Chapter Nineteen
Avery let out a scream as the wards fell around them. Whatever bonds connected the Pack to the wards that usually protected them were ripped from within her, leaving her a tattered mess of agony.
Brandon went to his knees at her feet, and she followed him, holding him to her. Blood seeped from his nose as he coughed, trying to catch his breath, and she ran her hand down his back, at a loss for what to do. They’d been walking back from training and were only a few feet from their home, but she knew she wasn’t strong enough yet to pick him up and carry him inside on her own.
Parker ran up to them, his brother Blake by his side, shouting. “The wards fell,” he said with a growl. “And, of course, fate has decided it’s the perfect time for another fucking splinter cell to attack us.”
Blake cursed. He’d been visiting Brie that morning and had wanted to stay with Parker for a bit while the rest of the family had gone back home. “Dad texted to say the wards fell at the Redwoods, too.”
“And Mitchell said the Centrals, as well,” Parker put in as he knelt down beside the two of them. “I think Gideon is going to be hearing from more Alphas soon. This can’t just be the three Packs near here.”
Avery cupped Brandon’s face, aware that the others were speaking around her about what their next step should be, but didn’t really hear any of it, she needed to make sure her mate was okay.
“Brandon? Talk to me.” She wiped the blood that had dribbled to his chin and blinked back tears.
“I’m okay,” he said after a moment, clearing his throat. “It only hurt for that moment, but it was awful. Walker and Kameron are probably going through the same thing.”
She looked over at Blake. “Did you feel anything when the wards fell?” she asked, wondering about something.
He nodded. “But it was just a soft whoosh. Not anything like what Parker felt.” He winced. “Sorry if I wasn’t supposed to say anything about that.”
Avery pressed her lips together. The boy might be a man and about her age, but he still felt so much younger to her. She didn’t want him in whatever fight was to come, but she had a feeling there might not be a choice.
“I think you two must have taken some of the pain from me,” Brandon said as he stood on shaky legs. “Walker and Kameron don’t have mates, so they took the full brunt of it.”
“But you still feel them, right?” Parker asked, and Brandon nodded. “Then they’re alive and will be on their feet soon. We need to be out there to protect the den.”
Gideon ran to them at that moment, his wolf glowing in his eyes. “Brie and the submissives are hunkering down in the bunker.” He turned to Avery. “The maternal dominants are either with them or are going out into the field with us. It’s up to you which you want to do, but you’re fighting stronger these days and you do better when you’re with your mates.” He looked at his family, and Avery lowered her gaze, his presence so Alpha at that moment that she could barely breathe. Others gathered around them, and she gripped her mates’ hands. Blake stood behind her and put his hand on her shoulder as if he knew she needed to know all of her new family was there and okay. At least, for now.
Gideon looked around the crowd, and Avery let out a breath, not knowing how she’d come to be here, how she’d fallen for these people so quickly. Yet she knew this had been her fate. This day had been the one from her dreams, the event in her visions. She’d known this day would come where they would fight for their families and Packs, not knowing what would come after.
She’d seen the horror.
Now she had to live it.
“We know what to do,” Gideon said. “We’ve trained. Our people are strong. We are more than our claws, more than our wolves, we are everything. Fight alongside your sisters and brothers and mates and show the world that we protect what is ours. If this is the end, then we fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Our Pack is in danger, our den threatened, and those we love need us to show those who would kill us that we are tougher, far stronger than they imagine. Fight with me, Talons. Fight for your Pack. Fight for your people. Fight for yourselves.”
Avery threw her head back at her Alpha’s words and howled, not knowing how she knew to do that with the others, but going on instinct. She wasn’t a human any longer, she was one of the Pack.
And she would fight.
As the others mobilized, their training showing, Parker cupped her face and kissed her, hard. Avery leaned into him, taking everything she could from the kiss. She loved this man, loved the other man by their side. She didn’t want to die for them, but if fate called, she would do so.
Brandon pulled her away from Parker to kiss her before kissing Parker, as well—the three of them standing in a circle as she tried to come to terms with what was happening. Less than a minute had passed, and yet everything had changed.
“Fate brought me to you,” she said suddenly. “And damn fate if she thinks she’s going to take you away from me.”
Parker kissed her hard again before moving back to grip Blake’s shoulder. “Then let’s make sure our people are safe. Fate isn’t taking any of you away from me anytime soon.”
Brandon nodded, his eyes wolf.
“Damn straight,” Blake added as Tatiana ran to their group. She’d come to speak with Gideon about something. Whatever it was wasn’t Avery’s business and, frankly, Avery was happy to see Tatiana in fighting leathers with a gun strapped to her thigh.
“I don’t have a team to fight alongside,” Tatiana said, her wolf in her eyes. It seemed this woman had a far stronger wolf than Avery had thought. “May I fight alongside you?”
“Of course.” It was Avery who answered. “Let’s do this.”
Max joined them, and the six of them gathered their weapons as they ran to where the majority of the fighting had started. Though Avery wasn’t as good as the others, her mates were, and she could be the one reloading for them if she found herself in the way. But she was a damn good shot now, and she’d protect what was hers no matter what.
When they made it to the clearing, Avery’s mouth dropped.
“There’s so many,” Tatiana whispered. “So many who hate our kind.” Blake squeezed her shoulder, and Avery gripped the other woman’s arm, feeling a solidarity that only came when one was facing death head-on.
“There are others who do not,” Brandon said softly. “But they are not here to fight by our side, so we will do what we do best and be wolves.”
Some had already shifted around them; their fighting techniques better in wolf form than human. Others were strapped with knives and guns—the idea they only needed to fight with tooth and claw long since passed in this new age of war.
Avery took in what was happening and knew not everyone would make it out alive. She knew. But she couldn’t say anything, not when that would only make it inevitable. Her visions might be of the future, but that didn’t mean they were the only future out there.
Her family could surprise her, but she needed to fight for them. So she took the safety off her gun and let out a slow breath.
“We fight.”
“We fight.”
“We fight.”
Another scream echoed off in the distance as one of the fully black-garbed unit members went down under Max’s hold. Avery fought by the man’s side, taking out the splinter cell members from far away since she was a better distance fighter than closer to the carnage.
Blake, Brandon, and Parker were only twenty feet away, going hand-to-hand with more than twice their numbers, winning, but bloodily. So many wolves fought near her against even more humans. She couldn’t quite believe that it had come to this.
She’d known it had to, but it still didn’t feel real.
Around them, the witches of their den used their magic to push the humans back, and the humans of their Pack either fought alongside them or were back with the children, keeping them safe. No member stood by and watched. Every single person with the Pack bonds permeating their body fought in some fashion to end the battle.
“That fucker McMaster is here,” Max said with a grunt. He punched the guy coming at Avery in the face and growled. “Always knew he was shady, but it seems he’s officially taken Montag’s place.” Max whirled around and faced Avery. “Shit. I forgot.”
Avery shot the man coming at Max’s back. “Forget it. My father was a sadistic bastard that killed anyone in his way. I’m glad he’s dead.” She shot another person coming at her before having to reload. “And McMaster isn’t any better. He’s staying out of sight of the cameras that are inevitably watching, but he won’t be hidden for long.”
Tatiana yelled as she took out another mercenary and came to Avery’s side for more ammo. “He is a fekking loser who only uses his power for evil. The world will see him for who he is.”
Avery laughed at the woman’s surprising words then screamed as Tatiana’s eyes widened. A circle of blood appeared on the other woman’s chest, and blood sprayed over Avery’s face as Tatiana fell to her knees.
“Fuck!” Max fell beside her and tried to stop the bleeding, but it was no use. A wolf could survive many things but a bullet wound directly to the heart was fatal no matter the strength of the person.
Tatiana was dead. The woman who had left the safety of her den to fight for others had died at the hands of a coward with a long-range rifle.
“Sniper!” Avery choked out. “Get down!”
There hadn’t been a sniper yet as it had been hard for the humans to find a position, but, apparently, they’d finally found one. Now, no one would be safe. There might not be a tank like last time, but her people were falling faster and faster.
Blink.
The wolf from the infirmary with a nice smile. Gone.
Blink.
The sentry she had first talked to when she’d come to the den. Gone.
Blink.
The maternal dominant male who had helped her learn how to use her wolf for the goodness of others. Gone.
Avery’s tears salted her tongue as she dropped her now empty gun and launched herself at the nearest human who had decided her new family needed to die because of the blood that ran in their veins.
She stabbed at him with her knife, and though she now had faster reflexes, she was still too slow. The man grabbed her arm and twisted. When she called out, both Brandon and Max ran to her, claws out.
She was too new to use her claws but damn it, she didn’t want to die this way. So she kicked out, hitting the asshole right in the balls. He let out a squeak before letting go. When he doubled over, she kicked him in the head.
“Holy hell, Avery,” Max said with a pained grimace. “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”
She opened her mouth to say something equally as inappropriate, but then the world went bright white before going black.
She pried open her eyes and screamed out in horror. The bomb that had gone off had sent so many of her family in different directions, she didn’t know where to look. Brandon lay off to her side, struggling to get up.
Parker and Blake were too far away to have been hit by the blast, but they were running toward the melee.
But what made her scream was not her mates, but the one wolf who could always make her smile.
Max lay on his back, blood pooling around him on the grass, turning the green to rust. McMaster stood above him, a knife in his hand as he slashed at the unconscious wolf, a gleeful smile on his face.
“You’re an abomination!” McMaster yelled. “Your kind is the reason our people are dying!” He slashed again.
Bile filled Avery’s throat as she moved through the pain and saw Max’s prone body in full. He no longer had any of his right arm below his elbow, as the blast must have taken it. But the wounds on his chest were worse as McMaster slashed and cut.
Why wasn’t anyone shooting at him? Why couldn’t anyone help? Her ears rang, and she knew others were coming toward them, but it wouldn’t be quick enough. There wouldn’t be enough time.
So she did the only thing she could.
She somehow found the strength to stand before leaping on McMaster’s back. The man screamed and, thankfully, fell to the side and not on top of Max. The man who had been the root of so many of their problems rolled over and tried to get up, but his eyes widened as both of them realized what he’d fallen on.
The knife he’d used to hurt Max now lay embedded in his chest, his own life’s blood pooling around the two of them.
“They’ll know what you’ve done,” McMaster spat, blood flowing from his mouth. “I’ll still win.”
“You’ll be dead.” She punched him in the face before staggering to Max, knowing there wasn’t a lot of time. She cupped his face before reaching down and praying she’d find a pulse. When she felt the beat of his heart, she let out a sob and took off her jacket to staunch as much of the blood as possible.
“Walker!” she yelled. “We need you!” She had no idea if the Healer was even still alive. She only knew that Max wouldn’t survive without him.
Brandon fell to her side, blood and cuts covering his body and he pressed his hands down over hers. “Walker’s coming, Avery. Walker’s coming.”
Parker ran past her, Blake right behind him as they made sure McMaster was dead. “He’s dead. Killed by his own knife.”
The man who had orchestrated it all was dead, yet Max still bleeding beneath her hands. Bullets still firing over her head. Why wasn’t it over?
“I don’t know what to do,” Avery whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”
Parker leaned forward. “Walker’s almost here,” he whispered.
“Parker!” Blake yelled. “Get down!”
Then Avery was pushed onto Max as Parker slammed into her, Blake on top of both of them.
Avery knew that no matter how long she lived—if she survived this battle—she would never forget Parker’s scream.
Never.