Chapter 43: Never Giving Up
1019 Words
Lucy's POV
Pain ripped through me like fire as I screamed, clutching the sheets beneath me. It felt like the world was spinning around me. Kara was shouting something, but I could barely hear her.
"Push, Lucy! I can see the head! Just one more!"
I clenched my teeth, tears rolling down the sides of my face. I didn’t think I could push again. My body felt like it was torn apart, and I was tired.
But then—a cry.
A loud, yet beautiful cry.
I sobbed in relief as Kara held up the baby, quickly wrapping it in a cloth.
"You did it, Lucy! One down, one more to go," she said, panting.
"Okay, Lucy, you have to push again. We need to get the other baby out."
"I can't," I whispered, my head falling back. "I'm so tired, Kara, I don't think I have another push in me."
Kara turned to Eli, her hands shaking. "Eli, sweetie, take the baby and hide in the closet, okay? Do not come out, no matter what."
Eli looked terrified but nodded. Kara gently handed him the baby, and he ran into the closet, closing it behind him.
Then, BANG!
The sound of the front door being broken off its hinges.
Kara positioned herself between me and the room door. "Stay down, don't move", she said.
Seconds later, the room door flew open, crashing into her.
"Kara!" I screamed.
Her body crumpled to the floor, covered in blood. My hands trembled, but I knew I couldn’t sit here and die. I put a hand on my belly.
"Please, my love. Just wait a little longer, okay? Mama needs to fight the bad guys."
I stood up, barely steady on my feet. Blood ran down my legs, and my vision was but a blur.
I could hardly see, yet I saw the wolf charging toward me. I grabbed a knife from the broken dresser.
With one hand on my belly, I kicked the wolf mid-air. It crashed against the wall. I didn’t give it time to recover. I pounced and drove the knife into its back.
Then I went downstairs.
More wolves came, more were coming. One, two, then four at once.
I clawed and screamed. My instincts are taking over. As I stood there at the top of the stairs, I looked down, counting them.
Fifteen.
Fifteen wolves. And they were all hungry for my blood.
Then it happened again, and I began to glow.
My eyes burned. It felt like something deep inside me awoke.
The wolves all attacked me at once. But I was more than ready.
I tore through them, slashing and dodging as I went down the stairs. I felt almost... unstoppable.
Their bodies hit the walls. The floor was red with the enemy's blood.
When the last one fell, I dropped the barricade back against the front door and ran back upstairs to check on the rest.
"Eli?" I called.
The room was wrecked.
Eli was on the floor, groaning, with blood on his lip. “Eli!" I screamed as I rushed to his side.
That's when I realized the baby was gone.
I turned to catch a glimpse of a figure jumping out of the window.
"NO!" I screamed, running to the window but I was too late.
Down below, looking up at me, stood Ryker's brothers.
The eldest raised the baby by the neck, smirking up at me. "Come down if you want it alive."
I panicked. I knelt beside Eli and kissed his forehead. "Stay here and look after Kara. I'll be back, I promise."
Kara stirred on the ground, completely immobilized but still alive. "Lucy... don’t go. They'll kill you."
I swallowed hard at my feelings of fear. "I know."
I slowly went downstairs. Every step felt like I was going to give myself up to be killed like some lamb.
I pulled the door open and walked out.
The wind blew across my face, and my claws retracted.
"Please," I whispered. "Don’t hurt my baby."
They all laughed.
One raised a claw, ready to strike me down.
"Wait," the eldest said. "We need them alive. I want to see the look of pain in Ryker's eyes when we kill them both in front of him."
He tossed the baby to me.
I caught the child, holding it close, until everything went black.
Someone had knocked me out
*********
Ryker's POV
The house was in ruins by the time I got there.
Windows shattered. Blood all over the walls. Most, if not all, of the doors are broken.
My heart dropped.
I ran upstairs and found Kara limping, coming out of a room, with Eli by her arm.
"Where is she?!" I yelled.
Kara’s face twisted in pain. "They took her... and the baby."
I stopped breathing. I couldn't have possibly heard that right.
"What did you just say?"
"She was already in labor by the time the wolves attacked.” She groaned in pain.
"One of the babies was born. The other is still inside her. They took her, Ryker—your brothers. They took them both."
I wasted no time.
I shifted immediately, my bones reshaping as I transformed. I sniffed the air. Their scent was everywhere and easy to follow.
It smelled like a trap.
I ran as fast as I could until I traced the scent down to a battlefield, memories of my past wars flooding in.
My entire pack stood ready, forming a wall of resistance around me. A pack I once led was now against me, but they were just following orders.
Standing behind the pack were my brothers. Laughing. Standing over Lucy’s unconscious body.
She was tied up and covered in blood.
Just then, the clouds above in the sky parted. A ray of moonlight poured down on my face.
I lifted my head to the sky and howled as loud as my lungs could hold.
This was no longer just about the throne.
This was a war of which everything hung in the balance, and I sure in hell wasn't going to lose.
- Writer
