Chapter 188 The trap
Chapter 188: The Trap
Milo's POV
I couldn't stay still.
The sound of fighting and suffering continued to echo outside of the locked window. Even though Daphne had locked the clinic door the moment Damon left, my overly sensitive ears could pick them up regardless.
Daphne was checking supplies, preparing bandages and healing herbs for the wounded that would come. But I couldn't stop pacing back and forth like a caged animal.
I looked through the window, pure chaos was happening outside. Women running while carrying babies. Children crying. Old wolves limping as fast as their old feeble legs could carry them, toward the safe house tunnels.
Guilt clawed it way into my chest.
I was the Luna, I was meant to be there for my people, to partake in their joy and suffering , but here I am, locked up like a prized treasure, while chaos reigned on the less privileged.
My hand went to my stomach without thinking. There was a tiny life growing inside me. My baby. Damon's baby. I should protect it. I should stay hidden like Damon wanted.
But I was also Luna.
These were my people out there, scared and running for their lives.
"Milo, sit down," Daphne said firmly. "You heard what Damon said. You need to stay safe, and that includes going out of these doors."
"I can't just sit here while people are dying!"
"You're pregnant. The baby…"
"I know!" I snapped, then immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry. I just... I can't watch them struggle and do nothing."
That's when I saw her through the window.
A woman with a baby strapped to her chest was dragging a little girl by the hand. The girl was maybe five years old, limping badly. She couldn't run fast enough. The woman kept looking back, terror on her face, trying to pull the child faster. As people rang past them, not caring to help offer a hand to the poor woman.
They were going to get caught.
My wolf surged inside me, protective and fierce. The purple light under my skin started glowing.
"Milo, no," Daphne warned. She must have seen the look on my face.
But I was already moving, not even the hardest lock would stop me. I unlocked the clinic door and rushed out before she could stop me.
"Milo! Come back!"
I ignored her. My feet carried me toward the woman and little girl. Around me, people ran helter skelter. Pack members were running in every direction. Warriors shifted into wolf form, heading toward the border. The alarm kept wailing that horrible sound.
"Wait!" I called the woman. "Let me help!"
She turned, eyes wide with recognition. "Luna! You shouldn't be out here!"
"Neither should you." I scooped up the little girl, ignoring her surprised squeak. She was lighter than I expected. "Come on. The tunnels are this way."
We ran together. More people joined us. An old man who could barely walk. A teenage boy carrying his unconscious sister. A mother with twins.
I helped them all, using my Luna authority to keep them calm and moving. The purple glow around me seemed to give them courage. Daphne soon joined us, and together we made our way to the safe tunnels, flanked by the guards Damon charged to protect me.
"This way!" I shouted, leading them toward the hidden entrance to the underground tunnels. "Everyone, stay together!"
Daphne appeared beside me, looking angry and worried at the same time. "You're impossible," she muttered, but she was helping too, supporting the old man.
“I can't help it”
We reached the tunnel entrance. Warriors stood guard there, ushering people inside. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.
The tunnels have been here since years, it was like a safe house in case of emergency.
“Calm down everyone, we are safe here.”
“are you?”
I froze.
Soldiers in dark uniforms poured out from inside the tunnel itself. Not our pack soldiers. These wore the symbol of the Queen's crest on their chests.
"No," I breathed.
"That's impossible. The tunnels are secret. How did they…" Daphne trembled in panic, horror written on her face.
"It's a trap!" someone screamed.
Chaos exploded. The pack members who had been running toward safety now scattered in terror. The few pack soldiers moved to intercept the queen's soldiers that attacked without mercy, there and there, a fresh and gruesome battle began.
And then he appeared.
A massive man stepped out from the shadows, dressed like a knight, covered from head to toe with a tunnel entrance. He was easily seven feet tall, towered over the small cramped space of the tunnel. All around him were covered with armour down to his eyes, leaving only a small slit that carved open to reveal two red orbs that was the eyes
A feral.
But something about him was different from the other ferals I had seen. He moved with purpose. Intelligence. Like he was still in control of himself.
"You…" Daphne whispered beside me. Her voice was strange, and she sounded broken.
I looked at her. "You know him?"
She didn't answer. Her face had gone pale as death. Around us, people fought for their lives but it seemed like we were in a separate plane of existence.
The giant, who was staring at Daphne and I, like we were his lost bitter enemies, that he couldn't wait to kill.
Daphne's gasp caught the giant man's attention, as his red eyes found her across the distance. Something flickered in them. Recognition? Pain?
"Daphne," he said, and his voice was deep like thunder. "My wife."
The world seemed to stop.
"Wife?" I repeated, looking between them. "Daphne, what is he talking about?"
But she was frozen, staring at him like she'd seen a ghost.
"I thought you were… she whispered, her pale face becoming even paler, she looked like she would have a panic attack anytime from now
“You can't be him, he died years ago."
The giant ignored her, his attention focused on me, and I felt like a mountain just descended on me, bearing me thrown to the ground.
“Stand aside, all” the giant voice boomed across the tunnel, managing. To cut through the soldiers fighting. “I have come for the moon blessed. The Queen requests of him.”
As if responding to his voice, another wave of ferals appeared from the shadows. Easily surrounding us, separating us from the outside world.
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding against my chest.
No matter how hard I thought, no solution came to my head, we were surrounded.
“Go get him” he gave his order.
“Over my dead body” Old, who had snapped out of her shock, shouted, planting herself in between us.
“You…What have you done to my husband? You are supposed to be dead, not fighting for the queen.”
"I did die," Aldrich said, moving closer. His soldiers parted to let him through. "The man you married died. What I am now... this is what the queen made me."
"No." Daphne shook her head. "No, this isn't real."
"Stand aside, Daphne," Aldrich commanded, his voice void of any emotion. His red eyes shifted to me. “The Queen wants him alive."
“Please don't hurt them, I beg you” I pleaded, staggering backwards, my back hitted the tunnel wall.
"Run, Milo! I will hold them off" Daphne suddenly whispered.
“Noooo, I am not leaving you” I shook my head desperately. I tried to connect to Damon wherever he was, but I kept on hitting a hard wall. Something was blocking our mating bond.
She stepped in front of me, blocking Aldrich's path. The sound of a sword coming out of its hit rang through the air. "Get out of here!"
"GO!"