33. Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Two
Salizar
We were met by five angry werewolves as we left the warehouse.
Most of the pack had stayed to watch the show, standing a safe distance away as the four male werewolves and one female were howling and growling at us.
I hated this for Chris. He hadn’t deserved their ire or their hatred.
The book was the reason for everything and they were too stupid to face it.
Sometimes people needed someone to blame, but Chris didn’t deserve to be that guy here.
“Seriously?” Chris snapped, standing protectively next to Benji with me on the other side of our human, making sure he was safe while this shit went down.
If it had only been Benji and me, I would’ve just carried him with me and used my vampire speed to leave this fucking town, but Christopher was here, too, and I couldn’t carry them both. This would end in bloodshed, no matter what.
The werewolves just continued to growl and snap their fangs.
When Chris had shifted, he’d been hot as fuck, with his chest covered in hair and those fangs out.
These werewolves however… they looked messed up.
The female one still had her shirt on, it being the sort of fabric that could stretch.
She did not, however, wear any pants. A grey half wolf, half human, with a tight purple crop top on was…
interesting. The male ones had ridiculous abs, she did not, just a hairy belly. This curse truly favored the men.
Freddy suddenly stepped in front of me and my men, shielding us from his pack. “What were you thinking?!” he yelled, staring them down. “Why let your werewolves take over? Do you have any idea what will happen if you attack them?”
Benji moved before I could force him back, my focus fully on what the hell Freddy was doing. So when Benji tugged Freddy back and put himself in front, it surprised me and was enough for one of the werewolves to get a swipe in, cutting through Benji’s shirt and maiming his arm.
“Fuck!” Benji screamed, falling back as blood poured out of his gaping wounds.
I saw red, and with my vampire speed I flew around the werewolf who’d dared to touch my human, and with my trusted dagger, I swiped his neck so deep, it was half way decapitated. Blood sprayed around the werewolf, hitting the others as they watched on with wide eyes.
I was back by my mates’ sides within seconds, daring the rest of the werewolves to step closer. “If you wish to end up dead like your friend there,” I threatened, pointing my dagger at his corpse. “Then please step forward and I will grant your wish.”
The female one howled and then rushed forward.
I’d grabbed my second dagger, needing both to fight all of them if I wished to remain unharmed.
The pack still stood around, watching and looking worried.
They’d likely spurred them on, feeding their anger so they had no other choice than letting their werewolves take over.
Chris had told us it was a choice if they wanted to let them take control, unless it was a full moon.
Chris had been close to doing it himself when Benji was taken, his werewolf demanding to be let out, but Chris had held it back, knowing a clear mind would work best. These idiots had made the decision to let their animalistic side guide them and trusted they would be victorious.
Against me, a fucking vampire. The stupidity in this town was truly something else.
The female one didn’t make it further than one step before I’d rushed forward, slicing my dagger across her stomach, her guts spilling out. A whine escaped her before she fell forward, her lifeless body now resting next to her equally dead packmate.
The last three werewolves attacked at once, which I’d assumed would happen.
I rushed around them in a blur, cutting and dodging their attacks.
I was the fastest vampire in my coven, and I was using that ability to the fullest right now.
Sadly, they did get one hit in, cutting me on the thigh.
Their claws inflicted a pain that made the cut seem worse than it was.
A part of the werewolf curse meant they could curse others if they hurt them.
I couldn’t be turned and neither could Benji now that his body had changed, so instead we got pain.
The tallest of the werewolves was coincidentally also the fastest, so he was my main target. I flew under him, grabbing his tail and pulled, forcing him on his back. Then, I attacked. I jumped, both daggers out, and cut him across the heart with one and the other in his throat.
Once he was dead under me, the other two attacked from both sides, forcing me to make a decision quicker than I’d wanted to.
I decided to jump out of their way, not attacking either of them yet.
They slammed against each other, then snarled and ran after me.
I didn’t want them to get too far away from where we’d started, mostly so I could keep my eye on my mates as I fought.
I didn’t trust this damn pack and who knew how stupid they could get when I wasn’t there to guard my mates.
Maybe one even thought it would be easy to take Benji out with just Chris there.
But I still needed to get more room for my next attack.
My thigh was throbbing in pain, making it harder for me to move gracefully, so I had to create some distance so my attack would kill them instantly.
I just might need to take them on one at a time, even if my thigh demanded I get this shit over with now.
I turned mid-sprint, and jammed the dagger into the closest one, then dodged the other’s claws as he swiped at me.
I spun around him, jumping on his back in one quick move, then sliced his throat.
He fell backward with me, so I moved out of the way, grabbing my dagger from the other’s chest, then wiped both daggers on the female one’s crop top.
The outraged gasps that sounded from the crowd told me they didn’t like that.
Benji was standing, Chris holding him up. Freddy stood next to Benji, tending to his wounds. It looked like four deep gashes in his upper arm.
“We’re leaving,” I declared as I approached them.
“Benji needs a healer,” Chris said, scanning the crowd. “Juniper!”
The woman he’d called shook her head and left the audience, leaving Chris to stare wide-eyed after her.
“Forget about her,” Freddy sighed. “Hospitals can’t heal him because of the magic in the wound, but your coven healers can. I’ll escort you to your car, then drive as fast as you can. He shouldn’t die because of the wound, but you never know with these things.”
Surprisingly enough, our car was still intact, not one tire slashed or anything.
I had to sit with Benji in the backseat, both of us were too injured to drive.
Chris got in front, nodding a wordless goodbye to Freddy who looked like he wanted to join us.
He’d seen just how far gone this pack was, but there weren’t many werewolf packs, and that likely meant he would stay and try to fix it, not just run from it like we’d done.
We’d already packed everything of importance, and I was glad of that fact as Chris flew out of Keen like we were being chased.
Had I not been injured, I would insist on driving.
My poor alpha—because he would forever be the alpha of our little pack of three—hadn’t deserved to be treated so poorly by the pack he’d been born into.
The one he’d bled for. I knew he wouldn’t focus too much on what had happened as he drove, instead following the GPS as it led us to their new home, but he deserved to be able to process everything.
Sadly, I was hurting and so was Benji. Benji hurt so much that he had his eyes closed and mouth twisted into a grimace. It would be a long drive.
To my utter surprise, I’d somehow fallen asleep. I blinked awake and saw the mansion looming in the distance, feeling safer already. To think the “little” task Altaur had me do would grant me two men who I would cherish forever. Fate was a funny thing like that.
Benji was out cold next to me, his face wet with sweat and his forehead creased with worried wrinkles. Even in sleep he was disturbed by the poison.
Chris cleared his throat as we stopped in front of the main gate. “Um, hello?” he said into the speaker, making me laugh. He startled, clearly having missed me waking up. He blushed shyly and just pointed to the black box. “Code?”
I leaned closer to Chris and just yelled, “Altaur! I know you’re watching us, please let us in, we need a healer!”
The gate opened with a flourish and Chris drove the long and picturesque road up to the mansion.
Our home was made of one huge building in front and two long ones on either side of the big one.
We lived in the right one, all the way on top with a huge balcony from the master bedroom.
We even had a bathroom with the most wonderful view of the backyard, which was mostly forest and to the left we had the big lake I hoped Benji would soon fish at.
It was a huge lake and no one really paid much attention to it.
If Benji began fishing, we would learn more about what fish were in there and how to make sure it would stay sustainable.
We hadn’t even parked before Altaur flew outside with Denise in tow, Yanus rushing behind them. Once the car was parked, I gave Chris’ shoulder a comforting squeeze and exited, feeling my entire left leg protesting the move. Fuck that hurt.
“You’re the injured one?” Denise asked, sounding more alarmed than amused. I rarely got hurt and was often too prideful to admit to it, opting to just wait it out and bear the pain rather than seek out help. That would change now that I had bonded that needed my protection.
“Benji first,” I said, gesturing to where Chris was now carrying our human.
He was still passed out from the pain and I doubted he would wake before he’d been healed.
The poison in the wound could’ve done more damage than we’d realized.
Poison acted differently depending on the person and what their species was.
Denise hurried forward, touching Benji’s hand, making her own glow. She let go of his hand and gestured for us to follow. “To the medical room. He’s deeply affected, but not in terminal danger. Yet.”
I wished I could help Chris carry Benji, mostly because I’d failed to protect him from harm, but my own leg was making it hard to move even when it was only my own body I had to carry around.
Altaur apparently found me too slow and in a move I would never allow to happen ever again, he swooped in and carried me like a damsel in distress. Yanus was hiding his laughter by coughing, but Altaur laughed outright, loud and jovial. Goddesses above, he was such a prick sometimes.
The medical room was really just one big room with two smaller rooms connected to it.
The big room was used if we had a lot of injured coven members at once, and the two rooms were for privacy.
We rarely used the big room, and Benji was placed carefully on the single bed in the first little room.
Chris’ shirt was wet from holding Benji, a true sign of just how much pain Benji was in.
“I wish I could kill them all over again,” I growled as Chris and I stood by Benji’s head, allowing Denise her space to work.
“I wish I’d been the one to kill them,” Chris said, staring at Benji. Then he looked up and gave me a small smile. “But it was way hotter watching you do it.”
That eased some of my worry. If Chris was okay enough to find me sexy, then it couldn’t have been too bad for him.
Denise’s hands were on Benji’s arm, one holding directly over the open wound, the other holding his shoulder.
It was amazing to see her work like this.
His skin was slowly knitting together, like tiny threads slowly finding their friend on the other side and hugging close.
The golden glow of her healing magic made it look like the threads were made of pure gold as she worked, erasing the blood until there was only pink skin left.
“Knock, knock,” Jesse’s voice sounded from the doorway. “I heard a vampire was in need of healing. That couldn’t be the infamous Salizar, could it? The one who never gets hurt?”
I rolled my eyes at him. Jesse was my favorite human in the coven, and the only one I ever allowed to heal me if I could pick.
Which was why he knew I rarely accepted a healing.
He was my favorite because instead of his vampire, Gregory, having chased him, he’d been the one doing the chasing.
When Gregory showed up with the human, telling us how even with his fangs out he couldn’t scare Jesse off, I knew Jesse was someone special.
I hoped Benji and him would become close, mostly because of the simple fact that I knew Jesse would be a loyal friend to my human.
“Go,” Chris nudged me. “I need both of you at your best.”
I smiled and then followed Jesse into the other small room, heading toward the bed and lying down. I wanted this over with so I could go back to my men.
“I expect a proper introduction after this,” Jesse warned me, then cut through my pant leg, leaving the wound on proper display. It was worse than I’d thought. The whole wound was red, the skin puffy and irritated, and it was much bigger now that my black pants weren’t hiding most of it.
Jesse whistled at the sight. “So, this is the level of injury you need before accepting my healing touch. Noted.” Then he closed his eyes, his hands now on my thigh, and began working.