“Bout time you showed up,”Olivia says.
“Yeah,”Mia says, springing right over the back of another wolf.“We were worried you were about to miss all the fun.”
They can understand each other, which means they can mind-link too. I guess that’s cool. I’m totally not even jealous that they got there faster than me and Jasper.
The five of us leave the forest, bursting through the tree line and arriving on the northwest side of camp. Over to my right, the retreat is in absolute chaos. Both sides have lost any sense of formation. Rogues, Elite and Rocky Pack wolves are all mixed up with the Axis Pack. It’s a total free-for-all. The destruction is immense, from cabins with the walls knocked down and windows smashed, to the canoe shed, which is literally on fire.The ground is brown slush, and everyone is covered in mud or blood––or both.
I can’t tell from here who has the upper hand. There’s too much chaos, too many wolves just biting and snapping at whoever comes near them.
“Little help!?”I hear Mason cry and turn to find him on the bank of the river, struggling on the pebble beach where I once swam with Aisha.
I motion to my little group to follow, and we swiftly descend on the ten or so wolves who are backing Mason into the water. We take them out quickly, almost savagely, not sparing a moment to stop and think, only wanting to save our friend. Omar is especially vicious and once he’s dispensed with the two or three Axis wolves in his way, he’s the first to run into the water to check that Mason is okay. He uses his head to lift Mason’s, inspecting his neck for wounds then licking the side of his face.
Together we bound into the fray.
Enemy wolves come at us from all sides, but we’ve become our own battalion, my friends and I. In a tight circular formation, we move through the camp, helping any wolves on our side who need it.
Near the edge of the cabins, we come across Todd, who takes out a couple of Axis wolves then joins us.
“Hey Cuz, where are we heading?”Omar asks.
Up ahead I spot Jasper fighting alongside Morven, Mal, and Salazar. I wonder what it’s like for Mal to be shoulder to shoulder in the trenches with the pack wolf who invaded the sanctuary, but I don’t have time to dwell on that thought. The Axis wolves are reforming an offensive line, a crescent shape, driving our wolves toward the lodge.
It seems every wolf still standing has left the woods and we’re all here out in the open, drenched in moonlight, fighting fang and claw, in this place that’s usually a beacon of hope. It seemsincongruous to me that there is so much pain and suffering, so much violence, when usually this camp would be full of hopeful young wolves just looking to find a soulmate.
I seethe at that thought. At these Axis wolves who are destroying the sanctity of this place, coming for our way of life because of one man’s thirst for power. One man who ... I freeze in the middle of the battlefield.
While my battalion of friends speeds on, leaping into the fray, I stay where I’m put. I turn in a circle, scanning every wolf in sight, reaching out, searching, trying to find the man responsible for this bloodshed. But ... he’s not here.
I can’t sense Walter anywhere on the battlefield. In all the mayhem I hadn’t even thought to look for him. But if his troops are here, shouldn’t he be here as well?
Unless ... Up ahead the Alpha’s Lodge rises like a castle on a hill. An impenetrable fortress, surrounded by some of our strongest warriors. But even they’re under attack now and struggling to keep back the tide. Could Walter be somewhere in hiding, waiting for his moment to strike, to infiltrate Jericho’s room and take him out personally?
Has this whole war been a distraction?
We’ve already been tricked once. Have we been fooled again?
“Guys,”I call out to my friends.“Can you cover me?”
Aisha, Omar, Mason, Olivia, Mia, and Todd make a circle around me. Protected, I dig my claws into the soil, close my eyes, and reach.
My consciousness zooms across the battlefield, ignoring the melee and the bloodshed, into the lodge and to Jericho’s room, which is ... empty?
There’s no one there. The bed where I saw Jericho laid up is perfectly made, the sheets untouched. A heart monitor stands beside it unplugged, monitoring nothing.
The lights are off and the air still.
Where the fuck is Jericho?
And more importantly ... where is Walter?!
THE LUNA’SWARNING
“Jasper!”I call, and across the battlefield he looks up, turning his head to try and find me. We lock eyes through the haze of smoke and mud splatter.“Where is your father?”
Jasper’s wolf face tightens, his lips pulling back.“I’m sorry, Max.”
“What do you mean?”
