Chapter 64 Eyes Closed

~Anna~

My ears rang as I regained consciousness, the sharp piercing sound splitting my head into two. My body felt sore and weak and heavy as I pushed myself off the ground. Screams sounded around me, a low echo amidst the ringing. And where the mansion had once been, a great fire that reached the heavens. The van burned, too, a blazing yellow and orange eating its interior.

Father.

I swayed to the sides when I stood, thoughts of his death consuming my mind.

Father. Beta David. The Delta Unit.

My legs like lead as I dragged my feet into the burning structure, warmth creeping down my cheeks. It couldn’t be. This had to be a nightmare – a very surreal nightmare.

Images of Father getting his neck ripped off flashed before my eyes; of Father calling behind me with an arm outstretched; of my knight’s brave team. My stomach churned. I tasted acid in my mouth. Unable to hold it back, my knees gave away and I vomited all the contents of my stomach. Tears and snot mixed with the disgusting bacterial infestation that spilled on the ground. After several heaves, I’d let out all it contained. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I stared at the mansion, the weight of their deaths crashing down on me.

The ringing on my ears had calmed a little, in its place the fire’s remorseless crackling.

“Anna,” I heard someone say.

I hadn’t realized someone was shaking me by the shoulders. I tensed then slowly turned my head to the side.

“Anna,” he repeated, his hands cupping my cheeks.

I held out my hands to touch his face. My fingers sank on soft skin. It was real. He… was real.

Tears rolled down his cheeks as his hands went up to my head then down my hair.

“I’m here. I’m here,” he whispered.

My arms wrapped around him immediately, pulling him close to me as I cried.

“I’m here,” he repeated, rubbing a hand down my back.

I couldn’t form any word as I reeled my emotions in to keep me in control but the relief from seeing him again was making it impossible.

A group of young men emerged from the woods, running towards us.

“Alpha!” they called.

The pack. What about the pack?

Claws clutched my heart as I was reminded of the children.

What about the children?

I pulled away from him and shakily got to my feet. He helped me up and only then did I notice that he was in no better shape than I was. His clothes were a burnt and tattered mess, and he had scrapes and burnt skin where it showed. I grimaced, afraid to look down at myself.

A young boy, appearing to be in his late teens, came over to us as the group of young men dispersed in different directions.

“Look for survivors!” one of them shouted.

To my relief, he said, “Alpha, the women, and children are being evacuated to the safehouse.”

He looked at me with an anxious expression. “Please come with me.”

“She’s alive!” someone shouted, a few meters away to our right. A couple of warriors immediately went over to assist.

“Alpha, we have to get you to safety,” he urged.

“Come,” said Father, holding my arm.

Looking back, I recognized that it was Sabri.

Where are the others?

“Medic!” another shouted, just a couple meters from Sabri.

They’re alive!

I halted in my tracks and freed my arm. Father looked at me confused.

“I have to go to them.”

I ran towards Sabri, but he grabbed my arm.

“I have to get you to safety, Bella.”

Just then, howls came from the direction of the packhouse. Father’s face hardened. He shoved me to the warrior and in a cold voice said, “Take her to the vault, Chuck. Use force as needed.”

His bleeding had stopped, and the burns were mostly healed.

“No!” I screamed, earning a hardened gaze from him. “I am not going to sit around in a vault when I can do something to help. They’re under my Order, Father. Let me, us, help you.”

His eyes softened as he cupped my cheek.

“You are brave, Bella, just like your Mother. But now, I need you safe.”

He placed his forehead on top of mine. “The pack needs their Alpha.”

He kissed the top of my head before shifting into his wolf, eyes a deep black with an ugly jagged scar that ran across his left eye. Howling, more of the warriors joined him and they disappeared into the woods.

“This way, Alpha,” said Chuck, dragging me away.

I’m not the Alpha. Father will come back. I’m not the Alpha.

Sabri was already on her feet, and so was Nalia.

Kicking Chuck behind the knee, he bent on his right, letting go of my arm. Before he could spin around, I sprinted to Nalia. Ten meters away from her, a shout came from the woods.

“Breachhh!!!”

The warning was cut short as a man went flying out of the woods, his body rolling on the ground before it stopped. He didn’t move after.

The warriors gathered as Chuck ran in my direction. Then, rogues emerged from the woods. Howling and snarling, the warriors charged on them.

“Luna,” said Sabri.

I hadn’t noticed they were on my side.

“Alpha,” said Chuck, grabbing my arm.

Nalia pointed her sword to him, threatening to pierce through his neck should he make the wrong move.

“Let go of my Luna.”

Chuck growled but she didn’t flinch. He let go of my arm and she slowly lowered her sword.

My eyes widened at the next thing I saw. After a single blink, Chuck was sucking the life out of Nalia’s mouth.

“Holy shit,” said Ethan, chuckling.

My head shot up to him.

“You’re alive,” I whispered.

He grinned but there was no light in his eyes.

“Reese, status: deceased. Ty, status: deceased. Nalia, status: aroused. Current Mission: In Progress,” he reported. “Luna –“ he said, his eyes shifting to the battle happening behind me before adding, “- your call.”

Reese… dreamed of surpassing the Alpha. Ty… had a daughter to take care of.

He threw me away to save me. He sacrificed his life for mine.

“I-I-“

“Luna,” he said in a low voice. “Please… respect their passing.”

I bit on my lip and held back the tears. They were brave warriors until the end of their duty.

I will not sully their honor by apologizing.

Sabri joined beside him, their faces determined, looking forward to joining the action.

“I can’t let my people die,” I replied. “We have to help them.”

“What about the Alpha?” asked Nalia, casually standing beside Chuck.

“How fast can you clean up?” I taunted.

Their lips pulled into a smirk. Sabrina reloaded her guns, Nalia drew out both swords, and Ethan, while chuckling, shifted into a dark brown wolf.

“Protect my Luna,” warned Nalia to her mate before joining the others.

“I’ll protect my Alpha,” he said firmly, looking me in the eye. “We’ll have to take a detour, but I’ll get you there safe.”

He grabbed my wrist and dragged me with him. I wished I hadn’t looked back. Many of Father’s warriors laid lifeless on the ground while more rogues kept spilling into the open. The Delta Unit fought alongside the warriors, but at his rate, we’d get run over. There were too many of them.

Father…

A growl made Chuck stop. A rogue spotted us fleeing from the main battleground and was now running towards us. He pulled me behind him protectively.

“At my count, run as fast as you can and never look back.”

No. There has to be something I can do.

“Three.” Two more rogues joined the pursuit.

“Two.” I looked around for anything I could defend myself with.

“One!” he shouted, pushing me to run.

“I can’t leave you here!” I screamed, trying to look for anything… anything I could use.

“Alpha, please… run,” he urged.

Why isn’t there anything! No, wait…

I raised the skirt of my dress and from the thigh holster around my right thigh, I pulled out the small blade Father gave me. The handle was a perfect fit in my hand, I held it in front of me.

“I can help,” I said firmly. “We will fight, and we will win, and we will live.”

The rogues now close, Chuck shifted into a wolf with brown and blonde patches of fur. With a snarl, he charged at the three, attacking the one in the middle. Since he was slightly bigger and faster, the rogue in the middle fell on the ground. Within seconds, it was drowning in its own pooling blood. The one on the left tackled Chuck and the one on the right came straight for me.

Crouching, I waited for it to approach. Closer… and closer… my hand tightly gripping my weapon. At long last, it leaped into the air.

While airborne, I carried my body forward as swiftly I can, bending backward as low as possible as both hands gripped the handle and raised it high. The blade sunk on its stomach, and as its motion continued, so did the cut. Warm liquid coated my hands, trickling down to my arms, a few dropping on my face.

The rogue dropped to the ground, its organs spilling out of its stomach. As the paws began to shift back into feet, I turned away, my breathing loud in my ears.

Kneeling into the ground, I felt sick to my stomach as I saw the blood on my hands. I took a life.

Rogues were enemies. It wouldn’t have hesitated to kill me, but it didn’t discount the fact that I killed a person.

I felt nothing but sickness to the very depths of my stomach. Looking around, I saw the battle unfold before me.

I saw the Delta Unit support each other as they took down rogues. I saw my warriors, young men in training, get their lives ripped out of them.

I saw rogues ruthlessly take life away for seemingly no reason. They didn’t care for the wolf beside them, each hungry for their own fill of violence and murder.

Where was the honor? They were defending the pack, defending themselves, defending their companions from their own kind.

All I saw was duty. Duty to protect that which they cared for to the extent of their own lives instead of the warrior beside them. This was what they took pride in. Amidst the violence, blood, and chaos lied honor.

I felt like vomiting, but I had no more to heave out. The knife slid from my hand. I rubbed them on my skirt. I stank of a man’s blood.

A growl made me look to the right. My eyes widened in shock to see a scruffy-looking man aiming a gun at me. I’d never seen him before. I didn’t know who he was and neither did he know me, but his black eyes reflecting flickering yellows burned with cold, cold hatred and fury. With the fires casting streaks of pale yellow on his face, his dark eyes gleamed a dangerous red that froze me in place.

He smirked. A gunshot rang aloud. Then black covered my vision before his figure came into view again. A wolf emerged from out of nowhere and tore down the man that fired. His screams rang in my ears, drowned out by a sound that sounded nearer to me.

A growl reached my ears, followed by a whimper, then the heavy breathing of a man. I blinked, then slowly turned my head to follow the direction of the sound. My jaw dropped.

No…

My hands and knees felt the ground. Slowly, I crawled to him until I met his face.

“Father…” I whispered, tears creeping down my cheeks. His body jolted as his coughing worsened, but he still smiled up at me. His hands found mine, gripping them tightly on his chest, blood spurting out of a bullet hole near his heart. It wasn’t healing.

“Bel-la...” He smiled up at me, his grip tightened, and his voice sounded constrained.

“I’m… so-sorry,” he said, tears escaping his eyes.

“Bella,” someone said, his knees beside my father. His voice sent butterflies flying in my stomach. It was Carson.

“Here,” he said, handing me a knife.

“No,” said Father, coughing up more blood. He shook his head as he forced another smile.

“I can heal you,” I whispered. “Let me heal you.”

Carson produced a white cloth and applied pressure on his wound. Blood soaked the cloth immediately.

“Hurry, Bella,” he urged.

I tried to concentrate on channeling my energy, hoping it might do something to help him. My hands glowed a faint green, then it disappeared. I couldn’t…

“Please… Father.” I pulled my hands away from his, but he wouldn’t let go. He needed my blood.

“No. It’s… my… time,” he said weakly.

“It doesn’t have to be!” I shouted, pulling harder. “Please let me heal you. I can heal you.”

I could feel his grip weakening. I was losing him. The only family I had left. My very own father.

“I don’t want to lose you. Please…”

“Bella! Now!”

Father smiled up at me. On the brink of death, he had an odd calmness in his eyes as he stared up at me.

“You can’t do this to me!” I screamed. “Father, you can’t leave me!”

“I love you,” he mouthed. His body jerked again as he coughed then with one last breath, his head fell to the side. His hands let mine go. The warmth lingered in them, but his eyes were now blank. No tiredness, no joy, no anger, no shock, no calmness – nothing. He just stared to the side…

It can’t be. This isn’t real. You’re the only family I have left. You’re my father. I haven’t even told you yet… that I’m grateful that you found me, that I’m happy I get to spend time with you, that you accepted me for who I am. I haven’t told you that you and Mother look like a perfect pair, haven’t told you that I forgive you for what you did. I haven’t told you yet… that I’m sorry for hurting you, for pushing you away, for being stubborn.

I raised him to my chest, hugging his heavy, lifeless body.

You have to come back, Father. You have to hear me say it. You have to hear me say that “I love you, too.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. “Bella, we have to go now!”

“Aaahhh!!!” I screamed my heart out, the loudest I ever did.

You can’t leave me.

I kept my eyes on the skies, heartbreaking at the reality in my arms. I didn’t dare look down, didn’t dare accept that this was real, but it was.

“I’m sorry, Bella,” said Carson.

The next thing I knew, someone grabbed both my arms and dragged me back.

“No. No! Let me go! Let me go!” I screamed as I watched Father’s body settle back onto the ground. Carson continued to drag my butt across the ground. I thrashed around in his grip.

I won’t leave you alone. I’m here now, Father.

Carson pulled me to my feet, turning me abruptly so I was facing him. “He’s dead, Bella!” he shouted.

I shook my head. “No…”

“Yes, he is –“

“No…”

“- and I’m sorry, but I have to get you out of here,” he said firmly.

To where? Father was gone. Anywhere I go now, he wouldn’t follow me after. There would be no late-night knocks on my bedroom door, with him holding a tray of hot chocolate and brownies. There would be no one to sit with underneath a tree on a picnic mat, watching the young warriors train under the sun; commenting on their mistakes, and laughing at their struggles. There would be no stories now… sweet and corny stories of Mother.

“Bella, snap out of it!” I felt a sharpness on my right cheek, and a tear slid down.

“Look around you. Warriors are dying around us, Bella. Backup is on its way. For now, I have to get you to safety.”

He pulled me along and like a ventriloquist doll. My feet moved to follow him. As we ran, I looked back and saw that our side's number had dwindled. The Delta Unit was all alive and fighting, with fewer warriors with them. The rogues’ bodies were scattered around, but more of them kept coming like they’d be no end to them.

Rogues. Filthy, savage, hateful rogues.

If it wasn’t because of them, the warriors of my pack wouldn’t have died.

My mate wouldn’t have had to risk his life.

If it wasn’t because of them, those young men would still be alive, snoring in their beds from the tiresome training.

If it wasn’t because of them, Beta David would still be hanging around outside the mansion, drinking a bottle as he sang to himself.

If it wasn’t for them, Father... Father would only be asleep by now, resting in his bed to wake up to another day.

Rogues. They take and take and take without a care in the world.

A couple of rogues spotted Carson and me. They immediately sprinted in our direction. I glanced down and saw Carson’s handgun.

Forcefully coming to a stop, I took his handgun. Before he could confront me, I aimed it at one of the oncoming wolves. A strange calmness took over the rage as I focused on my target.

Gunshot echoed in my ears, the recoil sending vibrations up my arm. I watched in satisfaction as the bullet went between the rogue’s eyes, its front legs folding before it collapsed on the ground. Another gunshot sounded, and the other rogue fell.

I didn’t fire that. Diverting my gaze, I saw the Delta Unit and a few warriors run over to us with rogues in pursuit. There were too many.

“Protect the Luna!” shouted Sabri and the three of them immediately surrounded me as we sped into the woods.

“Lead them away from the vault!” shouted Chuck.

He knew what he was asking of the warriors. They knew what he asked for, and yet none of them hesitated for a second.

“This way!” they shouted, as half of them moved to our front and lead us to the right. The rest stayed behind us.

The rogues howled. Soon, they’d catch up to us. I had to think of something. The Delta Unit, Carson, these young warriors… I couldn’t just let them die.

“Status!” shouted Ethan.

Sabri turned and fired shots from an automatic. She threw one gun to the side then took out a magazine.

“The last one!” she shouted back.

There was suddenly a group of rogues coming from our side. A sword sliced through the air, piercing a rogue’s skull. Then three knives were thrown, each landing on its mark.

“I’m out!” shouted Nalia.

Carson tightened his grip on my hand. “Bella, if we don’t make it –“

“No one is dying for me!” I shouted. “We either live or we die trying. There are no in-betweens.”

Ethan wolf-whistled.

“You sound just like Liam,” he said with a smile, and Sabri and Nalia smiled too.

He ripped off his tactical vest. Sabri and Nalia followed suit.

“You are our Luna,” he said, chuckling.

The three of them stopped and so did the warriors behind us. Carson, not looking back, ran even faster and continued to drag me along. The warriors were bumping their right fists on their chests.

“On our honor!” they shouted as all of them bowed slightly.

“Carson!” I screamed. “Carson, stop!”

“I’m sorry,” he muttered under his breath.

Before I could notice, I was lifted off the ground and being carried in his arms. We passed by the trees in a blur that I had to close my eyes. It didn’t block out the sound. Their screams, their howls…

I’m useless. I can’t at least transform into a wolf. I’m powerless.

“Anna!” shouted a familiar voice.

Lexy?

Opening my eyes, I saw Lexy standing in front of us. Warriors ran from both sides, numerous weapons on hand while most have already shifted into their wolves. They emerged from the trees, howling and snarling – an entire army of them.

Carson put me down and Lexy immediately engulfed me in a hug. “Thank Goddess you’re safe,” she breathed.

What about them?

I followed their direction, hoping that I’ll see them again. Lexy squeezed my hand. “White Lake Pack,” she said. “They came for you, Anna.”

“I- I don’t understand.”

“They regret what they did, Bella,” said Carson quietly. “The day I was taking you back, they planned to ask you for forgiveness, and if you’d accept, the Head Gamma position. They were all worried about you. They volunteered to come to save you before Flynn could give the order.”

“You’re something else, Anna,” said Lexy, holding both my hands. “You have your own way of touching people’s hearts, and it changes them for the better.”

Carson wrapped an arm around her waist then placed a kiss on the top of her head. I stared in shock as my mind processed the information coming in.

The White Lake Pack wants me to forgive them?

I’m a what?

These two are…

“Mates!” I shouted and they both smiled. My heart melted. My best friend and my first girl best friend.

Just then, Lexy’s eyes glazed over as she talked to someone in a mind-link. After a few seconds, they were back to normal.

“Duty calls,” she chirped.

Carson pulled her into a quick kiss before I could close my eyes or turn my head.

“Tell Liam I want a vacation, and I need Rigel to carry my bags,” she said with a wink then she shifted into her wolf and left the two of us.

From where we were, gunshots and howls vibrated through the air. More… more of them were dying.

“Let’s go,” said Carson, crouching in front of me. My mouth shaped into a small “o”.

“Aren’t we… too old for this?” I asked, cheeks heating up.

“The faster we are, the sooner we get to Liam and the others,” he explained, then in a softer voice, said, “The Red Claw Pack needs their Luna, Bella.”

Awkwardly, I hugged him from behind and wrapped my legs around his waist. He held me in place, making sure I wouldn’t fall.

“Will they be-“

“We have a convoy half a kilometer from here,” he interrupted, turning his face to me. “They’re warriors, Bella. Besides, my mate’s with them.”

I felt sick to my stomach. Lexy was now involved. Carson should be here with her, and yet he trusted her to be safe with my old pack.

What happened these last three months?

“Hold tight,” he warned then we were whizzing through the trees once more.

I had my eyes closed; my face pressed hard on his back.

They trusted each other. My old pack wanted me. I couldn’t hear the war anymore, but I trusted we’ll all meet again. Right now, I had to get my Alpha back.

Watch over me, Father.