The Alpha's Lost Mate [Completed]

Chapter Twenty Four - The Battle

The moment Cain lost the fight to my Beta was painfully obvious - confusion rippled through the remaining wolves and the steady roar of fighting came to a sudden silence. Zayn and I exchanged a frantic, panicked look and both shifted immediately, hurriedly pulling on other people's jeans that had been discarded on the lawn before they shifted. I tried to clear my mind as I regained control from Sable, knowing the following moments would change the course of history.

Losing a leader caused chaos in our community, even when they weren't a leader of a true pack like this one. Hundreds of enemy wolves still surrounded us, and we had no idea how devoted they were to Cain and his mission, of even how much of it they knew. They could submit willingly, they could break back into the smaller packs he recruited them from to fight eachother for control, or the weak bonds holding them together without any true pack links could disintegrate entirely, reducing them to nothing but animals, removing all trace of humanity from them.

I stepped forwards as a large grey wolf, obviously a rogue Alpha, stained with blood stalked towards us, Zayn in his human form at my shoulder, barely a step behind me, the other Alphas in their wolf forms not far behind. The wolf snarled viciously and I bowed my head slightly, fighting every instinct in me to rip his head off for standing between me and my mate.

Beckett, Gracie's been stabbed Evan said forcefully over mind-link, threatening to send my panic into overdrive. Dr Beckett slowly made his way forward from the safety of the treeline in his human form, waiting for safe passage. I took a long, deep breath, drawing on every reserve of strength I had to settle the wolves in front of me before it was too late.

"Cain kidnapped my mate, the Luna of the Keswick pack and daughter of the moon Goddess, when she was 17 years old," I announced, projecting my voice over the lawn. "He kept her prisoner and stole over two years of her life, keeping her sedated under his magic. I don't know what he promised your packs to gain your alliance, but he is dead now and cannot fulfil those promises, so here's some from us. Surrender now and we promise you will be free to leave in peace, you will not be followed and if you leave our packs alone you will be left alone. But if you stand between us and my mate we promise it will be the last thing you do. The choice is yours, make it wisely."

I squared my shoulders, staring ahead coldly as wolves glanced at eachother. Over half of them backed away, retreating to the treeline before fleeing. The Alpha remained in front of me, with around 50 wolves left close behind him, clearly his rogue pack from before Cain recruited them. He took a few steps backwards, disappearing into the crowd for a few seconds before emerging in his human form in a pair of jeans, his hands held up on surrender. Beckett took this as his cue, not waiting on orders he sprinted past them, flanked by Finn and Xavier for protection and raced into the house. I didn't take my eyes off the Alpha in front of me, still wary that this could go South fast.

He was young, all of us became Alphas young but he didn't look more than 18. He had a baby face, his cheeks still slightly rounded, framing his blue eyes. His blonde hair was long, skimming his shoulders, matted and dirty. His jeans were worn, patched up in multiple places and his eyes were wild with fear.

"This is my pack, we're the children of rogues," he explained, his voice shaking slightly. "None of us here did anything to be banished from your packs except be born to the wrong parents. We left their groups and came together this year, Cain took us in, he said you all were trying to eliminate all rogue packs, please don't hurt us."

I shared a cautious look with Zayn, who looked doubtful and angry, and Osian who's eyes were filled with sadness and concern.

"How do you expect us to trust you?" Zayn spat out and I shot him a warning glare.

Alpha, get up here Beckett insisted through mind-link.

"My mate has been stabbed," I growled, stepping up to the kid. "This is your last chance, get out of my fucking way."

He cringed away from me, and I felt a pang of guilt as the pack of wolves parted, finally allowing me through. They all fully bowed their heads, their whole bodies dipping to the floor, as I raced past them inside, and I left them with the other Alphas, trusting that they would balance eachother out and come to the right decision. The only thing that mattered to me was Gracie.

~

Finn rushed us to the nearest private human hospital on Beckett's command. He stayed in the backseat with us, holding pressure on Gracie's wounds while she lay lifelessly in my lap. Evan held Meredith tightly in his arms in the front seat, his face buried in her hair, seemingly blocking out everything around him as she lay there unconscious. We left them both there as doctors rushed to meet us with a gurney, and took Gracie straight to surgery.  I paced up and down the empty room, trying to hold it together while we waited for her to be brought up. The police had been called and we'd all been questioned separately. I thanked the Goddess for our mind-link in that moment, grateful for our ability to keep our stories straight and not expose our secret. The police were sent to Cain's first house, where Xavier was already removing any trace of anyone but Cain, Gracie, Beckett and I. As far as anyone knew, Beckett was Finn and Gracie's father, I was Gracie's fiancé and she was attacked by an old family friend when she went to the bathroom during dinner at his house, and he fled the scene shortly after. The police would find her blood and the knife with Cain's fingerprints in the bathroom, a half eaten meal for four in the dining room and open side entrance when they got to the house. By the time their investigation led them to Cain's second property, all trace of our presence would be gone. All bodies will have been burned and the ashes scattered, as has been custom in our country for centuries. Once we'd been cleared by the police a doctor finally came in to tell us that she'd suffered massive internal bleeding and the surgery had been touch and go, but she'd pulled through and was expected to make a full recovery.

Relief washed over me in excruciating waves, the adrenaline leeching from my body and leaving behind shock and worry. I sank into a chair the second he left the room and Beckett put his hand in my shoulder, comforting me silently.

A familiar scent washed over me and before I knew what was happening my sister barrelled into me, almost knocking me out of the chair. I wrapped my arms around her tightly, tears finally spilling from my eyes. Evan raced in right behind her, his eyes wild with panic.

"Where is she?" Meredith asker frantically her voice tinged with panic as she buried her face in my shoulder. "Evan said she was stabbed protecting me, where the Hell is she?"

"Shh, it's okay," I said, rubbing her back soothingly. "She's been in surgery, they're bringing her back right now, she's gonna be okay."

"She's okay?" Evan asked, his body relaxing visibly.

"She's okay, we're all okay," I breathed. "We have a lot to figure out, but we're all okay."