Chapter Eighteen

Robert’s hand went straight for the gun at his side when the two wolf packs jumped from the top of the cavern. “S**t,” he muttered under his breath. He counted all nine of the wolves and smirked a little bit. All of this was for him? He felt special.

 Pulling his gun out of the holster, he held it up and pointed it in the direction of the two alphas. The two wolves kept looking at each other, and he realized something…they were mates. Oh, how f*****g sickening…just the thought of them producing more of these monstrosities made his head spin.

He heard the sound of a soft whimper and turned his head to follow the sound. One of the wolves kept whining as she stared at him. It was only after he really looked into her eyes that he recognized who it was. “Tala,” he whispered.

 He got distracted as he longed to hold his baby girl in his arms once again. This feeling brought him to search for his son. The memories of his wants flooded his mind. How many times had he wanted to be there to teach his son how to play a sport, or to scare off his daughter’s first boyfriend?

 He looked at each wolf’s eyes, searching for Seth, and when he found him, he exhaled a breath of defeat. “Seth,” his voice cracked.

“Sir,” one of his men brought him out of the daydream he had been in.

He reminded himself �" those two monsters were not his children anymore, and he would never see them again. It was his job to get rid of them and make the shifters pay for the death of his wife.

“Enough of this…” His shoulders, which had sunken from his memories, straightened, and he lifted his gun once again. “It’s time to finish this.”

The two alphas kept staring at him, and by the looks on their faces, he could have sworn they would be laughing at him if they could. They both took steps to the side, creating a path. Two of the other wolves stepped forward. They each had the lips of their muzzles curled back as deep, vicious growls rumbled. One of them was ahead of the other, but Robert knew he wasn’t a beta as the other one was.

What the hell they were doing?

His curiosity went into overdrive. He would never understand how these shifters worked. He had killed one of their own, and instead of the alpha stepping forward for revenge, this was happening. Who was this wolf that made him so special?

All at once, hell broke loose. The wolf that had stepped forward came at him in a flash, and the others attacked his men…

He landed on his back with a curse as the wolf fell on top of him, pinning him to the rocky ground beneath his shoulders. “You son of a b***h!”

Gritting his teeth, he realized the gun had been knocked out of his hand and as he gripped the wolf’s neck in both his hands to keep his gnashing teeth away from his face, he searched for it… It was nowhere near him.

He quickly remembered the knife that he had tucked into the side of his boot. Putting all of his strength into one of his arms, he let go of the wolf’s neck to reach for the knife. Just as the tip of his middle finger touched the top of the hilt, the wolf sank his teeth into the muscle of his shoulder.

He cried out in pain and lifted his knee into the wolf’s chest with a powerful kick, knocking the animal off of him and most likely the breath out of his lungs. He grabbed the knife quickly and took a second to glance around for the gun. It was a good fifteen feet away from him.

He started to go after it but when he heard the wolf’s paws scratching the ground as he ran closer, he knew he wouldn’t have the time. He spun around and held onto the blade tight, slicing across the wolf’s chest just as he was about to pounce on him.

A sadistic grin spread on his face, and he watched the monster back away in pain.

He now had more than enough time to walk over and pick up his gun. He took aim; he had the perfect shot…right between the damn monster’s eyes.

~

Luna’s teeth sunk deep into the neck of the hunter she was fighting. His tangy blood filled her mouth and covered her tongue and she shook her head, affectively breaking his neck. As he fell to the ground, she looked for the next hunter to take down.

She didn’t get the chance.

She kept looking around, trying to find Raul, praying that he was making it alright. She watched in horror as Robert aimed his gun right at Raul’s head. She glanced around to find Rafe and when she did see him, she let out a loud, quick bark to get his attention. He barked back, another shrill noise to let her know that he was on his way. Watching as he ran towards Robert, her nails dug into the small rocks on the ground as he jumped and knocked the man to the ground.

Knowing that they could take it from there, she looked around once again for another hunter to take down. She felt a stabbing pain in her side as she was ran into and she craned her neck to the side, growling at the hunter that had sliced his blade across her fur and skin. Ducking out of the way, she came at him from behind and scratched her claws down his back, lowering to bite into his thigh.

He screamed out in pain and slashed his blade around, blindly trying to hit her with it again. She unhinged her jaw from his leg and moved around so that she wouldn’t get sliced once more.

The hunter stumbled and gripped his thigh, watching as his blood poured from his wound and over his hand. She knew he was angry now, and when he grabbed for his gun, she ran. Hiding behind a larger boulder, she peeked around to wait for her opportune moment.

He turned his back to her and she took her chance, running at him as fast as she could.

He heard her coming. He whipped around and left off one shot.

It missed her by a mile.

Keiran had attacked the male and pushed him into the rock wall so hard that his skull broke open. He fell down dead to the ground beneath him.

She exhaled a breath, her tongue lagging from her mouth a little bit as she panted. Keiran walked over and nudged her gently, whimpering as he looked at the wound on her side. She nudged him back, trying to let him know that she was fine. They had other things to be worrying about.

She took another look around. Most of the hunters were either dead, dying, or had fled. Only Robert was left. The packs gathered around and watched the fight between their enemy, Raul and Rafe, desperately wanting to get in and help.

She started to pace on the edge of the fight, watching and waiting. This was killing her…

~

Robert knew he couldn’t take on both of these wolves at once, and all of his men were either dead or had traitorously deserted him. His empty hands balled into fists as he started at the two wolves, watching them circle around him. He had to get out of here.

They kept attacking him in turns, and each time, he was able to knock one back. The one that had bitten his shoulder came at him again and he managed to kick the damn thing before its teeth got too close. He caught sight of the gun that had been knocked out of his hands yet again and made a mad dash for it.

When his hand wrapped around the butt of the gun, he felt teeth digging into his thigh.

“F**k!” He looked down at the second wolf, the beta, cursing as he kept digging his teeth in deeper. Pulling his arm back, he smacked the wolf across the muzzle with the butt of his gun. He tried his best to stand up as quickly as possible and took aim at the packs, not even caring who he’d hit. He shot the gun six times…

Without looking back, he limped away from the cavern as fast as he could with his teeth gritted in anger.

They’d pay…they would f*****g pay, if it was the last thing he’d do.

~

Keiran had a feeling that Robert was going to shoot blindly, and he’d been right. Before the man had a chance to lift his gun, he moved in front of Luna. It was as if time slowed down. He could see the bullet coming his way, could watch as he spun and cut through the air.

He closed his eyes and sent a prayer of thanks to Larentia for the time he’d had with his Luna…

Seconds that seemed like minutes passed and he couldn’t feel anything. A body hit the ground and his eyelids flew open. Blaez’s wolf lay on the ground in front of him, a bullet wound in his side. He whimpered and pawed at the ground from the pain he was experiencing.

Keiran shifted faster than he ever had before.

“S**t! Oh, s**t, man…no, Blaez. What the f**k were you thinking?” He crouched down beside the wolf and carefully lifted his head into his arms, his hand caressing behind the wolf’s ears.

The other wolves shifted back but he wasn’t even aware. His best friend was f*****g bleeding out in his arms. “You’re going to be okay…” He swallowed hard and looked at the wound. From what he could tell, the bullet was still lodged inside his body.

His vision suddenly became blurry, but it wasn’t because of the tears that had glazed over his eyes.

“Keiran,” Larentia’s deep voice echoed off the rocks of the cavern and made his head jerk up.

“Mother?” He swallowed hard and tried to sit up despite the fact that Blaez’s head was still in his arms. “Mother, please, you have to help. He…I didn’t even know he had moved in the way. I didn’t want this…”

“You know your beta would sacrifice his life if it meant the safety of his alpha. Blaez would have accepted this fate.”

He sucked down a breath. By the way she was talking, it was as if he was already dead. The short breaths Blaez was taking told him that he would be that way…very soon.

“Please, mother…Blaez deserves more than sacrificing his life for me,” he pleaded.

The goddess studied him for a minute…