Chapter 98

[ 1,405 words ]

We have to stop her

98: 98.

We have to stop her Liam

I crouch low as the gates groan open.

The sound cuts through the chaos like a death knell.

I scent the air, and the sheer amount of reinforcements causes a wild sort of worry to come over me.

It’s like a river breaking a dam when they come in, and hell pours through.

Hunters and warriors rush in beside them, silver-tipped spears raised, blades flashing under the moonlight.

Too many.

Far too fucking many.

Even from where I stand—towering over everyone in this monstrous body—I know exactly what this means.

The copper tang of blood saturates the courtyard so thick it clings to the inside of my throat.

Bodies litter the stone beneath claw marks and scorch patterns from Aria’s flames.

Ronan curses.

I glance toward him through the blood-soaked madness.

Kade is beside him as he struggles to his feet.

He’s been hit wth a silver bullet.

My beast snarls, wanting retribution in blood for the targeting of my alpha, my friend, my brother.

Ronan looks over the courtyard, chest heaving.

His calculating gaze takes in our peril in seconds.

I can see the war in his eyes, the desperation to end it here and now, held against the cost of staying.

Kade drives a blade through a Hunter’s chest and shoves him away with disgust.

“There’s too damn many!”

A fresh line of warriors storms toward us.

Hazel stiffens beside me, planning her feet and unsheathing a deadly-looking scimitar.“ Fucking Vinnie must have bypassed the controls and set a new one.”

“And that means?” I growl.

“That they think they’ve got us bent over the table with our hand tied, and if we don’t get out of here, I can’t say they’re wrong.”

Gods, that’s not an image I need in my mind right now.

She moves closer to me.

I’m not sure the movement is conscious, but my system homes in on it just the same.

It is her lack of fear to be near me, when she has every reason to put distance between us, that shocks me.

Then she moves, swinging her blade in a dance of violence as she cuts down the men who were once her family, for Aria.

For us.

“We need to fall back!” Ransom’s voice snaps through the haze.

I turn.

He blocks two strikes at once, blood dripping down one arm.

We’re being surrounded.

Outmanned, almost three to one.

I surge forward, cutting down a hunter’s silver-tipped spear before it could get close to Hazel.

Ronan’s voice cracks across the courtyard.

“Grab the injured!

Retreat!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Felix says, being held up by Dex.

I keep my eyes on our allies as I take a defensive stance against the onslaught.

My beast’s thirst for blood, for the scraps of claws through flesh, for the dying light of vanquished bodies drove me.

My claw punches through armor like paper.

The male’s scream cut short as I lift him off the ground.

Blood runs in rivulets over my hand.

Another comes from the side, and I swing the first body into him hard enough to snap bones.

The beast inside me grins.

More.

A spear whistles past me, trying to break up the retreat.

I’m on the hunt in a flash.

Gunshots ring out.

Aria uses her fire to take out the guns.

The screams of hunters as their hands burn send a lick of satisfaction through me.

Elliot reaches the gate, holding it open for others to pass through.

Theo shoulders into three enemies at once to clear space.

“Move your asses!”

People move faster to the gate, and I move with them, doing my best to keep the hunters and warriors from following.

Slashing and tearing, I glance around, making sure we aren’t leaving anyone behind.

My eyes land on Aria and freeze.

She is further out than I thought, using two long ropes of flames as whips, slashing and taking down multiple bodies with each strike.

Bodies burn around her.

Her red eyes glow bright enough to look like a living flame.

She isn’t fighting anymore.

She’s slaughtering them.

Moving with a darkness I know far too well.

And she isn’t stopping.

“Aria!” I roar.

Nothing.

It’s like she doesn’t hear me.

Her hands tremble, flames feeding into her ropes at a rate that has to be draining her.

“We have to stop her. She’ll get herself killed,” Hazel says beside me.

“Aria!” I yell again.

She still doesn’t answer.

My chest tightens.

I hold off another attack, skidding back from the force of two wolves slamming into me.

Ore wolves and hunters pile in, and before I know it, I’m overwhelmed by several bodies.

Hazel jumps, pulling out a blade and fighting to get out.

A hunter yanks her back by her hair and throws her to the ground.

No.

Rage bleeds like an open wound as the male gets on top of her and starts punching her.

I fight to get to her, but more keep coming back.

I’m hit and bit, scratched and pulled from all angles, but I keep fighting.

Protect our mate, my beast yells.

The possessiveness and need to protect my female gives me a boost of strength that allows me to push down the pain and dizziness from blood loss.

“Aria!” Hazel yells, the fear in her voice finally pieces my sister, and Aria’s head snaps to us.

“Help him,” Hazel screams desperately, before her head whips to the side as she takes a brutal punch.

Me?

That fear in her voice wasn’t for her.

It was for me.

For a moment, I don’t feel anything but a strange sort of warmth before it’s replaced by the heat of Aria’s flames

She charges forward like a bull, shooting the fire like daggers.

The weight around me eases, and I claw the face of the male in front of me and use the opening to get to Hazel.

She’s on her feet now, putting more weight on one foot than the other.

I crash into the male, rolling with him and digging into his spine before pressing my weight on it until it snaps.

“Wall?

I growl at Aria, more beast than man at the moment.

“Yeah, I got it,” Aria says, using her fire to cut a line between them and us.

We take the temporary reprieve, and I grab Hazel as we run for the gate.

Ronan and Theo are at the front, yelling at us to hurry.

Aria keeps putting up more walls as the ones before them die.

We reach the gate, sweating and panting.

Hazel squirms out of my arms, and my hands tighten before I force them to let her go.

“We’re all through!” Theo yells.

I shift back into my human form, taking a quick look around.

Those who shifted are naked, but all are bleeding and battle-worn.

Ronan goes and grabs the side of the gate, and Hazel moves to help him shut it.

Her intelligent eyes look around the rock walls.

“We need to collapse it,” she assesses, looking at Aria.

“Think you can buy us some time.”

“Not much,” Aria says, her skin ashen.

“Liam and you, and some others, take these rocks down, here,” She points to one area and then the other, “And here.”

“Got it,” I say at the same time Ronan grunts his confirmation.

I can tell Hazel’s assertiveness has him uncomfortable, but he recognizes the value of her plan enough to go with it.

My wolf is smug, watching his beautiful, fearless mate take charge in a literal room full of predators.

I have to do my best to keep my cock from standing, something that will be too visible in our nude state.

Aria shakes as she raises both hands.

Fire erupts, and a barrier of flame forms in a half-moon around the opening.

Hunters scream and jump back before they could get their limbs burned off.

I turn toward the stone around the entrance, seeing Ronan do the same out of the corner of my eye.

We dig into the structure, pulling at the loose stones with our claws.

Dust explodes around us as pebbles, rocks, and mounds of dirt loosen.

A cracking sound reverberates around the cavern.

“That’s enough,” Hazel shouted, tugging on me with her small hands.

The wall begins collapsing inward as Aria’s fire fades just beyond.

A warning crawls up my spine as my eyes meet Aldren’s.

His cold eyes twist with a malice so hot it cracks through their unfeeling facade.

Then the fall rocks block the view of the courtyard.

It’s all out in the open now.

There won’t be any more tiptoing around each other, no more diplomacy.

I look down at Hazel, and something in my stomach twists.

I had more to lose now.

More to fight for.

“Let’s go,” Ronan orders.

He tucks a large hand around Aria, who accepts.

We all make our way through the caves, moving as quickly as we can.

I keep my eyes on the female with the golden hair, telling my wolf to be patient.

We’d have her soon, and we’d keep her safe.

No matter the cost.

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