105

105

KAEL

I snapped and lunged for her, throwing her across the table in her silver wolf form. She crashed, but I wasn't done. In fact, I was far from done. I landed on her and dug my claws into her fur, burrowing until it was matted with blood. She let out an anguished cry and threw me off.

I landed meters away from the table, losing my footing for a brief moment, and that was all it took for her to slam herself into me. I was knocked off my feet, a stabbing pain shutting down my limbs as she bit me.

I fought hard, finally shaking her off. My wolf was reeling from pure rage. We were both wounded and bleeding, but none of us seemed to notice, working on pure adrenaline. I shoved my huge mass of fur into her, keeping a firm grip on her as we crashed through the window, free-falling down to the clearing below. It was at least about 20 ft above—enough to kill a normal human, but alas, we weren't quite normal.

I felt my head hurt, as well as every part of my body. Around me, in front of me, the silver wolf lay there, not moving an inch. Was she dead? I thought, shifting back into my human form and pulling out a dagger from my pocket—the only one of my weapons small enough to be preserved through the whole transformation process.

I had to get my people out of here, I thought. The building might blow up at any moment, and I knew that Viper wasn't bluffing when she said it.

I stood up, about to go, when the silver wolf stirred and flickered, shifting back into Viper.

She lay there weak, her clothes stained red. "Give up," I said harshly. "There's no way you will be able to fight me and win."

Her serpent green eyes didn't seem to be able to focus on mine. Her lips parted into a weak laugh. I held the dagger in my hand tighter. Just what was she up to now?

"Kael!" I heard Lucas' voice as his footsteps rushed towards me.

"You really did think that it was going to be that easy, didn't you?" Viper asked, her laughs growing into violent coughs.

"Hell no, you're so annoying. How many times have I ended you?" I said, taking a decisive step towards her, the silver dagger aimed high above her.

"You might want to save your strength," Viper purred. She was being a little too cocky for someone that was on the ground and near her last breaths.

When was the Order going to realize that it was enough? That they had gone too far? I never thought I could hate something as much as I hate it then, right now. They shouldn't keep on existing. I would wipe them off the Earth right now, starting from Viper.

I was about to kill her when a huge rumble shook the ground. At first, I panicked, thinking that it was about to go off in flames when suddenly, wolves rushed out from the warehouse. Werewolves bigger than the usual sizes, all black, moving at an incredible speed that wasn't possible for us.

"What have you done?" I yelled, seeing the mini-army rushing towards us. Most of my men were outside now. I watched as the first one lunged for Merrick, throwing him into the air like he was a sack of potatoes. Merrick hit the fourth floor of the warehouse and crumbled to the ground, not moving. I felt a sinking feeling rise in my stomach.

"God dammit," I bit my lower lip. We were screwed.

Lucas yelled, a mixture of rage and panic, as he rushed for Merrick's side. Another of the werewolves intercepted him, Lucas only missing its glaring fangs by inches.

On the ground, Viper continued to laugh. "This is what you face, Alpha Kael, when you decide to go against the Order. You see, it wasn't just Darian that we had up our sleeve—meet our finest mutants, and say your last words."

"Guys, back away now!" I yelled, losing composure as I staggered backwards. "Fall back now!"

My men ran around me as we desperately tried to escape, but the mutants were too fast for us.

"Alpha!" I caught sight of Jonah now standing beside me, his silver blade held in shaky hands. I gripped my dagger tighter. It looked like a child's play where mutants were concerned.

"I'm going to need you to run away, Jonah," I said slowly. "I want you to move and run very fast."

"Oh, young Jonah," Viper rose to her feet. Her wounds, I saw, were already healing. "If it pleases you to know, I turned your family into mutants after you betrayed me. They are among them now. You have been lucky they haven't been the ones to kill you. An irony, isn't it? The people you once loved not able to recognize you now..."

She didn't finish when Jonah spun to face her and dug his blade into the left side of her chest, right where her heart was.

Her eyes widened in fear, then disbelief. She spat out a mouthful of blood, and I watched as Viper crumpled to the ground without another word.

Someone had to shut her up.

Jonah stood there in a daze, his shoulders shaking violently.

I grabbed him by the hand, before he could fall to his knees, and ran away from the mutants that were now advancing.

Screams went off all around me. Men fell. It was almost impossible to bring down the physically enhanced werewolves. They didn't seem to have a conscience in them, maybe not even a living soul. They were like machines on command: destroy.

The sun had begun to set across the sky. I let out a desperate howl into the sky as we fought.

The battle was chaos, fully unleashed. I swung my arm, the dagger sailed into the air and impaled itself in one of the mutants, in the back. The mutant dropped to the ground, bleeding. They could still be harmed, I thought, feeling a source of hope. But that was only one of them, as the rest pushed, swiftly surrounding us.

I shifted back into my wolf form, my black fur bristling as I tore into the nearest mutant. Its claws raked across my side, blood spilling from the cut, but I barely felt the pain. Behind me, I could hear Lukas and Jonah fighting desperately, their blades clashing against unnatural strength.

"Alpha, on your left!" Lukas shouted, spinning to slash at a mutant that had been creeping up on me. His blade found its mark, but the creature barely flinched, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him off the ground.

Dammit, I cursed under my breath and lunged forward, my jaws clamping down on the mutant's arm, forcing it to release Lukas. The taste of its blood was wrong—metallic and bitter, like poison.

Lucas fell to the ground and instantly rolled to the side as another one of the mutants leaped into the air.

I heard the unrestricted whimper of one of my men or wolves coming from the distance.

"I'm fine!" Lucas gritted his teeth. "Go!"

I turned around and dashed back into the heat of the battle.

Beside me, Jonah moved, wielding his silver blade, no emotion on his expressionless face as he fought with reckless abandon, like a man possessed, but it was the grief that propelled him.

"We're outnumbered!" He panted, turning to face him, blood streaming from a gash above his eye. "There's too many of them!"

Just when I thought we were lost, a bone-chilling howl echoed across the battlefield. From the treeline, Vance burst forward, leading Rank 5 in a desperate charge. My heart soared—backup had arrived.

"For Obsidian Spire!" Vance roared, injured wounded Vance that was yet to recover from almost dying, as he threw his swords in the air, impaling two mutants and shifting into his wolf.

The fresh fighters gave us new hope, but it wasn't enough, and I knew it. For every one we brought down, two more appeared from the shadows of the warehouse.

We were doomed. This was worse than anything Darian would have done. I knew that the men felt it too—we would all die here.

At least Raven wasn't here, and neither was Orion. It was a small thing to hope for, that they were safe themselves, but I was glad that they weren't in this massacre.

A mutant tore into me, knocking me to the ground.

Then, without warning, the ground beneath us trembled violently. A deep, mechanical beeping echoed from within the warehouse walls.

"Everyone get down!" I screamed, recognizing the sound just as the world exploded into fire and debris.

The warehouse erupted in a massive explosion, the blast throwing us all to the ground as chunks of concrete and metal rained down around us. Viper's final gift had been delivered exactly as promised.

I tried to move but I couldn't. I felt my consciousness slip away as everything turned dark.