Chapter Twenty-One Dylan
Silas moved so fast Hunter barely had enough time to push me away before he was on us.
I fell to the ground, rolling away until I could get to my feet.
The entanglement of my two mates was hard to watch.
Both of them struggled to get the upper hand, their fists flying to land a blow on one another, the sickening thud auditory when they did.
I watched to find a chance to pull Silas off Hunter, but I couldn't see one.
What the fuck do I do?
Silas was under Lupe's control. He would not stop until he killed us both. Did I want him to survive this, or should I end this now?
Silas flipped Hunter on his back and threw his fists into his face repeatedly. I charged at Silas, barreling into him to knock him off Hunter. For some stupid reason, I thought just touching him, or Silas smelling my scent, would pull him out of this.
I was wrong.
Silas struggled to get leverage, writhing under me as I tried to keep him on the ground. If only we had some rope or something, anything else to tie him down. There had to be some hope Lupe didn't meld his mind with his wolf. I had to believe that Silas was still in there .
There was a moment when his eyes gazed into mine that I could see his mind working, trying to recognize me. I felt a surge of joy as the realization came to me.
"SILAS!" I screamed. "Come back to me, damn it! I did not save you for you to run out on me! Fight this!"
One of his arms got free, and his fist collided with my cheek bone.
Stars exploded across my vision, and I fell off to the side.
When I felt his weight on top of me, I expected the next blow to come.
My mind went to the goddess, pleading with her to intervene.
Silas needed to be shown who I was to him.
Who the fuck cared that we had rejected each other?
The rejections were mistakes we were trying to overcome, but the pain from it was too much for either of us to get past. We never should have let the pain override what the goddess wanted for us.
Suddenly, I felt Silas’s weight lift as I felt something fly past me.
When my eyes landed on the sight of the two men going at it again, my chest felt like it was going to explode.
Hunter didn't look like he was holding back with his punches.
The power of both men swelled in the air.
They were both calling on their wolves. This would not stop unless one of them died.
But I could see it in Silas's eyes. At least, that's what it felt like. He was still in there . Right now it was deep down–very deep down–but Hunter killing him would mean the missing piece of my heart would remain unfixed.
"Hunter, stop!" I screamed, trying to get his attention. "Silas! You know us! We are your pack!" I ran at them again, throwing myself between them when they broke apart for a split second. Silas punched me in the back of the head, but he aimed for Hunter’s eye, so I didn’t care.
Hunter roared seeing Silas punch me and bumped me off him long enough to distract Silas and flip him on his back.
The blows continued to fly as I scurried to my feet.
Something needed to be done, but none of my training had covered how to stop two people from fighting, much less the two be my own mates.
In our world, if two males were fighting, it was most likely a challenge, and no one was to intervene.
But these two weren't challenging each other to be my mate or for a position in the pack.
They were trying to kill each other.
There was a shimmering of magic, and I thought one of them was going to shift. This was going from bad to worse. Their wolves wouldn't stop until the other wasn't breathing. At least I could appeal to the human side to stop. Their wolves wouldn't listen to me, even if I was their mate.
"NO!" I bellowed and ran toward them again.
But that's not what happened.
Silas had something in his hand.
He broke away enough to move his arm, and the shimmering I saw wasn't magic.
It was metal.
And the flickering of the moon's light caught my attention again as I saw his arm arch upwards...
Into Hunter's chest.
I felt pain erupt in my chest, exactly where Hunter had been stabbed. Air left my lungs as I dropped to my knees. My vision blurred as tears clouded my eyes. This couldn't be happening. I searched in the bonds for Hunter's to still be there, but the movement caught my attention.
I screamed as Silas rolled Hunter off him and dislodged the dagger from my mate's chest. Calling onto my wolf's speed, I tackled Silas just as he lifted his arm to drive it into Hunter again. We were now at the treeline, and I had to drive Silas away from my mate.
Away from everyone.
I rolled to my feet and saw Silas looking at me. "Want to finish the job? You're going to have to catch me first."
The shift was instant.
Silas snarled as I ran into the treeline. My wolf whined at me to go back to our mate, but I had to get Silas away from here. There had to be a way to break him from this spell, and I just needed time to think of what to do.
I may not know these woods well, but I knew them better than Silas did. After the run with Hunter, this section of the woods was familiar enough for me to know I could give Silas a great chase, maybe enough to slow him down so I could knock him out.
Even the mention of Hunter sent another round of pain through my chest. I couldn't tell if it was his pain or mine, but I had to keep hope that he was still alive.
The bonds weren't telling me anything. He had to be blocking me out.
I couldn't investigate the way I wanted to as I ran through the trees.
Staying on the path would be stupid. I knew Silas knew my scent and could track me, but I had to keep pushing myself to get further away from him.
There were faint sounds of him running through the decomposed leaves behind me, but I couldn't tell how far off he was.
He could close in by now, but I pushed all the energy I could into my legs to go faster.
Taunting him, knowing he had a mission to complete, wasn't the smartest move I could've made, but I wasn't sure if I could take him on when he was like this.
Dylan! Where the hell are you? I heard Jackson in my mind and his possessive growl rumbled through the bonds. My heart hurt so damn bad knowing I didn't have time to update him, and I could feel the sense of urgency in his tone.
No time to explain! I'm in the woods running from Silas.
WHAT?
Again, no time! Check on Hunter. Get him to the infirmary!
What the fuck are you talking about? Why do I need to find Hunter? I felt a stabbing pain in my chest, and now I can feel your damn fear. THAT'S IT!
Jackson distracted me, and I felt Silas's wolf on top of me.
We tumbled head over feet a few times before we stopped.
I got to my feet first and took off running again.
At least with him being in his wolf form, it meant he didn't have that knife on him.
It wouldn't stop him from killing me. His wolf was as lethal as they come, but I needed to keep pushing.
I'm so sorry. I can't explain. Talking to you is distracting me.
A wall between us slammed into place as I blocked Jackson out.
If I wanted to survive this, then I had to block everyone out.
It would send Jackson into a fit of rage knowing I was in trouble, and now there was a wall in our bonds, but I couldn't care about that right now.
Silas wasn't far behind me, so I needed to do everything I could to ensure he didn't catch up.
I jumped over a fallen log and landed in a gigantic pile of mud. It slowed me down as I trudged through it, and I heard Silas's paws closing in just before I reached the other side. If I wanted to lose him long enough to find a way out of this, I needed to change up my path.
Banking to the right, I knew this would lead to a place with a bunch of paths.
If Silas was too focused on the hunt, maybe he would take the wrong one.
With Jackson knowing Hunter needed help, I could focus on the task at hand.
Silas wanted me. This hunt had to be pushing his wolf harder to find me because our animals loved this kind of shit.
What if we can't get through to him in time?
We cross that bridge when we get there!
Sure enough, I found the area that had three different paths you could take. One led toward the school, which wasn't an option. Another led to the other side of the woods and into town. The last was one that would keep you in the woods and around the academy.
I chose the last one.
Without enough time to cross over my paths to create confusion, I had to tire him out. If whatever Lupe had done to him made it so he didn't tire, then it looks like this was my last day alive.
No. I couldn't think like that. Silas had to be saved. Just because the crazy woman fucked him up didn’t mean he was lost to me.
Love conquered all.
I had to remind Silas of the love we had for each other.
If I could get him to a place where we could just battle this out, then maybe I had a chance.
The combat class mats! It would have our scents on them from our recent fight. It was also somewhere close enough where I could call Jackson in to help me if I needed it.
Shit. That meant I took the wrong path back there. I needed to get back there and take the right one to get him to the academy. I may have thought that was the worst idea, but now I could see how it could benefit me.
I didn't want the teachers to see us fighting and do something I would regret, but maybe if I got him there and stopped them if they tried to intervene, it would be another distraction for him.