DAMIEN

Liam slumped to the ground, and Nethercote held up a syringe, taunting him.

“Dirty f*****g vampires,” I thought. It felt empty that I didn’t have Cage mirroring my anger, which infuriated me more.

Liam wasn’t getting up. He’d dropped to his knees, and I could tell from his expression this was much worse than the fight with Kol. That had only been a dagger dipped in wolfsbane; this was an entire vial.

“Maddox, Liam is hurt. We are on the training grounds with another Sire. In case I don’t walk away from this, I need you to come get Liam. Get Missy to the packhouse with Azalea and Felix, then get here to bring Liam to safety. DO NOT TELL MISSY.” I needed a contingency plan. Felix would be getting Azalea to safety and have his hands full keeping her there. Jacob and Sean were coordinating warriors and pack members, and Austin went to help Lyssa. Maddox was my best chance for the moment.

“I’ll be there as fast as I can,” came Maddox’s reply.

“I’m going to let this knee heal, so I think you can go ahead and finish him off,” Nethercote instructed the vampires around him, who once again closed ranks to protect him.

“I don’t think so,” I growled, rushing in like a bull to body-check the first vampire to reach Liam. He was launched off his feet into the group behind him, dropping them like bowling pins.

I wielded my axes in each hand, and the vampire’s screams filled the training ground as the leeches felt the bite of my blades. I punched out, catching one of them in the nose and flattening it to their face. I used the curve beneath my axe to hook it behind their head and pull them into me for a headbutt. It crushed their skull inwards, and I dropped them like a lifeless sack of bones to the ground. I felt hands on my shoulders as they started to close around me. A swipe of my hand sent the arm of a vampire through the air as I cut it away from its owner. He screeched, but he kept fighting. One rushed me, and I kicked him hard enough in the chest to send him sailing over the heads of his friends to crumple on the ground behind them. They were starting to look more hesitant to attack me, and I was thinning them one by one.

“I think I’ll take my leave now,” Nethercote said nervously behind his group of vampires. “Finish up and come find me when you’re done.”

He turned to walk away into the treeline, but I refused to let him get away. I remembered what Michael had done earlier when he was first handling my new weapons. Stepping back away from the vampires in front of me, I pulled the axe in my hand behind my ear and launched it as hard as I could. It whistled through the air before it buried itself into Nethercote’s back, driving him forward into a tree and pinning him to it.

“Wait there for me,” I growled. “I won’t be long.” I looked back at my best friend still hunched over on the ground.

“Are you okay down there, Liam?” I asked, praying he wasn’t dead. I knew it was a lot of wolfsbane, but he was an Alpha; he was Liam.

His answer came in the form of labored breaths and stifled grunts. He wasn’t saying anything, but at least for now, he was alive. All I could do was kill everyone in front of me and hope I got him back to Azalea in time. I knew what healing did to her, so I hoped this wasn’t enough to kill her either. All that stood in front of me and getting Liam to safety were these vampires and their Sire. I could solve that.

I ran towards the remaining group in front of me and started breaking and hacking at everything I could reach. They swarmed me as I attacked them, but it just put more of them close enough to touch. I buried my blade in the forehead of one of the vampires in front of me, and when I pulled it back, her head wouldn’t come free. So, I picked her body up over my head and brought it down like a hammer onto another one of her kin. I swung her side to side, leveling vampires as she went until she finally broke free and disappeared among the other bodies piling at my feet. I only had one axe now, but that meant I had another hand to grab them and hold them in place while I went to work with my blade.

As they attempted to defend themselves, I chopped off anything that came near me. The ground was littered with hands, arms, legs, and heads among the bodies that blanketed it. I could hear Nethercote struggling against the axe holding him to the tree and trying to draw in breath. It just resulted in a wet gurgling as he slumped, unable to pull himself free. I finally held the last vampire in my hand as they begged me for their life.

“Please,” he reasoned. “Don’t kill me. They made me come here.”

“You’ll have to sort that out with whatever the hell you pray to,” I told him.

I brought the axe high over my head and chopped down as hard as I could. The blade parted the vampire’s body like melted butter, and I was soon watching the two halves fall away from each other as everything within him spilled onto the ground in a mess of shredded organs and b***d.

“It’s finally your turn,” I told Nethercote. He was going to pay for what he’d done. They all were.

I stalked over to the Sire, where he feebly pushed against the tree, trying to escape as he heard me approaching.

“Did you really think we’d let you get away with this?” I asked, not really expecting an answer. “Do vampires really think we’ll let you come here to our homes, and we’ll roll over so you can slaughter us?”

If he was trying to respond, it was lost in his inability to draw breath. I’d finally reached him. I took the axe in my hand and slammed it into Nethercote next to its twin. I felt it rip through him to sink into the tree. A horrible sound of pain and terror escaped Nethercote. He clawed at the tree now, ripping huge chunks out of it. The Sire looked desperate, but he wouldn’t be much longer.

“You thought you could take everything from me,” I roared as I grabbed under his chin with the other hand on the back of his head. “Now, you’ll watch as I take everything from you.”

With a sickening pop, I turned his head all the way around to face me. His eyes were wide as he saw me and looked down at his back. Nethercote’s head was backward now, the skin ripped and bloody around his neck. He was mouthing words like he wanted to talk to me, but nothing was coming out. There was no throat connected to it anymore. I grabbed one of his arms at the wrist and the shoulder. With effort, I ripped it off his body and threw it on the ground.

“You took my wolf from me.”

I took hold of his other arm as tears of b***d began to stream down his face. I tore it from his body, too, holding it up to show him.

“You tried to kill my friends.”

I reached down to grab his ankle next, pulling it awkwardly out from his body. His eyes looked even more panicked. I twisted hard, wrenching his leg away from him and out of its socket.

“You came to my pack. You put my kids in danger.”

Nethercote’s final limb was in my hands. I was done with the missions and the intelligence gathering. They came here, and I was resolved to make an example. I would kill them all myself if I had to.

“Now, you try to kill my Alpha. My best friend. You’re not leaving here alive.”

Very little b***d escaped as his leg came free. He’d bled so much now that it was a crimson pool at my feet, soaking my shoes. I was covered from head to toe. His body was trembling, and I had no use for this anymore. I needed to get Liam to help. I seized his hair and pulled his face up to look into mine.

“I hope it was worth it,” I growled as I tore his head from his body completely.

Pulling my axes from his body with one hand, his dismembered trunk fell to the ground and splashed in the dark puddle. I placed Nethercote’s head on his back so that it could serve as a warning to any other vampires coming this way. They should know it will only end in death. I walked towards Liam and saw someone running toward us with a person over their shoulder. They reached Liam first, and I could tell it was our Luna. She threw herself to her knees, pulling Liam’s head into her lap as she fussed over him. I could hear his g****s from here, and I couldn’t tell if he would make it much longer.

Once I reached them, I heard Azalea say, “I’m here, Liam; just hold on.”

I breathed a small sigh of relief. If anyone could keep him alive, it would be her.

AZALEA

The sun was setting, and the pain within me had already subsided. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt stronger. Seeing Liam in pain was awful, but I knew I could heal him.

“This feels like when Kol stabbed him with wolfsbane, but it was worse. Did that happen again?” I asked Damien, fussing over Liam.

“Yea,” he replied gruffly. “Nethercote stuck him with a syringe. He’s collapsed almost immediately. A Sire appeared with a big group, and when Liam asked to fight him one on one, the vampire agreed but stuck him with the wolfsbane.”

“A Sire?” I asked, looking around frantically. If another Sire was here with Warwick, we could be in massive trouble.

“I killed all of the vampires and then the Sire, Lea. We’re safe, at least for now.”

Relief blossomed within my chest as I put both of my hands on Liam. It was time to heal him. I never figured out how to use my power without touching someone since that first time during Kol and Liam’s fight. Liam was grunting below me.

“I can do this,” I whispered to myself.

“Azalea,” Liam said softly, pulling my hand into him. “Don’t. It could kill you.”

“You have to let me do this, Liam,” I insisted. He wasn’t going to stop me from this; he was in pain, and I could help.

“You can’t…” he tried to argue.

I brought my lips over his to stop him from talking, pushing the energy from my body into his as I tasted his lips. I closed my eyes, and I pictured me aura washing through his body, blanketing it in healing energy. Unlike what usually happened, I felt no pain or fatigue. As I pulled away, Liam’s eyes were clear and looked worried.

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking me up and down as he rolled himself over.

“No pain,” I promised him. “I don’t know why, but this time was different.”

He looked up towards the now darkened sky where the moon was starting to show, “Do you think?”

He’d told me about the Harvest Moon Legend, and I knew that’s what he was referring to. “I don’t know. I am the right age.”

He pulled me to him tightly, crushing my lips with his. I accepted him gladly, my anxiety over him surviving finally abated. I healed him so easily it was almost miraculous. Damien cleared his throat, breaking the moment to remind us we were in the middle of a battlefield.

“Sorry, Damien,” I apologized, my cheeks flushed. Liam stood gracefully and reached out his hand to help me up too. As we stood, Missy came out of nowhere, launching herself at Liam like a missile.

“You’re okay!” she shouted, her voice muffled by his chest.

“I’m fine,” Liam consoled her. He hugged her tightly and patted her hair tenderly. “Azalea got here just in time.” His eyes met mine lovingly.

Missy released Liam and looked at me with concern. “Are you sure? You aren’t tired?” she asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m okay and now so is your dad.”Belongs to - All rights reserved.

“Sorry, Beta. I can’t really keep anything from her,” Maddox apologized sheepishly.

Damien narrowed his eyes but clapped him on the shoulder, “All that matters is you’re here. Thank you for coming, even though I didn’t need you.”

I looked up at my mate and braced myself for the fight I knew was coming. “Liam, we need to use the watch to end Warwick. Here’s here; he has to be.”

“I don’t need the watch. I’m going to tear him apart for what he’s done here,” Liam told me. His eyes grew dark. Gavin had to be pushing at the seams to get out.

“Let me go with you. I can heal you if they try the same thing again or you get hurt,” I demanded. I couldn’t let him leave me behind like he always did; this was my pack too and I could be of use. “We need to finish this together. Alpha and Luna.”

Liam looked torn. I could feel the indecision through our bond along with his worry for my safety. I felt the same about him leaving me to go off and fight somewhere, so I wasn’t letting him lock me in the packhouse to go alone.

“Fine,” he agreed.

“You can’t make… Fine?” I’d started to argue before I caught what he said. “You’ll let me help?”

“Yes,” he sighed, turning to Azeron. “At the first sign that she’s tired or in danger, you take her back to the packhouse or somewhere else safe. Don’t break my trust again. I let you live once, I won’t if she gets hurt.”

“Understood, Alpha,” Azeron said simply, moving closer to me.

“I’ll go with them if Lea is in danger,” Missy told Liam, her voice thick with determination. This wasn’t the same girl who had been kidnapped only a couple of months ago. She stood in front of us, next to her warrior mate, covered in b***d and dirt but without an ounce of fear on her face.

“Missy, I want you away from all this. This isn’t your fight,” Liam told her. She shook her head.

“This is my pack. I am the Alpha’s daughter. This is just as much my fight as anyone else’s. I won’t let them take anyone else I care about,” she said, her voice not wavering a bit.

“Alright,” Liam acknowledged. “Stay with Maddox. I know you are strong, but he will keep you safe.” Liam felt just as much pride for our daughter as I did. I wanted her safe but understood what this meant.

“We have to find Warwick now,” Damien input. “I can’t tell if these attacks are random or planned.”

“When we got to Lyssa’s, the last vampire said he was there to kidnap the kids. But they had already been attacked before that group got there. If you add that to Bygrave’s mate coming after me, I think that it’s mostly random with vampires doing what they want. Then, small units were sent to do specific tasks in the resulting confusion,” Maddox interjected; his calculating expression was serious as he considered everything they’d seen thus far.

“Did Austin get the children to the packhouse? Is my mom okay?” Liam asked.

Missy and Maddox exchanged a somber look, and Maddox shook his head. “Austin is gone. We got there too late, and he died in front of us. Lyssa is in the safe room in her house because she was too injured to move. The kids should be at the packhouse by now.”

I couldn’t believe what Maddox was saying. My chest felt tight; war was really upon us. Austin was one of the first wolves in the pack to accept me, and since then I’d grown to love him and his mate. Abigail was probably in shambles right now, and Austin would never come to comfort her.

“We have to find Warwick and kill him,” I snapped. “If we don’t, he’s going to slaughter the whole pack. I tried reasoning with him, but he’s beyond that.”

“You won’t have to look far,” Warwick’s voice came from the trees. Liam and Damien blocked my view, but it didn’t matter. We didn’t have to find our enemy because he came right to us.