The Silver Rain
The training grounds, which only seconds ago felt like a sanctuary, instantly transformed into a deadly trap.
Fifty rogue werewolves fanned out across the dirt arena, completely blocking our path back to the fortress. They weren't in wolf form; they were human, dressed in ragged tactical gear, and every single one of them was holding a heavy, military-grade assault rifle.
And standing at the front of the firing squad, a cruel, triumphant smile twisting his face, was Beta Silas.
"You should have killed me in the dining hall, Alpha," Silas called out, his voice echoing across the open expanse. "You've grown weak. Your obsession with this human and her bastard pup has blinded you. The loyalists are miles away on the northern patrol. You are completely alone."
Killian didn't flinch. He didn't take a single step backward.
His massive frame completely eclipsed me and Leo. The scent of winter storms vanished, instantly replaced by the metallic, suffocating scent of pure, apocalyptic bloodshed.
"Clara," Killian's voice was a low, guttural vibration that didn't even sound human anymore.
He didn't look at me; his glowing, feral eyes were locked entirely on Silas.
"Behind the weapon racks. There is a reinforced steel door built into the mountain.
It is the Alpha's emergency vault. The passcode is my birthday.
When I move, you grab Leo and you run. Do not look back. "
"Killian, no," I panicked, my hands desperately grabbing the back of his tactical cargo pants. "There are fifty of them! They have guns!"
"They don't have lead, little mate," Killian rumbled, a dark, terrifying sound tearing from his throat. "They have silver. And they are about to find out exactly why I am the King."
Silas raised his hand high into the air.
"Take the Alpha down!" Silas shrieked. "Fire!"
"RUN!" Killian roared.
The sound of fifty assault rifles firing simultaneously was deafening. It sounded like the sky was physically tearing apart.
I didn't think. I grabbed Leo, hauling his small body flush against my chest, and sprinted blindly toward the weapon racks at the edge of the mountain.
Behind me, an earth-shattering, demonic roar eclipsed the sound of the gunfire.
I couldn't help it. I looked back.
Killian hadn't run for cover. He had lunged directly into the line of fire. Mid-leap, the massive, heavily scarred man violently tore apart, his bones cracking and reforming in a microsecond.
He didn't shift into a normal timber wolf. Killian transformed into a monstrous, pitch-black beast the size of a small tank. His fangs were as long as daggers, his golden-grey eyes burning like hellfire.
He hit the front line of the rogues like a freight train.
Guns shattered. Men screamed in absolute terror as the Supreme Alpha ripped through their ranks with blinding, lethal speed. He was a god of war, drawing every single bullet, every single ounce of their attention away from me and Leo.
But there were too many of them.
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.
I heard the sickening sound of metal piercing flesh over the chaos.
Killian's massive wolf stumbled, a high-pitched, agonizing snarl ripping from his jaws. Dark blood splattered across the dirt. The silver bullets were tearing into his thick hide, burning him from the inside out.
"Killian!" I screamed, tears blinding my vision.
No. I can't lose him. Not when I just got him back.
I reached the heavy steel door built into the rock face. My hands were shaking so violently I could barely punch in the numbers on the keypad.
Green light. Beep.
The heavy hydraulic seal hissed, and the thick vault door cracked open, revealing a dark, reinforced tunnel.
I shoved Leo inside. "Stay there, baby! Do not move!"
"Mommy, what about him?!" Leo cried, his little hands gripping the steel frame.
I turned back to the arena.
Killian had taken out over twenty men, but the silver had finally brought the King to his knees. The massive black wolf collapsed heavily into the dirt about thirty yards away, his chest heaving, his fur slick with blood.
Silas was walking slowly toward the fallen Alpha, raising a silver-plated handgun, aiming directly for Killian's head.
"Goodbye, my King," Silas sneered.
I didn't think about my lack of fangs. I didn't think about the bullets flying through the air.
I sprinted back into the warzone.
I grabbed a discarded, heavy iron training sword from the dirt and swung it with every ounce of adrenaline-fueled strength I possessed.
CRACK.
The heavy iron slammed directly into the side of Silas's knee. The Beta shrieked in agony, his leg buckling instantly. His gunshot fired wildly into the sky as he collapsed into the dirt.
"Get up!" I screamed at the massive black wolf, dropping the iron sword and grabbing the thick, blood-soaked scruff of Killian's neck.
The Alpha let out a weak, pained whine, his golden eyes fluttering. He was too heavy. I couldn't carry a four-hundred-pound wolf.
"Killian, please!" I sobbed, pulling desperately at his fur as the remaining rogues began to reload their weapons, turning their sights on us. "Shift! You have to shift so I can carry you!"
Killian's eyes locked onto my tear-stained face. Even dying, his absolute devotion to his mate overrode his physical limits.
With a sickening, agonizing crack of bones, the giant beast shrank back into the man. Killian collapsed fully against me, completely naked, his massive body covered in deep, bleeding bullet wounds.
I wrapped his heavy arm over my shoulders, wrapping my arm tightly around his waist. He felt like he weighed a thousand pounds, but pure, maternal, mate-driven terror gave me impossible strength.
"Shoot them!" Silas screamed from the dirt, clutching his shattered knee.
I dragged Killian toward the open vault. The distance felt like miles. Bullets ricocheted off the rocks around us, kicking up sharp fragments of stone that cut into my cheeks.
We fell through the vault doorway, collapsing onto the cold concrete floor inside.
"Leo! The button!" I gasped, scrambling to pull Killian's heavy legs completely inside the threshold.
The rogues were sprinting toward the door. They were ten yards away. Five yards.
Leo didn't panic. My four-year-old son stood tall, his striking grey eyes flaring with blinding, terrifying gold. He thrust both of his tiny hands forward.
A massive, invisible kinetic shockwave erupted from his palms.
The blast hit the heavy steel door with the force of a bomb. The massive vault door slammed shut with a deafening, metallic CLANG, sealing the heavy deadbolts perfectly into place mere seconds before the rogues reached us.
We were plunged into total darkness.
Outside, muffled fists began to bang against the impenetrable steel.
Inside, the only sound was Killian's ragged, wet breathing echoing off the concrete walls.
"Killian?" I whispered into the dark, my hands frantically feeling across his massive chest, my fingers coming away completely slick with his warm blood.
He didn't answer.
The King of the Shadow Pack had fallen. And we were trapped underground.