Darian's POV
Looking at the numbers of soldiers standing right in front of me, their eyes glittering in anger, I knew that the only move to make was to retrieve, but unfortunately for me, I was in a situation where retrieving wasn't among the options. Eduardo and Leroy too couldn't come to my aid because they couldn't pass through the portal, so I had no other choice but to fight.
With a wicked grin hovering over my face, I started shifting into my wolf form. Once they noticed that I was already shifting, they too started shifting too, but being an Alpha, I could shift more quickly than them. Once I shifted, I dashed towards them, not even giving them the opportunity to shift completely. I started striking them unmercifully, their blood splashing everywhere. I was still slashing them when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my back and at the same time on my leg. The fact that they were outnumbered made it impossible for me to know who among them was slashing me. The pain kept on intensifying every second as they started overpowering me.
Seeing that I could no longer stand, they all started jumping on me, their heavy wolf weight weighing on me. I don't know what they were planning—if they were trying to drain me of all the oxygen in my body or something else—but whatever it was, it was working perfectly because, with time, darkness started overtaking me, my breathing started becoming harder as I started gasping for air due to a lack of oxygen, while the heavy weight that was weighing on me kept on increasing, and the howling voice of the soldiers started fading away. I was slowly passing out, and there was nothing I could do about it. Just when I thought everything was over, I started seeing Elena's image in my blurry vision, her beautiful face, surely that was just the motivation I needed a that very moment.
Letting out a loud howl, I felt a wave of energy running through my veins. Without adding more effort, I immediately got up from the ground, throwing all the soldiers that were lying on me in different directions, some slamming their heads against the wall, some colliding with each other.
When I looked at my fur, I noticed that it had turned gold, meaning I was my Lycan form.
Not giving the soldiers the opportunity to get back on their feet, I dashed towards them, striking them one after the other. My speed was something inexplicable to them; the only thing they could see was their colleagues falling down with either their heads missing or a slash on their hearts, and before anyone of them could try to figure out what was going on, he too was already a victim.
As they started reducing in number, I could see the fright written in the faces of the others. Only if they had a chance to retrieve, they could have done it, but just like me, there was no going back; they had to fight with their last breath.
It took me up to thirty minutes before I was able to strike each one of them, leaving only one of them severely injured.
I could see the fright written all over his face as I approached him while grinning ear to ear, blood dripping down from my long and sharp claws.
"Please don't kill me; have mercy, your highness," he kept begging me while dragging himself backwards, but I ignored his pleading and kept on walking to him.
"Please, your highness, have mercy on me," he continued begging while dragging himself on the ground.
Without adding any effort, I caught up with him. Once I reached where he was, I stepped on his injured leg aggressively, and immediately he let out a loud howl.
"Where is she? I asked him while squatting down next to him.
"I don't know who you are talking about, your highness; I swear, I have never seen her before," he said to me while trembling in fear, and immediately I grabbed his neck and glared at him with my golden, glowing eyes.
"Where is my mate?" I asked him with a calm but intimidating tone that could send cold shivers down someone's spine.
"I swear, your highness, I don't know where our Alpha locked her up; I wasn't among the soldiers assigned to watch over her," he said to me, his voice shuddering in fear.
"Ok, thank you for the information," I said to him before snapping his neck, ignoring his pleadings.
Even if I haven't seen Elena, I could sense her presence; I knew she was around, even if her scent wasn't too strong, so that I could trace her through it.
Standing up from where I was squatting near the dead soldier, Iwent back and picked up the ring that was on the floor and the chain and wore it around my neck before I started making my way towards the entrance of the palace.
Once I pushed the door open, the whole corridor was empty, but I could clearly hear the sound of heartbeats, meaning there were some people around.
Not minding what could happen next, I started walking through the corridor confidently.
I was approaching the end of the corridor that led to another when two soldiers came out from nowhere, dashing towards me, but before they could even make an attempt to strike, I had already struck the both of them down.
Without hesitating, I took the second passage that led to the second floor. As I was climbing through the stairs, Elena's sweet scent started flooding through my nose. Immediately, I had the feeling of relief knowing that she was near, but at the same time, I was afraid, knowing that Alpha Benson wasn't going to hand her over to me easily without a fight.
Following her scent, I hastened my steps until I reached the second floor.
Once I reached the second floor, what I saw next only made me realize that everything I had done earlier was just a warm-up; I had just reached where the main problem was.
Elena was kneeling down with our baby in her bossom; from her facial expressions, it was clear that she had been sobbing. Behind her were two warriors, each one of them holding her shoulder with their claws, and right in front of her were Alpha Benson and Ethan, grinning ear to ear.
"Hello, Alpha Darian, so you finally made it to the last level?" Alpha Benson asked me with a wicked smirk.