Chapter 138: Two Wounded Wolves

Chapter 138: Two Wounded Wolves
Xavier’s POV

The hunters now moved like werewolves themselves, quick to sense everything. As soon as Alexander and the two warriors broke for the trees, half the hunters peeled off after them. Their boots pounded the ground, their blades glinting against the shadows.

Meanwhile, the scarred leader barked an order, staying behind while his four men surrounded him. Their eyes gleamed as they closed in.

Xavier cautiously took another step backward. The silver still burned through his wounds. Even his lungs felt like fire because of the wolfsbane. He heard his wolf whimper as his body fought against it.

For once, Magnus’s voice came through the pack link without laughter. It was raw and shaky.

“Beta Xavier, please go. Run and find her,” he said firmly. “Find my Little Wolf and just leave me here…”

Xavier’s eyes snapped toward him. Then, against all odds, he laughed.

“Leave you?” he growled through the pack link, his muzzle curling into a bloody smile. “Do you have brain damage, Magnus? The last time I left you alone, you nearly got yourself killed. I’m not making that mistake twice.”

Magnus staggered, teeth bared, blood dripping from his muzzle. His wolf still tried to fight, but his spirit began to falter.

“You don’t get it, do you?” he added, his voice cracking slightly. “She’s out there, Xav. She needs you more than she needs me. You shouldn’t die here. You can’t—”

“Enough!” Xavier cut him off with the weight of command, his growl shaking even through the pack link.

He lunged forward, blocking a silver strike that would’ve cut Magnus’s throat, claws raking sparks against the blade. Agony seared his paw, but he held fast, his eyes blazing still.

“Listen to me, Magnus. I’d rather die fighting beside you than live with the memory of leaving you behind.”

Magnus froze, chest heaving heavily. His golden wolf eyes widened at Xavier’s words. For a heartbeat, the fight around them blurred. Hunters shouted, blades hissed, but in the space between, Xavier’s vow landed like steel.

Then Magnus smiled softly. Not the manic grin he usually carried into battle.

“You bastard,” Magnus said out loud, his voice rough, blood dripping from his jaw. “You had to go and say something like that, didn’t you?”

Xavier bared his teeth in a fierce grin, even as his entire frame trembled further.

“Damn right I did,” he answered. “Now shut the fuck up and fight.”

The leader hunter charged once more, raising his silver blade high into the sky. The last four hunters closed in around them, weapons ready.

Side by side, battered and poisoned, the Beta and Gamma of Moonlit Pack braced for the storm together.

Now the circle tightened. Five skilled hunters. Five silver blades, and the toxic wolfsbane still swirling around.

Xavier’s every inhale seemed to burn his throat. Magnus swayed at his side, bleeding from a dozen cuts. But their golden eyes still burned bright. For the first time all night, they didn’t feel like two werewolves fighting separate battles. They felt like brothers fighting together as one.

Through the pack link, Xavier’s voice cut sharp.

“We can do this together, Magnus,” he said. “Are you ready?”

Magnus only bared bloody teeth. “About time you let me off the leash,” he answered.

Immediately, the remaining hunters surged forward. The first came thrusting at Magnus, aiming low for his gut. Magnus didn’t dodge. Instead, he caught the man’s wrist in his jaws, biting down until bone snapped like dry twigs.

The scream ripped through the clearing, cut short when Magnus slammed the hunter’s head into the ground hard enough to crack his skull.

“Ha! One down!” Magnus roared, spitting blood and flesh.

Another hunter darted for Xavier, blade flashing high. Xavier sidestepped, claws swiping upward with precise force.

He didn’t slash wildly. He cut tendons. The man dropped his blade, crying out wildly, his arm useless at his side. A second later, Xavier’s jaws closed around his throat, ending it clean.

“Two,” Xavier growled, shaking the blood from his muzzle.

The last two hunters faltered for just a heartbeat. It seemed they weren’t used to this. Two werewolves fighting in sync.

Xavier and Magnus lunged as one, not letting them think further. Xavier went low, slamming his weight into one man’s knees. He snapped them sideways with a sickening crunch.

Magnus then leapt high, claws carving through the other’s chest. He tore leather, flesh, and bone apart in a single savage strike.

Until the clearing fell into a deafening silence. Four hunters now lay broken in the dirt, their silver blades scattered, their blood soaking into the soil.

Only one figure remained. The scarred leader. He stood alone now, his chest heaving rapidly, his blade slick with blood. His dark eyes burned, but his smirk was gone.

He had seen his men fall that easily, slaughtered not by dogs but by wild beasts who fought as one.

“Samuel…” one of the dying hunters whispered before choking on his own blood.

‘So that was his name,’ Xavier thought. Samuel straightened slowly, rolling his shoulders, lifting his blade again. His grin returned.

“Well,” he rasped. “Looks like it’s just me now. And you two.”

Magnus’s muzzle curled back, his tongue lolling in a bloody grin. “Good,” he said. “Saves me the trouble of counting.”

Xavier stepped forward, his silver eyes locked on Samuel’s. His body trembled, but his voice came through firm. “You’ve got nowhere left to hide.”

The forest clearing stank of blood and wolfsbane, but Xavier’s wolf stood tall beside Magnus’s.

Now the forest felt charged, the moonlight pressing heavily down on their massive bodies. Xavier could see blood spattered across Samuel’s coat, the blade gleaming in his hand. He might have been cornered by them, but he still wore that knowing smile — the one that said he still believed he could win against them.

“Two little wolves,” he said softly. “Both tired. Both bleeding. I’ve killed packs with more strength than yours.”

Magnus snarled, circling, his fur bristling. “Then you’ll die trying again.”

Samuel laughed. “You really sound like all the others.” And then he moved.

He didn’t attack like the others had — not wild or straightforward. His steps were light. His blade flashed low, too fast for its weight.

Xavier barely caught the shift of Samuel’s shoulders before pain spread across his side. It was a long, hollow cut that seared like fire. Silver again…

He roared, spinning, but Samuel had already pivoted behind him. Magnus lunged in from the left, claws slicing air as Samuel ducked, twisted, and rammed a dagger into Magnus’s thigh.

The Gamma howled, staggering but refusing to fall. “Fast bastard!” Magnus spat, swiping again.

Samuel’s eyes gleamed. “Fast enough to survive you, boy.”

Xavier then lunged in tandem with Magnus. He extended his claws, moving not as two beasts but as one. Their timing forced Samuel back, his boots sliding through the mud. But Samuel didn’t retreat. He adapted — fast.

He used their rhythm against them. When Magnus swung wide, Samuel ducked beneath and kicked upward, the heel of his boot slamming into Magnus’s jaw.

As Magnus reeled, Samuel spun on his heel and drove the point of his blade into Xavier’s shoulder.

The cut was instant and white-hot. Silver bit into muscle, eating through it like acid. Xavier growled, the sound ripping through his chest, but he didn’t surrender.

He grabbed the man’s wrist with his claws and twisted hard. Bones cracked. Samuel hissed, wrenching away, his blade slick with Xavier’s blood.

“Stay down, dog,” Samuel snarled, staggering on his feet.

“Not… a chance,” Xavier growled through clenched teeth.

Magnus launched himself forward again, slamming into Samuel with all his weight. They hit the ground hard, rolling through dirt. The hunter’s dagger went flying, but his hands were too quick. He yanked another knife from his boot and plunged it into Magnus’s side.

“No…” Magnus howled, fury tearing through him. He bit down — not at Samuel’s throat, but his arm — ripping flesh and tendons until Samuel’s scream filled the clearing.

Xavier stumbled forward, the wolfsbane fog still thick in his head. He pounced, raised his claw high, and slammed down just as Samuel wrenched himself free from Magnus’s jaws. The Beta’s strike missed his neck by an inch, catching only cloth.

Samuel staggered back, panting, one arm half useless, blood gushing from his wounds. Yet he smiled.

“You two really fight well,” he rasped. “But this isn’t over. Not tonight.”

He reached into his coat and threw a small pouch onto the ground. The instant it hit, the air filled with burning green smoke. It reeked of wolfsbane and silver dust mixed together.

Xavier shouted, “Magnus, down!” but the fumes hit before they could move.

Both werewolves coughed, choking as the poison burned their lungs. Their eyes blurred, colors melting into darkness. Through the haze, they saw Samuel limp away into the trees, clutching his arm, his laughter echoing faintly.

Magnus stumbled toward Xavier, his body shaking. “Damn it…” he whispered. “The bastard’s getting away…”

Xavier sank to one knee, gripping the ground, his claws digging into the dirt. “Let him… for now.” His voice was rough. “We’ll finish this next time.”

Magnus growled weakly but didn’t argue. His body sagged beside Xavier’s, both of them bleeding, breathing through fire.

Around them, the forest was silent again, save for the river and the faint rustle of retreating footsteps.

Xavier’s silver eyes dimmed, but the resolve in them did not.

“He won’t get far,” he whispered. “And when we find Meredith, he’ll wish he’d died here.”

Magnus gave a rough laugh that ended in a cough, blood on his tongue. He said, as if to lighten the mood, “Now that’s the Beta I know.”

They stayed like that for a while — two wounded wolves beneath the moon, surrounded by the dead. They waited for the pain to fade enough to move again… and hopefully find their Luna.