Chapter 20. The Battle
Caleb
I drive my car within a mile of the pack. Quickly parking I jump out and shed my clothes. I shift into my black wolf and Dallas shifts into his large chocolate brown wolf. We immediately began rushing through the woods.
Dallas is the first one to reach a vampire. He soars through the air and lands on the raging beast. His jaw clamps down on his throat as he ends his life. The body turns to dust and Dallas looks at me with determination set in his eyes. We both know that was just the first of many.
Taking off running again we take out a few more vampires before reaching a clearing where the real fight is happening. We split up with Dallas going towards the east and I head to the west to help a group of wolves fighting.
Five, ten, and even twenty vampires die by my hands. I don’t hesitate to rip them to shreds. I don’t care if they were forced or came of their own free will. They attacked my pack, my friends. That means they must die, and I won’t show any mercy.
Mind links from my head warrior Alex flood my brain but I ignore them. He’s giving orders while fighting. We have three waves of warriors we send into battle and I’m not even sure which one we’re on. I’m just fighting and killing.
The fight takes me further west where I hear someone screaming for help. My paws pound against the forest floor in a race against time but I’m too late.
I watch as a wolf younger than me gets his arm ripped off and his throat slashed. The light in his eyes fades and I feel his connection to the pack disappear.
A deep growl emits from my throat. The vampire that killed my warrior turns around quickly to face me. We both just stare at each other waiting for the other to make a move.
His evil red eyes don’t leave mine. I continue to watch his movements also, rage burning deep within me. There’s nobody around but us and it’s already been decided that only one of us is leaving.
The sound of a black crow screeching gets the vampire's attention. Even though he only glances away for a second I use the distraction to pounce on him.
He’s quicker than I realize because he moves just in time. I land on my feet and the vampire is already behind me choking me. I snap and growl but he doesn’t let go.
“Time to die little doggy!” He whispers in my ear.
But I’m not going to die, not like this. I can’t die here, not without seeing her one last time.
So, I shift back into my human form. The vampire’s arms slip from around my neck, and I quickly turn around and use all my strength to reach into his chest and pull his heart out. By the time he realizes what happened, he’s crumbling into ashes by my feet.
I take a moment to catch my breath but then a zipping noise gets my attention. A sharp pain hits me in the neck and I stumble over. I try to walk away or shift but I can’t.
I’m dizzy, my head is spinning and I’m starting to lose feeling in all my body. I try to mind-link someone but even my speech is slurred. Lastly, my knees give up and I fall flat on my stomach.
I roll over blinking rapidly. My body shudders and the last thing I see is a dozen red eyes standing over me before darkness overtakes me.
When I open my eyes again the first thing, I notice is the chains around my wrists. I’m dangling from a ceiling in an unfamiliar room. The air is damp and musky. The only light source is from a stained-glass window on the other side of the room.
I try to mind-link Dallas or Alex but it’s useless. I’m too far away from my pack and the silver is keeping me from reaching anyone or shifting. I’m stuck and I have no idea how long I’ve been gone.
My next thoughts are all about Faith. Is she okay? Did she ever make it back from the Fae dimension? She was unconscious when I left, and I have no idea if she woke up. I hope she did but at the same time if she woke up and I’m missing she’s going to worry.
The last thing Faith needs is to worry. Because her worry will turn into stress and guilt. She will blame herself and it will eat away at her. But it’s not her fault. I made the decision to wander further off and I don’t regret it.
I close my eyes and imagine my beautiful mate. It’s her love that keeps me going. I’m going to make it back to her, I have to. Our love story is just beginning. Hell, it’s timeless because I’m convinced it’s never going to end.
The sound of a metal door opening gets my attention. I thrash around because I really want to kick this asshole in the face. Unfortunately, my legs are still numb.
“I see the drugs are still working.” He stands before me with a smug look on his face.
“Fuck you!” I spit on his face and smile.
Alpha Hayden sighs and wipes it off with the back of his hand. “You disappoint me, Caleb. I thought you were smarter than this, captured by your enemy, tsk tsk how sad.”
I growl. “Maybe if you weren’t such a traitor then I wouldn’t be here!”
“Traitor? I don’t think so. All I wanted was to make some money, expand my land, and open a nightclub or two. The traitors are you and your friends. I give you guys a great idea, and you call me crazy and spit in my face.”
A sarcastic chuckle leaves me. “Because you are crazy! You poisoned your allies, worked with vampires, and burnt down a whole village!”
He shouts right back at me. “You think I wanted to do that? No, I had to!” He points at me, and I finally notice his dilated eyes. This mother fucker is high as a kite. “The virus would have killed us all eventually, so I had to make sure it was in my possession and mine only.”
I’m so confused. “What are you talking about?”
“The hunters, they had some scientist, and he created the virus. They wanted to wipe us all out. But I found out about it and offered them a great deal. I used it on my enemies and in return they gave me the scientist who created it. I killed him.”
I scoff. “Is that supposed to make you a hero Hayden? You still killed hundreds of wolves. Wolves who were your friends, your allies. Innocent women and children died because of you!”
He screams and pulls at his wild hair. “Don’t you understand? They had to die! I needed the alphas to suffer. They were supposed to sell me their land. I was going to make us all rich! We could have had everything we ever wanted!”
“It’s not all about money. Your greed killed our friends and eventually, it’ll kill you too Hayden. Do you really think you’re going to get away with this? Alpha Dexter is already involved. You’ll be thrown in prison and so will everyone that helped you.”
“No, I won’t. The vampires will protect me.” He rambles.
“What did you offer them? I’m sure they’re not helping you for free.”
“Blood, the fresher the better. They help me infect the wolves and in return, they feed off my pack members. It’s such a euphoric feeling when they bite you.” he moans to himself. “Gets me hard just thinking about one of them sinking their fangs into me.”
“You’re disgusting.”
He laughs. “Says the wolf with the vampire mate, how is little Faith anyway? I wanted her captured also but nobody could find her.”
I growl. “You’ll never find her and if she finds you then you better beg for mercy because she’s going to kill you.”
Hayden frowns and cups my chin harshly. “I can’t wait and when she comes I’ll finally kill you. Until then I think I’ll let my friends have a taste.”
The metal door swings open again, and two vampires rush towards me and stand next to Hayden. Blood is dripping down their chin as they stare at me hungrily.
“I’m going to enjoy killing you.” I narrow my eyes at Hayden who smirks at me then turns to the vampires.
“Don’t kill him just make sure he suffers.”