Chapter 51
Isabella
Though the path to Rogue Territory was difficult to find, the trail of my blood made it easier. I led Roman’s entire pack through the forest so we could save Jane and Raj before the rogues killed them.
Hundreds of paws pounded against the forest floor, thunderous like the sound of the rain. But this time the paws belonged to Roman’s wolves, wolves from my pack, wolves that I trusted.
The closer we got to their territory, the more stray rogues were walking through the forest, rogues so weak that I picked them off one by one and didn’t stop until we were near their borders.
About half a mile ahead of us, the stone wall was guarded heavily. I stopped, and everyone behind me stopped, even Roman. He wanted me to lead because—I was assuming—he wanted to show me that he trusted me, that he wanted me back for good. The frightened look in his eyes told me that this was the most difficult thing he’d ever face, but he didn’t complain about it.
We ducked behind some trees to stay out of sight. Just like I had done so many times with Ryker, I commanded that the group surround the borders. There weren’t many of us as I had hoped since we still needed to protect the borders at home, but I had to make it work.
When everyone was in position, I turned to Vanessa. She was not the person I wanted for this job; she would probably fuck it up for me, but Roman insisted. “You know what to do, right?” I asked her.
She gulped and gazed over at the wall. She had drawn Moonflowers on her arm with sharpie before we had left, pretending to be a Lycan. “Yes,” she said quietly. “Anything for Jane.”
I gazed over at Roman who stood a few trees away.“You sure she’s the right person for this. I can—”
“She is.”
I raised a brow at him. She was the fastest runner in the warriors, according to Roman. I didn’t believe it, but I needed to believe it. She was our only hope. I pushed her toward the wolves and watched her walk toward them.
Slowly, she approached the rogues. She was to get their attention, get them to chase her, so I could kill each one of them. When she was a few trees away from the stone wall, she intentionally broke a branch under her foot. “Opps.”
Opps, my ass.
Every rogue at the borders turned in her direction. They paused for a moment, then saw the Lycan tattoos on her arm and immediately raced her way. She better be fast and not fuck this up.
All she had to do was run all the way back to our pack and not stop once.
She stood there, waiting, then just as one was about to snatch her, she turned on her heel and ran through the woods as quickly as she could. She whizzed by me, and I listened to that pounding of paws against dirt.
When they all past me, I waited a few moments. Then I hopped out from behind the tree, slapped a hand over the slowest rogue’s mouth so he couldn’t scream, and cut his throat with my claws. Killing him instantly.
I followed behind the group. Picking them off one by one while the rest of Roman’s pack moved into the borders to fight anyone inside of the stone walls. Through the mindlink Roman gave the orders to the pack, the exact ones I had given him earlier, leading like the true alpha he was.
Vanessa ran faster than I thought she could without faltering. After fifteen minutes of running through the mud, the rogues began to notice that their friends were missing. One turned around, saw me kill his friend, and howled. The rest of them stopped chasing Vanessa and turned on me.
She looked at me with fear in her eyes. “Go!” I said to her, she would get killed this way. She shook her head and sprinted at one of the men. Then she jumped into the air and sank her teeth into his neck.
In a moment of pure chaos, the rogues turned to and sprinted at both of us. Foam dripped from their mouths, rainwater matted their ratty fur, corruption flared within their dark eyes. I bared my bloodied teeth at them and latched onto one as he leapt toward me. Slamming him into the ground, ripping out his neck, watching—only for a moment—as he cried out to the Moon Goddess and shifted into his human;dead.
While Vanessa took on one rogue by herself, I took on the other two. Throwing back my hind leg, I kicked one straight in the jaw and sunk my canines into the one in front of me. They both whimpered, but I wasn’t finished. They would not only pay for their sins, but they’d pay for Ryker’s too.
My claws dug into one of their undersides, swiping over and over, creating gash after gash, soaking my paws in his blood. It was what I had trained for since I was four, since Luna Raya believed in me, since old man Beck used to tell me his war stories.
Vanessa spit out a jugular, growled in my direction, then leapt over me to kill the last rogue. She tore his ear off, smacked her paw into the side of his face, and murdered him in cold blood.
Vanessa stood over one of the dead wolves and looked at me, gaze lingering on my side. Though it was still bleeding profusely, I couldn’t feel it anymore. All I felt was the potent urge to protect. Protect myself. Protect Vanessa. Protect my mate. Protect my pack members.
When we shifted into our humans, she clamped down on my wound to stop the bleeding. “How can I help you?” she asked, brows furrowed. I smiled at her and winced. Despite everything, she was actually improving as a warrior. And a small part—a very small part—of me was actually happy that she was training. She could protect herself now.
“Find me some pine-sap, I’ll be by the stream fifty-yards ahead washing the wound out.” I grasped my side. With fresh stream water and pine-sap, I washed and sealed the wound as best as I could. At least I learned something when I worked at the hospital. Dr. Jakkobs would be proud.
Growls from Rogue Territory echoed through the woods, and my stomach turned. The rogues that Vanessa and I killed weren’t nearly as many rogues that chased us earlier. There had to be hundreds of them, hiding out in this darkness, that Roman and his pack were fighting.
“I need you to go back to the packhouse and ready Dr. Jakkobs and my Mom for our arrival back home. Make sure they’re waiting at the borders and make sure the hospital has as many free beds available.”
