Sacrifice of Love

“Save your energy, Alpha,” Reyaz huffed as he flicked his hand at Decebel and pushed him to the ground. “You will have your time to throw a fit and act like the furry beast that you are.”

“We’re here, brother. Get on with your games,” Cypher spoke up.

“How long has it been, brother?” Reyaz asked regally. “How long since you betrayed me?”

Cypher shook his head. “I did nothing of the sort and we have been over this a hundred times, so unless you have a new argument let’s not rehash. Let us just get on with this hunt so that we can save our females.”

Reyaz frowned, unhappy about Cypher’s unwillingness to engage in the argument. “Fine. It is good that you brought the wolves; their noses will come in handy. You will not hear your mates because of the spell that I have put on them. Once you have found the first two females you will not be able to move on until you have rescued one of them. You needn't wonder when the hunt will be concluded. I have a wonderful grand finale planned.” His eyes landed on Decebel and the Alpha visibly tensed.

Peri looked at her sister and for an instant her heart ached for her, but then she remembered all the terrible things she had done. “How did you remember the forest?”

“Reyaz needed a place for his hunt, so I did some searching in the archives. You can only imagine my surprise when I ran across this little tidbit. I couldn’t believe how well that spell had worked. None of us remembered in the slightest about this place.” She turned to Vasile then and a knowing smile appeared. “There is a surprise here that I think you most of all will appreciate.”

“Happy hunting,” Reyaz said and then he and Lorelle were gone.

“Am I the only one who wants to see that mofo’s head on a spike?” Peri grumbled.

“I’ll cut it off, if you’ll hold him down,” Adam said.

Peri smiled at him and then turned to Vasile, “Do your wolf thing and sniff out our girls.”

“Keep your eyes open and pay attention. There is no telling what Reyaz might have planned for us,” Vasile told the group.

“I suggest we stay in our human forms if at all possible,” Decebel added.

Vasile nodded his agreement. Then without another word, he headed off into the forest. It was Fane who picked up the first scent. He let out a low growl and his eyes began to glow wolf blue. “Jacquelyn,” his voice rumbled as he spoke her name.

“Which way Fane,” Vasile asked.

Fane pointed and then took off at a dead sprint.

“Crap,” Peri yelled. “Didn’t someone warn the crazy wolf about running off halfcocked into a freaking dark forest?”

They all took off after Fane. Decebel motioned for them to spread out.

Fane felt his gut tighten as he ran. He could smell her and it broke something inside of him. It had been so long since he’d seen her and so long since he’d held her, and he was desperate for the sight of her. His legs pushed hard and his arms pumped at his side. He felt the warm wind on his face and the sting of branches as they whipped at his skin as he flew past. He welcomed the pain of the slapping branches because it proved to him that he was alive. When he saw her standing there surrounded by trees, hair wild, and skin flushed, he could have sworn that he had died. She was alive and in one piece!

“Jacquelyn!” He bellowed and felt his chest tighten with emotions so strong they threatened to crush him under their weight. He watched as her head turned and her eyes met his. Her face lit into a smile and it was so beautiful, so heart stoppingly beautiful that he just wanted to bask in its glory. She started towards him but then something caught her eye because she turned her head and he saw her eyes widen with fear. When she looked back at him she started shaking her head frantically. She flung her arms at him telling him to go back but there was no way in hell he was leaving now that he’d found her.

Jacque couldn’t believe what she was seeing. First she had been shocked to see Fane, and then she saw the others running with him and knowing they were rescued had been enough to nearly have her jumping up and down doing some wild, crazy, soul bearing dance, but then she had seen something that made her heart stop.

She didn’t know how to describe them, but zombies was the first word to come to mind. Their skin was pale and bluish, tinged as if they had been deprived of oxygen, for like, ever. Their eyes were glassy and lined with red blood vessels. The only thing that differed from their T.V. counterparts was that these zombies were not stiff and sluggish. These zombies were swift and precise in their attack, which Jacque took to mean that they were definitely being controlled and that dark magic was involved. They looked like the dead brought to life, and as stupid as that sounded, she was a freaking werewolf so, really, how far of a stretch was it for zombies to be real? There were hundreds of them, maybe even more. Her eyes flew to the group of men running towards them hell bent on saving them and she didn’t see how they could defeat such a huge army. She started waving at them to turn back but it just made them run faster: damn stubborn werewolves, and fae, and warlocks, and what the crap she thought as she saw the pixie king jumping from tree to tree like Tarzan. She also saw another male that she recognized as a troll, though she didn’t know who he was since she’d only met one troll so far in her, what appeared to be, short life.

She turned to tell Alina to help her and her eyes widened as she saw Lorelle standing off to the side with Alina. Lorelle was speaking calmly to Alina and no matter how hard Jacque tried to listen, she couldn’t hear a thing. She watched as Alina’s eyes went cold and her jaw tensed as Lorelle handed her something wrapped up in a cloth. Alina slipped it into the back of her pants under her shirt. She gave Lorelle one last look before she turned to Jacque and started walking towards her.

“What was that about?” Jacque asked her. She started to ask her about whatever it was that Lorelle had handed her but then decided if Alina wanted her to know then she would tell her.

Alina’s eyes locked onto the scene beyond Jacque as she answered, “Just Lorelle being Lorelle.”

“A bitch?” Jacque growled.

“Jacque, we’re female wolves; let’s not give her such a compliment.”

Jacque felt the grin spread across her face. Man, she had the coolest mother-in-law.

“Now, shall we go help our men?” Alina motioned towards the males who were now in battle with the zombies.