Claws (Rewritten)

Thirty Five

Markus

The sound of my mate yelping in pain sent white hot rage burning like a fire through my veins. One of the hunters had wrapped a rope around his neck, and I could hear his fur sizzling as it burnt him. He struggled violently against them, but his movements only caused the rope to dig deeper into his skin.

I raced for him, with wolves and hunters fighting all around me. Renée was fighting back-to-back with Tyler, and Reece, Ash and Lewis were tearing through every hunter they came across. The other wolves were fighting to get to the rogue, who had retreated to wait behind his hunter allies after a fight with my mum and brothers that he'd barely escaped. A coward hiding behind a wall. A wall that my pack was steadily tearing down brick by brick.

I crashed into the hunter, my claws digging deep into his chest as I let out a fur-raising snarl. We crashed to the ground and became a blur of claws and daggers, trying to tear each other apart. The hunter stabbed a knife into my side and I clawed his eyes out in response. Before long, a swift rip to his throat was enough to end the fight. I was over my mate within the instant, pulling the rope off him.

He jumped up, rubbing against me affectionately as a means of thanks. An arrow zipped past us, and within the instant, we were back in the fight. 

We raced together for the hunter that had fired the shot - she was struggling to reload the crossbow and threw it aside in frustration before retrieving a smoke grenade from her jacket.

Noah and I picked up the pace before she could throw it and smother us all in poisonous smoke, but before we got close enough, there was suddenly a figure behind her, wrapping their hands around her neck and twisting sharply. She was dead before she hit the ground. Noah and I skidded to a halt.

Caleb took a deep breath and studied the fight, his red eyes meeting mine. "Together?" He asked. My wolf inclined his head, and we set off for the rest of the hunters as a group, eyeing each other's backs as we tore through the hunters. Noah and I would tackle our enemies and Caleb would take them out and deflect any throwing stars or daggers or arrows heading our way.

Richard and Daniel had arrived and immersed themselves into the fight, too, and steadily, we were winning. Howls, yelps and cries of pain echoed throughout the forest as we fought, too caught up in our actions to take much notice of the agony.

I wanted to ask about Adelyn and Chloe, but now really wasn't the time. Besides, taking care of the hunters and the rogue was key to making sure the girls were alright. After all, if we took out everyone now, there was no chance of any escaping to ruin our lives later.

That motivated me a lot, and together, my mate, Caleb and I made sure that no hunters could escape their fate. This rogue-and-hunter mess was going to end right here and right now, no matter what.

They fought hard against us, managing to get a few good hits in retaliation. But whereas the hunters only had their cause in common, and fought as though it was every man for themselves, my pack fought as one. Every move we made was calculated and coordinated in our interconnected web of minds. We could communicate more efficiently than the hunters, we could warn someone of a sneak attack or get them out of range with barely a thought. We'd been at this game long before these hunters were even born.

Besides, this was our home. We would protect it with everything we had.

They didn't stand a chance.

Eventually, the forest was littered with piles of dead hunters, their aconite-laced blood seeping through the grass and stinging every inch of us.

It hurt to fight, to walk, to move, but the entire pack converged on Damien. He tried outrunning us, but we had rapid, slightly blood-crazed vampires on our side, and together we herded him towards an alcove of trees, where he skidded to a stop and turned to growl at us, retreating until he backed into a tree.