The week that followed, Aaron dedicated himself to fortifying the Pack estate, and though the knowledge of the vulnerability of a sage was only shared between the family, he had equipped the entire estate with both silver and golden daggers. If the enemy was going to attack, they wouldn’t come with sages alone; they would be werewolves as well. They had gotten a threat note from the enemy asking that they surrender or face annihilation.
Aaron went to the Retribution Pack and tried to find a footing with them, but Alpha Kol wasn’t willing to work with whom he called the enemy. He still considered Zera to be the enemy.
Knowing the hope of convincing them was lost, Aaron sought to leave the estate when the enemy attacked the retribution pack, and he was caught in the wildfire of battle. Since he was already there, he knew the only way out was to join forces and help the Retribution Pack.
He quickly sent out a message using the blood link to Ivan, knowing fully well that only he could understand and interpret it.
Alpha Kol, who had held his ground for over an hour, fell at the hands of the sage, who attacked him with full force. When Aaron tried to help him, a sage attacked him from behind and knocked him down.
Aaron fell to the ground and rose in the same instant. He hadn’t anticipated the attack on the retribution pack, and so he came unarmed. That was now his greatest mistake. Since figuring out the weaknesses of sages, he has gone nowhere without his silver dagger; today, however, he has failed to do that.
The sage growled and ran into him with full force, taking Aaron off his feet. Once again, he fell on hard ground and groaned from the pain of the impact. A lifeless body fell beside him, and Aaron knew this would be his case soon enough.
He didn’t see himself dying today. No, he didn’t see himself dying yet. He hissed, knowing his strength didn’t match that of the sage in front of him. Even with Mercedes in his office a week ago, it took the combined strength of Damor and him to take her down.
“Aaron Hart, I didn’t think I would meet you among all the people here.” He heard a deep, dry voice say from not so far away.
Aaron didn’t recognise the voice, and though he didn’t know who the man who spoke was, he seemed to know him well enough. This man knew his name, and who knew what else he knew about him?
He pulled himself up from the ground to see an unfamiliar face approaching the sage who stood before him. As if in respect, the sage stepped out of the way to let him step through.
Aaron spat the blood in his mouth onto the ground and straightened himself. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded.
“I am the alpha of the sages who are on the attack, as you can see. You can call me Lucius,” he answered, not going into detail that would give who he really was away.
“If you’re an alpha, I think I would have known. And there is no such thing as an alpha of sages.”
He smiled, and his eyes glowed red, proudly showing his rank as the alpha. Still, it didn’t convince Aaron that he was the alpha of sages, as that term didn’t exist.
“You’re not just a sorry excuse for a man, but you’re also a liar.” Aaron snarled at him.
Lucius, the so-called alpha, faked a hurt look in response to his words. “That is not a very nice thing to say, and your mother must have taught you better than to throw verbal abuse around.” Then he gasped, “I know. She died before she could transfer her knowledge to you, didn’t she?”
Aaron teeth gritted, offended that Lucius knew about his mother even though he didn’t know a thing about him. Whoever he was, he knew he couldn’t fight him on his own, and the Retribution Pack had been battered so badly that they needed help themselves. He needed the help of Ivan and Damor and a few more Dominio pack members to force the enemy back to where they came from.
He had to stall.
“You tried to frame the Dominio pack and mark us as the enemy. To me, you’re nothing more than a coward who relies on his minions to carry out his dirty tricks.”
“Does it really matter how I got the work done? In the end, I did what needed to be done.” Lucius said with a smirk, which Aaron wanted nothing more than to wipe off. “There can only be one stronghold, and it cannot be you, Aaron. Don’t worry, I came with only one sage because I knew they would be enough.”
Lucius took another step further, “When Mercedes failed to return after her mission, I knew you had killed her, and I am still yet to figure out how you did it. I thought getting payback would have to wait, but fate works different from ours.”
Aaron’s teeth gritted, and he surged towards the coward of an alpha to attack, but the sage stepped before him in protection. “Stand back, Alpha,” he said, and stormed towards Aaron instead.
Aaron tried to catch himself, but he had already made the move, and there was no going back at this point. The sage never made it close to him because he was blasted back far from him and fell to the ground.
Aaron turned around and found Ivan, and Miguel approaching them. He dragged a breath of relief.
“Sorry that we had to interrupt that, but our brother needed our help,” Ivan said, stepping towards them with his hand still stretched out.
Miguel moved immediately to defend the Retribution Pack members being attacked by the enemy, leaving Ivan alone with Aaron.
“Now, who is the coward?” Lucius asked.
Aaron didn’t let him finish speaking before launching at him and slamming him onto the floor. His claw dug into his chest the same second to rip out his heart, only stopping when he heard a voice.
“Do that, and he dies.”
Aaron’s head swerved to the spot he heard the voice from, and he saw the sage he had fought with earlier standing behind Ivan with his hands around his neck. Ivan must have, for a second, taken his eyes from him, and he took advantage of that.
Aaron’s heart picked up a quick beat at the sight. He couldn’t afford to lose Ivan; he was not only his brother but the last living wise one.
He heard laughter, and looking down, he saw Lucius with a hilarious look on his face. “Oh, how things have turned! You should see your face right now.”
“Aaron,” Ivan called out, but the sage tightened his hand around his neck, making him stop speaking.”
“Shut up!” He growled at Ivan.
Aaron dragged Lucius from the ground and held him before himself. “You will let him go.”
“You’re not in the position to make demands,” the sage told Aaron. “Let him go, or your brother dies.” He said that, and his voice made Aaron know he was being serious.
Slowly, Aaron withdrew his hand from Lucius’s chest and turned him around to face the sage, then pushed him forward.
“You’re going to regret letting me go,” Lucius said immediately.
“Let him go, now.” Aaron said. “You promised to let him go.”
The sage didn’t let Ivan go as he promised; instead, his hand wrapped around his neck. “I never promised you anything, but I promised myself that I would snap his neck the same way I did his girlfriend, Xoe.”
At his words, emotions exited Ivan’s face, and now he stood void of expression, almost as if he were dead. The next second, a powerful blast of energy left Ivan’s being, throwing everyone into a disoriented state.
When the dizziness seized and Aaron returned to his senses, he pulled himself up and found the field filled with the bodies of the dead, and among them was Ivan.
He rushed to where his brother lay and took him into his arms, terrified more than ever and not wanting to accept reality. “Ivan, no, no, no!” he cried, and his eyes grew glassy and shut. Consumed with grief, and his heart clenched in his chest in pain.
“Why are you crying?” He heard Ivan’s voice, and his lashes flutter to find his brother’s gaze on him.
“Ivan!” he called out in relief, pulling him closer to himself for a tight hug.
“Don’t snuff the little life I have out, Aaron,” he whined in a strained voice.
He said, but Aaron didn’t listen to his complaint and instead hugged him more.