Chapter 34: Chapter 34

It was almost twilight at the Greenwood pack, Dylan was downstairs assisting his mom and brother in sharing relief materials to the pack members when they heard multiple howls outside.

“They’re here.” Daniel murmured to no one in particular.

Isabel was alone in Daniel’s study, calculating how to go about this fight without endangering the members of the Greenwood pack so that her efforts to keep them safe doesn’t go down the drain. The sound of werewolves howling from a distance caught her attention, causing her wolf to become fully alert. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, getting her wolf ready for war. When she opened them back, her eyes had completely turned amber.

Daniel was racing upstairs to inform Isabel that the rogues had began their attack, but stopped midway on seeing Isabel taking long strides down the stairs.

“Alpha-“

“I know.” She cut him off before he could make out a sentence.

“Are your warriors stationed at the different pack houses?”

“Yes”

“Good… Xavi, divide the warriors into three groups. Get two groups to protect the pack houses. The last group should be responsible for this house.” She ordered her beta, who immediately got to it.

Dylan, on hearing Isabel’s authoritative voice abandoned what he was doing and approached her and his older brother. Her eyes were completely yellow, indicating that her wolf was in control, but to his surprise, she was calm and composed.

How is that even possible?

“What am I supposed to do?” He asked his mate, eager to help his pack by joining in the fight.

“Nothing.” Isabel replied, wrapping her hair in her signature tight ponytail.

“That isn’t fair! I wanna help too.” He countered.

“You’re helping by staying back with your parents.”

Isabel peeled off her leather jacket, leaving her in just her black tank top and denim pants.

“Dylan, she has a point. You need to be here for mom, dad and David.” His older brother tried to convince him out of fighting.

“Not you too… They’re also my people.”

“Dylan!” The rage in Isabel’s alpha voice caused him to stay quiet.

Why would she, a non-member of the Greenwood pack be out there fighting while he, a former member of the pack be in the safety of his house?

“I have to go.” Daniel excused himself from their presence and ran outside.

His sudden act alerted Isabel, who was clearly impatient to leave, but couldn’t because she had to make sure her mate was safe.

“Isabel, please.”

No matter how much her mate pleaded, she wasn’t going to let him expose himself to danger, not when she’s alive.

“Should anything happen to me out there, I want you to go back to the Pride pack and lead my people.” She said in a calm voice, pressing her forehead against his.

Dylan wasn’t too excited to hear those words coming from his own mate. She was far stronger than those rogues, so nothing could go wrong. If this was her way of stopping him from fighting, it isn’t working, as it made him even more worried than he was before.

When Isabel noticed Dylan shaking his head in denial and disapproval, she kissed him long and hard, to get him distracted, exploring every inch of his mouth. She has no idea what the future holds, so she should make the most out of the present.

Dylan’s body flooded with warmth as Isabel’s tongue caressed his mouth, helping him relax.

“That was an order.” She whispered after the kiss and was out of his presence before he could even open his eyes.

The last thing Dylan saw when he opened his eyes was Xavi closing the door behind him.

“I want you to guard this place like your lives depended on it… No one goes in or out of this house without my consent. Understood?” Isabel instructed the last group of warriors as soon as they were outside.

“Yes, alpha!” They chorused in reply, positioning themselves around the house.

“Come with me.” Isabel said. The statement was directed at Xavi. He followed Isabel as she jogged towards the war zone.

The distinctive metallic smell of blood hit her nostrils the moment she got there. Xavi wasted no second in shifting into his wolf form and charging at a rogue that was running towards them.

Without bothering to shift into her wolf form, Isabel ripped out the throats of rogues lunging in her direction. It was faster and easier that way as she didn’t want to engage in meaningless combats with these filthy rogues.

After killing countless number of rogues, Isabel glanced around the area. There were dead rogues everywhere she turned, as well as seriously injured werewolves groaning in pain while others were still trying to put up a fight with the rogues.

From a distance she noticed Daniel, the alpha of the Greenwood pack was being attacked by three rogues at the same time. He was no longer in his wolf form as he was badly injured, but was giving it his all to combat the rogues. She sprinted towards him and slammed one of the rogues to the ground, breaking its hind legs. She ripped out the heart of the other and broke the neck of the third one.

“Thank you.”

Daniel was barely able to stand as he was losing a lot of blood. She stared at his torso and noticed he was stabbed with a knife.

This can’t be the reason why he’s bleeding this much, she thought to herself, looking closely at his skin. The area where he was stabbed was slightly releasing smoke, which could only mean one thing. He was stabbed with wolfs bane.

These dirty bastards are trying to play a fast one on them. She didn’t see this coming.

Looking around her surroundings for the second time, she realized now that the wounded werewolves were all victims of wolfsbane bane stab wound. She can’t let anything happen to Dylan’s people. She promised to help keep his pack safe, not to send them to their early graves.

“Tell your men to fall back.” She suddenly said, placing Daniel’s hands over his bleeding torso.

“What?” His speech was slurred as a result of his blood loss.

“Just do as I say!”

Daniel gave a weak nod and ordered his warriors through mind link to retreat.

Isabel also called her beta through mind link, he was the only werewolf she could trust to get Daniel to safety. Xavi was before her within seconds. He had shifted back to his human form. He had several cuts, scratches here and there, but no serious injuries.

“Alpha”

“Take him back to the house, and make sure he gets medical attention.”

“Yes, al-“ Xavi wasn’t able to complete his sentence as he was suddenly stabbed from behind.

Isabel stared wide eyed at her beta’s chest where he was stabbed. Her eyes turned red and she started quivering with anger. Isabel grabbed the unfortunate rogue by his throat, lifting him off the ground while breaking his fingers as he tried to claw at her.

“No one touches my family!” She said in a deep voice, ripping his head from his body.

“Get everyone to fall back!” She yelled, fighting with her beast as her anger escalated into blood lust.

The sound of Isabel’s bones cracking alerted Xavi. Her beast was fighting to be in complete control.

“Let’s get out of here.” He grabbed a confused Daniel by the elbow.

“B-but she isn’t okay.” Daniel yanked his hand free from Xavi’s grip and knelt down to help Isabel up, but she pushed him away, screaming in agonizing pain as her bones ripped what was left of her clothes.

Xavi was forced to drag Daniel out of her presence before they end up dead. He ordered the Pride pack warriors through mind link to fall back while clawing any rogue he found on sight as they ran to safety.

Dylan was anxiously pacing the living room while waiting for his mate’s return. The growls and groans of pain heard outside wasn’t helping the situation at all. He wanted to run out of the house and be a part of the fight, but a warrior from the Pride pack had the keys to the front door and was instructed by Isabel not to let him out of the house. He had contemplated breaking the door down, but that would only endanger his people.

Gosh! He felt so useless at the moment.

There was a persistent knock on the front door which caused the female werewolves and pups in the room to let out gasps of horror. They were frightened to know who was at the other side of the door. Seeing how scared to death his pack members were, Dylan decided to get the door himself. He collected the keys from the warrior who had it, and eased himself slowly towards the door.

As soon as the lock made a clicking sound, the door was thrown open by Xavi. He wasn’t alone as he was with Daniel, who was holding unto his shoulder for support. They were both seriously bleeding. A couple of other warriors rushed in behind them.

“What the hell happened?!” Dylan exclaimed in shock, taking off his shirt to apply pressure on his brother’s open wound to stop the bleeding.

He did the same for Xavi with the tank top he was wearing underneath the shirt.

Jane handed each of the male werewolves a pair of shorts so as to cover their nakedness.

“Where is Isabel?” Dylan suddenly questioned when he didn’t see his mate walk through the door like the rest of the werewolves.

“Why isn’t she coming?” He was getting frantic as he had no idea why Isabel didn’t return with the warriors.

His wolf began pressing him to go out and search for his mate, but he chose to wait some minutes longer as the warriors were still trooping in. Dylan’s eyes stayed glued to the door until the last warrior werewolf jogged in, closing the door behind him.

That was it. He has to go search for his mate by himself.

Dylan took long and determined strides towards the door, but didn’t make it past the door as Xavi’s hand stopped him.

“Let go of me.” He snapped angrily at his mate’s beta.

How can they be this insensible of the risks of leaving Isabel out there, all by herself?

His wolf slowly took control and before he could realize what he was doing, Xavi was on the floor with a gash across his chest, probably caused by Dylan’s claws.

“She isn’t herself!” A weak Xavi exclaimed in pain, to prevent Dylan from going outside.

Dylan, on the other hand halted in his tracks as he heard those words. He was quick to understand what Xavi meant by that. The last time he witnessed his mate in that state, even his wolf couldn’t do anything to overpower her. He closed his eyes to gain control over his wolf before turning to Xavi.

“Was it like the last time?” He quietly asked.

“No… It’s far worse this time.” Xavi weakly replied, his eyelids were beginning to droop as the effect of the wolfs bane was kicking in.

Staring at the door and back to Xavi, conflicted about what to do, he suddenly remembered Isabel’s last request and the promise he made the night before, to stand by her on every decision. If he wants to prove his love for her, he needs to trust her decisions, even if it’ll be detrimental to the both of them.

When Dylan’s wolf realized that he wasn’t going to save their mate, it whimpered for some seconds and then went silent.

“Forgive me just this one time.” Dylan apologized to his wolf, but as expected, he didn’t get a reply.

He then assisted one of the warriors in taking an unconscious Xavi into one of the rooms upstairs.

There were nonstop growls and whimpers, werewolves bodies thumping against the door for over an hour until all of the sudden, the place went quiet. Desmond, who was temporarily in charge of the pack due to Daniel’s current state, carefully made his way towards the front door, only to be thrown backwards by the force from the door being violently shoved open.

Dylan rushed to his dad’s side, to see if he was okay because the door pulled out of its hinges, hitting him hard in the process. Screams from the female werewolves and pups inside the house distracted Dylan, who was helping his dad up. His eyes followed the direction they were pointing at while screaming, and he stumbled backwards on seeing a hideous monster over seven feet tall.

This isn’t a werewolf, it was more like a lycan as this monster is standing on its hind legs.

Dylan was consumed with fear as he stared at the creature, that was viciously scanning the room with its glowing red eyes, most probably for its next victim. He glanced around the room and noticed the Pride pack warriors were already on their knees, showing their respect to the creature.

The realization suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. This isn’t a rogue. This is his mate, Isabel.

Filled with excitement that his mate was alive, Dylan quickly reached for a blanket on the couch and slowly eased himself forward, causing the creature to jerk its head towards his direction with a deep growl.

“What are you doing, Dylan? Do you want to get yourself killed?!” An agitated Jane screamed at her son, as she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her son.

The lycan bared its teeth at Jane, ready to lunge at her, but Dylan was swift enough to stand between them, blocking his mom from the creature’s view.

“Isabel, it’s me, Dylan… If you can hear me, I need you to be yourself again.” He carefully said, showing the mark on his neck to prove that he was indeed her mate.

The creature’s eyes softened on seeing its imprint on Dylan’s neck, and in a matter of seconds, with only one stride, it was in front of Dylan, earning screams from the on-lookers.

“Everyone, stay calm! It’s Isabel.” Dylan advised.

He has made it this far in calming the lycan, and can’t risk anyone getting hurt at the very last minute.

On hearing that the lycan was Dylan’s mate, his former pack members immediately copied the action of the Pride pack warriors out of fear by bowing in respect. Jane and Desmond not exempted.

Isabel’s uneven claws traced a line on Dylan’s neck, precisely his mark before the sounds of bones cracking, and the creature whimpering was heard in the room. As soon as the whimpers was replaced with a human cry, Dylan hurriedly put the blanket over Isabel’s kneeling form.

Gasps of surprise filled the room, as everyone was shocked to see that the monster was in fact the alpha of the Pride pack. This only confirms the myths that the alphas of the Pride pack were more than werewolves.

Isabel stood up straight, like nothing happened. She glanced around the room and stopped when her eyes landed on Desmond and his mate.

“Your pack is safe.” She simply said and started her way up the stairs with Dylan quietly following closely behind. She got into Dylan’s bedroom, and so did her mate.

Something hit the floor with a dull thud as Dylan was closing the bedroom door. He turned around to see what it was, only to find his mate lying unconscious on the floor.