Chapter 128 - Trinity POV

Chapter 128 - Trinity POV
FIRE!
FIRE!
The terrified screams ripped me from sleep.
For a fraction of a second, I didn't know where I was.
Then the smell of smoke hit me.
My body was moving before my mind had fully caught up.
MOVE!
Malik's roar thundered through my head.
I KNOW!
I was already out of bed.
I reached the balcony in two strides.
Behind me, Trinity appeared, her silver eyes already searching the horizon.
A wall of black smoke rolled across the northern sky.
Everything inside me screamed that something was wrong.
Not just dangerous.
Wrong.
I looked back one last time.
Our eyes met.
No words were needed.
"Be safe, my love."
I mouthed the words before vaulting over the balcony.
The wind rushed past me.
I landed hard enough to crack the stone beneath my boots and immediately broke into a sprint.
Malik surged beneath my skin, impatient.
Run faster.
The closer we got...
The worse it felt.
The screams.
The smell.
The panic.
None of it made sense.
As we reached the edge of the smoke, I stopped.
"Where's the fire?"
The smoke was thick enough to blind us.
But there were almost no flames.
Only smoldering patches where green wood had been deliberately soaked to produce smoke instead of heat.
Stephen hadn't tried to burn the forest.
He'd tried to blind us.
"Son of a bitch..."
Our warriors were fighting half blind.
Visibility was nearly gone.
Every shadow looked like an enemy.
Every movement could be friend or foe.
Stephen hadn't attacked our strength.
He'd attacked our coordination.
And it was working.
A deafening roar shook the battlefield.
One of the werebears crashed through three hybrids at once, crushing bones beneath massive paws.
For one hopeful moment...
I thought they'd gained the advantage.
Then the first hybrid smiled.
Even as he died.
His body convulsed.
"GET BACK!"
Too late.
The corpse exploded.
Shrapnel made of bone and corrupted flesh tore through wolves, bears, and hybrids alike.
The blast threw warriors through the smoke like rag dolls.
"What the hell are these things?"
Another hybrid lunged at Evan.
He was surrounded.
Six against one.
I reached him in seconds.
My claws ripped one creature's arm clean from its shoulder.
It looked down at the missing limb.
Then...
It laughed.
Actually laughed.
It charged anyway.
Pain meant nothing to them.
Reason meant nothing.
They fought like broken machines programmed for a single purpose.
Kill.
Die.
Take as many with them as possible.
A knot formed in my chest.
How many of these creatures had once been innocent?
How many families were watching loved ones become monsters?
Did they volunteer?
Or had Stephen stolen their lives the same way he stole everything else?
Would there be anyone left to save after today?
Or would mercy come only through death?
I shoved the thought aside.
There wasn't time to grieve.
Everywhere I looked...
The battlefield changed.
One hybrid regenerated faster than our warriors could wound him.
Another spit venom that melted flesh from bone.
A third unleashed dark magic powerful enough to overwhelm three witches working together.
Our spellcasters couldn't counter it.
Nothing behaved the way it should.
Nothing.
Kline had bought us precious time.
Raubtier had sacrificed everything.
Still...
Nothing could have prepared us for this nightmare.
Stephen hadn't built an army.
He'd built chaos itself.
Every battle was different.
Every enemy demanded a different strategy.
There was no pattern.
No rhythm.
Only survival.
A scream cut through the battlefield.
"TASHA!" Pure terror was not on Even's face. He was fighting to control Braxton.
My heart sank.
Something had happened.
She should've been with Trinity.
I reached through the pack link.
Tasha. Report.
Her voice came back weak.
Fading.
I'm hurt... bad.
Don't tell Evan.
Too late.
"He already feels you."
Silence.
Then...
Where's Trinity?
Is she with you?
Can she help?
The answer froze my blood.
She never came.
"What?"
Then Trinity's voice exploded across every mind connected to the pack.
We're under attack below the packhouse!
The tunnels have been breached!
The safe havens are no longer safe!
Everyone who can fight... get underground! NOW!
Everything clicked into place.
The smoke.
The distraction.
The missing flames.
Stephen never intended to attack us here.
The forest had always been bait.
His real target...
Was our families.
My stomach dropped.
"Tasha."
Hold on. Reinforcements are coming.
I hardened my voice.
Do not die.
That is an Alpha's order.
For a heartbeat...
Nothing.
Then another voice answered.
Not Tasha's.
Her wolf.
We'll try... my King.
The connection weakened.
Almost disappeared.
"Damn it."
She was fading.
IRUNE!
Malik roared.
ENOUGH!
He slammed against the bond between us.
Power exploded through my body.
Bones cracked.
Muscles tore apart and rebuilt.
Black fur erupted across my skin.
The transformation happened almost instantly.
The force of Malik's emergence sent a shockwave racing across the battlefield.
Nearby hybrids were thrown backward.
Several crashed into trees.
Others stumbled just long enough.
"Evan!"
I roared.
"GO!"
"GET TO TASHA!"
He hesitated.
I snarled.
"That is an order!"
He disappeared into the smoke.
I turned toward the remaining warriors.
"Everyone who can move!"
"Get to the tunnels!"
"Protect the children!"
The battlefield erupted again.
For the first time since the attack began...
We had direction.
Then...
The mate bond flared.
So violently it nearly dropped me to my knees.
Trinity.
I could feel her.
Her fear.
Her anger.
Her determination.
Malik froze.
Then he howled.
SHE NEEDS US!
"I know."
GO TO HER!
"I can't."
The words tasted like ash.
"If I leave now..."
I looked across the battlefield.
Dozens of wounded.
Children fleeing.
Warriors still fighting.
"...thousands die."
Malik snarled, pacing wildly inside my mind.
His instincts didn't care about strategy.
They cared about one thing.
Our mate.
Then...
Another presence crashed into the bond.
Cold.
Cruel.
My blood turned to ice.
Stephen.
He wasn't outside.
He wasn't commanding from the rear.
He was with Trinity.
My Trinity. 
My Mate. 
My Queen.
Right now.
Every instinct I possessed shattered.
Malik's roar became my own.
GO!
This time...
I didn't argue.
I ran.