Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Meanwhile, Skyler had managed to slip away from Xander's grasp and they continued to fight, they punched each other, kicked each other and clawed at each other. Xander's wolf did most of the attacking while Skyler always managed to dodge just in time to launch his own attack on Xander. Both didn't want to back down. Xander's wolf was acting all crazy like the crazy wolf he was, Skyler tried as much to avoid getting bitten by him because that would mean death. A bite from a corrupted werewolf was more fatal than the effect of silver in the bloodstream.

Drake stood aside, watching the fight with uneasiness, he prayed to the moon goddess to help Skyler survive the fight. Fighting a corrupted werewolf was even harder than fighting a rogue. Many times he had made an attempt to lend Skyler a hand but Lucas was fast enough to stop him from doing anything stupid. So he continued to watch helplessly at the duo.

Skyler's midnight wolf growls impatiently, irritated by the fact that Xander is standing in the way of him and his beautiful mate, he couldn't wait to hold her, feel her soft skin, and inhale her sweet smell. But they needed to get rid of Xander first.

He watched as Xander's wolf charged crazily towards him. He positioned himself properly on four paws and waited for Xander's wolf to come at him, he waited for an opening to strike. Xander's wolf charged toward him with great force, he raised his paws, trying to punch him on the jaw. Skyler's wolf moved sideways and the punch landed in mid air, but before Xander could launch another attack, he found and opening and striked Bardulf on the face, he pushed Xanders wolf to the floor and bit him on the shoulder and on the neck and Bardulf howled painfully, he tried to stand but he was already weaken and Skyler had him trapped under his paws. The golden brown wolf struggled to escape Skyler's grip but it was no use. Skyler's Wolf growled at him with fury, the alpha aura that steamed out of him did not only weaken the golden brown wolf, but the others were also affected by it.

Finally, Xander's wolf gave up the struggle and surrendered. Skyler's wolf sneered, him and Skyler were having an internal discussion. "We should kill him". Moon suggested.

"No! we won't, he's still our brother, remember". Skyler said to his wolf.

"No, he's not. He planned our kidnapping and tried to take our mate," Moon said, growling at the thought of Xander touching their mate.

"Not enough to kill him still" Skyler growls back. " But".

"No buts, moon. now let him go. our mate needs us, we should go check on her"

Moon let out a low growl before reluctantly letting go of Xander's wolf. Turning away from there, he made his way toward Clara who had her eyes wide open in shock as to what she had just seen, two people turning into large wolves. In Front of her eyes, she thought it was one of those scary dreams she usually had but she knew better deep down. Clara saw as the creature approached, the fur as dark as midnight, the silver eyes and the silver patch on the left ear looked very familiar. Clara's heart dropped to her stomach as realization hit her. He was the wolf in her dreams. Fear made Clara's blood turn cold, and she took a step back.

Skyler was confused by the fear he saw in her eyes and he realized that this must be her first time of seeing anything like this, which could only mean that Xander must have used some crafty means to get her to follow him here willingly, she wasn't a witch, so why would he go through so much trouble just to bring her here. Unless she was somehow of use to him. What use exactly? Mating with a human held no advantage for werewolves, she was a human and Xander hated humans. Skyler racked his brain for any good reason but couldn't find any good reason why Xander would bring a human to pose as his mate.

Skyler saw the way Clara retreated in fear as he approached, so he decided to shift back to his human form. Maybe that would ease her fear. Unknown to him that something was running towards him at full speed.

Bardulf had pretended to have surrendered because he knew it was the best thing to do at that moment, even though he knew death was inevitable but he still needed to try and escape it. He thought of a way to get back at Skyler for the humiliation he brought him. He would never go down without a fight. Seeing Skyler's full attention on the girl, Bardulf took that as a que and charged towards Skyler who had already shifted and had his back facing him, oblivious of the incoming threat.

Skyler watched intently as the fear in Clara's face was quickly replaced with a look of panic, also her eyes widened and she pointed in his direction "watch….out" he heard her say but Skyler reacted too late as Bardulf had already launched his attack at the unprepared Skyler. Skyler waited for the pain to hit him but nothing came. Someone had blocked the attack from reaching him and it was no other than Drake who had shielded him with his body.

Blood gushed out from the corner on his mouth and he was slowly falling to the ground when Skyler held him from landing on the floor with a thud.

"You fool, why will you do that?" Skyler yelled, holding tightly to the redhead who had a smile on his face and blood at the corner of his mouth.

Tears crowded Skyler's eyes, the little boy had grown on him, Drake was like the brother he never had, he would not have been free today if not for him, or even alive at this moment if it weren't for him, he owed the boy his life.

Bardulf had hit Drake in the spine and no werewolf ever survived it; both Skyler and Drake knew nothing could be done, the list Skyler could do was to stay with him until he took his last breath. Skyler's whole being shook when he saw how much pain the boy had to go through, he wiped the sweat that had formed on his head with the back of his hand. Drake held tightly to Skyler's hand and struggled to form a proper speech.

``Take care…..of my sister__" said Drake and his grasp on Skyler's hand loosened. He was dead. Skyler shut his eyes for a few moments and inhaled deeply before he carefully laid the boy on the floor and turned to face Lucas and two pack warriors who were standing over Xander's lifeless body; they had killed him when he tried to attack someone else.

He turned to look at Clara's direction, tears flowed down from her checks, he could guess she had never experienced someone getting killed before and her face showed it. Suddenly he didn't know what to do, going to her would only scare her even more but staying here like this and watching her gave him a heartache.

At this moment, Clara didn't know what to feel. She had seen horror and death in one day. she could feel that something was squeezing at her heart and it felt as if her heart was about to explode and at the same time Clara's birthday mark was starting to glow and her body temperature had risen to the point where anyone could bear to keep physical contact with her. Clara's body started to release a faint glow and she panicked.

"No, no, not now, please". she cried, Clara turned around in an attempt to escape from the place and away from the reach of the silver eyed person, when a sudden pain pierced through her heart,knocking her down and she let out an ear piercing scream.

Clara screams pierced through the ear drums of the people present in the room and they writhe in intense pain, they tried to block the sound from doing further damage to their eardrums by placing their hands on top their ears, it only helped to reduce the sound but not the effect, all thanks to their wolf's side that they didn't already end up dead because the scream would have been fatal for any human.

Fortunately for them Clara passed out and the scream ceased. The werewolves gradually recovered from the throbbing pain in the head caused by Clara's screams.

Surprise, accompanied with low murmuring and whispering filled the room. Pius who was still seated on the chair could feel the accusations in the gazes he received from his people including the invitees. They thought he had deliberately hid the fact that the girl wasn't a mere human for his own selfish reasons, but in truth, Pius knew nothing of it and now that things had turned out to be like this, Pius still wasn't surprised to see that the girl wasn't just some ordinary human and now he was sure, whose daughter she was. The dark hair and green eyes were a striking resemblance to a person he once knew.

When Skyler recovered from the pain, he quickly made way to Clara. He panicked when he saw her lying on the cold marble floor unconsciously. He could finally see the reason why Xander took her as a false mate, she wasn't just a mere human like him or anyone had thought, but that didn't change the way he felt about her. Skyler's heartbeat accelerated and his wolf became restless, he continuously berated himself for failing to protect their mate.

Skyler bent down beside Clara whose face was paler than plain sheet, he brought his hand to her face and tucked away the strands of hair behind her ear, sparks spread through his palm as he touched her, he let out a sigh and he whispered softly.

"Mate"

"Mate is beautiful," his wolf whispers. After seeing Clara's rosy cheeks, red lips and those big emerald eyes, he had to agree with Moon that she was indeed very beautiful.

He placed his hands on her back and was about to raise her up when the entrance door burst open the second time and a voice rang out.

''Get away from her'' said the voice that belonged to Nimue.

Skyler's head snapped to look in the direction where the voice came. He saw an old woman in white cloak and gray hair holding a staff on her right hand, and six others stood behind her. He frowned, he cannot recall ever knowing her or the persons that stood behind her. Of course, he wouldn't, how would he recognize anyone after staying in that damned prison for years.

Loud sighs sounded from every corner of the ballroom. The people present in the ballroom had barely recovered from the intense pain they received from Clara's wailing and now, another drama was about to unfold. Some cursed their luck, wishing they hadn't honored the invitation and some were curious to see what would happen next. Pius, his sons and pack members were good entertainers.

Nimue signaled two of the men behind her to go and fetch Clara.

Skyler with an irritated expression slowly rose to his feet,and stood in front of Clara possessively.

"You will have to go through me first" he growled, his silver eyes darkened and his wolf already came to the surface, ready to rip anyone who tried to take his mate.

Lucas and the pack warriors joined Skyler, they stood defensively behind him and growled at the intruders.

"There's no need to start a fight. Give us the girl and we will leave". Nimue said, but Skyler only growled louder, not intending to back down. He didn't know these people and their intentions towards Clara. There was no way he would let them take his mate.

''No?" Nimue questioned, her brows slightly raised. "Then, you leave me no choice" she ordered her men to engage the werewolves in a fight.

"Stop" Pius' deep voice vibrated through the hall. He stood from his seat and made his way to stand between his son and he faced the intruders.

"You've got some nerve to barge in here unannounced," said Pius.

"You know me,Pius. I don't start a fight unless it's necessary. We will take the girl and leave you in peace" Nimue said.

"I can see you already have a lot on your plate," Nimue said, glancing at the lifeless bodies of Xander and Drake before her eyes went back to look at Skyler.

"Fine, take the girl and leave" Pius instructed. Skyler tried to protest but Pius placed a hand on his shoulder, telling him to calm down. Skyler gritted his teeth, but he obeyed his father and stayed still.

Xander stood still and watched the people take his mate away from him and out of the ballroom. Sighing, he sat on the floor frustrated. His wolf wasn't helping matters either, berating Skyler and himself for losing their mate the same day they met her.

The show was now over and the invitees started to disperse and in no time, the ballroom became empty, pack members had also left the place for their home, except for Skyler, Pius, Lucas, his father Alec and a few pack warriors. All of them were standing, except for Skyler who had seated himself on the floor out of anger and frustration. The place had suddenly grown quiet as today's event kept replaying in their minds. Pius has gained a son but lost another. Even though he and Xander didn't have that father and son relationship, he was still his son,losing him was still very painful.

Seeing the dazed look on Pius's face as the warriors took Xanders body away from the hall, Lucas went over to Pius,and he started to explain everything, from Skyler's kidnap till this very moment, he wanted to clear every misunderstanding or doubt from Pius's mind.

Lucas felt sorry for Xander, they had never seen eye to eye since they were kids, the reason was because Xander was always aggressive and selfish. He fought Skyler for everything including toys while they were still pups. Now that they all knew the real reason behind his behavior, they couldn't help but feel sorry and guilty at the same time.

Only if they had paid close attention to Xander, someone would have been able to notice, but they pushed him away instead, and that was why his wolf was able to manipulate his mind.

Seeing how pale Pius's face had become, Alec came over and helped him out of the ballroom. Leaving Lucas and Skyler alone in the empty room.