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“It took me a day to get here. Which was the day he threatened to attack. If we leave now, we could sneak in under darkness where the safe house is.”
“Then we need to hurry because I guarantee that he attacked early.”
The gamma nodded, then shifted, and I shifted after him. The others followed us, and we took off out of the cave after the Gamma to get to the Quartzite pack.
We arrived at the back of the Quartzite lands around dark. The fighting sounded as if it was coming from the front part of the pack. That’s when I spotted the wolf body on the ground in the center of the clearing.
With her scent everywhere, I panicked and rushed forward as the others called out to me to stop. As I got to the body, its scent started to mix with Amora’s. This was not her, but she had been here, and her scent had intensified since she had turned eighteen.
MATE!
Her aroma calmed me and excited me all at once. Seeing the dead body of the male wolf and its throat ripped out gave me some comfort that she was still alive. Glancing over my shoulder, I motioned with my head for them to follow me.
We stalked through the back of the territory and rounded the packhouse. The commotion from the battle rang in our ears. Snarls and yelps came from the territory’s east, which spurred us on faster. Bodies littered the ground as we sprinted to the battle now in progress.
Joining the fray, I began tearing into wolves I didn’t recognize. Ripping throats and limbs from massive bodies. I glimpsed Sawyer fighting with two brown wolves. Darting over, I lunged at the wolf in the air, knocking him into a tree with a crunch.
Landing on my feet, I turned just as Sawyer finished off the other wolf, and he swung around on me, snarling. I snorted, bringing him out of the fight or flight mentality he was in. That’s when he finally noticed it was me. Giving me a nod, we both went back into the fray of battle.
We worked together, fighting the Dolostone wolves off the other wolves. I spotted some of the Rhyolite wolves mixed with them; once they saw me, they stopped battling the Quartzite wolves and rounded on the Dolostone wolves. Tearing and slashing with renewed vigor; they were a little skinny, but they fought hard.
Some of my pack had lost their lives and were bleeding out on the ground. My heart constricted at the sight, but there was nothing I could do now other than fight to take them back from Alpha Wade. Sarge whimpered before getting his head back into the fight.
We will make him pay for what he has done!
You got that right, buddy!
Wolves attacked Sawyer and me from all sides, trying their best to take both of us down. Sawyer fought alongside me just like we did when we’d trained together. Beta Adam took down a wolf at his side, ripping its throat out. He glanced up at Sawyer, and I was sure his jaw would have dropped if he were in human form. Beta Adam gave me a quick nod before he tore into another wolf.
Surveying the battle around me for a second, I spotted Alpha Wade fighting with a mixture of Quartzite and Rhyolite wolves. Nipping Sawyer, I motioned with my head to the other alpha. He nodded, and we rushed in to help the warrior wolves. As we got closer to him, he saw me running with Sawyer, grabbed one of the Rhyolite wolves, and flung him at us.
We jumped in unison over the warrior wolf as the others scattered while he took off and ran in the other direction. Coward! Sarge snarled as he quickened his pace. Dolostone wolves cut off our advance, and I glanced over to Sawyer, who growled at the wolves. Some of them whimpered but held their ground as others snarled back at us.
Sarge, he’s getting away! Sarge continued to snarl and snap his jaws as we watched Alpha Wade run from the battle. Some of the Dolostone wolves followed him. Sawyer and I inched back until both the Rhyolite and Quartzite packs surrounded them. The wolves in the circle shifted back to their human forms, their hands covering the back of their heads as they lay on the ground in surrender.
Sawyer raised his head, letting out a long howl. Others joined him throughout the territory. The sound of victory rang through the land as wolves shifted back to humans. I shifted back as well; blood covered me from head to toe, Sawyer similarly drenched.
My friend moved toward me, a smile plastered on his face. He grabbed me into a bear hug; if he hadn’t been like a brother to me, I would have thought this was a little weird. Pulling away from me, he held me at arm’s length. “I knew you were alive. There was no way you could’ve been dead. I never gave up searching for you!”
“I felt that way for a few weeks. Until I met up with some rogues that taught me more than what I knew.” Smiling back at him, I glanced over his shoulder at the group of wolves I had been with since I lost my way. “I want you to meet them. Come on.”
We made our way over to them, and they all bowed their head. “Sawyer, this is Olli, Fin, Markus, Hannah, and Harley. Guys, this is Sawyer, the Alpha of Quartzite pack and my best friend.”
Rhyolite wolves came up and surrounded us, all of them on one knee. It seemed like most of the pack that had been in the battle made it. Even in human form, they were skin and bones.
He starved my pack and then made them attack their ally! I will destroy him and bring my pack back to their former selves. Kneeling down in front of the red-headed male before me, I raised his sunken face. “Lucas! Where’s Daylen and Axel?”
“Daylen is here somewhere.” His voice was raspy from non-use. His eyes were cloudy, when they had used to be so full of life.
“Axel?” Lucas’s shoulders began to shake as he stared back at me, tears welling up in his eyes.
“He’s dead. Wade killed him after he refused to be his beta. Left him on the ground for scavengers to pick at him while he rotted in front of the packhouse as a warning to anyone who went against him. I want to avenge his death.”
“We will. We will avenge all our brothers and sisters that he has taken from us. I promise you that.” I grasped his hand pulled him to stand. Glancing over my starved pack, I couldn’t help but feel like I had failed them even more with them in the state there were in. “If you will take me back, Rhyolite pack, I promise you will never know hunger again; I will go hungry before you will.”
The Rhyolite wolves looked at Lucas, and he gazed back at me. “There’s no better leader than you, Nolen. It might have been short, but we all appreciated that you tried to save us from battle with the Alpha challenge. Each and every one of us wants you back.”
Nodding, I clapped him on the shoulder, fighting back the emotions that threatened to make themselves known. I spotted Daylen running up, and relief filled me knowing that my Delta and Gamma were still alive. “What about my parents? Are they still alive?”
