Chapter 60 SIEGE BEGINS
RAY'S POV
I watch the sun rise over six hundred enemy wolves and know this might be my last dawn.
The eastern sky bleeds pink and orange like the battlefield soon will. Jake's forces have been howling all night, wearing down my warriors' nerves. Sleep was impossible. Fear tastes metal in the air.
"Final count?" I ask Monty without taking my eyes off the enemy lines.
"Ninety-one combat-ready wolves against six hundred attackers."
The math is brutal. Even with fortifications, we are hopelessly outnumbered.
"Alicia?"
"Safe room in the sub-basement with Luna and the other mothers. Reinforced steel door, supplies for a week. Sarah and four warriors guarding them."
I feel Alicia's rage bleeding through our mate bond. She wants to fight beside me, but she is too valuable to risk. Morrison wants her alive.
"Weapons?" I force myself to focus on tactical details.
"Silver rounds, silver blades, wolfsbane grenades." Kai's voice is cold. "Enough ammunition for maybe two hours of sustained fighting. After that, hand to hand."
"And the children?"
"Lowest level safe room, with soundproofed, andsealed from inside." Logan's voice is tight. "If we fall, they have instructions to stay hidden for seventy-two hours before attempting escape."
Seventy-two hours for children to hide in darkness while their parents' bodies grow cold above them.
"Defensive positions?"
"First line at the outer perimeter, twenty wolves. Second line inside the compound walls, thirty wolves. Third line at the packhouse with the rest." Monty pulls up the tactical map. "We hold every inch until we cannot hold anymore."
"What about Sera and the Forgotten?"
"No word since the attack on their camp six hours ago." Logan's face is grim. "Either they are still fighting or they have already fallen."
Fifty potential allies gone before the real battle started.
A triumphant howl rises from Jake's army. My wolves respond, but the sound is thin compared to the enemy's confidence.
"Everyone to positions!" My Alpha command echoes across the territory. "We hold or we die!"
Warriors scatter to their assigned locations. The mate bond with Alicia flares hot and desperate.
I love you, I send through our bond. Whatever happens, remember I love you.
Her response comes fierce and absolute. You better survive this, Ray, or I will find a way to bring you back just so I can kill you myself.
Despite everything, I smile.
Jake steps forward from the army, shifts to human form, and stands at the front of his forces. "Last chance, Ray! Send out Alicia and the baby! Everyone else can live!"
"Go to hell!"
Jake's smile is cruel. "Wrong answer."
He raises one hand. Then I see them among the wolves, human shapes in tactical gear carrying weapons that gleam silver.
"Kai. Are those humans?"
"Veritas soldiers." Kai's voice holds something close to fear. "Morrison brought human mercenaries. Trained killers with silver weapons and no pack bonds to exploit."
We can command wolves through Alpha authority. But humans will feel nothing but their training and their orders to kill.
Jake's hand drops.
The army charges.
Six hundred voices howl as they sprint toward our territory. The ground shakes with their footsteps.
"First line! Fire at will!"
Gunfire erupts. Silver rounds tear through charging wolves. Bodies drop. But for every wolf that falls, three more keep coming.
The humans spread out with military precision, forming firing lines. Coordinated volleys scythe through our first defensive line. Eight of my wolves go down in thirty seconds, clean kills from trained marksmen.
"Fall back! First line retreat!"
Jake's forces swarm over the outer perimeter. Fifty wolves dead in the first minute.
One of the mercenaries aims directly at me. I see the muzzle flash. Feel the silver bullet tear through my shoulder. I shift to wolf form to heal faster, but it will not be enough.
Kai takes down three wolves in brutal efficiency. His claws are a blur, his jaws snapping necks like paper. He is death incarnate.
Then a human mercenary catches him from behind. Buries a silver blade between his ribs. Kai goes down hard.
"No!" I tear through two enemy wolves to reach him. The human turns his gun on me, but Monty hits him from the side.
I grab Kai and drag him back. His blood soaks my fur. The wound is possibly fatal.
"Logan! Healer!"
Logan appears with his medical kit. "Silver blade in the lung. He is drowning in his own blood."
"Get him stable!"
Logan lifts Kai and runs. Two enemy wolves try to intercept. I kill them both.
The second defensive line is crumbling. Jake's forces are everywhere, inside our compound, pushing toward the packhouse.
"Third line! Fall back to final positions!"
The remaining warriors retreat into the packhouse. We seal the heavy doors but they will not hold long. Already I hear claws scratching at reinforced wood.
Forty-three of my wolves are dead. Another dozen critically wounded. Maybe thirty fighters left.
The packhouse doors shudder under a coordinated ram. Once. Twice. The wood cracks but holds.
"Barricade the entrance!" Monty is already moving furniture.
The third ram shatters the doors completely. Enemy wolves pour through the breach. The fighting becomes chaos, close quarters, tooth and claw.
I kill four wolves in as many seconds. Alpha strength makes me faster and stronger. But there are too many. For every one I kill, two more appear. My warriors are falling around me.
Then I see him. Jake in human form, walking through the chaos like he is untouchable. He has a silver gun in one hand. He aims carefully and shoots Monty in the leg.
My Beta goes down hard. I try to reach him, but three wolves block my path. By the time I tear through them, Jake is standing over Monty with the gun pressed to his head.
"Surrender now or he dies!" Jake's voice cuts through the fighting. "I will execute every single one of your wolves until you give me what I want!"
The fighting stops. Both sides freeze.
"Where is Alicia?" Jake demands. "Bring her out or I paint these walls with Monty's brain!"
I shift to human form. Stand naked and bloodied but unbroken. "She is not here. I sent her away before the attack."
"Liar!" Jake presses the gun harder against Monty's skull. "I can smell her. She is in this building. Underground or the safe room?"
He is too smart. Too familiar with our defensive protocols.
"Last chance, Ray." Jake's finger tightens on the trigger. "Tell me where she is or Monty dies right now."
I open my mouth to refuse. To tell Jake to go to hell. To accept Monty's death rather than betray Alicia.
Then the floor beneath us explodes outward and Alicia erupts from the safe room below with silver light blazing from her eyes and Luna strapped securely to her chest and the full power of the True Luna finally unleashed without restraint or mercy.