67, The protector

Sean’s POV

Sean knew he needed to get his men over to Colin as soon as possible. If what Adina said was true and the main vampire force was heading there, Colin and his men would be in trouble.

He shifted back to his human form for a moment to give orders to the surrounding warriors. He was still amazed at how many warriors Adina had rounded up. Sean had a good idea about how she had done it. They would have a conversation about that when this was over.

“I need half of you to stay here, half of you need to come with me. We have a large number of vampires moving towards team A’s position. We will offer them support,” Sean told them. Sean’s brother shifted back to his human form next to Sean.

“We will follow you,” he told Sean, and Sean nodded. He had been surprised when he saw his brother come sprinting through the woods. But he was grateful that he and his warriors had joined them.

Sean shifted back to his wolf and then he was off. He mind linked Jason and Mateo to make sure they knew what was happening. Jason reported that the assault from the enemies on his end had lessened and he was on his way to Colin as well.

Sean’s need to hurry was both because of the immediate danger Colin was in, but also the fact that if the vampires breached Colin’s line of defence. They could move towards the pack house, towards Adina. That wouldn’t be happening, Sean decided.

Liam was at his side, they were making their way towards Colin, mauling anything that got in their way. Sean could see witches casting their magic and vampires that helped cleared a path for them. If nothing else, this was a clear show of the support Adina had in the magical community.

‘Colin, how does it look?’ Sean mind linked Colin.

‘They are advancing fast and hard. They have a wave of silver bearing wolves ahead of them, so be careful,’ Colin told him.

Sean had to shift back to his human form to relay the warning to the surrounding warriors. He hated the fact that he couldn’t mind link with them. They decided the witches would take the lead, as they weren’t affected by silver.

Sean saw they were getting closer, and he could see, to his relief, that the line was holding, and that Colin was unharmed. Sean’s wolf grinned as he threw himself into the battle. He had been training for most of his life for this. If this was what kept Adina and their pack safe, he would do it.

He tore through a rogue wolf in front of him and felt the rush of victory as he heard Liam groan and then whimper. Sean looked towards the sound and saw a vampire grabbing hold of Liam’s hind leg. The vampire bared its teeth to bury them in Liam’s flank.

Sean dived for the vampire and got a hold of his throat. Sean knew it wouldn’t be enough to kill the vampire, but it was enough for him to let go of Liam and try to grab Sean instead.

Sean jumped back and took a stance in front of the vampire. He growled and bared his teeth, letting the vampire know he wasn’t afraid of him, and the vampire wasn’t the only one that had teeth that could rip its enemies apart.

Sean saw the friendly vampire creep up behind his enemy and, without hesitation, rip the head from his body. Sean bowed to thank him and then continued to look for his next prey.

The fighting had been ongoing for hours, and both sides were getting tired and sloppy. Sean knew they needed to win this soon or the outcome would be more uncertain than ever. Sean tore into two more rogues and took a moment to assess the situation.

As he looked up, he saw the primary force of enemy vampires home in on Colin. There was no question in Sean’s mind that they knew who Colin was and were targeting him. Sean sent a quick mind link to Mateo and Jason about it as he sprinted towards his mate.

‘Colin, they are targeting you,’ he shouted in a mind link. He could hear Colin growl as four rogues jumped him.

Colin could handle them, Sean thought, especially since he wasn’t alone. He had warriors around him, and Sean had almost reached him with Liam hot on his tail. That is when Sean saw one of the rogues shift to its human form and take something out of a pouch that had been strapped to him.

The rogue flinched as he grabbed hold of the item. It looked like a knife. It had to be made of silver. Sean focused in on the rogue. His instinct told him that it wasn’t just a silver knife. Sure, it would hurt, but it could easily be removed, and then the wound would heal.

Sean watched as the rogue raised the knife as to throw it and he knew it was meant for Colin. His body reacted before his brain did. He was the protector. He had made a promise to himself not only to protect Adina, but to protect Colin. It had been made before he had become Sean’s mate and Sean didn’t hesitate to live up to it.

He wouldn’t be in time to stop the rogue, he was too far away. But as the rogue released the knife, Sean dived between it and Colin. He felt the knife hit him just behind the shoulder blade and it burnt like hell. But then he felt it explode and his body shut down from the pain.

Sean knew it was bad, de initial intense pain faded and instead a numbness spread. He couldn’t move. He laid on the forest floor where he had landed. As in a dream, he could hear Colin roar. Sean felt darkness slowly take over him. He wished he had been able to look at Adina one last time.

Adina’s POV

Adina looked at the screens that were showing the battle around Colin. She could see that the rogues were trying to focus their attacks on him. She understood the tactics. Kill her mate and weaken both her and the pack. It was a good strategy to win.

She felt grateful that Sean had almost reached Colin. She would feel better when the two of them could work together. They would be safer that way.

Julia handed her a chocolate bar. Both Julia and Clara had insisted that she needed to keep filling up her energy and kept giving her snacks. Neither one of them wanted to watch the battle. They relied on Adina to tell them if they needed to know something. Adina was grateful that they had stepped up and managed the shelter as she watched the fighting.

Adina saw Sean pause and look at something. She tried to find what he was looking at. She saw the rogue just in time to see him throw something towards Colin. Her heart stopped as she saw Sean jump. Then she saw the object hit him and it looked like it exploded on impact. Adina saw Sean go down and then he wasn’t moving.

A roar tore through her and as Julia and Clara rushed to see what was happening, she was opening a portal and walking through it. She heard her friends calling to her, but she had one thing in her mind. She needed to get to Sean.

The portal took her right next to Sean. She barely registered the surrounding chaos. Adina heard some surprise gasps as fighters from both sides realised who she was. She knelt by Sean and looked at the open wound in his chest, there were silver splinters and what looked like liquid silver as well.

Adina’s vision was blurred by tears, she irritated wiped them away, but they kept coming.

“Adina, what are you doing?” Colin screamed as he shifted into his human form next to her.

“I need to save him,” she told him.

“Adina, you can’t be here. We can’t keep you safe here,” he told her.

For the first time, Adina let herself take in her surroundings. The battle was still going on around her. The efforts of the enemy were now focused on getting to her, she realised. She nodded. The anger that burned in her demanded that she used her magic to wipe these useless wolves and vampires from existence.

But she also knew that if she tried she would most likely deplete all energy in her body. Not only would it put her into a coma, but it would also most likely kill her pup and there would be no one to heal Sean.

No, she needed to do something that would take less energy. She was still low from her jumping all over the world. She raised her hand and an energy bubble that covered Colin, Sean, and her appeared. It would take pure magic to break through it.

“Baby, what are you doing?” Colin asked.

“Protection,” was all she said. She turned her attention to Sean again. He was barely breathing and his heartbeat was erratic. She needed to stabilise him before they could move him.

“Adina, you need to let me out. I can’t just stand here. You know I love you and Sean, but I need to be out there,” Colin told her. Adina knew that. She nodded.

“Just walk through it, it will let you pass,” she said.

“Can you save him?” Colin asked. He hesitated to leave.

“I don’t know,” Adina said. Her voice breaking. It was the truth. He was in a bad condition, and she was low on energy. But she would find a way. She just needed to keep him alive for now and keep doing that until he was stable.

“I will make sure this ends, then we can focus on Sean,” Colin told her and put his hand on her shoulder. She nodded and felt him pass through her barrier.

Adina ripped off her sleeve and used it to cover her hand as she picked out the splinters of silver. She could do it without magic, so she could preserve some energy. She used magic to stem the bleeding.

“Cousin, where are you? I heard you were out here. Come out, come out and play,” she heard someone shouting.

Adina ignored it and kept working on Sean.

“Aww, you are no fun, cousin. Are you afraid of little me? Are you hiding behind your mate and your pack like the coward you are?” the voice kept taunting her.

Adina had held back her burning anger, the rage that was slowly eating away her determination to help Sean and ignore the voice.

“You know that little plaything of yours will die. The exploding throw-knife was meant for your alpha mate. But I guess this works just as well,” the voice shouted.

Adina felt her resolve snap. She made sure Sean was as close to being stable as she could get him and then stood up.

“I’m here, cousin. Let’s see if you are just as brave face to face,” Adina called out as she stepped out of the protective bubble.

‘Adina, what are you doing? Get back in there,’ Colin mind linked her. She ignored him. The surrounding fighting had stopped as everyone was watching to see what was happening.