Chapter 36 036

Chapter 36 036
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Chapter Thirty-Six

Sera

My attack caught Vaughn off guard. He stumbled backward, hands raised defensively as my claws raked across his chest. Blood bloomed through his shirt but the wounds were shallow—I lacked the strength and training to do real damage.

But I didn't need to win. I just needed to survive until Dante arrived.

Vaughn recovered quickly, his military training kicking in. He grabbed a chair and used it to keep me at bay, jabbing at me when I tried to lunge. Behind him, Cordelia had scooped up Elena from where I'd set her on the bed.

"No!" I tried to get past Vaughn but he blocked me, the chair legs catching me in the ribs. Pain exploded through my side but I pushed through it, driven by the sight of Cordelia heading for the door with my daughter.

Vaughn kicked out, catching my front leg and sending me sprawling. Before I could recover, he was on me, his weight pinning me down. His hands went to my throat, squeezing.

"Should have taken the deal," he said calmly, as if strangling me was just another job task. "Now you don't get anything."

Black spots danced in my vision. Through the bond with Dante, I felt his terror and rage—he was closer now, maybe ten miles away, but still too far.

Elena started screaming. The sound cut through everything else—pure infant distress that hit me on a primal level. She was terrified, calling for me through our bond, and I couldn't reach her.

Something in me snapped.

The wolf that had been dormant for twenty-two years, weak and barely present, suddenly roared to life with maternal fury. Power I'd never accessed before flooded through me—not just my own strength, but Elena's too, flowing through our bond and amplifying everything.

I bucked hard, throwing Vaughn off. He hit the wall with enough force to crack the plaster. Before he could recover, I was on him again, this time going for his weapon arm. My teeth found flesh and bone, clamping down hard.

Vaughn screamed. The sound was satisfying.

I released him and spun toward Cordelia, who had frozen in the doorway with Elena clutched awkwardly to her chest. The old wolf looked at me with genuine fear.

"Put her down," I growled, my voice barely human even in wolf form.

"You don't understand what she could become—"

"I said put her down!"

The power in my voice made Cordelia flinch. She set Elena gently on the floor and backed away, hands raised.

I shifted back to human form and grabbed Elena, checking her quickly for injuries. She was fine, just terrified. I clutched her to my chest, feeling her heartbeat against mine.

Vaughn was getting up, his injured arm hanging useless but his eyes calculating. He pulled a gun with his good hand—that same silver-bullet weapon from the Council Hall attack.

"Enough games," he said, aiming at me. "The buyers wanted her alive, but they'll settle for genetic material. Your body will provide that."

The gun fired.

But the bullet never reached me.

Thomas crashed through the window in wolf form, massive and gray-furred. He took the bullet meant for me, the silver embedding in his shoulder. He barely paused, momentum carrying him into Vaughn and taking them both down in a tangle of fangs and claws.

I ran for the door, Elena secure in my arms. Cordelia tried to block my path but I shoved her aside with strength I didn't know I had. She fell hard, hitting her head on the doorframe and going still.

Outside, I could hear vehicles approaching—multiple engines, moving fast. Through the bond, I felt Dante getting closer, felt his relief that I was alive and moving.

But there were others too. People Vaughn had brought as backup, closing in on the cottage.

I couldn't go outside. Couldn't stay inside. Trapped.

"The root cellar!" Thomas's voice came from behind me, strained with pain. He'd shifted back to human, his shoulder bleeding silver-black blood. "Through the kitchen, trapdoor under the rug. It leads to tunnels—old smuggling routes. Follow them north and you'll come out near the main road."

"What about you?"

"I'll hold them off. Go!" He shifted again, turning back toward Vaughn who was struggling to his feet.

I didn't argue. I ran to the kitchen, found the trapdoor Thomas described, and pulled it open. Stairs led down into darkness. I grabbed a flashlight from the counter and descended, pulling the trapdoor closed above me.

The tunnel was narrow, damp, and smelled of earth and rot. I had to crouch to move through it, one arm holding Elena and the other holding the flashlight. She'd stopped crying, sensing we were escaping, staying quiet like she understood the danger.

Behind us, I heard sounds of fighting—snarls, crashes, gunshots. Thomas was buying us time with his life.

The tunnel branched. North, he'd said. I chose the right passage and kept moving, my legs burning, my lungs screaming. The tunnel seemed endless, winding through the earth like a snake.

Finally, stairs. Leading up to another trapdoor. I pushed it open and emerged into cold night air.

I was in a drainage ditch beside a road. Headlights approached from the south—Dante's vehicle, I knew through the bond. I stumbled toward it, waving the flashlight.

The vehicle screeched to a halt. Dante leaped out before it fully stopped, shifting mid-jump and landing beside me in wolf form. He circled us protectively, checking for threats, then shifted back to human.

"You're alive." He pulled us both into his arms. "I felt everything through the bond—your fear, the fight, I thought I'd lost you—"

"Thomas saved us. He's still there, fighting Vaughn." I was shaking now, adrenaline crashing. "We have to help him."

"Maya and a security team are two minutes behind me. They'll get him." Dante took Elena from my arms, examining her for injuries. "She's okay?"

"Terrified but unharmed. Dante, it wasn't Tobias. It was Cordelia. She helped Vaughn get to us."

"Cordelia?" Dante looked shocked. "She testified for us. She confirmed Elena's bond signature."

"I know. She said something about grandchildren needing medical care, about Vaughn's employers being generous. She sold us out for money." I leaned against him, exhaustion overwhelming me. "How did they know where we were? Only Maya and Thomas knew the location."

"I don't know. But we'll find out." Dante's expression hardened. "After we make sure Vaughn doesn't walk away from this."

Maya's vehicle arrived with six security wolves. Dante gave them quick orders—secure the cottage, extract Thomas, capture Vaughn and anyone with him alive if possible.

We waited in the vehicle while they worked. Through the windows, I could see lights and movement at the cottage. Heard occasional sounds of fighting, orders being shouted.

After twenty minutes, Maya returned with a grim expression.

"Thomas is alive but critical. The silver bullet did serious damage. We've got him stabilized and heading to medical." She paused. "Vaughn escaped. He slipped out during the fighting, and we can't track him in the dark. But we have Cordelia in custody, and we captured two of Vaughn's hired wolves."

"Let them go," Dante said.

Maya blinked. "What?"

"Let Vaughn's wolves go. Tell them to report back to him exactly what they saw—that we survived, that we're stronger than expected, that coming after us directly doesn't work." Dante's eyes were cold. "Make them think we're the threat now, not them."

"That's risky. They could regroup, come at us with more force."

"Good. Let them try. Every time they come at us and fail, they waste resources and we gather more information." Dante looked at me, then at Elena. "I'm done being prey. We're predators now, and it's time they remembered what that means."

Maya nodded slowly and left to carry out the orders.

I watched Dante, seeing a side of him I'd only glimpsed before—ruthless, strategic, willing to use unconventional tactics. This was the Alpha who'd survived twenty-five years of leadership, the warrior underneath the politician.

"You're planning something," I said.

"I'm planning to end this. Not by hiding or defending or reacting. By taking the fight to them." Dante held Elena close. "They want our daughter? Fine. Let them come for her. We'll be ready, and we'll destroy anyone who tries."

"That sounds like using her as bait."

"It's using the appearance of vulnerability to draw out all our enemies at once. Then we eliminate them simultaneously." He looked at me seriously. "But only if you're in agreement. This is your choice too."

I thought about it. About running forever, always looking over our shoulders. About raising Elena in fear and isolation. About teaching her that the world was too dangerous to face directly.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"We announce that Elena will be presented to the full Council next week. A formal recognition ceremony, completely public, held at the main Council Hall. Every pack leader in the territory will be invited, along with distinguished guests and observers. Maximum exposure, maximum security, maximum opportunity for anyone who wants to try something."

"You're setting a trap."

"I'm creating an environment where our enemies have to reveal themselves or miss their chance. Vaughn, his buyers, Cordelia's accomplices, anyone else working against us—they'll all be forced to make a move or give up entirely." Dante's voice was confident. "And when they move, we'll be ready."

"Ready how?"

"That's what we're going to figure out over the next week. We'll prepare defenses, identify potential threats, create contingencies for every scenario. And we'll make sure that anyone who tries to hurt our family dies trying." He touched my face gently. "I won't let them take her, Sera. I won't let them take you. Whatever it costs, whatever it takes, I'll protect our family."

Through the bond, I felt his absolute conviction. This wasn't empty promise or brave talk. He meant every word.

"Okay," I said. "We do it your way. We set the trap and we end this."

Elena stirred in Dante's arms, making small contented sounds now that the danger had passed. She had no idea her parents were planning to use her recognition ceremony as bait for killers and conspirators.

But maybe that was okay. Maybe protecting her meant sometimes making hard choices she wouldn't understand until she was older.

"One week," Dante said, looking at Elena. "Seven days to prepare for the most important fight of our lives."

"Seven days to end this forever," I agreed.

The vehicle started moving, taking us away from the cottage and Thomas's sacrifice. Away from Cordelia's betrayal and Vaughn's attack. Away from another close call that could have ended with Elena gone and us dead.

But we weren't running this time. We were advancing, taking control, choosing when and where the final confrontation would happen.

One week.

Then we'd find out if we were as strong as Dante believed, or if we'd made a fatal mistake in overestimating our abilities.

Either way, the waiting was over.

The real battle was about to begin.