34

ALINA’S VIEW

I stared at Damian, completely overwhelmed. He looked at me expectantly, maybe even impatiently, out of dark eyes. He took a few steps forward and nudged me with his nose. I followed the request and scratched his dark head while I briefly processed what he had just told me.

Since we were all werewolves, it seemed wise to move around in wolf form. This way we reached our destination much faster and the wolves were less exhausted because their immortal parts lost their strength more slowly than their human parts. I immediately agreed to the idea, not thinking about what would happen to me.

So it came about that almost all the warriors from Damian's pack now stood around me as wolves and waited for their alpha to order. He in turn waited for me to comply with his request and sit on his back. Then we would start running and the others would join us later.

Only I had never sat on a wolf and had not been able to reconcile myself with such an idea, although Damian had already offered it to me at one of our first meetings. At the time I turned it down, even though I was very excited about the idea. And so it was now. Only his suggestion came so suddenly that I had to process it first.

But I didn't want to keep our mission any longer, so I nodded timidly and approached Damian. Luckily, he understood that I wasn't going to get on his back just like that, and carefully lowered himself onto his stomach - as if he didn't want to scare me.

I put my hands behind his back and ran my fingers through his soft fur again before giving myself the final push and hauling myself up. When I got to the top, I stretched myself into a comfortable position and then applied slight pressure with my thigh to convey to him that I was sitting securely.

Damian struggled to his feet but showed no signs of being bothered by my weight other than a shake of his head. He walked a bit as a test and I realized how I had to move in order not to fall off or to hinder his walking too much.

Damian turned to his people - I could spot Jack in the crowd, among others - and started talking to them via Mind-Link. Just as he had intended, because he wanted to motivate her again. So it was that we stood for a few more minutes and I looked into the concentrated faces of the werewolves in front of me, who suddenly and without any warning tilted their heads back and let out a howl.

“Here we go,” Damian informed me and I nodded even though he couldn't see it. You could literally feel the excitement and anticipation. Some tapped their paws, others looked around the crowd uneasily. Damian turned back so he was staring at the forest.

‘Are you ready?”

I took another deep breath and focused on what lay ahead. “Yes I am.’’

‘Then hold on tight.” Damian's anticipation shot through me just before he sped off. Now I could understand why he had advised me to hold on tight. Damian was incredibly fast, deftly dodging oncoming obstacles. He jumped over a log and the tremor as we hit the ground shook my bones.

We came to a large clearing, Jack and Ethan were right behind us, and Damian let out another howl, which was answered directly by another wolf. The next moment dozens more wolves broke out of the forest behind us. I turned my head back in surprise and saw a reddish-haired wolf at the head and a slightly smaller one that I knew only too well.

Sam and Eriens quickly caught up with us while the others fell in behind us. I looked forward again and snuggled more into Damian's fur. This was one of the few times that packs banded together and fought for their cause together.

It just had to work. We had prepared ourselves for this and had taken enough fighters with us. When Zabrina joined us, with Sophie at her side, I suspected, I was ready to fight. We just had to get her to talk. Then we had the reins in our hands, it could not possibly go wrong.

No one bothered to stop beforehand or somehow stem the noise we made. We had no intention of sneaking in here and our performance showed how serious we were. Because Damian came to a stop right in front of a gate and pushed a guard to the side with his head.

A werewolf turned back while running and took the weapon from him before knocking him unconscious. More wolves were reverted to their human form and tampered with the gate, which they were able to open within seconds. But no one dared to enter.

The Alphas gathered in front and nodded to each other. Then Zabrina first growled something at her people and ran east before Karl did the same - but less aggressively - and they followed. Eriens made his way west around the huge complex, with Jones at his heels.

Sam was the only one who stayed longer and looked into my eyes. I swallowed hard but stared back with the same determination. For Sylle. We nodded and at each other at the same time. His pack was already gone and only our people were there. Because that was the plan. We would go through the main entrance and the others would look for other entrances and ways to get in.

Damian didn't hesitate and ran through the open gate directly onto the site. According to Connor, there were no traps or anything like that in the entire area, which is why we didn't take any care and ran straight to the door. As expected, it was locked, but that didn't deter werewolves. After a few pushes, that opened with a faint creak.

Apparently our presence was already expected, because figures dressed in red clothes acted as our reception committee, which immediately started shooting. I didn't know if humans realized what the memory of other humans in red clothes did to the werewolves.

Because when they were reminded of their intrusion into the wolves' home, they could no longer be stopped and were not deterred by shots. A howl sounded and my eyes fell on the young wolf, who fell to the ground, hit by a bullet. His archer, as if in response, was immediately thrown to the ground and was dead within seconds. Half eaten away.

It all happened that way, without Damian or I even having to move a toe. So we went through all the corridors, so it was with every soldier. We lost few, and we would deal with their casualties later. Mourn them and give them a decent funeral.

Our goal was the great hall. According to Connor's words, he was equipped with several cameras that would follow our arrival and send a corresponding message to the command room. If there was still no reaction, there was still the possibility of locating the organization's bigwigs for themselves.

Luckily we only had to deal with the main entrance and didn't have to worry about whether other members of the organization would overwhelm us from the side doors. That was the task of the other packs, they should get the humans off our backs and make sure that we arrived safely at our destination. Then they would join us.

Damian entered the room cautiously. It was truly huge and completely empty. Only a few mirrors on the walls showed that the room was in use. We looked around the room waiting. Nobody dared to say a word. Nothing happened. Well then, we'd just move on to plan B. That wasn't a problem and it was exactly the reason why this plan was so ingenious.

Suddenly, muffled footsteps approached quickly from behind. No footsteps, it was paws I could see now. However, only briefly, as the wolf transformed in the next moment and became a panting Egbert. I slid off Damian's back in confusion, who also transformed back and said, smiling, "So you did it." However, his smile faded when he saw the panic on Egbert's face, who yelled, "Everyone out! This is a trap!"

DAMIAN’S VIEW

I trusted Egbert in that moment more than ever before. I was just about to give the order to retreat when huge metal plates slammed from the doors onto the floor, making escape impossible. It was too late.

Unrest spread and there was a tangle of werewolves in wolf and human form. Alina came to my side and looked around the room uneasily, while Jack came to me. "This cursed room is so huge I can't even see the end." "It's probably exactly what you want," Egbert murmured, suddenly standing in front of me.

“Keep calm and be ready. We have the majority and will keep everything under control.” That visibly calmed my people. That's why it was okay to lie a little. Because if it had the right effect, it had done enough.

"All exits are blocked. You can't get through metal doors. The cameras are watching us closely. And because we can't get out, the others can't get in either. That means we won't even get help," Alina summarized our situation quietly whispering together.

"Sounds pretty crappy." Drokor took a position next to me. But his gaze was on Ethan, who was calming one of the younger warriors by talking to him. It was logical that panic broke out here. But we had to get them under control, we had to keep playing the game.

"Can you establish contact with your beta?" I asked Egbert, who reacted immediately and became slightly rigid while establishing contact with Karl. In the meantime, Ethan had also reached us and explained that Lerhome was still with the warriors. We would stick together no matter what happened.

The Alpha blinked out of his trance but didn't look very confident. "What is it? What did he say?" "Nothing at all," Egbert growled back, "he didn't even answer." "What's going on here? Something's very wrong here."

"I totally agree with you." Drokor kept looking around, but nothing happened. We were just trapped without anything changing. "Where's Niklas?" Alina hissed at me. I look around. I hadn't paid any more attention to the boy.

"I'm here and I have a question. Has it ever occurred to you that they will attack our village again? Maybe they'll just hold us here and kill everyone in the meantime." I growled at him angrily. "Of course I thought about it. After all, I didn't take all my people with me. Most, yes, but not all." I can't believe he accused me of such stupidity.

"I just wanted to make sure, after all, mistakes are human." I registered the joke, but remained unresponsive. "Get back together and shut down the hormones! Your stupid behavior isn't helping us at all."

Alina was angry. But not only on us, but also on themselves, I noticed. She hated losing control and the responsibility weighed heavily on her shoulders. I hoped she wasn't feeling guilty and thought it was all her fault because it definitely wasn't.

Something changed in the room, which we werewolves noticed immediately. The air around us grew thicker, heavier, and almost weighed us down. I frowned. The others also noticed the change and Alina registered the change in our behavior.

Then floodgates opened, right at the top of the ceiling. "What the hell?!" Jack whispered. There was a click and suddenly new air entered the hall. She came straight to us from the locks. But something was different about her.

I understood what it was when the first of my warriors began to cough, clutch their chests, and then easily collapsed. "Shit, shit, shit!" exclaimed Jack, realizing it too. But there was nothing we could do when the krecanos-infused air entered our bodies and spread there. We weren't prepared for that, and neither would Erien's antidote.

A terrible burning spread in my chest, in my lungs. My vision blurred. I could only see Alina. She crouched over me, wide-eyed, and screamed something. When did I fall? A cough broke out of my chest. Just before the darkness took hold of me, I reached out to her. The main thing was that she was fine.

||| I woke up with such a strong, uncontrollable anger that it took me a few seconds to realize that it wasn't coming from me. But I felt her twin inside me when I heard someone say, "Don't worry, you'll get a smaller dose this time. We want you to stay conscious, after all," and realized who the female voice was referring to.

Only very slowly could I turn my head in the right direction. Meanwhile, I internally screamed at my body for moving so slowly. It took far too long to turn to Alina, who also carefully slid onto the floor. But not voluntarily, it seemed more as if her knees would buckle under her. She didn't want to carry her legs anymore.

But I didn't care about any of that when I could look into her face. My mouth twisted instantly, my breathing became heavier and my hands shook with anger. Her entire face was covered in bruises and yellow marks. She had fought back and still not managed to fight the poison in her body.

Now the girl noticed me too. At first she was amazed, but quickly began to grin. "Well look at that! Actually you should take a nap just as long as the others." That made me look for those very ones. But the girl was right, because they were still asleep.

I growled and started to lunge at her, but then felt the cuffs around my wrists. I rubbed them together and immediately hissed as it burned my skin. The bonds were also covered with Krecanos. I was beginning to wonder where the organization got all this stuff from. It seemed like they had an infinite amount of it.

"Now that you're both awake and we still have a long way to go," the girl winked conspiratorially, "let me introduce myself too, Damian, Alpha of the Shadow Pack. Maybe you've heard of me, because I'm planning to not too long kept your dear companion company." She giggled and it sounded like the sickest sound I had ever heard. "My name is Helena."

"Right, I remember you," I sneered, preoccupied with not giving my anger too much vent. "You and your brother were unable to control a sixteen-year-old girl." "Well, I guess it's different when that person is a goddess."

"That's right," Alina said. Her voice was quieter than usual and she seemed very exhausted, even if she tried not to show it. "You should always keep that in mind and maybe treat me with a little more respect. Everything comes back to you eventually."

"All those old people and their long, deep speeches," Helena said, rolling her eyes. "Blah blah blah. Let's get to something much more interesting." She stepped aside, allowing us a glimpse of the many people standing behind her. I hadn't even noticed them because that cursed herb was still handicapping me and thus also limiting my supernatural senses.

A tall man stepped out of the crowd and approached us. He smiled kindly and announced, "I'm Gregor and I'm going to represent and speak on behalf of our members of the organization today." "So you are their leader?" Alina asked, voicing what I had thought.

Gregor's friendly facial expression twisted and became less friendly, more creepy and insidious. "No, I'll speak for them and share our opinions. But first, of course, I want to tell you what happened to the rest of your mission."

The doors opened and dozens of people carried in human-form werewolves hanging limply between them. They were placed on the floor next to Alina and I, while my werewolves were moved to the back, creating a proper demarcation of leaders and packmates. However, all the alphas and betas just fell over, leading me to believe they had received the same treatment as we did.