Chapter 61 SILVER AND BLOOD
KAI'S POV
The bullet tears through my ribs and suddenly I am nine years old again watching my family burn.
I hit the ground hard. Blood pours from the wound in my chest. The silver burns like acid eating through my lung. Every breath is agony but I force myself to stay conscious because dying now means failing Alicia.
Not dead yet. The thought comes through pain and rage. Not even close.
I shift to wolf form. The transformation hurts worse than the bullet but my healing accelerates slightly. Not enough to close a silver wound but enough to keep me breathing.
The mercenary moves closer to confirm his kill. Mistake. I lunge from my prone position and my jaws close around his throat. His scream cuts off as I tear out his windpipe.
One down. Four more standing around me with guns raised. I am bleeding out and surrounded and the odds are impossible.
Just like they were nineteen years ago.
I was nine when they came for Silver Creek Pack.
We were healers and teachers. Peaceful wolves who believed knowledge mattered more than territory. My mother was the pack seer and my father was Alpha but he led through wisdom not violence.
That made us weak in the eyes of those who worship strength.
I woke to screaming. My father burst into my room with blood running down his face. "Get your sister. Run to the north caves. Do not stop. Do not look back."
So I ran. Grabbed my seven-year-old sister from her bed and bolted through our burning home. Fire everywhere. Bodies everywhere.
We almost made it to the trees.
Then three Veritas soldiers stepped from the shadows. Not wolves. Humans wearing tactical gear and carrying silver weapons.
I put myself between them and my sister. "Please. She is just a child."
The lead soldier raised his gun. "Orders are no survivors."
He aimed at my sister. I tried to shield her but I was too small and too slow. The bullet hit her chest. She dropped without a sound.
My Alpha father's command hit me through the pack bond. Save yourself.
My body obeyed before my mind could protest. I ran the opposite direction drawing the soldiers away until dawn.
When I returned two days later there was nothing left. No bodies. No survivors. Just burned ground and the sickening silence of severed pack bonds.
Just me. Alone. With the knowledge that I had survived because my father ordered me to abandon everyone I loved.
The four remaining soldiers aim their weapons at me. Silver bullets will finish what the first one started.
I lunge at the closest soldier before he can fire. My jaws close around his gun arm. Bones snap. His finger spasms on the trigger and bullets spray wildly hitting one of his companions.
Two down. Three still standing.
Silver rounds tear through my shoulder. My back leg. Each hit burns and weakens me but rage keeps me moving. Nineteen years of rage finally finding a target.
I kill the soldier with the broken arm. Tear his throat out exactly like they tore out my pack's future.
The wounded soldier tries to crawl away. My claws rake across his back opening him from shoulder to hip. He stops moving.
Four down. One left.
The last soldier backs toward the main fighting. Trying to reach his allies. I am not letting him survive.
I chase him through the chaos. He fires over his shoulder but fear makes him sloppy. We crash through a doorway into the pack library. Books scatter. Shelves topple. He turns and empties his magazine at me.
Three bullets hit my shoulder, hip, and stomach.
Silver burns through me. My vision goes grey. My legs wobble. I am dying for real now.
The soldier reloads with shaking hands.
I launch myself one last time. My jaws close around his face and I feel bones shatter. He drops.
Five Veritas soldiers dead. Nineteen years of survivors' guilt paid in blood.
I collapse beside the last body. My wolf form cannot hold anymore. I shift back to human and the wounds look even worse. Silver bullets embedded in my chest, shoulder, hip, stomach, and leg. Blood pools beneath me.
Through the mate bond I feel Alicia's power surge. She is fighting. Using True Luna abilities to protect our pack. At least I held the soldiers long enough for her to enter the battle.
Logan appears in the doorway. His face goes pale. "Kai. Oh god."
"Five soldiers. I killed all five."
"Multiple silver bullet wounds." Logan is already pulling medical supplies. "This is bad."
"I know." I cough and blood sprays from my lips. "Logan. If I do not make it…"
"You are making it." Logan cuts me off. "Shut up and let me work."
He starts pulling bullets out with forceps. Each one burns coming out worse than going in. I bite down on leather to keep from screaming.
"The soldiers are Veritas." I force the words out between extractions. "Same ones who killed my pack. They have the same training."
"Morrison has been recruiting human mercenaries for decades." Logan moves to the stomach wound. "This one is deep. It nicked your liver. You should already be dead."
"Too angry to die."
He works for what feels like hours. Pulls all five bullets. Packs the wounds with gauze soaked in something that burns worse than silver. Wraps bandages tight enough to restrict my breathing.
"You need blood. You’ve lost too much. Your healing is not keeping up."
"Then give me blood. Anything to keep me fighting."
"You are not fighting anymore." Logan injects something into my arm. "This is a sedative. You are going to sleep and heal."
"No." I grab his wrist weakly. "I cannot leave Alicia unprotected."
"The pack needs you alive more than they need you dying gloriously." Logan's voice is firm. "Trust the rest of us to finish this."
The sedative works fast. My vision blurs, and my grip loosens.
But before I lose consciousness I hear something that makes my blood freeze.
Alicia screaming. Not in rage, but in pain. Through the mate bond I feel silver cutting through her defenses. I feel her power flickering, and hher fear for Luna.
"Logan." I force my eyes open one last time. "Something is wrong with Alicia."
"Jake got past her defenses." Logan's face is grim. "He has silver chains. He is binding her power."
"Stop him. Save her."
"I am trying. We are all trying. But there are too many. Jake brought the entire Veritas army. Morrison is here." Logan's voice breaks. "And Alicia just went down."
The last thing I see is Logan running toward the main battle. Toward Alicia's screams.
The last thing I feel is the mate bond stretching thin as silver chains wrap around Alicia and suppress her True Luna power and trap her exactly where Morrison wants her.
Then nothing. Just darkness and the distant sound of my pack dying above me while I lie useless on a library floor.
Nineteen years ago I survived while my family died.
This time when I wake up everyone I love might already be gone. And once again it will be my fault for not being strong enough to save them.