Chapter 239 The Escape
Chapter 239
DARIUS
We ran.
My legs pumped beneath me, my lungs burning as I pushed myself faster than I'd ever run before.
Behind us, the sounds of pursuit grew louder: footsteps pounding, voices shouting, wolves howling.
"They're gaining on us!" Marcus yelled beside me.
I risked a glance back and saw at least a dozen Northfang warriors chasing us, some in human form, others already shifted into their wolf forms.
The shifted wolves were faster, closing the distance rapidly.
"We need to shift!" I shouted.
Marcus nodded, already beginning his transformation mid-stride.
I followed suit, my body contorting painfully as bones broke and reformed, muscles stretching and reshaping.
Within seconds, I was running on four legs instead of two.
My wolf was faster, more agile, able to navigate the rough terrain more easily.
But there were so many pursuers.
Everywhere I looked, more Northfang wolves were joining the chase.
We fought through the first checkpoint at the border.
Two guards tried to stop us, but Marcus barrelled into them with his full weight, knocking them aside.
I leapt over their fallen bodies and kept running.
Behind us, I heard snarls and the sound of combat as the pursuing wolves tore through the guards who'd tried to slow them down.
My partially healed leg—the one I'd injured weeks ago during the attack on my parents—screamed in protest with every step.
Pain shot up from my hip to my spine, making my vision blur.
But I couldn't stop.
Because stopping meant death.
We crossed into neutral territory, but the Northfang wolves didn't slow down.
They didn't care about protocol or laws or the consequences of pursuing us into no-man's-land.
They wanted us dead, and they were willing to break every rule to make it happen.
"They're not stopping!" Marcus's voice came through our mental link, strained and panicked.
"I know!" I replied. "Just keep running!"
But I knew we couldn't keep this pace forever.
Eventually, they would catch us.
And when they did, we were dead.
We reached the edge of the neutral territory, a wide clearing that marked the boundary between Northfang influence and true neutral ground.
We should have been safe here.
But the Northfang wolves poured into the clearing after us, their eyes wild with bloodlust.
"We have to make a stand!" Marcus shouted, skidding to a halt and turning to face our pursuers.
I stopped beside him, my sides heaving, blood dripping from several wounds I'd sustained during the chase.
The Northfang wolves circled us, at least twenty of them, their teeth bared, their growls filling the air.
We were outnumbered twenty to one.
"Any brilliant ideas?" Marcus asked, his mental voice tight with fear.
"Stay alive as long as possible," I replied grimly.
The first wolf attacked.
I met him head-on, my jaws closing around his throat.
We went down in a tangle of limbs and fur, rolling across the ground.
I felt teeth sink into my shoulder, claws raking across my side.
But I held on, squeezing harder until I felt something give way beneath my jaws.
The wolf went limp.
I released him and turned to face the next attacker.
Marcus was fighting two wolves at once, blood streaming from a gash on his flank.
We were holding our ground, but barely.
More wounds opened across my body, )deep cuts from claws, puncture wounds from teeth.
I was bleeding heavily now, my movements getting slower, more laboured.
We were going to die here.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, I heard new howls.
Different voices, coming from the direction of the neutral territory.
Reinforcements.
Theodore burst into the clearing at the head of a small group of his pack warriors, maybe ten wolves total.
Relief flooded through me.
"About bloody time!" Marcus shouted.
The Mooncrest warriors hit the Northfang wolves like a battering ram.
Theodore went straight for the largest Northfang wolf, tackling him with brutal efficiency.
The others spread out, evening the odds.
Together, we drove the Northfang wolves back.
They fought viciously, but they were outnumbered now.
One by one, they either fell or retreated.
Finally, the last of them turned and ran back toward Northfang territory.
I collapsed onto the ground, my wolf form shaking with exhaustion and blood loss.
Marcus limped over to me, his own injuries visible.
"Are you alright?" Theodore asked, shifting back to human form and crouching beside me.
I forced myself to shift back, gasping at the pain. "I've been better."
Theodore looked me over, his expression grim. "You're bleeding badly. We need to get you back to the pack and get these wounds treated."
"Not yet," I managed. "Need to tell my father... what we found."
Theodore shook his head. "You can barely stand. Whatever you found can wait until you're stable."
"No," I insisted. "It can't wait. This is important."
We made it back to Mooncrest territory, though I could barely walk.
Theodore and two other warriors had to support me most of the way.
Marcus was in slightly better shape, but not by much.
We went straight to my father's office.
He looked up when we entered, and his face went pale when he saw the state we were in.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded, standing abruptly.
"Northfang," I said, collapsing into a chair. "We infiltrated Northfang territory."
My father's expression shifted from concern to fury. "You did what?"
"We had to," Marcus said, leaning heavily against the wall. "We needed answers."
I pulled out the camera and the documents we'd managed to keep safe during our escape.
"We found evidence," I said, setting them on my father's desk. "Documentation of an alliance—Northfang, Redfire, Shadowclaw, Ironpaw. All working together."
My father picked up the documents, his eyes scanning them quickly.
"They're holding the kidnapped students in dungeons beneath their main compound," I continued. "We heard them screaming. And they're preparing for war—weapons stockpiles, warrior training, supply chains established."
I paused, grimacing as pain shot through my ribs. "This isn't random violence. This is a coordinated military operation."
My father looked through the photographs, images of fortifications, weapons, warriors training.
His expression grew darker with each one.
"This is definitive proof," Marcus added. "Everything we need to take to the Council, to demand action."
My father set the documents down slowly.
His face was hollow, defeated.
"It doesn't matter," he said quietly.
I stared at him, certain I'd misheard. "What?"
"It doesn't matter," my father repeated, his voice empty. "We can't fight them."
Anger flared in my chest. "What are you talking about? We have proof! We can—"
"Do the maths, Darius," my father interrupted, his voice sharp. "Northfang, Redfire, Shadowclaw, Ironpaw, together they outnumber us five to one. Maybe more."
He gestured to the documents on his desk. "You've brought me evidence of exactly how screwed we are. This isn't a fight we can win."
"So what?" I demanded, my hands clenching into fists despite the pain. "We just give up? Let them torture those children? Let them destroy us?"
My father's expression was anguished. "I don't know what else we can do. We can't win this war, Darius. We simply can't."