Wounded

Wounded
Devon stopped and looked at Bella. He judged her small stature and if wolves could smirk; he did. Bella shivered and pushed her back closer to the front wall of the desk. Devon’s larger wolf stalked forward, and then he realised he wouldn’t fit under the desk.

He snarled and swiped out with his paw, but it couldn’t reach Bella. Bella tried her best to position herself in a way that was as far away from the rogue and let her protect herself if needed. Devon tried to swipe at her again. Bella snarled and snapped her teeth at the paw.

Devon withdrew from the desk, Bella could still hear him just beside it. She wasn’t about to do anything stupid like leaving her relatively safe place. She heard a popping sound, like a shift, and then she saw two fur covered legs come into view. Her blood ran cold as she realised he had gone into his half-shifted form.

Bella heard the door at the top of the stairs being flung open, and she felt a moment of relief. Devon snarled at the sound and then bent down. Their eyes locked for a moment as Bella saw him smirk and reach in under the desk, his large wolf form no longer keeping him out.

Bella bit down on the approaching claw covered hand. It did nothing to stop its approach. She tried to hold it down with her jaw, but she wasn’t strong enough. As it got closer to her body, the claws extended, and Bella knew Devon was going to maul her. Instinctively, she let go of the hand and turned facing the back of the desk, protecting her stomach but exposing her back.

A sharp pain ran down her entire back as Devon’s claws dug into it. She couldn’t hold back a loud yelp. In response, she heard a roar, and she felt Devon withdraw.

Bella felt something warm and sticky run down her back. She could smell her own blood and she reflected on the fact that she didn’t feel any pain. That wasn’t a good thing, she briefly thought.

She knew Graham was in the room. He was fighting Devon. The thought worried her, as she was fighting to remain conscious. She felt Bastian and Logan try to mind link with her, but she couldn’t focus enough to respond to them.

---

Graham had finally reached the door to the cells. He shifted from his wolf form into his half-shift so that he could open it. Logan and Bastian were not far behind with the warriors, they were dealing with the last of the rogues. Graham had forged on ahead of them. Bella was in danger, and he needed to get to her.

The door was unlocked. Graham flung it open and started down the stairs as fast as he could go. His descent was hindered by the three bodies of his warriors that were spread out over the stairs. He could see more bodies in the room below him.

He was almost at the bottom of the steps when he felt Bella’s fear spike and he could scent her blood on the air as he heard her yelp in pain. The roar that tore through him was unlike anything he had ever produced before. He could hear the buzzing of the mind links that communicated the progress with the rogues outside going silent.

‘Logan, Bastian. Ellie is hurt. Find her. I will kill Devon,’ Graham mind linked them as he rushed into the room.

Graham saw what he presumed was Devon in a half-shifted form, hovering over the desk. The scent of Bella’s blood came from the desk. Graham growled and attacked the rogue.

Devon was prepared for the attack and tried to sidestep it, but Graham’s claws made contact and, to Graham’s satisfaction, he felt them slice deep cuts in the rogue’s lower arm. Devon growled and swiped at Graham. He avoided the attack and set out to rip the throat of the other alpha.

Any other day, Graham would have relished the chance to fight another half-shifter. It was a rare opportunity. But now Bella was injured and needed help. Devon seemed to purposely keep close to the desk, making sure the fight between them blocked any chance to rescue her.

Graham knew that the only way he could help his mate now was to kill the rogue alpha. He would do it as fast as he could. His opponent was skilled. He might have been a cowardly traitor, but he knew what he was doing in a fight.

Graham attacked, Devon blocked it and followed up with his own attack. Graham felt his opponent’s claws skim his thigh. He scoffed. They had barely broken the skin.

----

Logan was standing in the admittance’s entrance room in the cells. He and Bastian watched the two alphas battle it out in front of them. They had sent warriors to aid Betty, but they themselves stood in their human form and watched the fight before them.

“Should we help him?” Bastian asked.

“How? Do you see any opening that we can use?” Logan asked.

“No,” Bastian muttered, adding a swear.

Logan was anxious. Both Bastian and he knew Bella was under the desk in need of help. They also knew that they couldn’t get to her while the alphas were fighting like a tornado around it.

Logan had tried to mind link the luna, but she wasn’t responding. He saw a dark liquid was seeping from under the desk, and he was about to go into full panic.

Bella was his friend, his luna. If he couldn’t save her, all would be lost. Graham would not survive her loss. Logan’s own mate would be devastated and likely never speak to him again. He looked at Bastian and knew he had seen the dark liquid as well.

‘Why are you panicking?’ Mickey mind linked him.

‘Not now, honey,’ Logan replied.

‘Logan, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?’ Mickey insisted.

‘No, I’m fine. I need to focus. I’ll talk to you later,’ Logan said. He blocked the mate bond. He should have done that sooner, he thought. Mickey didn’t need to feel this.

“One of us might be able to run past them if we time it right,” he said to Bastian.

“Even if we do, there is no way to get Bella out,” Bastian said with a clenched jaw.

“No, but we could try to stop the bleeding, buy the boss some time,” Logan told him. Bastian nodded and Logan sent a mind link to a warrior to bring them compresses and bandages as soon as possible.

The warrior handed him a bag with the material within two minutes. Logan nodded and shifted.

‘You decided it should be you then?’ Bastian mind linked.

‘I’m the trained warrior, better leave this to me, lawyer-boy,’ Logan scuffed as he picked up the bag in his mouth and watched the two alphas.

‘Be careful and please save her,’ Bastian said.

Logan’s wolf snorted and when he saw his opening, he ran towards the desk, jumped over it and skidded to a stop on the other side.

Logan shifted back to his human form as he turned around. His heart stopped for a moment when he saw Bella’s dark-brown wolf laying on its side under the desk. She had her back turned towards him and he saw four deep claw marks running almost the length of her back.

Logan rushed to crawl under the desk. He put his hand on her head, expecting her to turn to him, but she was still. He could see that her chest was still moving, but the movement was shallow and rapid.

“Bella, I’m here to help you. Graham is here as well. Can you look at me, luna?” he told her, not bothering keeping his voice down. He got no response.

Logan pulled out the compresses and push them against her wounds. Bella let out a quiet whimper, and Graham let out a growl. Yes, yes, just kill the bastard, Logan thought.