Chapter 178

Chapter 178
Alexander's POV

The floodlights burned against my retinas like liquid fire, but I kept my eyes open, scanning for any weakness in their formation.

Thirty armed figures emerged from behind the lights, their movements coordinated and professional.

The man stepping forward had to be their leader - tall, lean.

"I'm Edmund Bell," he said, his voice carrying the casual confidence of a man who'd never lost a hunt. "Perhaps you've heard of me."

'Shit. Edmund Bell. The hunter who'd wiped out three entire packs in the Northwestern packs.'

"Can't say I have," I lied, shifting slightly to keep Freya behind me.

Edmund's smile was cold as winter steel. "How disappointing. I've made quite a reputation collecting your kind. Alpha pelts fetch particularly high prices."

"What do you want?" I kept my voice level, though every Alpha instinct screamed at me to tear his throat out.

"Well, initially I was just here for a routine hunt. But then I discovered something far more interesting." His gaze shifted to Freya, and I felt her flinch. "A Faith bloodline survivor. Do you have any idea how valuable that makes you, my dear?"

Freya's silver light flickered under her skin, barely contained. "Luke..." she whispered, so quietly only I could hear.

"Ah yes, your little pup," Edmund continued with mock sympathy. "I hear he's dying. Such a shame you'll never make it back to him."

'That fucking bastard.'

The mate bond exploded with Freya's rage, her silver glow flaring bright enough to make several hunters step back.

I placed a steadying hand on her arm.

'Stay calm,' I sent through our mind link. 'Thirty hunters, silver weapons, but they're overconfident. When I give the signal, you run east with the moongrass.'

'I'm not leaving you,' came her fierce reply.

'Luke needs that cure more than he needs both of us. Promise me.'

Her internal struggle was painful to feel, but finally: 'Promise.'

'Now,' I sent to Freya.

I lunged left, drawing eight hunters' fire as their silver bullets whined past my head. Behind me, Freya sprinted toward the eastern tree line, her enhanced speed carrying her out of the light circle.

"Split formation!" Edmund barked. "Eight on the Alpha, everyone else take the female!"

'Fuck. Too many going after her.'

Silver bullets sparked off the rocks where I'd taken cover. I could feel the burn in the air.

Through our bond, I felt Freya's terror as hunters closed in. She was fast, but they knew these area. Worse, they had heat-sensing equipment.

A silver bullet grazed my shoulder, and the burn was immediate and agonizing. Silver didn't just wound us - it poisoned, prevented healing, made shifting nearly impossible.

'Alexander!' Freya's panic flooded our link. 'They have nets - silver nets!'

I saw her stumble as silver wire wrapped around her ankle, the metal searing through her clothes to the skin beneath. Her scream of pain nearly drove me to my knees.

"Gotcha," one of the hunters called out.

I forced a partial shift, just enough to enhance my speed and strength, despite the silver burns making the transformation agony. My expanded senses picked up Freya's location - surrounded, injured, but still fighting.

A sniper's red dot appeared on her chest.

'No.'

I abandoned all pretense of cover and sprinted toward her, my Alpha speed carrying me faster than human reflexes could track.

The sniper fired just as I reached her, and I threw myself between Freya and the bullet.

The silver round punched through my left arm like liquid fire, spinning me around as blood sprayed across the white snow. The pain was indescribable - silver didn't just wound, it burned from the inside out.

"Alexander!" Freya's scream was raw with terror.

Through the mate bond, she felt every spike of agony as if it were her own. Her silver light exploded outward in response, no longer subtle but blazing like a star.

"Fascinating," Edmund said, studying us with scientific interest. "The mate bond is amplifying her bloodline powers."

I collapsed to one knee, my arm hanging useless as silver poisoning spread through my system. But seeing Freya's anguish, feeling her rage through our connection, I forced myself back up.

"Stay behind me," I growled, blood running between my fingers.

"No more running," Freya said, and her voice had changed. Deeper, more primal. Power rolled off her in waves.

The Faith bloodline was waking up.

Her transformation was unlike anything I'd ever seen. Where most wolves shifted gradually, her change was explosive - silver light wrapping around her like living energy as she became something between human and wolf, beautiful and terrifying.

"Kill them both!" Edmund ordered, raising his rifle.

But Freya was no longer the frightened werewolf who'd entered these woods.

Silver energy crackled around her claws as she lunged at the nearest hunter, moving too fast for him to react. Her strike opened his throat before he could scream.

The other hunters opened fire, but her silver aura seemed to deflect some of the bullets. Not all - I could smell her blood as rounds found their mark - but enough to keep her fighting.

I forced my own shift, agony screaming through my system as my body fought the silver poisoning. My wolf form was larger than usual, fueled by rage and desperation.

'Together,' I sent through our bond.

'Together,' she agreed.

We stood back to back in the center of the clearing, surrounded by hunters who suddenly looked less confident.

"Focus fire!" Edmund commanded. "Concentrated bursts!"

Silver bullets rained down like a metallic storm. Freya's energy shield protected us partially, but each deflection cost her. I could feel her life force burning away with every use of her bloodline power.

My own strength was fading fast. The silver bullet in my arm was spreading poison through my system, making each movement a battle against my own body.

But Luke was counting on us. Our son needed that moongrass.

"Is that all you've got?" I snarled at Edmund, though blood was running from my mouth.

He raised his rifle with cold precision. "More than enough."

The shot that would have ended everything never came.

Four howls split the night air, coming from different directions. The hunters spun in confusion as massive shapes bounded out of the darkness - our rescue party, finally tracking us down.

"What the hell-" one hunter started.

Caleb's wolf form crashed into him like a freight train. Behind him, three other pack members spread out, attacking the hunters' flanks and breaking their formation.

"Maintain discipline!" Edmund screamed, but his careful ambush was collapsing into chaos.

Through our mate bond, I felt Freya's relief flood our connection. We weren't alone anymore.

'Can you keep fighting?' I asked her.

Her response came with grim determination: 'For Luke? Until my last breath.'

The battle was far from over, but the odds had shifted. Edmund's face twisted with rage as he realized his perfect trap was unraveling.

"Kill them all!" he roared. "I don't care how many we lose!"