The cold wind from the mountain moves in across my skin and bites down at me, causing me to shiver despite wolves never really feeling the cold. My heart is pounding, my nerves taut, and my head in chaos as I stand on the boundary and stare into the darkness awaiting the sun to start to show hints of rising. The eerie silence despite rows and rows of assembled wolves unnerves me. Leyanne and Meadow, to my right, Carmen, and Sierra, to my left, stand solidly still, waiting. We’re all just waiting.
Tension is high, the stillness is painful, and the quiet is deafening. I’ve never been more scared, and it’s not just because we are at the dawn of the first war battle of my life, as if that wasn’t bad enough. Our enemies are our loved ones, and death blows will be dealt today to change everything in our world forever. No matter what side wins, we all lose the ones we care about most.
The plan is set…. We all know our place, our role, and what to do, and we wait for the second before the sun breaks before we run right for that mountain as fast as we can. We are betting on timing, using the moments between dark and light to cover as much terrain as possible.
The witch is slower, so she’s to be carried by Meadow on her back to get her to the mountain at the same speed we can. Sierra and Carmen with me to distract the wolves and keep them down here with us. I’m stronger, and so are they, so it makes sense for them to be my focus… for Colton to be my focus. I was born to match him in every way, and only I can be the one to hold my own against his strength and skill as a warrior. He would kill anyone else and go after Meadow and the witch in the blink of an eye.
Leyanne and Meadow, they, and some of the stronger of the pack that we have so little of, their aim is the mountain and getting inside no matter what we encounter out here. They have their order to keep going, leaving us behind to battle. To face off against vampires while Leyanne finds the witches and takes care of the spell wherever it may be coming from. We tried for an even split, but we know the wolves will be the harder battle and ended up with a seventy-thirty uneven decision. Wolves are the problem, not what waits beyond. Our wolves. Our warriors… our sub pack, our family, our mates.
My heart is racing. I can taste the fear and tension around me as they all stand pensively. My heart is in my throat, my body cold and frozen in anticipation and fear. My head is so bound up in the what-ifs. I have had to stop myself from thinking at all. My emotions are clogged by the many, so I can’t escape them, swirling around me like an eternal drain on my energy.
The masses are dressed in old loose clothing that will be shredded when they turn, save one wolf… me. I must stay human, so I wore something Sierra made me take from the grimoire library. It’s armor of sorts. Silver, gleaming, and like a chain mail skirt over leather pants, my abdomen is sheathed in a metal-fitted bodice. It’s held together at the back by a chain, lace, and a crisscross of binding. It belonged to a warrior witch's ancestor; luckily, she wasn’t much bigger than me.
It doesn’t offer much protection against wolf claws, but given I don’t plan on letting any claws get that close, Sierra felt better, giving me something to protect my body. In case I’m thrown, I fall, or hit in some way when we all know that my belly is where I need to shield the most. My most precious gifts are contained therein. I know Sierra intends to stay close, as does Carmen, but that might not pan out in the heat of battle. It will be chaos, and we will need to fight hard and long to draw out the distraction for Leyanne. I’m prepared to be separated from them because I know it will be inevitable.
The sun’s coming, be ready, turn.
Meadow’s mind link to the entire pack, sees a tremor erupt as bodies shred clothing and skin turns to fur all around me. My anxiety grows as human faces disappear and my pack arms themselves for what’s about to come. Growling, snarling, pushing themselves to be ready as the glow of amber eyes light the duskiness in front of their faces. Each lifts the tiny vial given to them by the witch as they filed out here and smashes it against their strong chests, enacting the protection potion. Carmen and Sierra hold off beside me, waiting….
“This is it…. No turning back now.” Carmen whispers my way. One last focused lock of her eyes on mine, one tight squeeze of my hand as she nods, lowers her eyes, and shows her respect. I feel her intent, her promise to shield me, before letting go and turning too, so I’m faced with softer orange eyes on a fawn wolf. She gracefully swoops to all fours to shield me from one side, lifting her vial and biting it in her teeth so it splatters over her face and into her mouth. Carmen made a vow to stick to me like glue; deep down, I know it’s what she will do as long as she can.
“Stay between us at all times…. Never stray. Use us as your protection.” Sierra squeezes my other hand in hers, dissolves before me into sleek black and grey fur, and smashes her bottle in one clawed paw. Like Colton, she is only smaller, with light patches, yet her eyes are blue. As femmes, they are both beautiful, and that familiar show of an almost feline, sexy, brown wolf nudging Leyanne to climb on her back informs me Meds has changed too. I’m now the only human apart from the witch, and she casts me a look across the huge heads of our furry friends. Her eyes meet mine as she nods regally, wishing me luck for the fight ahead. I pull out my clear liquid encased in glass and pop the cork before pouring it down the front of my armor. Crossing my fingers, this works, and we are shielded from the fog.
Leyanne gracefully hops onto the large back of Meadow, using her magic to help her with the unreal height. She moves astride like sitting on a magnificent horse and tangles her hands in the thick fur at the back of Meadow's neck. Making sure she gets a tight grip because what’s coming will knock the wind out of her. Hyperspeed can injure humans, so I know this witch will have done something to ensure she can endure it.
“Focus on the task. Leave the rest to me. Your boy will be back in your arms before you know it, Princess… or is that Luna? I guess either works now.” She throws me that Scottish brogue and a confident smile, the cheeky oozing with her words. Knowing fine well in all this, she is in no danger whatsoever. I can see it in her lack of care about what’s happening.
She’s immortal and powerful, and this is just a walk in the park for her. No matter the outcome today, she will live unscathed and probably be telling this story in thousands of years to come. I envy her right now. For that lack of fear, that certainty of her own existence… her confidence comes from the fact she has no natural predators in the world, and nothing can physically kill her.
Luna, it’s time… give the order. Meadow’s mind link for me alone causes a sudden lurch in my stomach, and I clench my fists to counteract the sweep of cold terror as I nod. Outwardly calm and in control for my people, I’m shaking inside. I lift my hand high in the air to attract all eyes while I link to the pack, being sure to feel all minds as one, and one word is all I need. In mind link, it’s clear and bold, whereas my voice would have never been able to utter it.
Move.
It happens so fast. The sweep of hyper speed, flying fur, and like a tide, we pass the rune border in unison. Each of us is protected from the fog, which fills our lungs with its sour greenish heaviness, adjusting to the gloom so we can see ahead. I’m startled at the fact I can taste it, feel it invading my lungs like dense smoke from a burning fire, yet it smells and tastes like damp early dawn on the mountain as winter turns. Rotting plants and leaves give it that earthiness while it slows down my breathing as I labor to push through it. It’s cloying.
It took her all night to find a way to be sure that turning wouldn’t remove any protection, and she did, as an extra measure to the potion… seems the base of a foot is the one place on a wolf you can put a magical symbol, and it stays. Who knew? Even in turning where we shed all human things, our feet keep enchanted paint. So, between magic potions and painted sigils, we should be safe.
Every single wolf who showed up here an hour ago was tended to and marked, and she recited incantations over all present to protect us from the fog. She called them double measures, just to be sure.
We don’t know if it will work as we are exposed for a longer time, but given she’s the one who made the rune spell, I don’t predict it going wrong. As we leach out into the mist and run forward, I don’t see anything that says it’s not working among those who have raced ahead. Still moving fast, with their eyes on the prize, I can feel the pulsing link of my pack staying connected to me while driving as one powerful body.
This is how a pack is meant to be. The body, the heart, and the fist working in unison…. Even if we are only half of that.
The forest is dark, eerie, and unearthly silent due to the early hour and still rising dawn. All the wildlife is hiding, and the quiet swarm of fast wolves moving through like whispers on the wind are all I can hear in the air. A whizzing, fleeting flurry as I, on foot, must keep up in human form.
It’s the calm before the storm, and it’s too late to turn back and rethink this. We’re making distance, heading for the mountain in the distant view, and nothing will sway us from our path. We’re easily two hundred combined, more than I ever dreamed would come out here.
My pack never deserted me in the final hour, and I could have wept when they showed up strong in number and ready to die for this. Jasper is wrong about the Santos… if he could see them as I do now, he would know his enemy resides at the mountain, and his numbers are few. These Santos would never turn on their own, kill off a bloodline and imprison their Luna… they’re nothing like him and were oppressed by his rule for far too long. Colton didn’t just stand up against all the wrongs. He freed a people and gave them back their will to be what they once were. A proud pack, one worthy of so much more.
We make it miles in a flash, covering the distance as we race against the sun, and know that this close to the rise, the vampires would already have retreated to the darkness. It’s only a matter of time before the wolves come out to meet us, and we need to get as far as we can until that moment.
I run until I feel like my chest will explode with the effort, my limbs aching, burning too, as fatigue is quick to follow me, and I internally curse that the effects on my body are more severe than even I thought they would be. I ran farther than this only a month back with Colton around the perimeter without a twinge of tiredness or pain. Now my body fails me, and this is more effort than even the first time I ever trained with the sub back at the valley so long ago.
My breath becomes labored, and my run slows enough that I spot the two wolves flanking me drop back, and glance at one another, worry evident in their demeanor. They realize I’m stalling, and I can feel their hesitation. I must be faster. I have to get ahead of the pack and lead. I need to show them I’m here.
Get on me.
Carmen commands in that tone that’s uniquely her, breaking into my chaotic thoughts, running into my side, so I’m flipped over her without a choice and have to grab her fur to pull myself on properly. Straddling her the way Meadow’s being rode by Leyanne ahead of us, Carmen barely breaks her momentum.
I shouldn’t be doing it like this
I mind link her back privately, ashamed of my lack of worth at something this basic, but silence is all I get as she ignores my protest. Stubborn to the core, for once, though, I’m glad she’s the way she is.
We speed up, and within seconds she overtakes everyone before us and catches up to Meadow, sliding up, side by side, to carry their riders up front and proud. She knows the pack needs to see us there to focus and not lose faith when we hit the first wave of our own. A sense of urgency cloaks us, and the tension increases the farther we get. The sun breaks over the distant horizon, and the fog starts thinning as we move from the border, so seeing becomes easier until we spot them.
Like a black wave of ants coming out of pores of broken wood. In the distance, a sea of fast-moving terror comes our way at speed, like an inky black spill on the sea. Snarls and howls echo around us in a blood-curdling way. Our own wolves realize they are being met almost halfway to the mountain and are on the aggressive defensive and coming like bats out of hell.
Faster… close the gap, don’t let them get far
I link and push the pack onwards, knowing I’m asking them to run harder, to ignore their fear when they’re probably already at full pelt. I need to ensure we get closer than this, but they’re coming at us sooner than I thought they would.
Like seas thrashing, storm fronts meeting, it only takes seconds before the wall of them and the wall of us crashes into one another in a dramatic collision. Meadow leaps over the coming forms with impressive skill and height, flying overhead at the unsuspecting wolves who are too busy looking forward. She carries on, as we planned, trying to pull her section of the pack onward as the ones staying with me round on the concentration of the wolves meeting us dead on. The aim is to keep and distract them here so none follow Meadow’s small group, but that’s not as easy as it seemed.
Claws clash, teeth rip, bodies collide as wolf meets wolf, and a full-on vicious battle erupts. Noises drown out everything else. The gnashing of teeth, ripping of skin, howling, growling, cries, and chaos.
We’re not running any further because this wall of fierce fury has stopped us dead, and we have met the ground where some of us may forever lay. I leap off Carmen and wade into the fold, mind blank when instinct takes over, and adrenalin drowns the last ounce of doubt away. Throwing wolves back, left, right, and center as I’m surrounded by violence.
Every time a wolf comes at me, teeth bared, flying in a leap to take me down, I use my power to throw them back, swipe them aside and try not to hurt them. It’s a frenzy, a mix of friend and foe, and hard to pick out who’s with us and who’s not. It’s too fast to figure out who they are, and I’m sure Radar comes at me twice, only to be hurled thirty feet back as I lash out, throwing them away. This is the upper hand that I have and why I was so sure I could handle this. My powers mean I can keep everyone around me far away without physically battling. My babies will be protected in the bubble of my vampire gifts.
Our numbers are an advantage, and as I lose sight of Meadow and her group, we are surrounded by feral forms intent on taking us down. My ears and eyes are tuned into the others around me, watching out for them, intent on safeguarding them. Anytime I spot one of the pack losing the advantage, I extend my energy and save them for a moment, shielding them and pushing them to a clearing alone. Giving them space to regroup, heal their wounds, and fly back to fight.
Carmen rolls into me from behind, almost swiping my legs out from under me because I was so focused on the ahead that it startles me and makes me realize how stupid I was for that second. She yanks me down, brutally hauling my body under her as a large tree; trunk, roots, foliage, and all fly past my head from the rear. It misses me by mere inches, and I gawp toward one very large, angry, black alpha, ripping out another to take down the human in his sights. He spotted me giving my wolves an advantage, and I riled his fury to become his target.
Colton.
I gasp in the mind link and meet that wall of silence. A closed door to our mate link, even still. My heart is thudding through my ribcage, and I can’t formulate thoughts about my feelings.
Throwing trees? Really….. he’s throwing fucking trees?!?! Asshole! Do you think he sussed that out after we safely got the truck home?
Carmen snaps, her temper flaring and her glare aimed at him with deadly intent. She pushes me down as another flies overhead, but with a wrist flick, I send it spiraling sideways away from the group of feuding animals behind me. It seems he also doesn’t care about mangling the ones fighting on his side, so consumed with the need to destroy us.
Sierra leaps over us and goes straight for the throat of an approaching wolf, appearing so suddenly from behind me that I didn’t even know she was still close. She takes it down with her in a bite, colliding body to body with a massive thud, and rolls around, grappling with it fiercely so that I cry out in terror. I yank them apart with my energy, directed between them as precisely as I can, and throw it back, so sure this time the returning grey is Radar. I can’t be one hundred percent without his telltale scar over his normally white eye because the black is shielding it like this, and his fur is so matted and unkempt from forest-dwelling that it covers what might be on his face. I can’t believe Radar would fight Sierra this way, try to hurt her, but then Colton threw half a forest at me.
It’s like Colton senses something is up with us staying put and fighting our ground, and as I pull myself to my feet to take him face on, he stops and turns and looks towards the mountain where Leyanne and Meadow are headed. A glimpse at me again as if watching for a response, reassuring his suspicion, and a smile like a snarl. He turns, howling into the air, signaling his pack, and takes off after them. He goes off in hot pursuit, and I react instinctively.
No! Shit…. He’s going after the witch. I have to stop him. Colton will kill whoever gets in his way.