Second chance love

E i g h t e e n

Darren could feel the heady mix of anxiety and aggression coming off his pack in waves as he and Finn looked at the wolves in front of them. 

“This might not have started as our fight, but it is now. As some of you know, Caleb came to us after his pack was viciously and brutally ripped apart by the bunch of animals known as Black Hart.” Darren let the murmurs die down before continuing. “Some of you might not be aware, however, that my sister Holly and Caleb are fated mates. We have accepted Caleb into our pack, so we would have taken on his fight regardless, but this,” he gestured at Caleb and a blushing Holly who was wrapped in her mates arms, “this makes it my fight.”

He looked around and watched as the pack steeled themselves. 

“We will defeat Black Hart. For their actions before, for their arrogance in thinking they can come onto our lands without a fight, and to defend their future targets. Nobody shall suffer again at the hands of these monsters.”

The rumbles of agreement echoed through the pack, the low growls of the wolves adding a touch of menace. At that moment, the south border patrols let Darren know Black Hart was in sight of the border. 

“It’s go time,” said Darren, “warrior team, you’re with me.”

Caleb looked at his little mate settled into the crook of his arm. “Time to go babe,” he said, kissing the top of her head. He was going with the warrior team, and she was staying behind with the second team. She tightened her arms around his middle and breathed in his scent, before he turned to leave. Lisa came to stand next to Holly and grabbed hold of her hand. Finn was in the warrior team too. They stood and watched their mates head to battle with the most vicious and bloodthirsty pack of wolves in the country. Holly sent up a silent prayer to the moon goddess to watch over her mate. She didn’t think she could stand to lose him; she had only just found him. 

***

The warriors advanced silently into the southern parklands, staying downwind and sticking to the shadows. The sun was beginning to set behind them, giving them the advantage of not having it glaring at them, and giving them the cover they needed. It was also fortunate that they happened to be downwind, as the stronger trackers could smell the stale scent of blood mixed with semen. The pack must have found some fresh victims between them and Wave Lodge. Finn felt the anger bubble up inside him and repressed the urge to growl. He felt Darren tense beside him as he had to do the same. 

“Hold it lads, they’re coming straight towards us,” the voice of the Alpha came through via mindlink, “This won’t be easy, but we have the best advantage we could have hoped for. Just wait for my signal.”

At that moment, a laugh came through on the wind, bitter and full of venom. 

“You know, I half hope that mutt Caleb didn’t end up here,” came a voice that matched the laugh, “this little killing jaunt across the country has been a blast, don’t you think Tony?!” Again, the venomous laugh followed, with a rumbling of similar noises accompanying it. 

“f**k off Ralph,” came a deep and terrifying voice that must have belonged to Tony, “that bastard killed my Beta. I will have his head, and anyone else who even thinks of getting in my way is just collateral damage. His stupid slut of a sister has a lot of death on her hands.” 

“Well she would have if you hadn’t tore her head from her shoulders!” Laughed the first voice. 

Caleb could hold it in no longer, his wolf burst through and he charged towards the voices with an ear splitting roar. 

“Oh s**t!” Breathed out Finn, and Darren roared commands to the other wolves, the sounds of bones shifting and clothes tearing being muffled by the roars of the warriors following their newest member into battle. 

***

“Oh god!” Gasped Lisa, and Holly trembled from head to toe. Not only did the second team hear Caleb’s wolf roar, but Holly felt the heartbreak, and was slowly losing control of Lacey. 

“We need to help him Holly, don’t let us just stand here!” Lacey pleaded with Holly, and she couldn’t think of any reason not to give her full control. 

She glanced at Lisa, who was going through a similar argument with her wolf. The girls eyes connected, and with a swift nod of the head, they took off towards the sound of the fighting, shifting as they ran, ignoring the calls from the second team warriors and thinking only of their mates. 

They could smell the fighting before they could see it. The metallic bitterness in the air mixed with the sweat from the battling wolves was overwhelming the senses of the two girls as they raced to help their mates. Even without their heightened wolf senses, they would have been able to smell the fighting and hear the howling from a distance. 

Holly scanned the area, then her heart skipped a beat as she spotted Caleb’s wolf. He was fighting off two large wolves with such fury that she would have trembled in fear were he not her mate. Lacey sped towards the smaller of the two attacking wolves and snapped her teeth at one of their hind legs. As she made contact with flesh, she heard Caleb’s wolf Blake roar as the second wolf made a move towards her. 

Lacey spotted the larger wolf’s eyes widen and the nostrils flare, then the next thing she felt was a sharp jolt to her hind leg. Then the same pain in the other leg. She looked down to notice two different wolves had sunk their teeth into her back legs. She howled in pain and tried to shake her legs free. 

The larger wolf let out an almighty roar, and Blake charged at him while he was off guard. He tore a hunk of flesh out of his belly, and snapped his teeth at his face. He was aware of a dull aching coming from the centre of his chest but he knew he had the upper hand so he ignored it, focusing on tearing chunks out of the Alpha that was becoming weaker by the second in front of him. 

Lisa and Finn had taken the other two wolves that had flanked the enemy Alpha, and as they both fell to the ground, dead by the wounds inflicted upon them, the pair turned to see Caleb’s wolf rip the head of the Alpha clean off his neck, just as they heard their own Alpha howl as the battle was won. 

Blake spat the remains of the head out, and felt a sharp pain to his heart. He shifted, and a naked Caleb was bent over almost double clutching his chest. 

“HOLLY!” Boomed the voice of their Alpha. Finn flinched to hear the pain in Darren’s voice as he shifted back, Lisa quickly running to his side. 

Caleb reached her first. She was laying on her side between the bodies of two wolves, still and silent. Caleb reached his hand out tentatively, smoothing her hair out of her face, as Darren picked up the bodies with ease and tossed them to the side. He let out an audible gasp as he noticed that one of the wolves was hiding the fact that her right leg had been torn off at the knee, and her other leg was bent at an unnatural angle. 

Caleb began muttering something to Holly who looked as white as a ghost. Suddenly, her eyes flickered open, just as the pack doctor reached them. Darren must have called him via mind-link for him to arrive so quickly. Soon, Darren had shifted back into his wolf as Holly was strapped to his back, and was racing off towards the local hospital. It was run primarily for and by humans, but there were a few wolf doctors and surgeons that worked there, so they would use it in extreme emergencies. 

This was one of them.