Alex's POV
I was sitting in the car with Liam. I knew he wanted to start a conversation and justify his actions, but I didn’t want to listen to him. Nothing in this world could justify his behavior. We had an agreement, we were supposed to treasure and cherish our bond with our mate, but he ruined everything. Now the only person who deserves his justification is Lydia.
The flight to Slovenia was short, but it seemed to me like an eternity. When we arrived in Ljubljana, Damir was waiting for us there, Damir Malik was my friend and the alpha of Stone Moon pack.
According to Lady Alexia's calculations, Lydia was somewhere between Velenje and Celje. That's why we got into SUVs that Damir will provide for us.
I did not want to endanger Damir and his pack, so I told him to stay away, but my friend was stubborn and decided to come with us and his twenty best warriors. Two hundred and fifty wolves, led by the alpha Damir Malik and his pack, live in Slovenia.
When we arrived twenty kilometers from Celje, we waited for darkness to fall to cover our tracks. Lady Alexia gave us amulets to cover our scent.
I wrapped Lydia's scarf around my wrist and inhaled her scent. Her scent calmed me and helped me concentrate. I held her bracelet in my hand and chanted the spell.
I tried a few times, but nothing happened.
After ten minutes, I let out a furious growl.
Liam approached me and grabbed my hand that hold Lydia's bracelet.
"Let me help you, please."
I just nodded. I couldn't refuse the help he offered me to find our mate. The anger I felt for him for breaking our bond was gone. Yet he is my twin, even our wolves are brothers. And I knew that when I was in danger, I could only rely on him.
We both started chanting the same spell, at first nothing happened, and then the link we created together with Lydia started to open. The only thing I could see was my beautiful mate standing in the middle of the room surrounded by a shield of fire. But soon after, I started to feel the energy that Lydia was broadcasting and we headed in that direction.
"Does she feel pain as this fire surrounds her?" Liam asked.
"No, it is a gene that she inherited from her father, fire is her element." Lady Alexia said.
"She's really doing a good job with that shield, how much time she has left until shield gives up?"
"A few more hours, but the energy she emits so Alex can follow her and the power she uses to maintain the shield will make her exhausted and weakened."
It was almost midnight when we reached the seemingly abandoned castle in the woods. The magic was so strong that it was felt in the air even before we approached the protective magic shield set up by Theodore.
The plan was for Lady Alexia and Duke Drago to come out in front of the castle and trick Theodore out of the castle so that Liam and I could sneak up from the back of the castle and find Lydia.
The warriors of Duke Drago surrounded the castle in the first line, while the warriors led by Damian were in the second line of defense, Alfa Damir took the third line of defense with some of my trackers and Liam's warriors.
Using the spells given to us by Lady Alexia, Liam and I and our warriors masked our scents.
Liam's warriors shift into their wolves, while my trackers remained in human form. Liam and I kept our human form.
"No matter what, protect our mate, save her." I told Liam.
"I will protect her with my life if necessary."
"I know, brother, I know." I said patting him on the shoulder.
"I'll make things right, I promise."
"I am not the one who needs a promise and an apology."
Liam wanted to say something, but Simon interrupted us.
"Everything is ready with Lady Alexia, Damian will send us a signal when we can go."
A few minutes later Damian appeared behind a bush and said go now.
Liam and I just headed for the back of the castle with Simon and our warriors. Theodore managed to gather around him sam rogue wolves and vampires who did not belong to the kingdom.
Liam got into a fight with the Vampires while I fought the wolves. It was not easy to kill a vampire or a wolf in full force, and the rogues did not obey the commands of their superiors.
One of the wolves jumped on me in his wolf form, but my training was military, I was training to be in the King’s Guard, alpha in full strength, while this wolf was weakened without a pack and lower status than me.
I took my knife from my belt and plunged it into the wolf's heart, throwing his lifeless body off me. If you want to kill a wolf, the only way to do that is to stab it with a silver knife through the heart. Instant death.
I took care of a few more wolves freeing the passage to the stairs, when I was sure no one would attack me again I turned to Liam and stared in amazement at my brother who made sure to take off the heads of the two vampires with one swing of his katana.
Unlike wolves whose only weakness was silver, vampires rarely had anything that could cause fatal injuries, so it was clear with them, cut off their heads and you know they are dead.
Humans believe that vampires are killed by silver, poles or garlic, which is pure nonsense. People don’t really know that vampires are Lycifer’s children. They are not actually walking dead, they are immortal because of the genes they inherited from their immortal parents. But they are cursed to never walk in the sun, that only human blood can quench their thirst. But the Moon Goddess was kind to them, giving them the gift of walking in the sun, but that only the first rising sun could burn them. She gave them beloveds, their soul mates. Someone to live with. To share their immortality.
One of the vampires attacked Liam from behind. In less than two seconds I found myself behind him and ripped his head off his shoulder. Liam smiled and winked at me, his silver knife flew past me and sank into the heart of a vampire who wanted to attack me, with one movement of his sword I separated his head from my shoulder and continued with Liam up the stairs.
There was a bloody battle going on outside judging by the mind link I got from the members of my pack.
We passed a few doors and finally reached the end of the hallway from where the magic came the strongest. Liam kicked open the door and we both entered the room ready to fight, however the room was empty.
There were no rogues, no vampires, not even witches. In the middle of the room stood my lovely mate wrapped in a shield of fire. Her eyes were closed, I assumed she could see through the mind link what was going on outside.
Liam and I hurried over to her, we passed through her shield not feeling the fire but only the strong heat.
When I touched her arm she jerked and opened her eyes.
"Alex, Liam, my mates, you have come." She said and collapsed on the floor.
Liam was quick and grabbed her in his arms, the shield came down and Liam took her out of the room. I walked beside him as he carried her out of the castle in his arms.
When we went outside in the field around the old castle, the lifeless bodies of wolves and vampires were lying, some dark witches were dead, some were captured, and the rest of the survivors were kneeling before Lady Alexia and Duke Drago.
Theodore's lifeless body lay on the ground at the feet of Duke Drago.
Liam gently lowered Lydia to her feet. "Are you OK? Can you stand?" He asked worriedly.
"I'm fine now, I'm just tired and weak, I used too much magic to keep the shield strong and to keep in touch with you."
I walked behind her and hugged her.
"Thank heavens you're fine." I dipped my face into her neck and took a deep breath of her scent.
The next few minutes passed in a daze. Lady Alexia and Duke Drago hugged Lydia happy that everything was fine with her, then Damian joined them.
When the family reunion was over, Simon came to Lydia and told her: "I was honored to meet you Luna."
Damir suggested that we spend the rest of the night in his pack because dawn was coming soon. Which we all gladly accepted because we were too tired to travel.
"Dad", said Lydia, "I would ride with Alex, if you don't mind."
"Of course not, babygirl."
I took her hand and led her to the truck, when she turned to Liam with her hand outstretched.
"Are you coming?"
Surprise clearly flooded Liam's face, he looked at me quickly and was seen over his face that he was waiting for my permission, when I nodded he took her hand and the three of us got into the truck and headed for Damir's pack.