Chapter 73
Chapter 73
ARIA
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Ivory’s words had spread. Maybe not the specifics, but the sentiment. The new Luna had brought trouble. Had complicated everything. Was more liability than asset.
I tried to help, tried to be useful, but every attempt felt hollow. How could I lead a pack that didn’t want me? How could I prove myself when every problem seemed to validate their doubts?
Kael was supportive, loving even, but I could feel his own struggles through our bond. He was torn between defending me and understanding where Ivory’s accusations came from. Between his role as Alpha and his loyalty as a mate.
Nina remained firmly on my side, but even she couldn’t hide her concern. Couldn’t deny that the situation was deteriorating.
It was the fourth day after the confrontation when everything came to a head.
I was in the pack house library, trying to research pack law and historical precedents for dealing with proxy warfare, when the alarm bells started ringing. Not the general warning bells, but the specific pattern that meant children in danger.
I dropped the book I’d been reading and ran, following the stream of pack members all heading toward the same location-the western woods, where the younger pups were sometimes allowed to play under supervision.
By the time I reached the tree line, a crowd had already gathered. Warriors were forming up, receiving rapid instructions from Marcus. Parents were frantically asking questions, trying to determine if their children were safe.
“What happened?” I asked a woman standing near the edge of the crowd.
“Three pups ran into the woods during a game,” she said, her face pale with fear. “They were playing hide-and-seek, and they went too far. By the time the supervisor realized they were missing, rogues had already been spotted in that area p>
“The same rogues that attacked the healers p>
“We don’t know. But rogues nonetheless. And three six-year-olds are somewhere in those woods with them p>
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Chapter 73
My blood ran cold. Six years old. Barely more than babies in pack terms.
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Marcus was organizing the warriors into search parties when Kael arrived, taking command immediately. “Spread out in groups of four. Cover every section. The pups can’t have gone far -they’re small, scared, and hopefully smart enough to hide p>
“And if we encounter the rogues?” one warrior asked.
“Neutralize them,” Kael said flatly. “No mercy for wolves who threaten children. But the priority is finding those pups alive. Everything else is secondary p>
The warriors moved out, spreading into the woods in coordinated patterns. Kael went with one group, Marcus with another. I stood at the tree line, feeling helpless and useless, watching pack members disappear into the forest.
It was perhaps twenty minutes later-twenty minutes that felt like twenty hours-when one of the warriors’ mental voices cut through the pack bond, urgent and panicked.
*Found them! Western section, near the old oak grove. Ivory is here too-she’s got the pups but she’s surrounded. We need backup now p>
Ivory. Of course Ivory had found them. Of course she’d been in the woods despite the danger, probably gathering herbs or checking on medicinal plants, and had stumbled onto the pups before anyone else.
*We’re coming,* Kael’s mental voice responded. *Hold position, protect the children, backup is thirty seconds out p>
I ran toward the western section with the group of pack members who’d been standing watch. We could hear the fighting before we saw it-snarls, growls, the distinctive sounds of wolves in combat.
The scene that greeted us was chaos. Three rogue wolves circled a massive fallen log, snapping and lunging. And huddled against the base of that log, barely visible, were the three missing pups-terrified, crying, but alive.
And lying on top of them, her body literally covering theirs in a protective shield, was Ivory.
She wasn’t fighting. Wasn’t trying to attack or defend beyond her physical presence. She’d positioned herself over those children and refused to move, taking every strike the rogues made meant for the vulnerable pups beneath her.
Blood matted her hair, stained her clothes. I could see claw marks on her back, on her arms where she’d pulled them in to better cover the children. Her face was pressed against the log, and even from where I stood, I could see she was barely conscious.
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11:48 Thu, Dec 18
Chapter 73
38
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But she didn’t move. Didn’t shift away from the pups even as the rogues continued their assault.
The warriors who’d arrived first were engaged with two of the rogues, keeping them away from Ivory and the children. But the third rogue was still circling, still looking for an opening, still trying to get to the vulnerable targets.
Then Kael burst through the trees in his wolf form-massive, dark, radiating Alpha fury. He hit the third rogue with such force that they both went tumbling away from the log, away from where Ivory lay protecting her charges.
More warriors arrived. The rogues, suddenly outnumbered and facing an enraged Alpha, tried to flee. Two of them made it a few meters before being brought down. The third-the one Kael had engaged-fought viciously, but it was no match for Kael’s size and fury.
When the last rogue fell, when the immediate danger had passed, Kael shifted back to human form and ran to the log. To Ivory.
“Ivory,” he said, his voice cracking. “Ivory, it’s safe now. You can move. Let me see how badly you’re hurt p>
Ivory didn’t respond. Didn’t move. I realized with growing horror that she couldn’t—that she was unconscious, or close to it, her body locked in that protective position over the children through sheer force of will alone.
“Someone get these pups out,” Kael ordered, and several pack members immediately moved to carefully extract the crying children from beneath Ivory’s body. They were scared, traumatized, but physically unharmed. Ivory had taken every blow meant for them.
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Mark