Chapter 27: Strength and weakness

Oliva and Matteo were in ambush.

The strong, icy wind that surrounded them caused yearning in the young woman who felt her veins boil in pure adrenaline, her eyes lit up in sapphires scanning body temperatures around her and her fists intensely clenched. Ready for any dumb wolf that tried to attack her.

A disagreement like this was not in her plans, but her cousin already had it all too well arranged with the deserters, she had been foolish to fall for this trap.

"Fucking hell. I try to help, and these wolves just fuck with me" Oliva complains, but stops abruptly. "Hey, did you hear that?"

"I heard it" Matteo holds her by the wrist over the sleeve of his jacket and pulls her closer, wondering how she had felt the noises so light being that she narrowly missed hearing them. "Quiet..."

The scraping of leaves across the ground and growls grew stronger. Sounds of bodily struggle clashed with the logs. It wasn't just one, more than three alphas had reached them. The air heaved around them, the smell of pheromones intensified more and more, but Oliva felt something familiar. Her energy dulled by the presence of all those alphas vibrates, being reborn, restored, reconnecting the power to her veins.

She feels the magic surging and tries to keep control over her body so as not to show it to the others, who will be there soon.

The living electricity exudes beneath her skin and reminds her that she is active...

... About to control all her life force.

"Are you more deserters? You are the shame of the race! Our brothers need us out there. The leader has joined the northern pack of Alphas and they have no chance of winning!" one of the wolves shouts a few meters away to the taller one and then they appear biting each other involucrously.

Oliva rushes to block them. She wouldn't watch one of her own being attacked and wouldn't let Matteo play the macho role. The girl notices the serious bleeding wound on her wolf's left leg and delivers a voracious punch to the head of the most injured one knocking him unconscious.

"Damn!" Oliva curses.

The young woman without a second thought advances on her opponent. There is no time left for a reaction from Matteo, nor to reason that that girl was facing a transformed alpha.

The deserter, however, wipes away the small trickle of blood that fell to her chin and smiles sadistically and stretches out her free hand, calling out to Oliva between ironic mutterings.

"Who do you think you are?" he asks, dodging Omega’s first blow. "ANSWER!" he vociferates. He defends himself from another blow and slices the air with a dagger, driving it into Oliva's arm, which rages. She was tired of hearing that same question from hostile people who think they are the greatest just because they are damn alphas. "You think you can take me on? Hey," he points at Matteo. "You forgot to put a collar on your bitch" the hunter laughs. "Really? You had to be a woman to betray us like that."

Matteo steps forward ready to interfere but receives a death glare from the girl for him to stay exactly where he was and as if Oliva used a commanding voice without even making any sounds from her mouth. His feet froze there. He could not move and could hardly breathe.

"You're next on the list, Allen" the hunter threatens, but the sound of metal crashing against the foliage on the ground brings Matteo out of his daze. A few drops of blood stain the once pristine earth near the dagger. Matteo stares again at Oliva, who moves his shoulder and warms his muscles in a quick, athletic manner, and a light blue aura covers his lean, gleaming body. The hunter stares at him in confusion and shudders. "Wait... You're not normal... You're ... You're a freak."

"Let me be a freak, then," the steady voice thunders through the forest and causes a slight fear on the ground, "If normal is being like you, I'll just pass."

Oliva does not wait; she attacks once more.

The hunter is surprised by his speed and dodges the first blow, but the second hits him right in the ribs and robs him of his air. This is fatal. The alpha is off balance and takes a step backwards.

Oliva is already waiting for him and kicks the nerve in his heel, ending his support. The hunter howls in pain, tumbles with the middle of his spine on Oliva's raised knee and falls like a dead weight to the ground. The Omega then takes the dagger and tapers it to the hunter's shoulder, as he did to you, and stands tall in the stance, calm under the black robes.

The elastic that held his hair fell out during the fight and now they appear loose, unruly. Oliva turns toward Matteo trying to get back to his normal breathing and snaps his neck.

The young man standing there was in shock, and suddenly his body obeyed him again. Not a word came out of his mouth, he was in shock at what he had just witnessed.

"...Ahm... How did you do that?" Matteo hisses fearfully, hanging his mouth ajar. "Is that what you meant by 'Damn?' Damn I say! What the hell was that?! How did you... how... how?!" Matteo bombards her with agitated questions and on his face a huge question mark. "HOW CAN YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT?!"

Oliva removes her hair from her face and approaches Matteo slowly. Magic was extreme for wolves, after all they were almost annihilated because of it, they were afraid of the age of wizards returning and so any mention of magic was forbidden, not even mentioned and even frightened.

"We have to get out of here first, then we'll talk." Oliva follows a direction without waiting for an action from the alpha who was looking at her intensely, she didn't want to answer those questions. She knew where they were, for she knew that forest very well.

"No!" Matteo chases after her and grabs her arm in search of some explanation. Oliva turns sharply at the alpha's cheeky tug and looks at him in amazement, and the boy lets out a little flustered look at her. "I don't mean to offend you, I know you're great at body battle..., but what the fuck was that? You were in a bright light and for a moment you seemed to be much stronger than that idiot! Oh, you got hurt too, are you okay?" the boy demanded answers exasperated, looking into the girl's eyes impatiently.

"I'm fine." She assures him and he lowers his gaze to the young woman's arm that was struck by the dagger and notices that her shirt was soaked with blood around the tear.

"You're bleeding..." The young man touches her wounded shoulder gently over the fabric, putting aside his numerous question marks. Matteo meets the half uncertain gaze of Oliva who was trying to lean on anything around, however he holds her by the chin and her eyes when they met his gleam blue.

And that touch made her dizzy. Even if a young woman denied it a hundred times, her body would only confirm a hundred times that she wanted him more than ever Matteo Allen. That fucked certainty clouded her mind, weakened her knees, her breath echoed inside her head, her throat burned, pulsing.

The feeling that invades her is supernatural.

"Matteo... I think finally my..." her voice was shaky and tired, she staggered to the side and leaned against a tree, feeling the heat suddenly overpowering her body.

The boy gets closer to the young woman and sniffs her intensely, but all he felt was a little lower than usual, after all they were being chased and the smell of an Omega could be noticed from meters away, she was doing a great job covering for him. Oliva wouldn't be able to block the appreciative scent even if she wanted too very badly, that yes was impossible.

"Not yet. I think you spent your last traces of energy fighting with that guy," he looks back at the half-dead body lying on the ground next to a large rock in the distance. "We didn't have much time to sleep or eat during the trip. In these conditions you are just tired, and I suggest you stop drinking alcohol for more than twenty-four hours." He says trying to soften the tense atmosphere that has grown.

"You pulled us through the south side of the forest and our entrance is on the north side..." Oliva says slurred, feeling like all the energy was slowly being eaten away. "Come, it's this way." They stared at each other in silence for a while. She stands up and tries to keep her posture, but her body goes downhill with every half step she takes. Matteo comes to her aid holding her by the waist and pulls Oliva's arm around her shoulders to give her the support she needs as she assimilates recent events.

A low chuckle echoed through the quiet trees. Oliva hadn't even realized the moment the silence of the wolves had settled, she tried to strut in defense, but her body quitting to his stimuli which made Matteo tense up as he felt the young woman's muscles getting softer and softer in his arms.

"Dimitri." Matteo hisses angrily. "You are so short. You dragged Oliva into the middle of the forest with almost fifteen rabid wolves, a rage that you yourself sowed! A cretin who has no respect and no honor for our organization."

The alpha looked flawless, his blond hair still in place and his clothes without a trace of dust or a dent. Dimitri was just a spectator of the circus on fire and that sight of soft Oliva being carried and wounded was what he had wanted all along.

"Don't put that on me Allen, Oliva knew very well what she was getting into. However, she is too stubborn and now she has to take the consequences. Now, be a good little nerd and let your owners do the talking." He turns to the girl. "Oliva Moore, I was expecting more from you...the leader of the largest ABO organization in the country had to let the puppy do the dirty work because she can barely stand on her own." Sounds sarcastic.

The young woman half-closes her eyes and tries to read him. Her cousin thought the wolf hurt her and she let go of Matteo's collar so he could attack.

"I get it Dimmy. You want a civil war; you want to divide our clan." Oliva focuses her attention on her snobby cousin. "If that's really the plan, you'd better hide because tomorrow you'll be hunted down like a traitor."

Oliva feels her eyes heavy, but she can still make out Dimitri's angry face. His plans did not involve Oliva getting out of there alive, so in a made-up decision he advances growling at the girl supported by Matteo who in order not to let her be hit by an attack, throws her away.

The young girl sees everything happen too fast and feels her weak body being thrown to the side brutally while she watches Dimitri attack Matteo violently. She closes her eyes tightly as she feels the impact of her body falling to the dirty ground, the growls and roars of the alpha’s shell seemed too loud for her.

It was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.