Chapter 103 WAR BREAKS LOOSE
Third Person POV
“Hold the line! Don’t let them break through!”
The shout barely carried over the noise. The Spirit Pack crashed into the Blood Moon fighters with raw force. Claws hit flesh just as bodies slammed into the ground. The air was thick with blood and dust.
“Watch the left side!” someone yelled.
Amber turned fast. “They’re coming from the side…too many of them!”
A Spirit Pack warrior lunged at her. She stumbled back, barely dodging the strike.
“Amber, behind me!” Derek shouted as he blocked an attack.
“I’m fine!” she yelled, though her breathing said otherwise.
All around them, voices overlapped. “Stay together!” “Don’t let them split us!”
“Help! I’m hit!”
The Spirit Pack fought like they were driven by pure anger. They didn’t slow down and they didn’t pull back. Every Blood Moon fighter pushed aside was replaced by two more enemies.
Trent slammed into a Spirit Pack wolf, knocking him down. “They won’t stop!”
“They’re forcing us back!” Derek replied. “This is planned!”
Before Trent could respond, a heavy blow hit him from the side. He cried out as he fell hard.
“Trent!” Derek shouted.
Another strike landed before Derek could reach him just as he fell to the ground, groaning in pain. There were a lot of things that were going on all at the same time, even as it was very difficult to keep up with everything. The fight wasn’t ending anytime soon, even as there were a lot of casualties all around the war ground.
Trent groaned in pain. “Derek…!”
Derek lunged forward, driving the attacker away. “Get away from him!”
He dropped beside Trent, hands already covered in blood. The look on his face was one of regret, something he never thought would happen. If there was any way he could change what had happened from the start, I knew he would do that without blinking an eye but now, his hands were completely tied, there was nothing he could have done to prevent any of this from happening.
“Can you stand?” Derek asked.
Trent shook his head. “I can’t feel my side.”
“Don’t move,” Derek said sharply. “Stay with me.”
A scream cut through the noise and they realized it was Amber’s. Panic slammed into them anew and in that moment, they knew she was in danger. As a matter of fact, everyone was in danger as far as the war was concerned.
“Amber!”
Derek looked up just in time to see a Spirit Pack warrior slam into her. She was thrown backward and hit the ground hard.
“Amber!” Derek yelled.
She tried to rise but her legs gave way. She was weak, totally spent from fighting all the attackers. There was no strength left in her even as Derek feared that she might die as a result of this. There was only so little her wolf could take and they realized this was the breaking point. After all of this, she might not survive.
“I…can’t…” she said weakly.
Her body went limp even as her eyes rolled back, Derek stilled, fear crowding his body in waves. He couldn’t help but think that all of this was a nightmare but the more he stared at the chaos all around him, the more he was convinced that everything was real and this was the reality he now found himself in.
“No!” Derek shouted. “Amber!”
“She’s down!” someone yelled. “She’s not moving!”
The Spirit Pack pressed harder, breaking through every barrier the opposing sides had put on to defend themselves.
“They’re breaking us!” a Blood Moon wolf screamed.
Derek’s heart pounded as he looked between Amber and Trent.
“Get to Amber!” he yelled. “Someone move!”
A Spirit Pack fighter chased him but he met the attack head-on, rage in every strike.
“You’re not touching her!” he snarled.
Behind him, Trent groaned. “Derek… don’t leave me…”
Derek froze for half a second even as the battlefield didn’t slow down. Blood Moon fighters were being pushed back from every side.
“We can’t hold them!” someone shouted.
Derek’s chest tightened.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, not knowing who he was apologizing to.
“Cover me!” Derek shouted.
Two Blood Moon warriors rushed over.
“We’ve got Trent!” one said. “Lift him…slow!”
Trent gasped as they pulled him up. “Don’t… let them take Amber…”
“I won’t,” Derek said, though his voice shook.
He turned and ran to Amber.
“Spirit Pack coming in!” someone warned.
Derek dropped to his knees beside her. “Amber! Open your eyes!”
No response.
“Amber, talk to me!” he shouted.
“She’s out cold!” a fighter yelled. “She’s breathing, but barely!”
A Spirit Pack warrior lunged toward them.
“Get back!” Derek roared, slashing upward.
The attacker fell, but more followed.
“This is bad!” a Blood Moon wolf shouted. “They’re overpowering us!”
Derek lifted Amber’s shoulders slightly. Her head fell to the side.
“Stay with me,” he whispered.
“Carry her!” he ordered. “Now!”
Another shout rang out.
“Go back! Everyone go back!”
“What?”
“We can’t hold this!”
“Go back now or we’re done!”
Blood Moon fighters began pulling away, step by step, fighting as they moved back.
“They’re chasing us!” someone yelled.
“Move faster!” another shouted.
Derek walked backward, guarding Amber and Trent as they were carried.
“Don’t stop!” he barked. “If you stop, you die!”
Spirit Pack howls followed them, loud and proud.
“Run, Blood Moon!” one Spirit Pack voice mocked. “You already lost!”
A Blood Moon wolf tripped.
“Help him!” someone shouted.
“No time!” came the reply. “Keep moving!”
When they finally crossed into safer ground, the sounds of fighting faded. The Spirit Pack stopped following. They didn’t need to.
They had won. Derek dropped beside Amber again.
“Check her,” he said quietly.
“She’s alive,” the healer confirmed. “But the hit was bad.”
Derek exhaled slowly just as he turned to Trent, pale and shaking.
“I should’ve protected you,” Derek said. “Both of you.”
Trent forced out a breath. “We’re… still alive.”
Derek looked around at the injured, the fear, the silence where victory should’ve been. The Blood Moon pack had been overpowered and broken and were forced to go back.
Derek clenched his fists and looked at Amber’s still body.
“This isn’t over,” he said firmly.
But regret s
tayed heavy in his chest, louder than the war that had just ended.
WAR LEFT SCARS