Chapter 69 - Night Moves

David.

Dude, so there we were, in Violet's room, me by the window and Javid on the bed. Vi was 'bout to drop some kinda bomb on us, I could feel it in my bones. The struggle was real how she was trying to find the right words. The tension was the snap of the ball after the play was called. I kept glancing at Javid, wondering if he was feeling it too.

But before she could spit it out, my head exploded with my dad's voice, all urgent and panicked. "David, Javid, we're under attack. Get to the gated community now." His tone wasn't one I heard before, and I knew this was some serious shit.

I was like, "Whoa, hold up. Under attack? What the hell?" My mind was racing, figuring it was Javid's old coven coming for payback. Javid musta got the same message 'cause he jumped up, looking shook. "We have to get home. Now." He was already heading for the door, not wasting a second.

Vi was all wide-eyed, asking what was going down, but there wasn't time to explain. We hauled ass outta there, me in my whip and Javid on his bike. Vi was on the phone, telling Joyce to warn the others. My heart was pounding as I peeled out, the tires squealing against the pavement. I didn't know what we were in for, but I knew we had to get to the home and fast.

If hell was breaking loose, we needed to be there.

My heart was going like a jackhammer as we raced to the community, the pedal to the metal, my knuckles white on the steering wheel. When we got there, man... it was a straight-up nightmare, worse than anything I coulda imagined. The gate was all twisted and janked up, like some giant had played tetherball with it, just wrecking it beyond recognition. And Steve, the guard? Dude was straight-up slaughtered in the guard house, his blood painting the walls like some sick abstract art. He didn't even have a chance to shift, to fight back or anything.

Sam, Jasmine, Marla, Mildred, Lorraine, and Joyce were already there when we rolled up, their faces pale and eyes wide with shock. The whole place was mad eerie, silent as a graveyard, like even the birds were too scared to sing. We stepped over what was left of the gate, the metal still warm from whatever force had ripped through it, and that's when we saw the real carnage, the devastation that had been hidden from view.

Doors were wide open, swinging on their hinges, and bodies... man, there were bodies all over the front lawns, sprawled out like broken dolls. Nobody was spared, not even the little ones, their tiny forms crumpled and lifeless. It was like walking through a horror movie set, except this was real, this was happening right in front of our eyes. I tried to reach out to Fergus with our mind-link, desperately seeking some kinda response, but I got nothing just a hollow emptiness where his presence shoulda been. Same with Dad, no matter how hard I focused, I couldn't feel him either. We were expecting the worst, bracing ourselves for the gut-wrenchin' truth of what had gone down.

The further we went, the more messed up it got. Dirk Wren, the dude I fought for the Alpha spot, the toughest wolf we had? His head was clean off his body, his lifeless eyes starin' up at the sky. I almost lost my lunch right there, bile rising in my throat as I tried to process the gruesome sight.

When we got to my dad's place, wolves started coming from their hiding their faces pale and haunted as they told us what went down. Some hooded figure rolling deep with his coven, slinging magic and taking out anyone in their way like it was nothing. Our pack got straight-up decimated, cut down to a third of what it was, leaving us reeling and wondering how we were gonna pick up the pieces.

And then... we found my dad. He was lying there, wrapped around some kids and Celine like he was tryna shield 'em with his own body. They moved from under him, slowly as if waking up from a dream.

Dad though… if he survived the night, it would be a straight-up miracle.

Mildred went to work on him and Violet laid hands as well. Some soldiers came, and along with Violet and Mildred still doing their best, they took him away to our treatment center.

Fergus and Kiki came running up they had been to a midnight movie and missed it all. "How's the Alpha?" Fergus asked.

Celine was crying and the kids were wailing and my heart was in my throat. It took me a minute to answer. "I don't know. He's busted up pretty bad."

As I spoke, man, the rage that hit me... I can't even describe it. It was like a fire burning through my veins, consuming every other thought and emotion. All I wanted was to hunt down the bastard who did this and make him pay, to rip him apart with my own hands and watch the life drain from his eyes. I knew right then and there that nothing else mattered, that I wouldn't rest until I had my revenge.

I turned to Javid, my blood boiling. "We gotta work together on this, bro. We gotta take down this hooded dude, no matter what."

In my head, I was thinking about Violet. her decision's gonna have to wait. We got bigger problems now. But when the time comes, when the dust settles... I'll stand by her choice. 'Cause at the end of the day, all that matters is that we stick together. Wolf, witch, whatever - we're all in this mess now. And the only way we're gonna get through it is if we have each other's backs.

So that's where we're at. In the middle of all this death and destruction, with a new enemy on the horizon. I don't know what's comin' next, but I know one thing for sure - me and Javid, we're in this together. We gotta be, for the sake of everyone we got left.

My fists clenched at my sides as I thought, 'Bring it on, hooded dude. You took a swing at us, but you better believe we're gonna swing back. And we ain't stoppin' till one of us hits the ground for good.

That's a promise.'