VIVIANNA #3
I rode the guard down, tearing out his throat seconds before two wolves tackled me and tried to drag me away.
Kicking out, I caught one in the face, making him pull away and giving me a chance to twist on the one who was trying to get a better grip on my ruff.
A massive black and gray wolf latched onto the wolf holding me, tossing him against a tree with a crack of bone.
“Viv, are you alright?” Tristan called out as I got to my feet.
Shaking out my fur, I centered myself and took in the chaos of wolves and men fighting all around me.
I caught the sight of Astrid’s body lying in a heap on the ground, making me see red.
That woman didn’t deserve the death she got, and I’d failed her as her Dama.
It was my fault for upsetting Vadik and pushing him too far.
“We need to get her out of here,” I growled, darting into the fray with Tristan hot on my heels.
A wolf launched himself at me, but Tristan batted him out of the air and pounced on him as he hit the ground.
Keeping my focus on the task at hand, I blocked everything else out as I felt Rik join Tristan in guarding me.
I could hear the hum of the guys talking to each other, but I couldn’t allow myself to fail Astrid again by getting distracted.
Once I reached her body, I shifted back into my human form and scooped her up.
The woman who had been more of a mother to me than anyone else in my life seemed so small to me now.
Even though she was over three hundred years old, she had been full of fire and life, and now she was gone.
I felt tears trail down my cheeks as I started to walk back towards the castle, feeling all my mates surrounding me, keeping my path clear.
As soon as my feet touched the bridge, a blast of alpha energy hit me, making me fall to my knees, clutching Astrid to my chest.
Snarling, I looked over my shoulder to see Vadik barreling down on me.
His blast must have knocked Bentley and Koit out, as I saw them sprawled out on the ground behind me.
Then I noticed that Vadik looked different—he wasn’t human, but he wasn’t a wolf either.
He had half shifted, making his face look more wolf than man, but his body was bulked out like He-Man, and his hand was tipped with lethal-looking claws.
Frozen in fear, I realized that Vadik was far stronger than me or any of my mates.
This had been a losing battle from the start.
My remaining mates created a half moon around me, blocking Vadik’s progress, trying to give me the time I needed to get back to the castle.
For all the bravado I’d spewed earlier, now I understood what they had been trying to tell me.
They would each die to protect me, and by forcing them to face Vadik head-on, I’d all but signed their death warrants.
Orion clashed with Vadik, morphing into his own half shift, muscles straining as they went toe to toe, each attack violent and wicked.
“Run, my dearest Viv. I will hold him off as long as I can, but you need to get out of here,” Orion called out to me, his voice desperate. “We can’t let him take you. If he does, know that only death will follow. I’ve seen it. Trust me and RUN.”
Hoisting myself back to my feet, I jogged as quickly as I could towards the castle, Astrid’s body growing heavier with each step I took.
Just as I crossed through the gate, I heard the distinct ‘woomp woomp woomp’ of a helicopter above my head.
Looking up, I felt my eyes widen as I saw none other than Dr. Faulk, who gave me a smile before putting on a gas mask and tossing three canisters out the door.
Once the canisters hit the ground, smoke exploded out of them, engulfing the area and making it hard to see.
Then the scent of wolfsbane hit me, causing me to gasp and inhale a huge lungful of the toxin.
Crumpling to the ground, I pressed my face into Astrid’s clothing, but I could already tell from the burning in my lungs it was too late.
As my eyes started to darken, I could feel the someone drop next to me, pulling me from Astrid.
Thrashing, I fought their hold as they tied my arms and legs before placing a thick leather strap under my arms. Then I was hoisted into the air, being pulled into the helicopter, right into Dr. Faulk’s waiting arms. My eyes burned with the wolfsbane, but I forced them open so I could look down below.
I saw my mates still battling with Vadik, distracting them from what was going on in the castle grounds.
Throwing open my mental shields, I screamed, calling out to them, letting them know I had been caught as I fought against Faulk’s hold.
“It’s time to rest, my child. We need to give you the antidote to make sure you’re not harmed by the poison. Seems I didn’t put enough of the paralytic in the canister for someone as strong as you,” Faulk muttered as I felt the prink of a needle on my neck.
Just as I felt myself fading, I reached out to my mates with my last thought. “I will fight with all I am to come back to you, so you better fucking stay alive. I love you all.”