Aiden’s POV
I stood at the edge of the training ground with every sense on high alert, my wolf, Smoke was pacing just beneath the surface. The air felt different, It was the kind of tension that reminded me of the ambush that had shattered my world seven years ago. Back then, I had been caught off guard, but not this time. This time, I was ready. I had prepared for this moment, for this war.
I reached out with my senses, the familiar hum of Aunt Belle’s protective magic wrapping around my territory like an impenetrable shield. Her enchantments were powerful and ancient, and no magic could breach this place now. If Andrew thought he could sneak in with his usual tricks, appearing as his faceless shadow to strike from the darkness, he was in for a surprise. There would be no more ambushes. No more tricks.
This time, it was blood for blood-life for life.
As I turned to walk back toward my pack house, I felt the air shift again. A chill ran down my spine, but this time, it wasn’t fear; it was anticipation. I knew what was coming. I could sense him standing just beyond the boundary of my territory, waiting.
Andrew.
I spun around, my eyes locking onto the dark figure standing tall at the entrance to my land. He wasn’t alone. Behind him were his wolves standing in formation with their glowing eyes watching and waiting. There were dozens of them, maybe more. This wasn’t an ambush. This was a declaration of war.
I breathed in deeply, feeling the power surge through me as I exhaled. I was ready. We were ready.
“Andrew is here,” I mindlinked my warriors, calling them to arms.
In an instant, the ground shook as they mobilized. Warriors from both my pack and Ethan’s gathered at the training grounds, their forms materializing with the speed only wolves possessed. Within a mere 40 seconds, all of them were up with their stares as passionate as the feeling that surged within me.
I took a pace forward to give them some encouraging speech but Ethan beat me to it. He surveyed the crowd and without introduction, his loud voice resonated through the ground.
“Today, we fight for our families. For our future. They have kidnapped sisters and, for our brothers who were lost in the battle seven years ago, exterminate their blood for every single day they put us through torment. But we are not fighting for our land alone, and we do it to make a statement. We are not prey. We are predators.”
The warriors roared in response, the sound shaking the ground beneath our feet. Ethan had always had a way of rallying the pack; his leadership was as solid as iron. They looked to him, then to me. They were ready for this.
“Shift!” Ethan called, and the air was filled with the sound of bones snapping, skin tearing, and wolves emerging. It was a symphony of strength, of raw, primal power.
I shifted into my wolf form, and my senses sharpened instantly. I felt the energy of my pack surge around me like a storm, each warrior ready to fight to the death. My gaze snapped to Andrew, who had also shifted. His wolves charged forward, and the battlefield exploded into chaos.
I didn’t hesitate. My target was clear, it was Andrew, the traitor, the enemy. This man was at the center of all of this, and if I could kill him, this war would be over.
I pronounced myself feline and swung into the air with outspread fangs and nails. Andrew caught me in the middle; his powerful body slammed me into him, and I raged like a wild animal in fur.
His strength was formidable, but I was faster and stronger. I was fueled by a rage that burned deep inside me. Every swipe of my claws, every snap of my teeth, was fueled by the images of Shenaya, Zoey, and Lucy. The defeat of seven years ago traumatized me.
We fought like beasts, tearing at each other with our blood spraying across the battlefield.
Beside us, the usual battle went on, our pack members fighting each other furiously now that their animals had awakened. Growls snarls, and the howls of triumphant wolves battling their opponents could be heard stuffing the air around us.
Andrew and I moved around each other as we were both bleeding. His dark and dilated eyes reflected madness, although I could notice the look of terror slowly making its way into his freaked-out irises. He knew he was losing.
I lunged at him again with my claws raking across his side. He howled in pain but managed to swipe at me with his own claws, catching my shoulder. The pain was sharp, but I barely registered it. All I could focus on was ending him.
Suddenly, Andrew let out a piercing howl as a retreat signal. His wolves were battered and broken, they began to scatter. He turned and fled into the wood and disappeared into the shadows of the night as fast as he had come.
I chased after him with Ethan at my side. We chased through the sparsely wooded area, leaving behind a staccato beat of our paws against the ground as we tracked him. Yet, Andrew was no longer there as quickly as he had come into the picture. There was no sign of him around as if he had become the air itself and disappeared.
Again, we stood at the border of the forest, sweating profusely with a bitter feeling of disappointment.
Part of me spanked my head up and down in denial. I inhaled the environment, but his scent was no longer present. It was kind of like he disappeared into thin air and was replaced by nothing more than a hazy shadow.
“He’s gone,” I ground out as I shifted back into my human form, standing there with my fisted hands. “But we’re close. I can feel it.”
Ethan shifted back, standing beside me; his face was as hard as a stone.
“He’s running scared now. We’ve weakened his forces.”
I just stared, and nodded in agreement, although the emptiness in my chest persisted. My girls-Shenaya, Zoey, Lucy-were still out there, somewhere, and I had not been able to bring them back home. The victory felt shallow. We had emerged the winners of this particular war but there were more battles to be fought.
****
Back at the pack house, the mood was a mix of triumph and tension. We had driven Andrew’s forces away, but the cost was high. Most of our wolves were injured, some seriously.
The healers hastily tried to attend to the injured; the others crouched quietly on the ground trying to heal themselves so they could prepare again.
Ethan and I were firmly planted in the command room taking an intense look at the spread-out maps we had in front of us. Red pins marked where we had last seen Andrew, where Lucy had been taken, and where Skylar was last seen. The web of deceit and danger was tightening around us, but the endgame was still unclear.
“We’re close,” I repeated, more to myself than to Ethan. “But we need to be smarter. Andrew won’t make the same mistake twice.”
Ethan nodded grimly. ” We will extend the patrols, and increase the number of guards around the perimeter. He’ll come back, and when he does, we continue our battle.”
I gave the map a long, hard look, starting to feel the frustration seeping in.
Ethan didn’t reply immediately, turning into a brooding storm, his eyes boring into the map in front of him.
“We’ll find them. But we need to be careful. Andrew is playing a long game, and there’s far more going on than what has been presented.
I stared at him noting the same discomfort as the feeling that was rising within me. There was something that struck me in this that was impossible.
Andrew was strong, but his retreat had been too sudden, too easy. It was as if he wanted us to win this battle, to feel this small victory.
“Do you think this is part of his plan?” I asked, my voice low.
Ethan’s gaze darkened.
“It’s possible. He could be trying to divide our forces to weaken us from within. Or maybe…” His words faded away, but the idea that lingered was unpleasant.
Perhaps Andrew had something more serious in mind.
There was this howl and noises of wolves outside but instantly all was quiet as the grave. There was something within me that suggested that something was coming. Something worse than Andrew.
A cold dread settled in my bones as I turned back to the map. The victory tonight had been ours, but the war wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.