Chapter 173 Elara's POV
I ran through the forest in my wolf form, faster than I had ever moved in my life.
Trees blurred past me and the ground disappeared beneath my paws. My white fur glowed faintly in the darkness, the lunar pulse driving me forward.
But after an hour of running, I had to stop. I had to shift back, I had to think.
I transformed back to human form, collapsing naked on the forest floor. My body was covered in sw, my muscles screamed but the physical pain was nothing compared to the agony in my chest.
Adrian, my baby in the hands of monsters.
I thought about him crying for me, wanting his mother. Not understanding why I wasn't there to comfort him.
Was he cold? Hungry? Scared?
The thoughts destroyed me, tears poured down my face as I knelt in the dirt.
"I'm coming, baby," I whispered.
"Mom is coming, just hold on."
I forced myself to stand to focus. I had maybe six hours until the midnight meeting at the river crossing. Six hours to find them, to get my son back.
I shifted again, letting my wolf take over. She was stronger, faster, more focused on the hunt.
I picked up Miriam's scent; it was faint but there leading north, toward the river. I followed it, running for hours without stopping without resting.
The scent grew stronger, closer, they couldn't be far now. Then I heard it, faint but unmistakable.
Adrian cried.
My baby, my son, he was close. I burst through the tree line into a small clearing.
A cabin stood in the center, old, abandoned. Light showed through cracks in the boarded windows.
And inside, I could hear Adrian crying.
I shifted back to human form. I didn't care that I was naked. I didn't care about anything except getting to my son.
I kicked the cabin door open with all my strength and it flew off its hinges.
Inside, five people. Miriam stood holding Adrian, trying to calm his cries. Four guards surrounded her, all armed with guns.
"Elara!" Miriam's eyes went wide. "How did you-"
"Give me my son."
The guards raised their weapons, pointed them at me.
"One more step and we shoot," one of them said.
"Then shoot."
I launched forward before they could react.
Gunfire exploded in the small space I felt bullets hit me burn through my flesh. But I didn't stop.
I grabbed the first guard, snapped his neck. Took his gun and shot the second before he could fire again.
The third guard tackled me and we went down hard. He was strong, trained but I was a mother fighting for her child.
I drove my thumbs into his eyes and screamed. I grabbed his head and slammed it into the floor repeatedly until he stopped moving.
The fourth guard was running for the door, I shot him in the back and he fell.
More guards burst in from outside six of them, maybe more. They all had weapons, all started firing.
I moved between them like a ghost, dodging, striking, killing.
Blood sprayed across the walls and the floor became slick with its bodies piled up.
I fought with a savagery I didn't know I possessed. Tore through them like they were nothing like they were just obstacles between me and my son.
A guard got a lucky hit and stabbed me in the side with a knife. I grabbed his wrist, broke it, took the knife and drove it through his throat.
Another jumped on my back. I flipped him over my shoulder and stomped on his head until his skull cracked.
The fighting lasted minutes but felt like hours.
Finally, silence.
I stood in the center of the cabin, covered in blood mine and theirs. Bodies everywhere at least a dozen dead.
And in the corner, Miriam cowered against the wall. Still holding Adrian who was crying desperately.
I shifted back to human form. I walked toward them slowly.
"Elara, please-" Miriam started.
"Give Me My Son."
"I was trying to help! Trying to save the pack! Erebus promised-"
"I don't care what he promised Adrian. Now."
Miriam's hands were shaking as she held out my baby.
I took him carefully, checked him over frantically, looking for injuries, for signs of harm.
He was crying but he seemed unharmed, no visible wounds, there were no bruises.
"Shh, baby Shh Mama is here, Mama's got you."
I held him against my chest, my tears falling on his face. "You're safe now I have got you."
Adrian's cries quieted as he recognized my scent. My voice, he nuzzled against me, his tiny hand grabbing at my skin.
"Mama's so sorry so, so sorry. I will never let anyone take you again, never."
Behind me, Miriam was coughing. Blood sprayed from her mouth.
I looked and saw she'd been hit by a stray bullet. The wound in her chest was fatal.
"I thought... I was helping..." She gasped. "The greater... good..."
I walked over to her and held Adrian with one arm. With my free hand, I grabbed Miriam's head.
"There is no greater good that justifies taking a child from his mother."
I twisted hard, her neck snapped, her eyes went blank and she slumped to the floor, dead.
I stood there, holding my son, surrounded by the bodies of everyone who had tried to take him from me.
"It is over, baby. It is all over, you're safe."
I heard movement outside footsteps approaching. I tensed, ready to fight again. Ready to kill anyone else who tried to harm Adrian.
But it was Marcus who appeared in the doorway with a dozen Blue Moon scouts behind him.
They all stopped, staring at the carnage. At me, naked and covered in blood, holding my baby.
"Luna," Marcus said carefully. "We are here to help take you home."
"They tried to take my son."
"I know but you got him back, you won."
He stepped forward slowly. "Let us help you now, you're hurt, you need medical attention."
I looked down at myself, and saw the bullet wounds. The knife cuts, the blood still flowing from multiple injuries.
I'd been so focused on Adrian I hadn't even felt the pain but now it was catching up, my legs wobbled, my vision blurred.
"Marcus... I need..."
"We've got you." He caught me as I fell. "Someone get blankets! Cover Luna! And someone take the child-"
"NO!" I clutched Adrian tighter. "He stays with me."
"Okay. Okay, he stays with you but we need to get you both out of here and get you medical help."
They wrapped blankets around me, covered my nakedness and kept Adrian safe in my arms.
Marcus lifted me carefully. Started carrying me toward the vehicles they'd brought.
"The others?" I asked weakly.
"All dead, you killed them all."
Good they deserved it.
We reached the vehicles. Marcu
s laid me in the back seat, still holding Adrian.
"Take us home," I whispered. "Please, just take us home."
"Already on it."
As we drove away from the cabin of death, I held my son and cried, tears of relief, of joy, of gratitude that he was safe.
I had gotten him back, against impossible odds, against armed enemies.