Jaxon burst through the trees, tendrilsof fog falling away from his body, and stretched to a halt in front of us. Hetook in the sight of Avery whimpering on the ground and I will never forget thelook on his face. Technically Jaxon and Avery weren’t mates but in his mind,they were. He loved her more than he let on and he planned to marry her oneday. Mate or not. Ability to have children or not. She was his chosen soulmate.As his twin, I was privy to this knowledge but never brought it up or shared itwith Avery because he never told me. There were certain privacies we allowedeach other even though we saw a lot through our special bond. Seeing her now,like this, it tore him in two. Which tore me in two as well.
“Can I touch her?” His voice cracked withemotion and Gretchen immediately nodded. Another spurt of gunfire shot acrossthe space, making us all flinch as my brother stepped to Avery’s side andlifted her up, cradling her neck with his arm.
Just then, Saben walked through the fog.“The last witch ran off. Where did they find this coven? Online?”
I guess Gretchen wasn’t the only one notimpressed with these witches’ lack of ability. Good, it meant the governmentdidn’t really have that much pull on their side as far as the magical communitywas concerned.
In one swift motion Jaxon pulled thedrone remote from his back pocket and tossed it to Saben. “Finish getting thefootage, I’m taking Avery to the car.”
I saw my brother retreat into the fog andguilt opened inside of me, gnawing at my gut.‘I’m sorry. I should haveprotected her. It happened so fast and the fog–’
He interrupted my mental ramble.‘It’snot your fault,’was all he said, but I could feel his concern for Averywas slowly eating away at him.
“Anya!” I heard my father yell deepwithin the fog, his voice was brimming with panic.
At the sound of his frightened voice, Idropped the bolt cutters and plowed through the large hole in the fence.
“Dad!” I screamed frantically. Was hehurt? Was my mom hurt? Aunt Emma? Oh God.
The fog slowly lifted and I ground to ahalt at what I saw. Blood and death … guards lay on the ground, riddled withbullets. Alexa’s body lying at a contorted angle with a six-foot pool of blood spreadaround her body. Another wolf I didn’t recognize was absolutely shredded withbullets. He must have been from another pack.
Movement to my right caught my eye and Isaw my dad carrying Aunt Emma in his arms. Her shoulder was stained with bloodand I counted at least four holes.
“No!” A garbled scream tore from mythroat. Avery was in a nightmare coma and now her mother was bleeding out. No.I wouldn’t accept this.
“Where’s Avery? We need a medic!” Dadscreamed. I saw his eyes roam over my body cataloging any injuries there. Mineweren’t the bleeding kind.
“A dark witch put Avery into a nightmaresleep. But Gretchen is here,” I told him.
As if she knew she was needed, Gretchenblasted past me with Jameson, one of our powerful warlocks and my dad depositedAunt Emma into his arms. All I could think about was how I had seen two wolvesdead and Mama said three would die. Avery lost her father before she was born,she wouldn’t survive losing her mother. None of us would. Emma was the gluethat held the entire pack together. I couldn’t conceive of anything right now.Jameson and Gretchen retreated back through the hole in the gate and that’swhen I heard the engine of a semi-truck. The fog had fully lifted now and turning,I saw Gavin back right over the tall hedged bushes we had climbed through toget here as he parked the rig only a few feet from the gate. Muriel ran forwardto help him open the back doors and I sighed in relief at seeing my mate aliveand well.
“Anya!” My mother’s voice pulled myattention and I turned to see her barreling toward me. She crashed into me,giving me a tight squeeze and then pulled back to check my hair, my face, mybody, for any injuries.
“I’m okay. Jaxon, too,” I told my mom. Icould see the pack was trickling out of the containers now. They looked dirty,hungry, and broken.
My father was holding a semi-automaticrifle and now he turned to face everyone. “I’ve been too soft on the humans!” heroared. “They are no longer a people I recognize.”
The wolves nodded and I found myselffrantically scanning the crowd for my family. Aunt Diya, Uncle Max. I needed toknow everyone was okay. My father held up his gun and pointed it at a largewhite shipping container. A menacing look came over his face, giving hisfeatures a haunting look. “The remaining guards and scientists have boardedthemselves inside there. Karl is also in there being drained of blood as wespeak. So, I’m going in there to get my wolf and I don’t intend on leaving anysurvivors.”
Whoa. My dad who had always given thehumans the benefit of the doubt … he was done. They had killed any chance oftrust between us. The surrounding wolves howled and yelled their agreement. Karlwas a newer wolf to the pack, in his early twenties. Nice guy. And we wouldnever leave anyone behind, it wasn’t our way. Uncle Max pushed his way throughthe crowd. His was covered in blood, not his own I was assuming, and he heldtwo large rifles. As he passed Uncle Trent, he gave him one of the guns and thethree men walked toward the white trailer like something out of a movie.
My mom’s face was pinched with worry butwhen she caught me looking, she cleared it and replaced it with a look of strength.
“Let’s load up into the truck. Report anywounded to me so they can get immediate medical attention,” my mom yelled tothe pack.
People began moving then, making a singlefile line into the open bed of the truck. The wounded limped over to my motherto report injuries and I just stood there, unsure of what to do. I couldn’treally move, didn’t know what to do or where to go. Avery, Aunt Emma, Alexa. Iwas frozen to the spot.
“Mom … Alexa … I’m so sorry.” I couldn’thold it together much longer, tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I thoughtof what I had done. My mom turned to face me as the wolves walked hand and handinto the back of the rig.
“Anya.” She grabbed both sides of myface. “I overheard the guards talking last night. They were ordering moremedical supplies so they could gather the blood more quickly. Then I heard oneask for a head count because he needed to order body bags.Body bags, Anya.We were days from being dead and Alexa knew that. She was a warrior. Trust me,dying in a fight against the government would have been her preferred way togo.”
Her pep talk brought a small relief, butI could see the grief in her eyes. Although it may be true, Alexa was one of akind and would be terribly missed.
A crashing sound broke my attention awayfrom my mother and I looked to the left to the big white trailer as chaosensued. Bullets snapped into the ground around my dad and Uncle Max as my dadkicked the door in and they charged the trailer.
I decided I couldn’t be here anymore.Turning, I made my way through the condensed bodies of my pack mates and wentin search of Gavin. I wanted to check on Avery and see how Aunt Emma was doing,too. We also needed to get the hell out of here as quick as possible before thegovernment sent back up in the form of SWAT trucks and helicopters.
“Anya!” my mom called out to my back.
