Chapter 44 Full Counter
~Liam~
Memories came flooding back to me as I watched her sleep. Everything… a blur, a flash, a series of images on the play. I remembered everything… but was still a scramble.
An arm flung around my waist, and her leg came over my thigh. She was anything but a still sleeper, but she looked adorable with her hair messy. My Anna, I remembered her then, as with everything else that preceded, and I understood what was happening with the pack.
Luca wasn’t responding, yet. Even when I marked her and she marked me, he didn’t make his presence known. I knew he was still with me, but he was keeping himself shut off.
He tried to poison me and succeeded; Luca must be in a worse condition than me.
She mumbled my name and I smiled. Was she dreaming about me? I couldn’t be any happier. It felt right, and with our marks, I felt complete. Goddess, I love this woman.
I adjusted the sheets to cover her back. Then, pulling her close to my chest, I kissed her head and drifted to sleep.
“Alpha, the eastern borders request assistance,” said a communicator via the mind-link, snapping me out of my thoughts. I issued orders as I darted to the east, hearing a “Yes, Alpha.”
As the night progressed, the rogues were getting more aggressive in their attacks. Their numbers had no pattern, and their careless attacks were just a means to throw us off. We’d been cautious in going offensive since we couldn’t figure out their plan and focus on the defensive instead. They didn’t have a plan, at all. These attacks were meant to weaken our forces.
On the defensive, we isolated ourselves. Food had to be conserved and medical supplies would soon need replenishment. Outside help was coming, but until then we had to advance as far as we could. It was time to go on the offensive.
Information passed in my head like lightning, and I had to sort and analyze each one and come up with a decision. Even for regular werewolves, this would easily drive them insane and they’d lose their sense of self. The numerous voices that chattered, the ongoing fight on the outside – even to us Alphas, this was a daunting and heavily exhausting task. I had to. I was trained to take the strain of keeping too many links open; so were my Beta and Gamma.
Under Anna’s leadership, they held back the first wave with the least number of casualties, effectively buying them time to prepare for the next. Lexy was pushing past her limits to keep up with her work – sooner or later, her excessive use would take its toll on her. Gale was now on the frontlines. He was on the south, and he covered both the south and western borders. Rigel did an excellent job at guarding the northern borders, considering his team was the smallest in number. They all did well. Amazingly well. Now it was my turn.
Upon reaching the eastern borders, Nalia and Sabri were already there.
Luca growled; the stink of rogues left a bad taste in the mouth. “Liam…”
“You don’t have to say it,” I replied, slipping back, and giving him full control. When we switched, he gave out a howl and sped faster. With him controlling his own body, I had more leeway on my side.
Isolating the links of everyone in this area, I grouped them to create our own channel and focused my attention on it.
They responded fast as I issued orders. Dividing the warriors into the three of us allowed us to cover a wider area. These she-wolves were extraordinary and were more than capable of leading a team of their own. Gunshots rang and blood spurted.
Rigel really smoothened their edges. His team was as crazy as him.
Luca took out as many as he could and assisted those who almost met their end. None of my men were dying – not on my watch.
A rogue launched itself on us. Luca grabbed him by the neck and swung his body to the side, to be finished off by our warriors.
A bullet went past me before my paws hit the ground. A wolf whimpered then fell, blood seeping out from the hole in its head. Luca growled at Sabri. She smirked at us as her team regrouped with ours.
“Clear on our side, Alpha,” she reported, now beside me.
“How much do you have left?” I asked via mind-link.
She loaded her Glocks then tossed her braided hair.
“Enough,” she answered.
More of the rogues came running towards us.
Nalia and her team arrived. Pure white wolf shone beautifully in the night.
“Clear on our side, Alpha,” she said via mind-link.
The stink intensified. I mind-linked the group.
“Keep your guards up. There are more coming.”
Someone tried to link. I lifted the barrier.
“Welcome to the party,” I greeted.
“What news from the north, Alpha?” asked Nalia at the same time a red flare went up the sky.
A group of wolves approached us from the left flank, a woman donned in an ankle-length robe riding one of them. She held a crossbow and a sling of arrows on her back.
They came to stop before me.
“Alpha Liam, we are the sisters of the Red Circle, here to be of aide,” she said aloud as she got down. She smelled like one of us, but she was the only one still in human form from their group, and she kept her eyes closed.
“I am blind, Alpha, but I won’t be a burden,” she said, smiling.
Helia had shared the recruits this year.
“I didn’t think you’ll be a burden, Luan,” I said firmly.
“Thank you, Alpha.”
They joined our ranks as they had always been a part of us. Then again, they were our sister pack.
Another set of flares lighted the skies, coming from all four directions. The color was green.
I grinned and sent another message, this time to the whole pack. They dared attack my pack, dared harm my Luna, and dared kill my warriors. Whoever was behind this would pay tenfold and more.
“Red Claw Pack, our sisters from the Red Circle has answered our call. The Moon Stone Pack has come to our aide. It is our turn to fight back!” I exclaimed, then grinned. “Show them why we’re called the Red Claw.”
Howls erupted from all directions, and more red flares, quickly followed by green flares, from the south, and the west, lit up the dark skies.
“Show them what happens when they dare spill blood on our lands.”
The warriors with me charged forward, keeping up with my pace. I was sending orders, filtering information from the different units, and checking up with Gale on how things were on his side.
“Quite a speech there, Alpha,” she said teasingly.
“I had a great teacher,” I replied, hearing a laugh from the other line. “Thank you for coming, Helia.”
“Always a pleasure to be here, Liam. Now let’s clean up quick so we can catch up. I heard you found your mate.”
Never miss a single piece of news, to this day.
“You’ll love her, Helia.”
She laughed a little as she replied, “I’m sure I will.”
I sensed someone nearby and commanded them to stop.
A ball of fire came from behind us, crashing unto the oncoming enemies. Pained howls and the smell of burning meat…
I growled in annoyance and found that one particular link.
“This isn’t a barbeque, Jayme.”
Fuck. It stinks.
“Why the fuck did you show up now?”
He was now beside me, clothed in a long robe with a large hoodie that hid his face. He raised his hands and the sleeves pulled back a little. Purple electricity danced in his fingers.
“I felt Mom,” he replied.
“Keep up and no friendly fire this time.”
Luca howled. He was getting impatient.
With a howl, Luca led them, into nothing short of victory.
