Fourteen
I ripped open the door. The scream still echoing inside my mind. It had not just been a scream of fear, but one of pain, and female.
My mind slowed as it processed that bit of information. Knight hadn't gotten hurt. It was a girl. My heart clenched as I rushed onto the wraparound porch. What if it was Alex?
Despite only having just met the girl, I felt closer to her than I had with no one else. I already consider us close friends, and the thought of possibly losing the only person, besides Knight, that I felt the most comfortable talking to, was unimaginable.
As I made my way to the stairs I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Something was wrong. And it wasn't just the silence left behind from the bloodcurdling scream.
That's when I heard it. It was distant, almost indiscernible, but there. My breathing came faster as the sound of fighting made its way to my ears. I looked into the darkness, trying to find where it could be coming from. I ran off of the porch not sure where to go. I started to make my way towards the driveway, but a loud crash and the ground shaking made me turn to the woods.
I could see shadows moving between trees. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I shouldn't be able to see anything in the impenetrable darkness. There was nothing to give off light. Nothing that could help me see into the woods to see the shadows.
And yet I could.
Before I could begin to think of keeping myself safe, I started running towards the shadows within the trees. There was no thought of myself, only that of Knight and making sure he was safe. And Alex.
For though I had not seen who had screamed, I had a dark feeling that it was her who had been hurt. It was her who was lying somewhere in a pool of blood. Helpless. Open to an even worse attack than the one that had made her scream.
As I came closer to the trees, I could hear the vicious growling of multiple wolves. I backed myself behind a tree, hiding myself from any straying eyes. I knew this was reckless, that I could get myself hurt, or worse. But, the blood pumping through my veins, and the effects of adrenaline making its way through my body urged me to fight. To protect what was mine.
As carefully as I could I bent and looked around the tree. Searching the ground for fallen bodies, I spotted several human shapes. I didn't know where to start. From what I could see, none of them looked female. And there were no animals shapes lying on the ground.
If I didn't start now, I wouldn't start at all. And I had to find Alex, and Knight.
*****
How did they find out.
That was the biggest question. How did they know she was even here. That she was on this continent. That she was even alive.
For the moment there was a lax in the fighting. The Nightwalker's had attacked less than an hour and a half ago. There had been seventeen of them. I looked around to see how many had been killed.
Twelve. There were only twelve either dead, or dying on the ground.
Quickly I scanned the area. Spotting the several wolves still battling. I only saw four Nightwalker's. Where the fifth one was, I had no idea. And that bothered me, and my wolf. If he got past our defenses, Renee would be in danger.
A mournful howl echoed through the trees. And then it hit me.
It was like a train, crushing me. The pain was unbearable. Someone was hurt. I quickly delved into the pain that was coursing through the mind link with my pack. It wasn't Renee, that much was clear. If it had been the pain would have also been partly my own.
But no. It was Dimitri. The overwhelming anguish coming from my Beta was almost overwhelming. And that's when two and two became one. Alexandra. Spunky little Alex was hurt. In pain. Possibly dying.
It had been years since a member of the pack had been seriously hurt. In fact, now that I thought about it, it had been several months since the last Nightwalker attack. And even then it had been no more than five or six per raid.
So this had been planned. Quite meticulously if the sheer numbers and how close they had gotten to the house had anything to say about it. But, how had they found her? How had they even recognized who she was after all these years?
Vladimir. I could feel my wolfs anger at the name. Vladimir, or Vlad the Impaler, as he preferred to be called, was very much like his namesake, though not human, and oh so much crueler.
Countless times my father had told me how incredibly dangerous Vladimir could be when concerned with the Peacemaker. If he got his hands on her, our race would be in danger of extinction. My heart clenched at the thought of Renee in Nightwalker hands. In Vladimir's.
He was a reckless killer. A ruthless murderer who would stop at nothing to posses her.
That was why she had gone through the Bonding Ceremony. Why she had been separated from herself. Her wolf. Because whole, the Peacemaker could be our salvation, or destruction.
And because the Peacemaker only came every couple of thousand years, it was imperative we keep her safe. Hidden. That was how Renee had lost her mother, at the hands of Vladimir.
There was no way in hell they were getting near that house. Not with Renee tucked away inside. I scanned the surrounding area quickly. Now looking for Alexandra. I could sense she was close. I tipped my head into the air, smelling the breeze to see if that could help lead me to her.
I could smell the blood of the dead Nightwalker's, the scent was mingled with the smell of the pack, and Alexandra's blood. I quickly made my way in her direction. Dimitri was occupied with fighting off one of the filthy creatures, unable to attend his mate as I could sense he desperately wanted, and needed to.
I'll look after her.
I didn't wait for a reply from him. As I turned back to the direction of Alexandra, another scent assaulted my senses. Pomegranate and roses. Her.
She was not softly tucked away in my bed. She was not behind the protective walls of the pack house. She was not safe. She was outside, where any of the remaining Nightwalker's could catch her. And if my instincts were correct, she was even more vulnerable with Vladimir lurking on pack territory.
My blood began to pound. And a fear like no other made its way through my body, into my mind. I could not lose her. Now I fully understood Dimitri's anxiety at the prospect of losing ones mate. For not only was Alexandra near death. But so was Renee.
My body was moving in her direction before my mind fully absorbed the information. The wolf part of me had taken over. His instincts acting faster than mine. And though I knew we were one and the same, there were times, like now, where it seemed we were two different entities working towards the same goal.
*****
After leaving the little coverage the tree provided it had not taken me long to find her. In fact Alex lay no more than ten feet from where I ha initially hidden. Looking around to see if anyone had seen me, I made my towards her.
I tried to avoid looking at the other bodies on the ground. They were not of the pack. And they weren't human. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognized them. Knew them for what they were. But, as I searched for the creatures names, the mental wall came up. Another secret I was keeping from myself.
I swallowed my scream of anguish. So far I had been lucky. Nothing, and no one, had spotted me, the lone human girl. But, if I made too much noise I would be discovered.
As I drew level with Alex I couldn't hold back the bile that rose into my throat.
And it was Alex. There was no mistaking the short cropping of blonde hair. It practically glowed. Nor the tan skin beneath it. I fell to my knees beside her. Blood soaked the ground. I could feel it seeping into my plaid bottoms. I carefully brushed her hair away from her face. I held back a sob as it left a small trail of blood in her face, on my fingers. Her face was scrunched up in pain. Her chest barely rising as she drew in ragged breaths.
I let my eyes wander down her body, looking for the source of all of the blood. I didn't have to look far. A jagged tear ran from her left collarbone down between her breasts to her navel. Her shirt clung to it, dark with blood.
I bit the inside of my mouth, trying to swallow the rising lump of bile in my throat. I had to do something. I couldn't let her die. There was no way I could allow Dimitri to feel the same pain that my Father had felt when my mother disappeared, presumed dead.
I stripped my over large nightshirt off. Quickly, and as quietly as I could, I tore the shirt into strips. When I had finally finished destroying my shirt, I gently peeled back what was left of Alex's.
Blood coated my hands, and as I maneuvered Alex to wrap the makeshift bandages around her torso, it soon covered my exposed stomach and chest. A small breeze caused me to shiver. My upper body was only covered by my navy blue sports bra, and Alex's blood. My pajama pants did nothing for warmth, soaked as they were.
I finished binding what I could of Alex's wound. Her breathing had become more labored as I had worked. My heart clenched at the thought of her dying.
But, no. She wouldn't. The fighting was starting to stop. That much I could tell, as the sound of it had slowly become less. Help would come soon. Dimitri oils come to the aid of his mate, and Knight would come for me.
My head snapped up at the sound of a branch breaking. I turned quickly to see what the source of the noise was. Blocking Alex from view with my body. She had been hurt enough, I would not let anymore harm befall her. There was no guarantee that whoever was coming was friendly.
But, as I scanned the trees behind me I saw nothing. There was no movement. No shadows. Nothing. But As I turned back to Alex I felt a cold vice like grip, grab my upper arm. I was pulled to my feet and roughly turned around.
"I knew I'd find you here, pet."
This time it was my own scream that tore through the air.