Chapter 38
Drake crawled across the steps of the pack house to get to Hayden. They’d separated as the realities of Jaxom getting raped in the limo ripped through them. He’d felt Hayden with him the whole time. Jaxom was still a small, wounded pulse point in the back of his mind.
Drake had ripped his shirt off to see what was causing him such pain at the nape of his neck.
People screamed as bruises appeared, skin ripped and shredded without anyone touching him.
Hayden was in the same state. And yet somehow, Renz had failed to break their bond.
Drake growled as he felt Renz start in again on his mate.
They were getting fainter, further away, but Drake knew.
He saw that reflected his Hayden’s eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Drake,” Hayden whispered. “Jaxom said…”
“Sh, sh, he was right. There was nothing to be done. It would have been a bloodbath.”
A pack member ran to Drake, bolt cutters in hand. The click and fall of the silver handcuffs strengthened the feel of Jaxom’s distress as Renz abused him. Drake shook and roared in frustration. Renz was a dead man. He took a deep breath to try and calm down so he could think.
“Come here. Come, my love,” Drake said as he pulled Hayden into his arms.
He saw the Elders huddled together in little groups, watching him and Hayden. Some of them looked away. A few looked guilty. A couple had their arrogant noses up in the air as they judged him and Hayden as guilty.
Drake pulled Hayden up. The Elders needed to be held to account for the horror unleashed here. They’d lived too long believing their proclamations as golden, untouchable. They were very touchable. Their support of an Alpha King at all costs was going to cost them dearly.
“Elders, look at me and hear my words.” Drake’s voice bounced off the pack house walls.
“Is that the kind of king you expect my people to follow? Is a king raping his subject a king we are to admire? Is a king who denies his subject the right to his fated mates a man you want us to pledge our loyalty to?”
Six of the elders stepped forward. “No, Alpha Drake. There has been a severe miscarriage of justice here,” Elder Kent said.
“You can’t say that for certain. These prophecies must be investigated,” an Elder said in the group behind Elder Kent.
“He can’t say that?” Drake roared at the man. “Do I or do I not have the right, according to the Moon Goddess herself, to accept my fated mate?”
“You do,” the six Elders standing with Elder Kent yelled back in unison. The crowd cheered.
“What say you back there? What precedent was ever set to force a wolf to reject their fated mate whether marked or unmarked?”
“The Alpha King…”
“The Alpha King does not trump the laws and traditions our kind have lived by for thousands of years. Our king, my supposed king, is raping my mate again, right now to try and break our mate-bond. Look at me!” Drake pointed to the wound growing bigger on his neck all by itself.
“Look at my other mate. You, our Elders, allowed this to happen. You have set precedent that some abusive jackass with a tad more power, or prestige, or status can now take the object of their desire and damn the consequences!”
Drake leapt and shifted midair at the closest group of Elders.
His shredded clothes scattered on the steps as their dead hearts were ripped out before they could move.
The next three were trying to run but couldn’t escape his wrath.
Their hearts joined the first three. The seventh man started to beg but Drake didn’t care.
His mate was screaming in pain and this man had allowed that to happen.
His heart flew through the air and landed on top of the pile.
His body dropped in a heap at Drake’s feet as he shifted to human again.
“Elder Kent, it looks like the Quorum of Elders is short a few members. Be sure to run new candidates by Alpha Steven while I hunt my mate down,” Drake said.
A pack member ran to Drake with a sweater, jeans, socks, and shoes. He pulled them on as Hayden held them for him. He’d wash the blood of the fucking Elders off later. Right now Jaxom and Hayden were his only priorities.
“That would be my greatest honor, Alpha Drake,” Elder Kent said. Then all six Elders raised their right fists, laid them over their hearts and bowed to him. Drake didn’t know how to respond so he nodded in return.
“Alpha Drake,” his father-in-law said. He, too, gave the same bow the six Elders had.
Drake sent him a quick mind-link, What are you doing?
Pay attention, Alpha Steven shot back, fury rolling through the link. Out loud he said, “How can we assist you in getting Alpha Jaxom back? The Blood Moon Pack will not suffer Renz to rule any longer.”
Drake settled into battle strategy. They didn’t have the strength to make a direct assault on the capital city. Renz’ forces were stronger and loyal at the moment. But they could whittle them down, figure out a way to breach the castle dungeons and get Jaxom out.
“Let’s discuss this in your office. I have a plan.” His people cheered and someone stated a chant. Jaxom’s name rang in the air. The people of the Blood Moon Pack hadn’t bought Renz’ bullshit and were preparing for war.
“Hayden, I need you to stay here,” Drake cupped his mate’s cheek.
“No.”
“You can’t shift for months. You’re vulnerable. I need you safe.”
“I’m safest with you.”
“It’s true. You're his sheild.” Alpha Steven backed Hayden up. “I have ten warriors to surround Hayden until he can defend himself. Even after that, they will still be your personal guard. Same for you, Drake. No walking alone. Let’s get to the office and get logistics figured out.”
Drake, Alpha Steve, Hayden, Beta Asher, and Beta Tim gathered around the map in the Alpha office. Drake asked his dad to come join the group, too. He wanted to make sure all their bases were covered. His dad had formal training as a Delta. He viewed things differently than others did.
Their territory was a six hour drive from the capital.
Two other territories stood in between them.
An increase of rogues ran the borders of Ecrin and the surrounding territories.
Every pack kept a ten mile border between them and neighboring packs.
That allowed plenty of room to run and ground for packs to battle or work together without involving the innocent and vulnerable.
That also gave rogues and others room to maneuver in the dark of night.
“If I could set up a base camp on the edge of Alpha Thorn’s territory, we could really start harassing Renz.
Draw out his warriors and make them sweat.
We need to weaken him. That little kingling needs to see his power and influence collapse in on himself.
If we can open a channel to the castle, we can get Jaxom out. ”
“Alpha Thorn is on his way here. The moment he heard Renz had taken Jaxom, he packed up and started heading our way,” Alpha Steven said.
“Is he an ally?” Hayden asked.
“I believe so. We’ve had good trade deals. He’s always been more on the rebel fringe than a lover of the crown.”
The main courtyard swelled with activity as preparations were made. Trucks were filled with food for the main base camp. Trailers filled with medical supplies and camping gear.
Dr. Milton was coming with them. He refused to be left behind.
As the head of the pack clinic, he said he was best suited for triage.
Severely injured warriors needed the best care before they were sent home to receive more care and heal up.
He’d been born and raised in the Blood Moon Pack.
No one was going to harm his family on his watch.
There were six hundred official warriors spread across pack lands. In reality, all the men in the pack knew how to fight. Most women had been trained and still practiced. They could still easily protect pack and lands by taking three hundred warriors to battle.
Drake wanted Renz to know he was knocking at the border of Ecrin.
He didn’t intend to engage in massive battles.
He intended to harry and harass the kingling’s troops.
At one thousand strong in the city itself, Renz had the upper hand.
But, that number could be whittled down one warrior at a time.
Quick, hard attacks and fast retreats. Drive down moral and make the men wonder who they were really protecting.
Alpha Thorn arrived in the afternoon, skidding his vehicle to a stop as he flung himself out of the car.
“TV now! Everyone inside,” he demanded. The look of fury on the giant warrior’s face was intimidating, even to Drake. “You need to see what that little shit is doing, and has done, to your mate.”
Drake ran with Hayden to the large screen TV in the lounge. He flicked on the TV and scrolled to the news. Crowds were lining the main street of Ecrin as a truck, with a man chained to a pole in the back, slowly rolled down the King’s Way.
“That fucking son of a bitch!” Drake roared at the scene.
Jaxom stood there, hands over his head, almost limp. Blood and claw marks covered his body. Drake stared in rage at the blood dripping between Jaxom’s thighs. His man was shaking with the effects of the wolf’s bane and all of his injuries.
“Jaxom!” Luna Ellen screamed from the doorway. Her sobs stabbed at Drake’s heart. He needed to be on the road, not directing what vehicle to put the coffee in.
“Get this recorded,” Hayden barked as he stared at his mate on the screen.
“Already on it, Alpha Hayden,” a man called back to him.
“Alpha Drake, Alpha Hayden, it goes without saying at this point, I am in this with you. I have two hundred and fifty men getting a base camp ready and we’ve already begun encroaching on Ecrin.
We can discus logistics at camp. Let’s bring this shit down!
” Alpha Thorn roared and the people roared with him all through the Blood Moon Pack.
“They’re throwing food at him,” Luna Ellen yelled in outrage and tears at the TV. Drake pulled her into his arms, trying to give some sort of comfort. Alpha Steven came to his aide and wrapped his wife, the mother of their son, in his embrace.
“Yeah, but look,” Hayden said. He dragged a coffee table to the TV and stood on it to reach the screen. “Look right there. The guys in the cloaks. That guy right there just tripped someone. They’re down on the ground in the crowd now.”
Drake got closer to watch. There had to be at least thirty men in cloaks surrounding the truck, surrounding Jaxom. People were getting pushed away by the men in cloaks. The opportunity to throw trash at the man he loved was going down.
“We need to find out who those guys are. They wouldn’t be protecting Jaxom from the crowd if they were for Renz.
It’s not much at the moment, but it is something.
They may know the city enough for us to sneak in,” Drake said with a nod to his dad.
Chip would ferret out the cloaked individuals and make contact if he thought they were trustworthy.
“For all that’s holy, look!” Hayden said into the rustling of the watchers.
Jaxom was entering the castle gates. The cloaked men stood at the gates, clenched fists over their hearts.
They all bowed in unison to him. Drake’s heart sang as Jaxom gave them a regal nod of his head. Jaxom wasn’t broken. Not yet.
The Blood Moon Pack was at war.