Chapter 37 #2
“Have we gotten everyone evacuated?”
“I didn’t want to risk a stampede. People with homes in the vicinity were told to go underground.
I had guards check for any charges set in civilian areas across the territory.
None were found. I have patrols continually monitoring just in case.
” He breathed deeply before he spoke again.
“Is the castle emptied? Arax… She’s okay? ”
His concern caught my attention. “The staff are already in the bunker. She and Pen were on their way there with my mom and Leni. Dorian is with them.”
“They’re not in yet.” Cyrus came out from behind the trees with a few warriors in tow.
His voice was laden with apprehension. “I just linked Penelope. Something happened. The elevator to the bunker stopped in between floors after a jolt or power surge of some kind. They have to go through the castle.”
“Take a unit with you and go check on them and stay in contact with Penelope.” I was starting to lose my patience.
The Fire, untouchable, was the least of my worries, but my mate and my family not yet housed in the safety of the bunker, forced to take an indirect route through the castle, made both me and my wolf as thirsty for bloodshed as Typhon likely was.
“I can’t spare anyone,” Drake said crossly.
“We’re spread thin. I’ve got guards on residences, patrols on the borders, and more combing the woods.
This was a shitty time to lend warriors to other packs,” he remarked, aggravated at having more than half our guard stationed in Gallos and neighboring packs due to the attacks there.
“If you want a unit, this is it, brother.” He circled his fingers around to the three of us.
“Vallon and Jason?” I snapped.
“Leading the border and forest patrols,” he replied.
“Then we’ll go,” I said. “Have the head guards take over the situation here.”
As we were about to turn away, three explosions detonated in the distance, sending wreckage of trees and dirt high into the air.
“What the fuck!” Drake shouted angrily.
“Get the guards on it!” I ordered, and Drake signaled for some to depart.
“We have to—Gamma, behind you!”
He looked back just in time to see a large, bronze-colored wolf land on him. It knocked Drake face first into the ground and tried to take the back of his neck in its jaws.
I attacked, grabbing the wolf’s hind leg and dragging it away from Drake.
It snapped toward me and dove. Its front paws hit my chest, sending me crashing to the ground with its weight on top.
I clamored to get back up, but the wolf was too heavy.
I was still in my human form, and it was too dangerous to take the time to shift.
Its snout came millimeters from my face, teeth grinding, the heat from its breath stinging my eyes.
I was pinned down. I grabbed it with both hands and forced the wolf’s mouth wide, trying to crack open its jaws.
Its front and hind legs clawed at me, drawing blood, while its head thrashed from side to side, trying to get out of my grasp.
I pulled the wolf all the way to my left, and using all the strength and momentum I had, I twisted to the right and slammed its head into the dirt.
It wasn’t dead, only stunned, but I didn’t have time to make the kill.
Getting up, I saw it was a war zone. More bronze wolves had joined the fight.
“Cyrus! You two! Go! Get to the castle!” I shouted at him and the two warriors who accompanied him. They listened, disengaging.
Cyrus shifted, as did the guards, and headed for his mate.
“You’re being followed,” I warned them, seeing three bodies break formation and give chase. “Move.”
Drake was in his wolf form, battling two at once.
He sent one into the air with a swift kick of his hind legs, while holding the other down by the throat. A third wolf jumped on his back, and it was my cue to let Apollo go free.
Apollo seized the wolf by the scruff and tossed him away from Typhon, who no longer had the other in his mouth.
Standing side to side, tails to opposite ends, we eyed the wolves circling us.
I took a good long look at them, observing their size, gait, and body language, trying to form a strategy based on what I saw.
While their fur was varying shades of brown, light and dark, chocolate, beige, and tan, each had the same pair of eyes in a deep shade of solid gold, ringed in black.
They were quite large with sturdy shoulders, thick necks, and formidable-looking paws.
“These fuckers are hard to kill,” Drake said bitterly through the link. “Ty couldn’t take one out. Why aren’t they weakened?”
I had asked myself the same question, then and now, among others.
“Who are they and what’s their endgame, I wonder,” I replied. “They know they can’t get to the Fire, and they don’t look like rogues. Any pack in their right mind would never think to attack us.”
Their objective didn’t matter. My heart beat faster, and Typhon’s fur prickled against Apollo’s. We were of four minds, focused solely on survival. The wolves around us grew in number. Their circles got bigger, the center of it smaller, as they gained the advantage and closed in.
I linked Vallon and Jason, calling them to us.
It was just Drake and me. And we were surrounded.