Chapter 132 Nico #2
On the screen, the drone footage swept across the pack lands.
My pack ran around the lands, moving in panic and terror.
I could only imagine what those flashing explosions must feel like there.
The footage panned over to the gates, showing a new horror.
Nearly a thousand human anti-shifter activists were pressing forward, getting closer to the gates than they had in weeks—almost like they knew the spells were about to fall.
Even from the height of the drone, I could see rifles and pistols being waved in the air.
“Soon,” Viola’s voice hissed, “all you love will be ground under my heel. Prepare yourself.”
The video ended, leaving a distraught and confused anchor gaping at the camera. My family was in danger. I was the alpha. If they were going to fall, they would fall with me at their side.
“Sinthy, take me back. Teleport me home.” I turned to look at Diego and my two friends. “Are you ready to fight?”
Luis gritted his teeth and nodded to me. “I was born ready.”
“You aren’t going without me,” Maddy said.
I shook my head. “No, it’ll be too dangerous. You stay here.”
“Bull-fucking-shit!” she screamed and shoved her hands into my chest.
I stumbled backward, recoiling at the strength of her alpha aura. It pulsed out of her like heat from a fire. Luis, Diego, Felipe, and even Donatello went to their knees, unable to stop themselves. Even my own wolf, a strong alpha in its own right, wavered and almost succumbed to her strength.
“I’m going. You don’t get to ride off into battle without me. Understand?” Maddy looked like a demon from hell as she spoke.
“Me too,” Abi said from the corner of the room. She stepped forward and took Maddy’s hand.
There was no time to argue. The wards could fall any second. I hissed my anger but grabbed them both, pulling them close.
I looked into Maddy’s eyes. “When we get there, you go straight to the house. You got it? You and the baby stay safe. That is the only thing that matters. Promise me.”
She nodded. “I promise.”
“I’ll make sure she stays,” Abi added.
I grabbed Sinthy’s hand, and the others stepped forward, even, to my surprise, Donatello.
“Don?” I didn’t know what else to say.
He shrugged. “I’ve fought from the shadows long enough. It’s time to get my hands… er… paws a little dirty.”
“Screw it,” I said. I looked at Maxwell. “He comes too.”
Sinthy clutched the man’s arm in her free hand.
A moment later, we were hurtling through time and space, ripping into whatever strange passageway Sinthy opened for us.
My anger and fear overrode whatever discomfort usually came from teleporting.
We stumbled in the grass as we arrived in the pack lands.
Before we could even register that we were back, I heard a hissing whistle overhead.
My eyes snapped toward the sky and locked on the smoke trail behind a massive missile that coursed through the air above us.
I actually saw it hit the dome of the wards.
The flash made me temporarily blind, and the shockwave knocked us all off our feet.
It sounded like the end of the world. Like time itself had been cracked in half.
Sensing my presence, my pack started rushing toward us. My mother, father, and brothers were among the first to get to me. They all looked terrified, but they hugged me briefly. There wasn’t time for a drawn-out reunion.
I grabbed my mom’s arm. “Take Maddy, Abi, and this guy. Get them to the house. No time for questions. Get them somewhere safe,” I said, gesturing to the three of them.
Mom didn’t hesitate or ask any questions; she hustled all of them forward and rushed toward the house. Gabriella burst out of the crowd that was rapidly surrounding us and ran up beside me, digging her nails into my shoulder.
“I’m going with them. I’ll protect them as long as I can if it comes to that.” She stared into my eyes with a fierce intensity. “I will give up my life for Maddy. Believe that and know that she’s protected. You fight. Don’t worry about her.”
Without another word, she was gone, shifting into her wolf form and galloping toward the house. My rage was beyond anything I could describe. It was like lava had replaced my blood.
“Nico?” Sinthy called.
I turned. Her palm was flattened on the ground. “What?”
“I don’t think I can rebuild the wards fast enough. Not with the attacks coming so strongly and quickly. I’m not sure I have the energy or power.” She gave a sad shake of her head. “The next strike will cause a catastrophic failure of the spells. The… the wards will fall.”
My hands bunched into fists, shaking at my sides. I pulled my shoulders back and shouted out above the noise of the crowd. “Lorenzo pack? Are you ready to fight? Will you defend your home?”
The yells that answered me were nearly as loud as the exploding missile. Tiago, Norman, and the other alphas we’d brought shouted back as well. The look in their eyes told me they would fight for us, for the ones who’d offered shelter from the storm that had still managed to find them.
Sinthy stood and gave me a grim nod, pointing at the sky. In the air, another missile rushed toward the forcefield. The bizarre whistling sound filled my ears.
I turned back to the packs. “Meet them at the gate. That’s where they’ll enter. Go.”
Following my orders, hundreds of shifters bolted toward the gates.
The nearly inhuman screams of rage and war swiftly turned into howls and yelps of wolves as they rushed the gates.
I shifted and ran with them. A small pack of massive black bears was right in the middle of the group—we’d brought them in a few days before we left for Donatello’s island.
Donatello himself raced alongside me. His wolf was a gorgeous sleek black, like nothing I’d ever seen before.
As he passed, rushing to the gate, the missile made impact.
The explosion was louder than the one before.
I could actually feel the magic give way, feel the power collapsing.
It was an implosion of force that swept over us with a gust of wind.
With each step, we drew closer to the gates. That was when the gunshots started.
The zealots were pushing forward, rushing the gates.
I watched as one of my own—a man named Davis who had been manning the guard shack—was pulled down under the surge.
He never even had time to fire his weapon or shift.
Gunshots blasted through the air, and I knew they’d killed him. Killed a member of my pack.
I bared my teeth and ran faster, my paws tearing at the dirt, a constant growl in my throat as I darted past everyone, taking the lead.
The crowd ahead of me loomed ever larger as they rushed into the pack lands.
They fired on us, but I didn’t flinch, I didn’t slow, I didn’t think.
I wanted blood, and I would die for my pack, my mate, and my family.
Ten feet from the front of the group, I leaped toward the man in the lead.
He was wearing a faded and torn American flag shirt, with a greasy trucker hat stuffed low on his head.
He held a machete in his left hand. We locked eyes as I flew through the air.
The fear in his eyes as he realized his life was over sent a burst of sadistic satisfaction through my wolf.
I sank my teeth into his throat, and we tumbled into the crowd. The war had begun.
Chaos. It was the only way to describe it. Bodies were everywhere, screams, shouts, howls, and the sound of gunfire all morphed into one long and continuous hum.
I couldn’t spare a moment to look around and see how the others were doing.
The fight in front of me took precedence.
My shifter strength and speed pushed me deeper into the battle.
I ripped hunks of flesh from thighs and calves and dragged my claws over faces and across necks.
In minutes, I was covered in blood and panting.
The fight pushed us back up the hill toward the center of the pack lands.
The anti-shifters outnumbered us by several hundred, but we fought harder than they did and held our own.
The sheer force of will and strength that came from being shifters more than made up for their numbers.
Above me, a wop-wop-wop sound filled the air.
Worried some new weapon was descending on us, I risked glancing up.
A news chopper hovered overhead, probably hoping to up their ratings by recording the battle.
Any anger I felt toward the reporters vanished with a searing bolt of pain down my side.
I yelped and spun away as a woman tried to hack me in two with an ax.
Before I could attack her in response, the silvery fur of my cousin Francisca flashed by me as she tackled the woman.
Francisca’s jaws clamped onto the woman’s arm.
As blood sprayed from Francisca’s maw, I turned to rejoin the battle.
The anti-shifters were pushing closer to my house, and I started to fear that they’d get there. I didn’t even know what I’d do if any of these people broke in and tried to hurt Maddy.
The group of attackers faltered as a heavy gust of wind blew across their advancing force.
Sinthy stood at the top of the road. Her hands held high overhead.
The wind was nearly hurricane-strength but only affected the attackers, not the shifters.
Her spell gave us the opening we needed.
We surged forward, pressing the attackers back.