The Apple Of His Eye

Chapter 20 First Dawn

Ace's POV

Sadness tugged at my heart to walk away from Kaylee this morning. The farther away we drove, the more my heart ached. I could still feel her sweet kiss on my lips. The memory of last night kept replaying in my brain and thoughts of everything I wanted to do to her in the future. Like, kiss her whole body.

"Ace, earth to Ace," Alex said as he waved his hand in front of my face. "Last night was that good, huh."

"Yeah, it was far better than I had even imagined. This mate bond is no joke. I can feel her sadness," I sighed, placing a hand over my heart.

"You know, I'm mated now too," Alex replied.

"Congratulations, man, I'm happy for you,"

"Traditionally, I wanted to date Breanna and get to know her before mating, but we didn't have enough time. Our mate pull was so intense, and we didn't want to wait. Just in case something happens to me."

"Nothings going to happen. We will fight together," I said reassuringly.

We were traveling to the Valley of Ekron. The only way to enter the Northern border was to cross over the Great White Mountain Pass. My battle strategy was to cut them off in the valley before they could invade our territory. Yesterday I had sent the Northern Patrol to set up an invisible defense line. We set a string of land mines and hidden fox holes. Snipers strategically positioned in between the hills. Silver bullets loaded into our guns. Snares laced with wolfbane guarded our land. All of my warriors were given strict orders not to cross the line for any reason.

Alpha Bane was full of hate and is a lover of evil. He is arrogant and puffed up with pride. His greed overtakes him. The punishment for taking my people captive was death. I was unlike Alpha Bane, where death is never able to satisfy his cravings. He has stolen his wealth by extortion. Forcefully he made himself Commander of the Rogues, the lost wolves that should have no leader.

Today is the first step of the end of Alpha Bane's reign. The people who he stole from will now stand up and demand payment. He has shed our blood and destroyed one of our villages. Looking in the mirror and seeing my missing eye was a constant reminder of his tyranny.

I gathered my troops together in the grass so I could address them all at once. "Take no survivors. Show no mercy to the wolves who follow Alpha Bane. They will all perish before we return home. Fight to avenge your past. Fight to protect your future. Fight to protect your family. Remember that they are Rogues for a reason. Some probably have rabies and need to be put down swiftly. They are running over the crest of The Great White Mountain as we speak. No matter what, do not let the Rogues cross over our territory line."

I dismissed them each to their station. We would be scattered, hidden behind trees and boulders. We were holding the line and staying behind the wall of explosives. Before the fighting began, I want to mind-link with Kaylee.

"Hello, My Sweetness"

"Well, Hi, My Love," she replied.

I loved hearing the sound of her voice.

"My Dad, along with Breanna and Daisy, have taken a trip down to Cambria Pines. Hannah suggested that I face my fears to heal my brain."

"That's a great idea."

I am so thankful that Kaylee is in the Southern part of the kingdom, the farthest away from the battle.

"Micah is even helping us tear down our old house. We even found a key with my name on it that my Mom left me. There is a cut-out on the cement floor. I think it might be a basement."

"That's awesome."

I could see the Rogues starting to appear running down the mountainside. I didn't want to tell Kaylee what was happening or worry her.

"I love you, and I want to hear all about it tonight. I will mind-link with you later. Say a prayer for us."

"Of course, I will pray for you. I love you too, bye,"

My smile quickly faded as the sound of snarling Rogues flooded my ears. Their rotten stench became increasingly more potent. I closed off the mind-link. Alex was in charge of the second attack unit, and Lauren led the third wave of warriors over the hill. Until I give the signal, they would all stay hunkered down.

I started to hear howling from some of the Rogues falling into our fox holes. Our snares were snapping closed all over the valley. The Rogues were beginning to fall back and wait for their leader. Their technology was not as advanced as ours. Alex and I walked down into the ravine to have a closer look. Their Alpha came stumbling down the hill. Was he drunk? I could smell the wine radiating off of him. That would be part of his downfall. As he stumbled along, he pointed to where our underground land mines were located and instructed his soldiers to jump over them. One by one, they started to cross over our border.

I sent a mind-link to our archers, "Start a volley of firebombs,"  Smoke started to fill the air, and I lost sight of Alpha Bane. "Front line shift into your wolves," I mind-linked. The Rogues were coming closer to us. How is this happening? The smoke was too thick for the snipers to see. We could navigate and fight better in our wolf form. "It's all you, Nanook," I let him take over, and we shifted.

A rogue was quickly approaching my hiding spot. We had the higher ground advantage and the element of surprise. Leaping onto his head, I tore it completely off. The Rogues were no match for us. We could easily fight off three or four of them at once. After that, it was a constant stream of Rogues. I had to make sure to wound each wolf that I fought fatally. If not, because of our ability to heal quickly, I would have to fight them again. I was ripping through flesh and gnashing my teeth, leaving a trail of blood in my path. All I saw was red.

"Alex, start the second wave of attack warriors."

I turned around to see Alex surrounded by five Rogues. I rushed in and caught one by the tail, throwing him off the cliff. Grabbing another one by the throat, I slashed a hole in his abdomen, spilling his insides. Alex broke the neck of the fifth one. Another grey Rogue jump in front of me. I was about to attack when it fell over from a silver bullet to the head. Spears started to launch in our direction. They were driving us back as the enemy advanced. We were not having trouble killing the rogues, but we were running out of energy. Winning this battle was not going to be as easy as I thought it would be. I silently prayed, "Lord, please give me the strength to win this battle."

As the battle continued, we were still heavily outnumbered, almost 5 to 1. The seconds were beginning to feel like minutes, and the minutes like hours. We were becoming tired quickly as the battle raged on. As I looked around, all I saw was my fellow packmates covered in blood. I couldn't tell if it was the blood of our enemy or their own.

I looked to the valley and saw a smaller second wave of Rogues charging toward us. As if this wasn't bad enough, I was watching my men start to die. This battle was not going as I planned, and our supplies were running low.

This was my first battle as Alpha and I didn't want to fail my people. We were in desperate need of a miracle or at least a good distraction.