Chapter 20: Wolf’s Rain
Rhys's P.O.V:
My fighters were let out of whatever dungeon they had been put into to prepare for the fight. In the end, the only preparation we could be doing at such short notice was getting used to everyone’s fighting techniques and learn about the snipers positions so we stay out of their firing range. Since contact with my third, Adrian, seemed impossible for some reason even without the static of the Jharna and even via a sat phone, I was forced to train with Mikalya's....women....and men, and as much as it wounded my pride to admit it, but I have to say that her warriors are pretty good. While I have only a handful of wolves heavily trained in military techniques, she had all of her wolves’ trained military style.
Zyane had been right about what he said back in Shiwalik village, my mate is a hell lot stronger than me. And for once, I feel damn proud to admit that.
"Remind me again, why me and Zyane were the only ones who got the dusty dungeon while everyone else was locked up in a five star suit?" I asked Kushal with my arms folded on my chest as he stood beside me and recited the arms everyone will be using.
"Because they are warrior wolves, they follow orders...your orders in this case," he reminded me with a shrug. “Which is why we went after the heads. Without you guys, they wouldn’t even dare move a muscle.”
"Right, some followers I have, they puked out all pack information like gossiping school girls." I muttered under my breath before I asked him, "Where's Mikalya?"
"Training with Aya. Her wolf's not awake yet but she has to train harder than any of us, being the Alpha's dau-sister, being her sister, “Kushal corrected his mistake at once. I sighed.
"Aya is Mikalya's daughter, I know," I told him much to his surprise.
"Wow! That didn't take long. It took a whole year for us to know there was something going on between Abhay and her, but it didn't take you even a week," it wasn't just me; there was definitely some harshness in Kushal's voice. Which was unusual because as much as I’ve come to know about the boy in the past few days, he can be rude but he’s never harsh.
"I wasn't aware of that Kushal, I feel honored to have gained her trust. But you don't sound too pleased about it. She is my mate, you know that right?" I told him, emphasizing the mate part.
"So was Abhay, there are plenty of other potential mates for one wolf," Kushal argued stubbornly.
"Kushal...do you have a problem with me being with Mikalya?" I asked sternly. He was trying to avoid the subject; I saw it in his eyes, clearly the rank difference made his wolf uncomfortable along with the fact that he was a submissive. It was clear that my closeness to Mikalya was affecting him and I didn’t like being reminded of Mikalya’s previous mate. The man was human for God’s sake! How could he have affected so many people by being a mortal? He was supposed to die eventually!
"I...?" he looked at me wide eyed and then quickly shook his head. "God no! I'm in no position to be objecting to anyone or anything. I know you might not like to hear it but Abhay was a great guy. I was hardy two when he died but he was a father figure to me when my own father had rejected me. It’s hard to accept that anyone else in his shoes and I don’t think I can ever see you in that light."
Now I finally understood why Kushal was always lurking around Mink. He thought of her as a mother figure, just like Abhay had been like his father. Well he did say that he was two when Abhay died and Mink was still pregnant at that time, so he's only a couple years older than Aya. No wonder those two always stick together.
"Hey," I placed my hand on his shoulder gently. “I’m not trying to take Abhay’s place, he’ll always be important to you and I understand that. I just want to stay beside Mikalya, make her happy. That’s all I want.”
“Really?” He looked up at me with his big brown eyes.
“Really.” I patted his head awkwardly.
“Then, it’s okay…I guess.” He said unsurely before giving me a brief smile. “I need to go check up on the others. Good luck on the battlefield.”
“Thanks.” I said as Kushal turned and made his way to another male warrior and was greeted with a back slapping hug.
I turned towards the door as soon as the familiar scent reached me and then I was engulfed in his familiar scent and in a brotherly hug. "Zyane! Who let you out?"
He pulled away, fixing his igal and gutra that he wore like a turban instead and gave me a scared look that he often gave me when we were young, in our early teens when we would get caught peeping into the girls locker room in school. "I’m so sorry, Rhys. I was completely out of my mind. Please forgive me; I swear this’ll never happen again. Just please, please forgive me."
I sighed and clasped my arm around his shoulder. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to, man. You fucked up, big time. Are you back to normal now?”
“Oh, yes!” Zyane sighed in relief. “I can’t transform into my wolf for now or I risk losing it once again, but I’m better. Your mate wouldn’t have let me out otherwise.”
I blinked back my surprise. “Mikalya let you out?”
“Yes and God was she scary!” Zyane gave an involuntary shudder. “Please don’t let me in front of her ever again.”
This time I couldn’t control my laughter. “Serves you right, you bastard. But on a serious note, stay away from Aya. She’s too young.”
“I know, I will.” Zyane said in a hoarse whisper before turning to me with a smile."Well, at least I was right about your mate. She is a hell lot stronger than you."
"Yeah, I kinda guessed that when I was chained to the wall in the cell opposite to yours," I said, grumpy to have been reminded. I mean, come on! You grow up in a patriarchal society, being reminded every step of the way that you are stronger than women, have more rights than them, and then you suddenly come face to face with someone who defies every rules, breaks all boundaries and makes you fall flat on your face. It takes time to adjust to something like that after you've spent thirty two years of your life believing the exact opposite.
"Lovely reunion you got here," a voice called out from the door, one that neither I nor Zyane recognized. “I should’ve asked Kushal to get me some caramel popcorn.”
Kushal had gone away while Zyane and I had been talking and in his place a woman stood by the door, about 5'9 in height, shorter than Mikalya by a few inches, and with olive colored skin, brown eyes and long black hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore a black leather jacket with a red turtle-neck sweater underneath and black pants with knee high snow boots. "Who are you?" I asked with my brows furrowed.
"Rude," she muttered under her breath. "I'm Mink's third, name’s Kashmira Shaw but people here just call me Mira. And you two bromancing couple must be Rhys and Zyane, Mink and Aya's potential mates respectively."
She said the last part with a dramatic eye roll, while Zyane jumped ten feet away from me at the "bromancing couple" comment. She was hot with an hourglass figure, I would give her that and if I hadn't met Mink I would be finding a spare room right about now, but now that I have met Mink, no one else holds my interest and I doubt anyone ever will.
"And to what do we owe this pleasure?" Zyane asked pointedly.
"To gear up," she threw a small bag at our feet, one I only just noticed she was carrying. "It's got some super hot thermos to beat the cold, it's been snowing overnight again so it's waaay below zero degrees out there. Suit up quick, the dickheads are about to reach us with their clowns in about three hours."
And it didn't take a rocket scientist to know who the dickheads were.
Me and Zyane took off the thick sweaters and jackets we were wearing and put on the thermos over our vests. I have to give the craftsmen some credit for this, it actually felt hot in here now.
"Shit!" Mira cussed a blue streak.
"What's wrong?" I asked worried, had something happened to Mikalya? Or Aya? I haven't seen them since after we got out of the basement.
"Come on, we need to go now!"
We raced after her to the terrace of the main pack house upon hearing the emergency in her voice and boy was she fast for a Gamma! But more than her speed what got my attention was that we weren't the only ones running, it looked like the whole compound was in hysteria, everyone running in different directions, some even heading to the basement.
The terrace, being slant, couldn't be filled up, so only a selected few stood at the entrance door to the terrace which included Belle, Kushal, Aya, a couple more women who I've trained with, Vasti and Rhea and now, Mira, me and Zyane. I tried to look around but Mikalya was still MIA. It was a bummer that we weren’t mated yet or I would’ve known exactly where she was through the mating bond.
"What's happening out there?" Zyane asked Aya, which she ignored and gave the binoculars that she'd been holding over to me.
I didn't know what to look for at first but then Belle steadied the binocular and pointed it in the right direction.
And that's when I saw it, tiny black bots migrating towards us like water flowing down a river. The shapes weren't visible from this far yet, even with a high powered binocular like the one I was using, but they were moving quite fast so soon enough, I was able to spot them.
"What's going on? Rhys?" Zyane's voice was faint to my ears, almost a dull noise as I stared unblinkingly ahead, hands trembling as I tried to keep the anger at bay.
"Looks like it's about to rain wolves today," finally Mink's voice cut me out of my trance.
My wolf calmed down a bit at the sound of my mates voice, but it was what she said that bothered me the most.
It was raining wolves alright, but what she didn't know yet was that those wolves belonged to my pack.