Chapter Twenty-Nine Dylan
The light from the moon grew and took over the field. When it touched me, I felt the cuts from Lupe heal and I felt this new energy fill my body and soul. Everything healed from the fight and it felt like I had eaten a filling meal and slept for hours. I felt rejuvenated.
The Great Moon had chosen a side.
Lupe was looking out toward the battlefield and I followed her gaze to see more wolves walking in. Mentally, I groaned because I knew she brought in more to fight. The moment I let the terror take over me, Hunter’s energy filled me through the bond.
Don’t worry, love. This battle is shifting. Those are not wolves for us to fight. My brethren are here.
I cackled as Lupe’s eyes widened with fear. She stared at something, and I looked over to see a monstrous wolf walking from the treeline. It wasn’t hard to know who it was because of the iconic gray patch on his head. The Monarch was here. And he brought some reinforcements along with him.
Lupe’s inattention gave me the opportunity to push her away.
There were still others fighting for Lupe coming into the battle, but at least this meant we had more helping us with this.
I got to my feet and pulled on the magic to go astral again with the newfound energy.
Lupe still had her eyes locked on the king, and I was waiting for her to go forward to him, to fight him instead.
At least if she gained the upper hand with him, she could do whatever she did to the others and change the king to one of her minions. That’s what I would have done.
Lupe didn’t look threatened, though. She looked... delighted.
A damn smile spread across her face as she looked out to everyone on the field.
I spread out my pack, and my mates huddled together.
They looked over at me and I assessed the damage they had taken through the bonds.
The energy from the moon seeped into me as a beam of light zeroed in on me.
There was tingling across my skin and then deeper.
In the plane where I could see the bonds, there was light shimmering around each bond.
Some were close to death, many of my pack bleeding from multiple wounds.
When this light wrapped around their bond, I saw the damage they had taken from the fight disappear.
I looked up at the moon and the shimmering glow faded, but the bright light remained. The Great Moon had healed us all, and now we had the Monarch’s wolves to fight with us.
But Lupe still looked far too happy for someone who was about to get her ass beat.
I watched her scan the field and her smile grew.
Something about this felt off, but I didn’t know why she would be happy right now.
A second wave of energy surged through my pack and mates.
Her new wolves lacked battle experience, but we were all furious.
Wolves with rage were not something to contend with, and we were quite filled with rage at the moment.
Lupe came here and brought a battle to our doorstep. She endangered the next generation of Shadowborns by coming here and trying to kill us all. This wouldn’t be something any pack would take lightly, but we were some of the only Shadowborns left.
Like she heard me, Lupe turned to face me. The same wicked grin like when she dropped the shadows was on her face.
“You think this was all for you? Oh... you sweet child.”
My face fell as I saw the Monarch’s pack charge at my pack. I screamed as a few of them jumped on the backs of the wolves I grew up with and tore into their flesh. My mates rushed in as they tried to fight off the oncoming wave, and rage billowed out of me as I ran towards Lupe.
I remained in my astral form until the second before my fist connected with her face.
Snarls, howls, and yelps filled my ears just before the crack of Lupe’s jaw rang.
She knew she had these wolves in her back pocket.
That’s why she smiled the way that she did.
This was her plan all along. Her plan was to weaken my pack until we couldn’t fight back, and then release the wolves normally used for rescues. She smiled before engaging in my fight.
It turned into a fury of fists and I pushed myself to hit everywhere I could to put her to the damn ground.
Every blow I landed didn’t seem to phase her.
I could see her trying to reach into her pocket and I would kick her hands away.
She could have a knife dipped in wolfsbane for all I knew strapped to her.
I wasn’t taking any chances. This was going to end here one way or another.
The only thing I wished I had was a weapon to plunge into her damn chest now.
You aren’t cutting off the head of the snake.
Those words went through my mind and I understood that meant even if I killed Lupe today, the others wouldn’t return to normal.
It annoyed me to no end that I couldn't fix those who joined her, but also knew they couldn’t live past today, anyway.
This was a plague, and I had to stop the infection as quickly as I could before it spread through the masses.
Pain registered in my chest and I heard the howls from my pack.
Another one of my pack mates had fallen.
Pain and anger bubbled inside me, and this time it was someone lower in the pack, but it was still a pack member.
my parents were fighting in this battle and I couldn’t allow for it to get where they fall too.
I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if they had died because I didn’t stop this in time.
A new wolf came into view and collided with my side, sending me to the ground.
My focus shifted to them and I was glad to see they were still in human form.
Getting to my feet before one of their boots connected with my head, I twisted around to face my new opponent.
Another person was attacking Lupe, and I couldn’t tell who, but it opened me up to fight this person without fear of Lupe attacking me at the same time.
Some fists and kicks went flying, but I blocked and evaded them all until I dropped to the ground and swiped their legs to make them fall to the ground.
This female had been around my height and weight, but she didn’t have the fighting skills I did.
I landed a few punches to make her dazed before grabbing her neck and twisting.
This would never be my favorite part about fighting.
The moment I heard the snap and saw the light go out in her eyes, I wanted to vomit.
Camilla was the first person I had killed and some part of me hoped I would never have to kill again after that.
Then everything with Cole and his friends.
I thought I would grow a little used to the death . I didn’t. This sucked.
Another wolf slammed into me. This one was in his wolf form and his jaws wrapped around my forearm.
Before he could bite down, I called on the magic to turn me astral so his teeth wouldn’t sink in.
I move my arm out of his mouth and then switch back to kick him off of me.
It was getting too hard too. Fight this way, and I knew I had to switch to my wolf form.
Once I did, I collided with him, then bit down on anything that I could get to.
First, it was shoulder, and then it was his leg.
I remembered something that Hunter had taught me.
I kept trying to incapacitate him by biting into his limbs.
Once he couldn’t move, I rolled him onto his back and bit down onto his neck, ripping out his throat.
Get Lupe by herself, Dylan! Run to a different place so we can focus on everything else.
That was a good plan. I took my attention to my enemy and charged at her.
She was about to plunge a knife into my pack mate, then I heard the knife drop to the ground as I pushed onto her back.
I snapped at her with my jaws, as she batted my muzzle away.
She turned astral to get out from underneath me and then ran off.
I chased after her and jumped on to her back, only to go through her as she called on her astral form again.
This would not be an easy fight. But I needed to do this.
Another explosion of pain went through my chest as another one of my pack mates had fallen.
Too many were losing their lives inside of this fight.
And I had to put an end to it. I may not cut off the head of the snake by killing Lupe, but at least it would stop the fighting.
She was a leader, and they would all stop once a leader was dead.
Lupe got out from under me and moved to her feet. We were in a different area than before, pulling us away from the fight. I checked the bonds, so I knew my mates were okay, and once I felt their energy was as strong as before, I lowered my head and growled at Lupe.
“Why are you fighting this so hard? Don’t you understand how this is all futile? Even the king wants this!”
It still shocked me to know the king wanted to be part of Lupe’s plans.
He shouldn’t want this for his people because it would turn us all into killers.
People would fear us, and the hunts that used to plague our kind would return.
Humans would want us all dead and come for us.
Maybe not for the other species, but definitely us werewolves.
Maybe even the other species would join in just to contain us.
Once we knew how to break through the mind and release the animal, it could spill over into the shifters of our world.
I didn’t want to imagine a damn dragon not having the human side keeping it in line.
I took a step forward and continued my snarl. She needed to know I wouldn’t give up. Not now, not ever. This wasn’t the future of werewolves.