Chapter 52
**DAMIEN**
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Sabrina and Leo ran side by side as Guinevere, and I let our wolves lead us to Jupiter's hideout. Everything was going according to plan until it wasn't about halfway into the woods. Sabrina stumbled, and I felt an intense amount of pain surge through my mate connection; I heard Guinevere whisper Vladimir's name through the mind link, and then Sabrina took off. So fast that Leo and I were left in her dust with no hopes of catching up to her. Still, Leo and I ran at full force, trying to catch up with her; the trees became denser and the weeds taller the further we traveled into the woods. I tried to force Leo to slow down, worried we would end up running into one of the trees.
*'Must find mate.'* Leo whined, breathing rapidly from exertion
*'We aren't going to find her if we end up smashed to pieces. She's headed toward Jupiter. If we exhaust ourselves now or end up injuring ourselves, we will be no help to her.'* I replied, trying to reason with my wolf.
*'Some Alpha you are.'* Leo growled out. *'You want to sit around and do nothing while our mate is out there sacrificing her life, fighting goddess knows what, and our soldiers are trying to protect our pack while we sit here and dink around.'* Leo growled, pissed that I had taken control of our body back.
*'LEO!'* I yelled sharply, pissed with my wolf's insufferable attitude, *Insulting me won't make me change my mind, and running after Guinevere will only kill us; we're too slow to catch up with Sabrina when she's like this. We have to put our skills to better use than chasing after our mate and trying to shield her from her destiny.*'
*'Okay, then what do you suggest we do, wise one?*' Leo asked, his tone still patronizing.
*'Let's find Alex and the remaining soldiers. We can regather our troops and head straight for Jupiter. Guinevere will need an army to help her, and we can at least bring her that.*'
It didn't take Leo long to agree with my plan. I don't know if it's because he thought it was a good idea or if he gave in, knowing I wouldn't allow him to race off blindly in the direction Sabrinaheaded. Either way, he started to scent the forest floor, looking for Alex's familiar smell. Leo caught onto the scent quickly. It was still strong, meaning Alex hadn't passed through this area long ago. Leo raised his head and inhaled deeply, taking a long breath, before tugging toward the right; I gave up a little control of the reins, knowing that Leo would follow through with our plan. Leo ran quickly in the direction the scent was the strongest, and within minutes we were in the center of a bloody battlefield.
Black blood dripped from the forest trees and smeared across the land, and decaying corpses with bits and pieces of rotten flesh could be found in every direction. Unfortunately, mixed in with all that was the scent of fresh blood and intertwined with the undead were my fellow wolves and pack mates; some pack members had died in their wolf form, and tufts of black, brown, and red fur lay scattered about. The others had shifted due to the severity of their injuries, and their human forms lay on the ground, bleeding out from their wounds. It was a massacre, and I could tell my pack mates had given it all they had. On any normal day, I would have felt each link break, but after the explosion, I'd turned off my pack link, knowing that the number of deaths would be large during the war.
Leo and I walked slowly through the battlefield; the remaining soldiers stood on the outskirts of the meadow, waiting for Alex to give his next command. I let myself look over my best friend and Beta first. He looked like he'd gone through hell. His entire body was covered with blood and gore from the fight. Examining him more closely, I noticed that most of the blood was from our enemies; he only sported a few wounds; there were a few open cuts on his body and a large slash on the side of his face, which had already started to heal. Once I was satisfied that Alex would be fine, I looked over the rest of my warriors; many of them looked similar to Alex, although there were at least two that wouldn't be able to continue fighting; one of the wolves was limping, his hind quarter almost torn completely off and another's arm was twisted in the wrong direction.
Feeling my gaze, Alex looked up and spotted me. *'Thank fuck you're here.'* He shouted through the mindlink before walking through the crowd of wolves and planting himself by my side. "We lost a lot of good men here today. Not from lack of training or lack of force, but because Jupiter's army of the undead didn't want to fall. We killed them, and then they rose over and over again. Finally, something seemed too severe their link to Jupiter's magic, and we were able to take down his army, but I don't know if they'll be down for long." Alex reported, not bothering to use the mindlink, seeing as everyone here except for me had witnessed what went down during the battle.
I looked around and saw grief and pain in my men's eyes. I saw fear in some and hatred in others. What they saw today wasn't natural, and if we continued with the war, I'm sure they would end up seeing much worse; I cannot force my fellow wolves to continue like this. I need an army of soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives to fight against Jupiter.
Knowing what needed to be done, I cleared my throat and voiced my thoughts, "We've lost many today already, but the war still isn't over. Jupiter is in the middle of this Forest, lying in wait, surrounded by his undead army and many other evils we have yet to face. Your Luna, my mate, is charging toward him now, by herself, ready to defeat Jupiter, destroy his army, and end this war." I took a deep swallow, my voice choking as I thought of Guinevere out there alone.
"Today, I ask you, not only as your Alpha but as a fellow member of your pack, for you to charge toward danger again and help our Luna destroy the man who would do us harm, the man who seeks to harm our goddess, who seems to think he can eliminate our kind. Today I ask for your help in vanquishing this darkness for good.
The entire army erupted into howls of agreement and growls of anger. Everyone had a stake in this war, and no one from the Solar Moon pack was going to back down from this fight. Today we end this nightmare. I shifted back into my wolf form, letting Leo take the reins. As we headed toward the Forest, I could hear the echoing of bones breaking as the other wolves followed suit. It didn't take long for Alex's wolf Siberus to take his spot beside Leo.
*'You always were one for Grand Speeches.'* Alex joked through our shared link, trying to lighten the mood as we marched toward the unknown.
*'What was it too much?'*
I could feel Alex fake a shudder through the mind link, *'Let's just say I wouldn't want to be in Jupiter right now. Can't you feel our troops' anger, hostility, and hatred?*'
Instead of responding, I felt Leo toss his shoulders back and hold his head high. Proud to be the Alpha of such a strong wolf pack.
*'Good.'* I reply before opening the link to the entire pack,*Jupiter dies tonight.*' I growl.