“What are you doing here?” I hissed at Walter.
In the back of my mind I knew the hunters were still working with Walter and his men but I didn’t want to be right. They gave the hunters the numbers they needed to win against us in any fight.
“I received news yesterday that they had captured you and a couple others in your pack,” he calmly explained, “I had to come and see for myself.”
“And to steal Dante back,” I mumbled under my breath but he heard me. It was evident in the way his lips curved into a wry smile.
“If we happen to leave with a few extra wolves,” his words trailed off but I knew his intentions without him saying them. He came to take Dante away from me again. I wasn’t going to let that happen this time.
“Bobby, Kevin, why don’t you run along?” I commanded them.
Walter sneered, “No, I think they would like to stay here and witness a little demonstration. Men?”
He snapped his fingers and two of his men snatched Bobby and Kevin from behind me before I could blink. He snapped his fingers again and two more men stepped forward to his side. I gulped back my terror.
“What kind of demonstration?” I spoke, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
“I just want to make sure the serum I created is working. Alex, will you do the honors?”
The man to my left smirked, “It would be my pleasure Alpha.”
Alex lunged at me so I quickly dove under and through his legs. He tried to stomp my body while I was still on the ground but I rolled to the right. He growled in frustration before aiming a powerful punch to my face.
I lifted my legs up and delivered my own powerful blow to his abdomen before he could land the punch. He doubled over, allowing me time to stand up and recover. But I barely had a chance to catch my breath before a hand enclosed around the back of my neck.
I stupidly forgot about the other man Walter called to his side. I cursed myself for not paying better attention to my surroundings.
His arms slithered around my body until he had me in a choke hold. My fingers clawed at his hands as I tried to gulp in the air he was quickly cutting off.
‘Dante.’ I called out to my mate when the air slowly began to leave my lungs.
My eyesight was dimming and starting to fade in and out. My throat screamed in agony when he tightened his hold even more. I was fading fast.
“Would mind telling me why you are choking my mate?”
His voice was a cruel sneer, something I never liked when he used it.
Even though my life felt like it was fading, I could still feel anger pulsating off him. It was suffocating to the weaker wolves. The man holding my throat unintentionally loosened his grip slightly. I took in a huge gulp of air.
“Don’t make me ask again,” he gritted through his clenched jaw when Walter didn’t answer him.
“I was simply attempting to demonstrate the extent of my serum experiment,” Walter calmly replied.
“Allow me to demonstrate the extent of my anger.”
Dante rushed towards the man holding me hostage. Some of Walter’s men tried to attack him but Teague and Cooper, as if appearing from nowhere, intercepted them. The man held me tighter against his chest. I was the only thing protecting him from my angry mate.
His fist swung around my head and collided with the man’s cheek. He fumbled backwards and attempted to take me down with him but Dante ripped me from his grasps. No one was going to match Dante’s strength when he was that angry.
He tightly clutched me in his arms as his hand swept the hair out of my face. He lightly touched the bruises that already formed around my neck before kissing the top of my head. I closed my eyes and took in a few deep breaths now that I could actually breathe.
“Is that all you have for me Walter?” Dante snarled when he turned to face the angry Alpha. He instinctively hid me behind his back.
“I am just getting started rogue. Alex?”
Alex stepped to the side and punched Bobby in the jaw. He yelped out from the impact. He had never faced real danger before today. It was unfair to subject him to anything. It wasn’t his fault he was here.
“Stop!” I screamed at him.
I tried to run over to Bobby but Dante held me back. He didn’t want me getting involved and getting hurt. He was going to do anything to protect me now that he was here.
“No, I don’t think I will. Continue Alex.”
Alex swung his arm out again and this time it collided with Bobby’s nose. Blood spurted everywhere when his nose cracked but he refused to cry out again.
I turned my head to beg him with tears swelling in my eyes, “Dante, please. No more.”
Bobby didn’t deserve to take the pain that Walter was dying to inflict on us. I wouldn’t allow it any further. If Dante wasn’t going to make a move then I would.
“Is this your big master plan? Preying on children to prove a point? You’re an even weaker Alpha than I thought,” my mate taunted.
Walter’s fists clenched and his knuckles gave off a sickening crunch. He was actually bothered by Dante’s taunts.
Alex moved to strike Bobby again but this time Cooper was there to stop him. He reached out and caught Alex’s hand in mid-air. In one move, he bent Alex’s arm back and shoved him to the ground.
Cooper’s large foot stomped onto Alex’s back and pressed him deep into the dirt before bending his arm back in a revolting direction. His arm gave a sickening crunch before slumping to the ground.
I clapped my hands over my ears when he opened his mouth and let out an ear-splitting scream. I had never heard a man cry out that high-pitched before. It was not a sound I was eager to hear again.
“Any other stupid decisions you would like to make today, Walter?”
He glared at Dante before quickly charging at him. Walter may have been older and slightly slower than Dante but he made up for it in strength and experience. Dante dug his feet deep into the ground and braced himself for the impact.
Walter’s shoulder shoved hard into Dante’s chest. His left hand swiftly reached up and firmly slammed into Walter’s jaw. One second they were trying to hit each other then the next moment they were in a dead lock.
They both scowled and stared directly into each other’s eyes. It was an Alpha stare-down. Neither of them would look away until one backed down. Alphas would use it on other wolves to establish dominance. But they were both Alphas. They were using it as a power struggle.
In a split second Walter’s hand slipped away from Dante’s neck and jabbed into his shoulder wound. Dante’s grip on Walter fumbled and that was all it took. Walter punched Dante in the face then elbowed him in the stomach when he doubled over from the impact.
“Seize him,” Walter ordered his men.
“No!” I screamed as I ran forward and tried to help him.
Two arms wrapped around my torso and jerked me back into a hard chest. Fear gripped me when his scent overwhelmed my senses. Dante hadn’t managed to kill him but I could smell the blood all over him.
“You’re all mine now, Arianna,” he muttered into my ears.
Walter’s men had reached Dante and were binding his arms behind his back. He tried to fight them off but Walter pulled a syringe out of a bag that one of his men had dropped at his feet. He quickly stuck the needle into Dante’s neck and he instantly quieted down.
I looked over at the boys and saw that they, as well as Cooper and Teague, had been bound by silver shackles. My eyes roamed the territory in a panic. All over the place there were shifters being bound and walked over to the barn. The Alphas were being rounded up and brought over to where we were currently standing.
“I just have one more loose end to tie up then I will show you around my laboratory, dear Arianna,” Walter sneered then turned to one of his men, “Charles, bring them to me.”
Charles quickly jogged over to the barn. A moment later he returned with three shifters in tow behind him. Hannah was the first to look up. Her wild eyes caught mine and she silently begged me for help. Her hair was disheveled and there was blood sliding down her face from a cut above her left eye.
Sarah was staring over at Christian, who was being dragged over to us. He was completely unconscious thanks to a large bump on the side of his head. Blood caked his hair from the wound but it seemed to have already started healing.
I finally looked over at my mother. She had yet to look up at anyone. I couldn’t see if any of these monsters had harmed her but she seemed to look fine. Anxiety wracked my body as I tried to figure out what Walter meant by “tying up loose ends”. It definitely wasn’t anything good.
“Let’s line up everyone but Arianna,” Walter ordered.
Bobby and Kevin were the first to be shoved to the ground next to Hannah. Cooper and Teague were thrown down shortly after. Dante was the last to be brought over. He was placed in front of everyone. My heart seized when I looked into his vacant blue eyes. The drug Walter fed him made him too docile.
Walter walked around his prisoners like a vulture eying its prey. But he wasn’t looking at them. His eyes were on me. He was trying to gage my reaction to each person he walked by. He already knew Dante was my biggest weak spot but other than that he had no idea how much all of them meant to me.
It was like he was playing Duck, Duck, Goose with me. Only, whoever he chose wasn’t going to survive this game. He smirked when he stopped in behind the two boys. He knew from my reaction earlier that I had a soft spot for them. But they weren’t his end game or he would have killed them earlier.
My heart skipped a beat and I inhaled sharply when he stopped behind Cooper. He smirked when he heard my heartbeat change. He knew he hit a sore spot with me. His right arm slid behind his back and a shiny knife emerged in his hand.
“No!” I screamed and twisted in Shane’s hold.
Cooper looked up and into my eyes. I tried to squeeze my eyes shut and block away the tears from coming but I couldn’t. He had become my best friend. I couldn’t lose him.
‘It’s okay, Ari. Don’t worry about me.’
‘No, this isn’t fair!’
‘Don’t look.’
“Please, Walter!” I begged him before tightly squeezing my eyes shut.
His chuckle caused me to open my eyes back up. He took a step back from Cooper and shook his head. He wasn’t the target. He was trying to drive me crazy.
He moved on from Cooper and came around to the beginning of the line where Sarah sat. I already knew she wasn’t the target. He cared very little about repercussions from Christian. The moment I thought about it, I knew who it was.
I looked over at her beautiful golden hair. It was covering her face since she still had yet to look up at any of us. Her body was trembling but it wasn’t in fear. She was crying. She knew it too.
He stopped right behind her. His eyes carefully watched my reaction. He already knew what she meant to me. She was the woman who gave birth to me. She was also the woman whose mate was his enemy.
“You know, I didn’t always hate your father, Arianna,” Walter spoke, “We actually were best friends at one point. We grew up together, became Alphas around the same time, and even found our mates the very same night.”
“Why did you betray him?” I quietly asked.
He shrugged his shoulders, “A few years ago I met the head hunter at the time, Gregory, and he made me an offer I just couldn’t refuse. He wanted my help in experimenting with shifter blood and in return when they took over he would allow me to rule all the wolf shifters.”
“You sold your entire kind out just for a little bit of power,” I bitterly spat at him, “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“A little bit of power?” he laughed cruelly, “I will rule every single one of you. No one will so much as sneeze without my permission.”
“You are completely insane. You will never get away with this,” I yelled.
“I already have, dear Arianna. All I have left is to fulfill this one last thing. I warned you last year that if you didn’t renounce your mate you would pay the price. Well, the time has finally caught up with you. Say goodbye to mommy.”
“No! Please, let her live!” I begged him.
He ignored my pleas as he grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. She finally looked up into my eyes. Her green eyes held a sadness and pain in them. But at the same time I saw a resolve in her. She didn’t care about what was going to happen. She wanted to be with my father again. It was something you see in all wolves that lose their mates.
‘Don’t worry Arianna. We will see each other again one day.’
‘I’m not ready to lose you!’
‘You have Dante and will start a family soon. Everything will be okay. I’m ready.’
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and turned my head to the side. I couldn’t watch. My lungs suddenly felt like they were about to collapse and my entire world felt like it was about to explode.
She didn’t make a sound as I heard him slide the blade across her neck. Her body slammed to the ground and I knew it was done. I still refused to open my eyes. I didn’t want to look upon her lifeless body like I was forced to when my father died.
“Time to go Arianna,” Shane whispered in my ears.
I didn’t even attempt to escape him or put up a fight. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I suddenly had no energy left inside me. The entire day and night took a big toll on me. All I wanted to do was sleep.
Shane picked me up off the ground and started to carry me somewhere. I had yet to open my eyes. I couldn’t yet. Walter had mentioned taking us back to his lab where they experimented on the hunters and Dante before. I was curious to where that was.
I felt him take us inside a building and down some stairs. I opened my eyes when I felt it was safe enough. We were going into the basement of the hunters’ house. The staircase was dark and damp but after we went through the door a burst of light blinded me for a moment.
It opened up to what looked like a normal science lab. There were lab tables and science equipment all over the place. We only spent a minute in there as Shane took us through another door. This room was full of cages that would be our prison.
Shane knelt down and placed me in the first silver cage. He quickly locked it behind me so I had no chance of escaping. Moments later, one of Walter’s men shoved Dante into the cage next to me.
I hastily scrambled to the side of my cage so I could be close to him. My hand was small enough that I could slip it through the bars and into his cage. I softly brushed my fingers through his black hair and I instantly felt a calmness inside me.
“Dante,” I whispered through my tears.
His body still hadn’t burned off the poison. He couldn’t comprehend what was going on yet. He was too drugged to wake out of his docile state.
“Please, Dante,” I whispered again, “I need you.”
The hunters continued to carry in more of my pack members and ignored my private moment with Dante. Cooper and Teague were across the room from us. I suspect they didn’t want them to be near Dante. The amount of force those three could impact on those cages would be enough to get us out.
Bobby and Kevin were placed in cages next to Dante. Sarah was the next to be brought in followed by Christian and Regan. I was almost curious as to why Terrence wasn’t here but Walter would have no use for an old wolf.
“Dante,” I quietly called out to him.
I gently slipped my fingers down his face and slowly began to trace his lips. I watched his chest rise and fall with every breath he took. Then I took the time to look over his body. A purple bruise was forming underneath his left eye and his knuckles on both hands were bloody and torn.
The wound on his shoulder was almost completely healed. It reminded me of the day we were coming back from the cabin and the hunters ambushed Dante’s rogue pack. I had caused him to get stabbed in the same shoulder just like tonight I caused him to get stabbed again. As his mate I was supposed to protect him from harm. I was doing a terrible job of that.
“Ari,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I’m here baby,” I whispered back and stroked his cheek.
“What happened?” he asked as he started to slowly wake up.
“Walter brought us into his lab. We are all in cages now.”
“Is everyone okay? Are you okay?”
“I’m not hurt,” I choked out, “The boys are okay, they’re here with us.”
His eyes shot open and my hand fell to the ground when he sat up. He knew from the tone of my voice that something was wrong.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as his blue eyes pierced into mine, searching for the answer.
“It’s my mom.”
He looked away to search the room. When he couldn’t find her, his eyes reluctantly caught mine again. This time his expression was pained. He was fully awake now. He could feel the pain building in my heart from my mother’s death.
“I am so sorry, Ari. I should have stopped it. This never should have happened.”
I reached my hand through the bars again. He quickly covered my hand with both of his. He brought it up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on the top. It was a small gesture but comforting nonetheless.
“It wasn’t your fault, Dante. I don’t want you to blame yourself for any of this. No one but Walter and these hunters are to blame.”
“I promise I will get us out of here and they will pay for this.”
I gave him a small smile, “I know, Dante, I know.”