Her Mortal Mate

Chapter Eighteen: Caught Off Guard

Jadea

We didn’t even try to hide our approach. Lance and I took the lead, practically racing each other to the warehouse door. Working together, it wasn’t hard to get it open in our wolf forms and then we were in.

“I’ll go left, you go right,” Lance stated as we stared at the two options hesitantly.

“Works for me. Garret, Briar and Derrick, you’re with me.”

Lance separated his pack in two and led them to the left while Nikolai’s beta led the remaining Russian pack to the right with me.

“There are several passages,” Nikolai announced in our minds. He directed all of us on where we would turn in order for each group to get successfully through the maze. Right as the first wolves were through, I heard the commotion. Lights beamed on overhead, blinding us and I nearly missed the turn.

“Here they come,” Blade said, opening his mind so I could share his information. The first group to run out were a set of five wolves in their human forms. They were rushing to get to the openings in the maze. But what were they holding…?

“Blade can you see?” I demanded.

“They’ve got syringes!”

But what were they filled with!?

“That’s our cue,” Nikolai said and his group of five jumped from the rafters and gracefully landed on the ground. Right as their feet hit the pavement, they shifted into their wolves. Nikolai took out the closest, his powerful jaws tearing the unsuspecting man’s head clean off his shoulders. The syringe shattering on the ground at his feet and what he smelled had our blood running cold.

“Hellhound venom!”

The others in Nikolai’s pack who’d dropped into enemy lines were gearing up to take out the others with the vials. Only one other was successful before the rest of the enemy's pack descended.

While all of this was happening, us wolves in the maze were quickly maneuvering through without a hitch thanks to Blade’s eye in the sky.

“I’m going to beat you!” Lance’s singing voice of triumph teased the edges of my mind.

“Keep dreaming,” I smirked as I came upon the last turn. This was the trickier part. I had to time my escape from the maze just right or I would miss the very small slit of fabric hidden in the walls of stone.

“Careful Jadea,” Blade warned. Nikolai and his pack mates had taken out the two enemies with hellhound syringes on Lance’s side, but they were now all engaged with the enemy and couldn’t focus on those with the vials. “He’s got one syringe at the ready. Aimed high, right arm.”

As I burst through the little doorway, I collided with a body. My snarl rent the air and my teeth tore into flesh. At the angle I’d exited the maze from, I hadn’t been able to get a clean shot at his right arm. Thankfully, I held the element of surprise and didn’t get stabbed before he could recover.

Blade continued to talk through me to the other group leaders. But his voice and commands were just background noise as my pack and I converged on the enemy. My gaze searching specifically for the alphas…

“To your right,” Garret’s direction filled my mind and my gaze met hate filled brown eyes. He was just one of the alphas. A huge brown wolf with no particular markings. He was almost twice my size, but I’d taken on bigger brutes than him before and won.

Right as we were squaring off, I heard a different alpha’s shrill howl rent the air. Suddenly, the air shifted, as if the wolves were gearing up to run. As if they knew they had already lost.

And that was when the lights abruptly shut off again.

“s**t! I’m blind! I can’t see what’s going on!” Blade bit.

Without him, none of us knew if there was danger nearby. Though, I was sure if we were having this same problem, they were too.

There was one pain filled yip to the far right and then another closer on the left.

“Damn it! One of those bastards got me!” Lance cursed.

“Garret—

“Already on it!” He was the one with the antidotes. He would make sure Lance was okay.

As I listened, I realized the sound of dozens of paws were retreating to the back of the warehouse. “They’re making a break for it!”

My eyes were well enough adjusted to pick out any threats in the darkness and I lunged after the fleeing vigilantes. I couldn’t let them get away! My rage was only growing and I needed an outlet.

We didn’t know who they were. We had nothing! But I was certain, if I was able to physically engage one of the alphas, I would be able to turn the tables in our favor.

And so, I gave chase.

“Damn it Jadea! Wait!” Garret roared, but my mind was already made up. Briar and Derrick were hot on my heels. Nikolai gave the order and he and his pack started to follow, but they were already several seconds behind me.

As I shot out of the exit, I saw my prize wasn’t far ahead. Weirdly enough, he was hanging towards the back. Was he waiting for me intentionally?

When he caught sight of me, he instantly did an about face, along with others from his pack, and we all collided. Teeth gnashing. Fur flying. One of them was a rather good shielder because their minds were effectively blocked, which meant my powers were useless unless I was able to get by the shield.

One way of doing this was challenging the alpha of the opposing pack, overpowering and winning the fight. Back in the olden days, alphas did this as a way to expand their packs, to introduce new genes, and to have just more bodies, because back then there were bigger and worse monsters. Back then, there had been far more to fear.

Once an alpha won, the opponent’s pack automatically shifted loyalty to the winner. Mates. Brothers. Sisters. Children. Anyone and everyone under the losing alpha automatically shifted loyalties.

While this wasn’t commonly practiced anymore, it was still a very real thing.

A reckless thing.

Because if I challenged the alpha, there was always a possibility I could lose. And then I’d risk the rest of my pack’s lives.

There was something both of us had to say to make it official, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember. Perhaps that was a good thing.

As I fought the alpha, I realized the other wolves weren’t trying to necessarily kill me. They were trying to inflict small wounds that would weaken me and they were oddly pushing me. I noticed the way we were moving wasn’t normal for a fight. Usually, everyone was all over the place. Instead, they were forcing me further away from my pack mates, their intentions quite clear. They already put a significant amount of space between me and the others.

I needed a way out.

“Garret!” I shouted in warning as I focused my efforts on disengaging from them safely.

“I'm already on my way!” He responded.

As I fought against them, I was suddenly provided an opportunity and I didn’t hesitate to take it. The alpha opened his neck—not on purpose mind you—but it was a major mistake and one I wasn’t going to pass by. While I might have been minimally worried about myself, I was still a raging ball of fury over what they had done to my mate and what they’d intended to do to his children.

“Jadea, stop,” Garret’s voice snarled in my mind, but I was already in action, my anger, fear and pain making me rash in my decisions.

My teeth sank deep into the alpha’s neck and I used the element of surprise to keep him off balance. Using my weight and leaning into the fall, I swung the alpha around and knocked several of his wolves off balance with his body.

The mayhem gave me enough time for Briar, Derrick and several of Nikolai’s pack to converge on us once more. They all took on the other wolves who had been pushing me, so I could focus on the alpha I had caught in my jaws. He still hadn’t regained his feet and I pushed into him one more time, dragging his neck down toward the ground, effectively making his legs buckle under him.

I kept myself to his back so he couldn’t use his legs to push me off. My teeth in his neck kept him down. My jaws pressing harder and I started to feel him panic. I was so close to winning… As I was about to press my mind against him, to test the alpha’s willpower, I was suddenly blindsided by another wolf.

The white alpha rammed hard into my side, and I heard ribs cracking as we went careening away from the downed alpha. With the adrenaline pumping through my system, I didn’t feel the pain from the broken bones. I was up on my feet in an instant and facing off with this new adversary.

However, I wasn’t prepared for what greeted me.

Familiar ice-cold eyes held mine and I was instantly taken back to my very young and unpleasant life.

“Snap out of it!” Garret shouted frantically. I had enough sense to dodge the white wolf as he lunged towards me knowing I would have gotten caught had Garret not intervened.

The white wolf howled urgently and the others listened. They scampered away while the white wolf watched their backs. His intense gaze holding mine challengingly before he too disappeared.