Chapter 188 Is He?
"Beta! He’s keying in the override! What do I do? Jax, talk to me!" Toby’s voice was a frantic staccato over the comms, the sound of a young wolf who had never been asked to hunt his own kind. "I have the thermal lock, but the kids—they’re right there. I can't... I can't find a clean angle without—"
"Toby, stand down!" Jax roared, his eyes fixed on the blurring road.
"He's stepping inside! He’s taking them into the dark!" Toby screamed, the sound of the heavy hydraulic hatch groaning in the background. "Jax, the door is closing! Tell me what to do! Tell me—"
"JUST TAKE THE FUCKING SHOT!" Fennigan’s voice tore through the cabin, a primal, earth-shaking command that silenced everything else.
The crack of the high-velocity rifle round cut through the mountain air a split second later. Through the long-range scope, Toby saw the world erupt in a spray of heat. Damon didn’t even have time to turn his head; the bullet caught him in the shoulder, the kinetic energy spinning him like a ragdoll and slamming him against the cold, reinforced steel of the bunker’s outer frame.
The two small bundles tumbled from his arms, hitting the soft pine needles.
"Target down! Target down!" Toby’s voice was jagged with adrenaline and horror. "The packages are on the ground! They're clear of the door! Repeat, the assets are unsecured!"
Across the ridge, the sound of the twins' laughter died instantly. It was replaced by a sharp, terrified wail that pierced the directional mic. Caspian was scrambling on his hands and knees toward Damon’s motionless form, his little fingers reaching for the man who had just been "Papa," while Briar sat in the dirt, her face scrunched in a heart-wrenching, breathless sob.
In the SUV, the sound of his children's terror was the final tether snapped. Fennigan let out a sound that wasn't human—a roar that physically shattered the remaining glass in the vehicle's windows. The pain in his chest, the void where Leela should be, and the primal fear for his pups merged into a singular, blinding agony.
"Toby, they know who you are!" Jax yelled, his knuckles white as he fought to keep the SUV on the road. "Don't wait for us! Take the elite team and get my niece and nephew! Secure them! Move! Move! Move!"
Before the SUV had even come to a full stop near the trailhead, the passenger door was ripped off its hinges. Fennigan didn't climb out—he exploded out. Mid-air, his body distended with a sickening crunch of bone, fur bursting through skin as his frame lengthened into the massive, silver-tipped beast of the Blackwood Alpha. He hit the ground on all fours, the earth cratering beneath his weight, and vanished into the thick timber like a vengeful storm.
"FUCK!" Jax screamed, slamming his fist into the steering wheel.
He couldn't follow Fennigan into the brush. He had to get to the house. If dad was at the bunker, who was left with the women? Who had silenced Leela’s bond? Where was Giiny? Don't let anything happen to Ginny. He couldn't think straight.
The speedometer needle buried itself past 100 as Jax turned the vehicle toward the pack house, his heart hammering against his ribs. The SUV sliding on loose gravel.
Toby and the elite team descended the slope like shadows, their boots barely touching the forest floor as they swarmed the bunker entrance. The twins, seeing Toby’s familiar face through their tears, reached out with shaking hands. "Bo-by! Bo-by!" they sobbed, their voices cracking in the cold night air.
Toby scooped them both up, one on each hip, his heart breaking as they buried their wet faces into his neck. He held them tight, shielding their eyes with his broad shoulders as the rest of the team moved toward the fallen form of the former Alpha.
Beside the dark pool of blood on the concrete, a thick, oily, silvery substance was oozing from the wound—the synthetic catalyst the Weaver had warned them about. One of the sentries knelt down, pressing two fingers firmly against Damon’s throat. After a tense, silent five seconds, he looked up at Toby and shook his head, his hand staying flat against his own throat in the universal signal for a dead pulse.
Toby didn't wait. He turned his back on the body, his only focus being the two trembling lives in his arms. He started back up the bank, his pace urgent, while the team began the grim work of securing the site and wedging the hydraulic door that had ground to a halt halfway open.
The forest suddenly exploded.
The treeline didn't just part; it shattered as Fennigan slammed through the brush. He was a blur of silver-tipped fur and raw power, sliding to a violent halt in the dirt just inches from Toby. The air around him was shimmering with heat, the alpha aura still rolling off him in waves.
He shifted in a heartbeat, the transition jagged and painful, his skin steaming in the chill. He stood there, chest heaving, his eyes wide and wild as they landed on his children.
"Dada!" the twins cried in a broken unison, their little bodies lunging toward him.
Fennigan reached out, his large, trembling hands taking them from Toby and crushing them against his chest. He closed his eyes for a second, inhaling their scent—milk, pine, and tears—confirming they were whole. But even as he held them, his gaze drifted over Toby’s shoulder toward the heap of dark clothes and silver oil by the bunker door.
"Is he...?" Fennigan’s voice was a guttural rasp, the word hanging heavy in the air.
Toby didn't say a word. He just gave a single, somber nod.
Fennigan looked at his father—the man who had raised him, the man who had betrayed him, and the man who was now a cooling corpse in the dirt. There was no triumph in his eyes, only a cold, hollow realization of how deep the rot had gone.
"We've got to get to the packhouse," Fennigan commanded, his voice hardening as he turned back toward the path. "I still can't feel Leela. If he's dead, then someone else is holding the veil over her. We aren't done tonight."