchanged uncomfortable looks as if trying to decide how to tell her. I know that Payton had taken the rejection very hard. Ramos had rejected her on sight, because she was Diesel’s sister after Diesel challenged and killed Titus. Ramos was one of the best warriors Crescent Moon had at the time. His blind loyalty to the previous Alpha had turned him into a rogue.
We reached the infirmary; Dr. Ross was going to have a busy night. We walked by the first room and I could smell Ranger. I could hear whimpers coming from the second room, Vannica was still in labor. The third room had a great deal of commotion going on, Dr. Ross and nurse Nelly fluttered around the room stabilizing
Athena.
Payton stepped out of Vannica’s room. “The pup is almost here.” She said smiling.
“What’s wrong?” She asked noticing the uncomfortable glances she was receiving.
“We have a situation.” Diesel said with a matter of fact tone.
“What kind of situation?” Max’s voice came from behind us; he had just entered the infirmary as well. He walked over to Payton and pulled her into his side, placing a kiss on top of her head.
“Ramos is working with Jordan. His scent was all over Athena.” Alpha Knox said.
“Her first mate?” Max let out a low growl.
Payton instinctively laid her hand on his chest to calm him. She seemed unfazed but Max was ready to rip his throat out. I wondered if her reaction would have been different if she had not found Max. I felt nothing towards Ranger, and it was thanks to my second chance mate. Diesel was everything I could have ever
dreamed and more.
Diesel had been holding my hand and brought it up to his lips. He placed a kiss on my hand, and I realized he had been listening to my thoughts. A knowing grin flashed on his face.
Dr. Ross stepped out of Athena’s room and gave us an update. She was stable and expected to make a full recovery. Zeke opened the door to Vannica’s room, and we heard a newborn pup crying.
“IT’S A BOY!” He smiled proudly.
A round of hugs and congratulations were passed around. We waited for the midwife to finish before we went inside to greet the newest addition to our pack. Vannica gave us a big smile as she turned the little bundle to
face us.
“Alpha, Luna, meet Zachary.” She beamed.
He was absolutely perfect. His little hand was laying against his chubby little cheek, clenched in a fist. He had the same thick tuft of hair his father had. I looked at Diesel and his eyes were glazed over in a mind link. He spoke the words we were all anxious to hear…
“They’re at the top of the southern ridge.”
The tension in the room was thick. “Zeke, you’re on castle watch, the team is on the roof and guards at the
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door. No one comes in or out.”
Zeke protested. “I’m the Gamma, I need to fight with you.”
“You need to ensure the castle is not breached and keep our pack safe, including my new Godson.” Diesel smiled and Vannica breathed a sigh of relief.
We stood at the front doors of the castle. The sun was starting to rise but the sky was still dark from the snow clouds rolling in. There was a chilling bite in the air and the sound of shifting wolves could be heard. I looked up and saw Megan on the roof top leading the archers. Elliot was already in wolf form and stood in position before the pack. We had a bonfire burning on the field for me and I could feel the flames pulling me. The energy and power of fire was pulsing through me.
Diesel looked at me and pulled me into his arms. “I love you.” He whispered in my ear and inhaled my scent before he shifted.
Alpha Knox shifted and his clothes were left in shreds. His wolf Kruz, was as big and husky as Duke. They looked identical, with the exception of a few gray hairs around Kruz’s muzzle and Duke had a small scar above his right eye. Payton’s wolf, Poppy, was a slightly smaller and thinner version of the other two Alphas, making her faster and more agile. All three had black shiny coats and piercing blue eyes.
Max’s wolf, Milo, was just as big as the Alpha’s and had a dark brown coat. Diesel moved to the front and was flanked by Payton and Max. I walked behind them with Alpha Knox at my side. I wasn’t going to shift yet; we didn’t want Lia to be the main target to start.
There was a line of about fifty rogue wolves standing at the top of the ridge. “This can’t be all of them?” I asked Alpha Knox. “Who would be foolish enough to start a war with us when we have almost fourteen hundred fighters?”
“They must have more on the other side.” He answered back and let out a growl. I saw a man in human form standing at the top, but it wasn’t Jordan. He lifted his arm up and dropped it back to his side. The rogue wolves started running towards us.
Diesel’s Alpha voice came through the mind link “HOLD YOUR GROUND! We wait for them to get near enough. Archers stay hidden, this is not the bulk of their rogues.” We watched as they continued to run down the ridge in our direction.
“Is that Ramos?” I asked Alpha Knox, eyeing the man who had dark hair, dark skin and a bulky physique. He
had lifted his arm up again and another fifty rogues appeared at the top of the ridge. He dropped his arm and they began running towards us too.
“Yes, that’s him!” Alpha Knox growled.
The first line of rogues was almost to the bottom of the mountain and the second line was just behind them.
I’s I reached my hand out towards the flames and felt them grow. They would be within range for D. element soon and he could bury them in snow. I would be able to reach them with fire at about one hundred
yards.
The first line of rogue wolves neared the end of the field and suddenly turned back around. They had rogues in human form riding on their backs who launched smoking canisters at our fighters. Fifty canisters landed on the field and purple smoke emitted from them.
“LOOK OUT! IT’S NIGHT SHADE!” Diesel roared through the mind link. Nearly three hundred fighters dropped
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to the ground and others moved back. They were knocked out cold before they could even react.
The second line of rogues also did the same and launched another fifty canisters. I immediately shot flames out to try and incinerate as many canisters mid–air as I could. Diesel did the same and buried them with snow. The second round of canisters that actually landed, knocked out another hundred fighters.
Ramos shifted into a large brown wolf and started charging down the mountain towards us. He let out a how! and a large group of wolves appeared behind him. Judging by the size of the group, it had to be Alpha Jordan’s Eclipse pack and hired rogues.
They had about eight hundred wolves and we had roughly a thousand left. They were almost to the end of the field and would be within reach of the archers. We had a team of fifty archers on the roof of the castle and
twenty on the roof of the training arena guarding the bunker.
“CASTLE ARCHERS READY!” Diesel called through the mind link.
Megan’s voice rang next. “READY. AIM. FIRE!”
The silver tipped arrows hit most of their marks dropping about forty wolves.
“READY. AIM. FIRE!” Megan called again and dropped about thirty more rogues.
“Come on Lucy, lets light these flea bags up!” Lia snarled.
I held my hand out and a big ball of fire appeared in my hand, I looked at Alpha Knox who gave me an approving nod of his head. I launched it, aiming for Ramos and hit the wolf next to him who howled in pain and dropped. Ramos locked eyes with me and let an angry howl out.
“Bring it! I’ve got plenty more where that came from.” Lia said.
Our warriors and rogues clashed, and the battle broke out. Snarls and roars echoed all around us. The white snow was blood stained as wolves lunged at each other. Diesel used his element to trip up wolves and bury some. I continued to launch fire balls at rogues. Some burned alive and others dropped in the snow to roll out
the fire.
Payton and Max were fierce, they moved together quickly ripping out throats. Milo jumped on their backs and Poppy quickly went in for the kill. Elliot was fighting off a rogue when another rogue tried to attack from behind. I was about to launch a fire ball at the rogue when Megan shot an arrow right through his skull helping her mate. The archers remained on the roof trying to pick off rogues who were not standing in close proximity to our fighters.
Two warriors from Eclipse pack tried to leap at me but Alpha Knox took them down before they could touch me. I looked around, there was still no sign of Alpha Jordan. Something felt off. I continued to scan for Jordan but found Ramos. Ramos was charging at me with a dozen other wolves and a determined look on his face.
I crouched down, my clothes ripped to shreds and I unleashed Lia.
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