“Soon,” Viola’s voice hissed, “all you love will be ground under my heel. Prepare yourself.”
The video ended, leaving a distraught and confused anchor gaping at the camera. My family was in danger. I was the alpha. If they were going to fall, they would fall with me at their side.
“Sinthy, take me back. Teleport me home.” I turned to look at Diego and my two friends. “Are you ready to fight?”
Luis gritted his teeth and nodded to me. “I was born ready.”
“You aren’t going without me,” Maddy said.
I shook my head. “No, it’ll be too dangerous. You stay here.”
“Bull-fucking-shit!” she screamed and shoved her hands into my chest.
I stumbled backward, recoiling at the strength of her alpha aura. It pulsed out of her like heat from a fire. Luis, Diego, Felipe, and even Donatello went to their knees, unable to stop themselves. Even my own wolf, a strong alpha in its own right, wavered and almost succumbed to her strength.
“I’m going. You don’t get to ride off into battle without me. Understand?” Maddy looked like a demon from hell as she spoke.
“Me too,” Abi said from the corner of the room. She stepped forward and took Maddy’s hand.
There was no time to argue. The wards could fall any second. I hissed my anger but grabbed them both, pulling them close.
I looked into Maddy’s eyes. “When we get there, you go straight to the house. You got it? You and the baby stay safe. That is the only thing that matters. Promise me.”
She nodded. “I promise.”
“I’ll make sure she stays,” Abi added.
I grabbed Sinthy’s hand, and the others stepped forward, even, to my surprise, Donatello.
“Don?” I didn’t know what else to say.
He shrugged. “I’ve fought from the shadows long enough. It’s time to get my hands… er… paws a little dirty.”
“Screw it,” I said. I looked at Maxwell. “He comes too.”
Sinthy clutched the man’s arm in her free hand. A moment later, we were hurtling through time and space, ripping into whatever strange passageway Sinthy opened for us. My anger and fear overrode whatever discomfort usually came from teleporting. We stumbled in the grass as we arrived in the pack lands.
Before we could even register that we were back, I heard a hissing whistle overhead. My eyes snapped toward the sky and locked on the smoke trail behind a massive missile that coursed through the air above us. I actually saw it hit the dome of the wards. The flash made me temporarily blind, and the shockwave knocked us all off our feet. It sounded like the end of the world. Like time itself had been cracked in half.
Sensing my presence, my pack started rushing toward us. My mother, father, and brothers were among the first to get to me. They all looked terrified, but they hugged me briefly. There wasn’t time for a drawn-out reunion.
I grabbed my mom’s arm. “Take Maddy, Abi, and this guy. Get them to the house. No time for questions. Get them somewhere safe,” I said, gesturing to the three of them.
Mom didn’t hesitate or ask any questions; she hustled all of them forward and rushed toward the house. Gabriella burst out of the crowd that was rapidly surrounding us and ran up beside me, digging her nails into my shoulder.
“I’m going with them. I’ll protect them as long as I can if it comes to that.” She stared into my eyes with a fierce intensity. “I will give up my life for Maddy. Believe that and know that she’s protected. You fight. Don’t worry about her.”
Without another word, she was gone, shifting into her wolf form and galloping toward the house. My rage was beyond anything I could describe. It was like lava had replaced my blood.
“Nico?” Sinthy called.
I turned. Her palm was flattened on the ground. “What?”
“I don’t think I can rebuild the wards fast enough. Not with the attacks coming so strongly and quickly. I’m not sure I have the energy or power.” She gave a sad shake of her head. “The next strike will cause a catastrophic failure of the spells. The… the wards will fall.”
My hands bunched into fists, shaking at my sides. I pulled my shoulders back and shouted out above the noise of the crowd. “Lorenzo pack? Are you ready to fight? Will you defend your home?”
The yells that answered me were nearly as loud as the exploding missile. Tiago, Norman, and the other alphas we’d brought shouted back as well. The look in their eyes told me they would fight for us, for the ones who’d offered shelter from the storm that had still managed to find them.
