Winter Wolf

Chapter 26

He looked backward toward the bunker again as the spike of true panic hit him. Fear the likes of which he never felt before. He knew what their movements meant. He'd been in battles countless times.

... but he never had someone he wanted to protect in the middle of one.

They were out there vulnerable. Tristan turned to the sound of rapidly approaching paws headed toward them, and was momentarily shocked to realize it was Sawyer, Nathan and several of their enforcers.

Sawyer was supposed to be gone.

"Tristan!" Nathan shifted to skin as he neared him. He was clearly out of breath. Tristan's gaze snapped to Sawyer. He and the other enforcers had blood on them.

A mix of their own, and...

No.

"We were attacked... they were waiting for us on the road. We had to turn back... we barely just got through." Sawyer said with a look of pure hot rage. Tristan stared at him in shock as he quickly searched his pack bonds. He hadn't felt any snap.

Panic hit him hard.

"Everyone's alive, but injured." Nathan quickly added by the look on his face.

Relief flooded him, but the worry, fear and confusion was consuming.

"We hunted nearly all of them..." Tristan said in shock. The blood scents on them were unmistakable.

Varga.

"Clearly not enough." Nathan snarled.

"Where is Dena?" Tristan asked worriedly.

"She ran to be with your mother, they had a caretaker get her the moment we got here, your mother is injured, but she'll live..." Nathan said. Tristan's gaze snapped to Sawyer. He looked deeply frustrated and slightly ashamed.

Tristan knew Sawyer's capabilities, if they managed to injure his mother at all... the attack was bad.

"Where are the other enforcers?" Nathan snarled suddenly as he glanced around the field.

Tristan looked backward. He suspected something was wrong. There should have been guards... his wolf was setting off alarms inside him.

Were others there? He scented no one... but it felt like danger was nearby. Tristan took a panicked breath, but his eyes darted toward the west when he heard distance snarling and fighting.

"What the hell is happening?" Tristan growled. He felt himself tense.

He had never felt torn in so many different directions. He had to get her out of there...

"Cecil just started making a run on Byron's territory, they are hitting the west border." Sawyer said with a growl. Tristan felt the shock. He knew their treaty was practically dissolved.

But he didn't expect him to actually shatter it, not so soon.

None of this made sense. Cecil's pack was no where near as large as Byron's or Arthur's. He was also a distance away. If Cecil was there, Arthur wouldn't be far behind.

Eyolf was probably just letting Ulmer take the brunt of the causalities. Byron's land was well guarded, and the areas that couldn't be were secured by nature.

Tristan spun around when he heard more snarling, before a long loud howl sounded in warning at the border closest to them. He could clearly hear the rustling, the fighting...

It was far too close.

"Dammit." Nathan snarled. Paws began to quickly dart toward the howl from all directions. The fighting already sounded fierce. Others were coming from the territory behind them, but not fast enough.