Claimed By The Alpha Twins

Blood On The Ridge

ZAYNE:

The metallic tang of wet earth and pine needle oil hung heavy in the high-altitude air of Sector Four. Snow-laced winds whipped through the mountain pass, but my senses were locked into a sharp, singular focus. Beneath my wolf’s thick grey-and-black coat, every muscle was coiled like a spring.

I glanced back over my shoulder at Kyle. Even in his wolf form a massive, copper-furred shadow with lethal shoulders, his amber eyes flickered with calculated rebellion.

I nudged his flank with my muzzle, projecting my thought-command firmly into our shared twin channel. Keep an eye behind us. Watch the tree line and secure our retreat. Elder Vane would love nothing more than to claim the human task force outflanked us because we were sloppy.

Kyle gave a short, silent huff, shifting his weight back to cover our rear as five of our elite pack enforcers melted into the brush beside me. Satisfied, I turned toward the rocky ledge overlooking the lower ridge and slunk forward, keeping my stomach low against the frozen ground.

Down in the ravine, masked by the natural cover of dense spruce trees, a dozen human soldiers in tactical gear were setting up a forward staging area. They were equipped with heavy body armor, thermal scopes, and crates stamped with military seals.

My ears twitched, picking up the low, raspy murmur of their radio chatter from a hundred yards away.

"Command, this is Strike Team Alpha", a gravelly voice echoed from a short man wearing a commander’s badge. "We have established the perimeter near Sector Four. Thermal imaging confirms high heat signatures deeper in the forest. Weaponry is loaded with silver-composite rounds. Target execution commences on your signal."

"Copy, Strike Team Alpha, a sharp voice crackled back through the radio receiver. Neutralize any biological entities on sight. Leave no survivors."

A dark, lethal rage surged through my veins, hot enough to melt the frost beneath my paws. They weren't just scouting. They weren't just probing our borders. This was an outright invasion force sent to exterminate my pack.

I didn't wait. I didn't hesitate.

With a low, guttural growl that reverberated through the earth, I lunged off the rock face.

The battle opened in a whirlwind of fur, blood, and chaos. My pack members exploded from the tree line right behind me, hitting the human line like a avalanche. The military force was completely unprepared for the speed of a full pack assault. Before the command officer could raise his arm to signal his men, I slammed my massive frame directly into his chest.

The force of the impact shattered his body armor with a sickening crunch, sending him airborne into a jagged boulder.

To my left, two pack warriors tore through the rear guard, tearing away tactical rifles before the soldiers could disengage their safeties. Sparks flew as claw met Kevlar, the night instantly filled with screaming men, shouting orders, and the heavy thud of bodies hitting the frozen mud. One soldier managed to rack the slide of a heavy shotgun, but an enforcer lunged sideways, clamping jaws onto the man's forearm and sweeping him off his feet.

I spun on my back legs, driving my front paws into the chest of another shooter, snapping his wrist back before he could raise his barrel. We were dominating the clearing, turning their tactical ambush into a total slaughter in less than two minutes.

Then, my peripheral vision caught a sudden movement near the edge of the supply crates.

A lone soldier, propped up against an ammunition box with a bleeding scalp, pulled a heavy caliber sidearm straight out of his rear waistband. His hand was shaking violently, but the silver tip of the barrel was locked directly onto the flank of one of my younger pack warriors, who was currently occupied dragging down another fighter. The young wolf had his back turned, completely blind to the threat.

The soldier's finger tightened on the trigger.

I didn't think. My instincts overrode every logical tactical command in my head.

I launched myself across the snow-covered clearing, putting my entire body in the direct trajectory of the gunshot.

A deafening pop shattered the air.

Pain tore through my side like a branding iron dipped in lye. The silver bullet ripped through my hide, burning through tissue and searing straight down to the bone. The agony was blinding, white-hot, and suffocating, threatening to drag me into the dark.

Instead of falling, the pain ignited a terrifying, primal fury inside me.

I used the momentum of my jump to hurl my weight directly onto the shooter. We smashed into the dirt together. Before he could chamber another round, I clamped my jaws around his throat and twisted violently. Bones snapped under the pressure of my bite, his weapon clattered uselessly into the mud, and his body went entirely limp beneath me.

Standing over him, hot blood dripping from my flank onto the white snow, I let out a roar that echoed across the mountain range, declaring the border secured.