Gillen, in full ghoul form, stood in front of Alex, intimidating him. His head was throbbing with veins; his iris had turned crimson, and the outer layer of his eyeballs, which was normally white, had turned black.
Alex knew he needed to be in his Lycan form to face a monster that was tough and ferocious, but with Alpha Redmane brutally beaten, his beta, Hazel, struggling for her life, and General Connall fighting off the Casa's remaining high-ranking soldiers, Alex took it upon himself to make sure Gillen didn't see the sunrise alive.
"I hope you're ready to die a painful death, pup," Gillen said, thick saliva dripping down from its upper fangs, red veins protruding across and into the skin surrounding his eyes.
"Don't expect me to be gentle with you either," Alex snapped back.
Gillen wanted to laugh at the threat. Instead, he fired his bare hand, which quickly extended and wrapped around Alex's upper body. When he opened his mouth, his tongue dangled in front of him. His extended fingers, which ended in claws, tightened on Alex and hoisted him into the air.
Alex suddenly struggled for air. His gaze shifted to the sky. Each time he sought to use his clawed hands to slice through Gillen's grip on him, Gillen tightened his grip on him even more.
"Poor, unfortunate pup," Gillen hissed. While he was too engrossed with choking Alex to notice, Lucas was lurking behind him.
Taking one long stride, Lucas sprang into the air and landed on his back. He plunged his sword into the ghoul's shoulder, gripping on securely. Gillen bellowed, slamming Alex to the ground.
Immediately, Alex pushed himself up, clenching his teeth against the terrible descent while trying to take in as much air as he possibly could.
Lucas hurried to his side and asked, "Are you okay?"
He nodded, though spots blurred his vision and he had to blink many times to get rid of them. What Gillen had done to him had somehow exacerbated the wound in his chest. Painful didn't even come close to defining how he was feeling. But he couldn't tell Lucas that, so he had to push through it, even if he couldn't get his body to work as quickly as he sorely wanted it to.
"Ah! Look who we have here. The traitor who aspired to be a hero." Gillen's unsettling red eyes were locked on Lucas. "The rejected mate. So desperate. So pathetic."
Alex eventually stood up without falling back down. He and Lucas soon surrounded Gillen, sizing the ghoul up.
Lucas screamed and charged at Gillen. The ghoul, on the other hand, anticipated this and smacked him across the field with his backhand. Before Lucas could hit the ground, Gillen was already there, capturing him by the throat and shoving him to the ground.
Alex's heart clenched, and a wave of rage washed over him upon seeing his brother get beaten. He dashed toward Gillen. Every movement he made was excruciatingly painful. He pushed himself to fight through the burning ache in his chest.
Although Lucas was able to kick Gillen, the ghoul reacted quickly, grabbing his leg and snapping it.
Lucas yelled out in pain.
"Lucas!" Alex cried out. He could feel the pain of his brother's broken leg as if it were his own.
Then Gillen flung Lucas around as if he was nothing more than a rag doll. Lucas crashed to the ground. The ghoul snickered. He felt victory was in his grasp. But even so, Lucas wasn't about to give up. He got to his feet without putting any weight on his fractured leg.
Helplessness firmly grounded Alex in place. In their human forms, neither of them could stand a chance against Gillen. He closed his eyes for a moment, his breathing getting heavy as the ache in his chest became too excruciating to bear. When he opened his eyes, Gillen was hoisting Lucas into the air, and the sight sent him into a fit of rage.
Lucas squirmed, desperate for release and air.
Terror, desperation, and the fear of losing his brother exploded inside Alex, fueling his body while numbing his wound. An unknown force penetrated him. He charged toward Gillen, pummeling him before delivering a strong uppercut with his clenched fist.
Gillen was catapulted through the air, losing his grip on Lucas.
Alex rushed over to his brother's side. "Lucas!"
Lucas was still breathing, but it was shallow. He took quite a lot. Alex could feel that his heart was beating quite faintly. He was so preoccupied with worrying about his brother that he didn't think about Gillen for a moment, which he realized was a terrible mistake very quickly.
An uppercut to the chin sent him sprawling to the ground. It was immediately followed by a kick to the gut. Before he could even land a punch, the ghoul appeared in front of him again and delivered a devastating kick to his face before releasing a fatal blow to his chest.
"Alex!" Lucas sobbed between torturous gasps, cradling his shattered ribs on the ground.
"Pathetic! Why do you even try so hard?" Gillen asked Alex in between kicks. "Have you already forgotten how you died in his hands, Alexander? He fucking stabbed you!"
Alex wanted to finish him once and for all. Unfortunately, with Gillen's speed, there was nothing he could do. So much so, when the ghoul kicked him in the chest, picked him up, and threw him hard beside Lucas on the ground.
As he chuckled, blood dripped from Gillen's vile mouth. But, just as he had been too preoccupied with Alex when Lucas snuck up on him, he had been too preoccupied with the two brothers when something happened...
A blast of wind swept around them.
His laughter was cut short when he realized that something massive was hovering above them. He looked up, but it was almost too late. A vicious talon swooped down on him. He attempted to avoid the winged beast, but it only served to enrage it. It struck him once more, and this time its talon swiped over his face from his left jaw bone to his right eye.
Blood gushed.
Gillen screamed and fought back with all his power. Another talon slammed into him, striking him in the chest. He shrieked, but the griffin seemed to take joy in tearing through his skin before scooping him up in its claws and soaring off into the sky with him in tow.
As suddenly as the griffins appeared, they vanished into the sky almost as quickly.
Alex and Lucas were finally able to exhale the breaths they'd been holding in. And as they continued to lie on the ground, rays of blue and violet light began to stream into their eyes from every direction.
The early morning twilight had *arrived*.
As they continued to catch their breaths, they closed their eyes to take in the cool morning breeze and the strange sense of peace that had descended upon them when Alex heard someone call his name.
It was *Harper*.
She was covered with blood and had cuts all over her body. Her dark hair was matted to her scalp, which was covered in dried chunks of blood.
Alex leaped to his feet, ignoring the pain, and hurried to her side to catch her as she collapsed to the ground. He caught her, but he wasn't strong enough to hold his balance, so he fell to his knees.
"H-Harper!" Lucas dropped to the opposite side.
"Come on, Harper. Don't do this. You can't...please open your eyes," Alex begged, his voice breaking as he choked on her name and wrapped his arms around her. But, Harper's heartbeat was so faint that he could hardly hear it.
"We *won*!" Gwinifer hurried over to them to deliver the good news, but the happiness that had been on her face was suddenly replaced by a look of dread when she realized what was going on.
Harper was pallid, almost unrecognizable.
Without wasting a second, the mage placed her hand right on Harper's chest and closed his eyes. This wasn't how they were taught to heal humans, but she was convinced there wasn't a potion powerful enough to save Harper from dying right now.
"Please, *cuddle bear*, please stay with me," Alex pleaded. However, nothing happened.
Lucas stiffened as he heard what Alex had just called Harper.
With increased concentration, Gwinifer tried again. "Come on, Harper, you can't *almost-die* twice at the same time."
"What happened to her? I thought she was safe in that magical circle you formed around her," Lucas said, shifting his attention away from the ache that had nothing to do with his wounds or broken bones.
"She was. As I was dragging Hazel into the protected circle, I saw Harper trying to lead several slaves down the tunnel." Gwinifer checked for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when she discovered that there was one. "She's still *alive*. We need to get her cleaned up, and her wounds sealed as quickly as possible."
Alex took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "Let's go find a place where we haven't blown up yet."
Lucas tried to move. He was going to sweep Harper into his arms when Alex almost immediately tried to do the same thing. They remained still for a moment, looking at each other, when Alex decided to step back and allow Lucas to carry Harper this time.
Gwinifer looked at Alex and gave him a quick, *proud* smile.