Chapter 40 – War
Vulcan Romanov's P.O.V.
I surge forward with a loud roar, ripping the head clean off the vampire, who intercepts me in getting to Dragos, before thrusting my fist in his chest and tearing his heart out. A screeching wail of pain leaves him as he tumbles to the floor, his red eyes dimming before he crumbles into dust.
Feeling my blood lust heighten, I growl as another vampire hits into me with force, making me grip his neck and tear his fangs out as one of my warriors comes up behind him and rips his heart out from the back.
We move onward, his haunting scream now a low whisper behind us. I look around for Dragos, catching him battling with Indigo, his claws raking the skin of his arm making it ooze with bright red blood. Snarling, I use my ability to speed over and knock him off my Beta, landing forceful punches to his jaw and nose before flinging him meters away.
I grunt when a group of three vampires throw themselves at me, thinking they will overpower me but are sorely mistaken as within a few seconds, I have them dead on the floor, crumbling into a pile of black ashes that the wind takes away.
The war wages on with us fighting them off, ripping them from limb to limb, torturing them before yanking their hearts straight out of their bodies. The clearing is now filled with sounds of a battle, screams of vampires echoing in the air and the threatening growls of my warriors matching their volume.
I find Dragos again, who is playing a game of hide-and-seek, the bastard. I know he must've thought this would've been child's play but, as he watches his minions fall to the ground and disintegrate into nothing but a pile of ashes, the fear in his gleaming red eyes becomes prominent. He's scared, as he very well should be. My pack is a force to be reckoned with. There is a reason we have not lost any war and he's beginning to realize that, very quickly.
Regardless, he smirks wickedly when his gaze locks onto mine. A fire builds in them, matching my own before he starts to charge towards me. My beasts roar in anticipation, wanting to torture this man for threatening our mate.
He will not live to see another day.
***
Aurora Maxwell's P.O.V.
"Luna, please calm down and come sit. They shall be back very soon." Helena, the pack's head chef, calls out in a worried motherly tone, patting the seat beside her.
I shake my head, resuming my pacing in front of the door which has remained unopened for at least two hours now. What is taking them so long? Will he be alright? I wonder, fiddling with my mother's necklace that hangs around my neck. I had checked in with Vulcan during the first hour, the only thing holding me back from talking to him again is the fact that it can cause him to become distracted and end up hurt.
I'm constantly feeling emotions of anger, where Vulcan is getting hit and it's driving me insane. I want to rush out there and protect him but all I can do is wait, helplessly. Sighing heavily, I turn to Vanessa who seems equally tense, her wide brown eyes glazed over while she checks in with Indigo. I wait anxiously, wanting to hear what is going on out there. Minutes tick by before she finally takes a deep breath and turns towards me.
"Vulcan is fine, a few scratches but he's okay. The vampires had threatened to take you, either that or Alpha rules over their kingdom again. Vulcan got pissed and declared war." She explains, running her fingers through her messy brown hair.
I nod, nibbling on my bottom lip as I sit on the bottom of the bunk bed. Looking over when a happy shriek escapes a child, I smile slightly as the little boy crawls over to the girl who holds out a toy for him. How easy it is for the children, blissfully unaware. I long to go back in time, to be a kid again and not have to worry about my mate on the battlefield.
We wait in silence again, only the hushed whispering sounds echoing in the room along with the children playing together. Nikolai squeezes my shoulder and sits down next to me whilst Caia sleeps behind me, the poor thing had been studying all night long yesterday for her upcoming class test.
Thirty more minutes pass by and I grow increasingly tense. I can't get the foreboding feeling out of my mind as it continues to plague me, as if warning me of danger. But how can that be when we are safely locked in a bunker? Vulcan keeps his pack's security at top priority, I have seen the measures he has taken to ensure that myself.
Unless someone finds out exactly where this bunker is and how to get in, we are perfectly safe. There is no reason to worry, you are just being paranoid, I reassure myself, nodding unconsciously.
How wrong I was.
Not even fifteen minutes after, there is a loud thump from outside that has everyone tensing. I freeze, glancing at Nikolai and Vanessa before looking towards the door. Frantically shaking Caia awake when we hear another bang, she clutches onto me when it sounds like someone is hurling themselves at the door repeatedly, trying to get it open.
Gasps echo in the tense, quiet room. Mothers pull their babies close and cocoon them with their warmth and security, fearful of the danger that lies behind that door. They look towards me, horror evident in their eyes and I gulp as the role of being a Luna is made evident. I have to be calm for them.
"It's okay." I soothe, nodding when Vanessa glances at me unsure. "Nothing will happen to you all, I promise."
I lean closer to Vanessa, whispering lowly in her ear. "Mind link Indigo now."
She nods, her eyes glazing over once more. I exhale deeply before focusing on the link that Vulcan and I share. After much struggling to concentrate and pushing at his wall, I finally get through to him.
"Vulcan! There's something going on outside the bunker, you need to come quick!"
"What?!" His voice echoes in my mind, angry and worried. "I'm coming Aurora, don't worry. I'm on my way!"
I tell him to hurry, updating him of the events but the relief of him returning is replaced by fright when something bangs into the door one last time and it groans. A force hits against it repeatedly before the metal door gives up with a loud, defeated moan and hits the ground before us.
Screams echo around me, including my own, as I stare at the horrific looking vampires in front of me. Their beady red eyes searching the room desperately before they land on me, making my breath hitch. Terrifying grins spread across their lips, their gleaming white fangs extending as they cackle. I stand in front of the group with Vanessa right beside me, there is no way I'm letting these monsters harm my pack.
"Oh look, they think they can stop us." One smirks, advancing towards us, his red eyes swirling with glee.
"We'll die trying." And with that, Nikolai steps up behind me with a few other male guards that have occupied the room to fight them off.
"Vulcan!" Is the last thing I scream into the mind link before we begin to fight off the vampires.
***
Vulcan Romanov's P.O.V.
I growl fiercely, throwing Dragos into a tree which breaks by the sheer force I use. The number of vampires are diminishing yet he laughs with glee, staring at me like he knows something I don't. It pisses me off to no end and I ram my body into him, causing him to let out a low groan of pain.
Grabbing hold of his blonde hair, I tug it back harshly making him hiss before smashing his face into the ground. Picking him up, I punch him twice in the gut before slamming my fist into his nose causing blood to spurt out of it and run down his face.
In retaliation, he smashes his head against mine making me stumble slightly before landing a roundhouse kick that brings me to the ground. He pounces on me, raking his claws down the length of my arm before holding me down by gripping my neck.
"You should have just accepted. We wouldn't have harmed your mate, no, no, no." He mocks before leaning down and whispering in my ear. "In fact, we could have shared her. Together."
I roar loudly, werewolves and vampires pausing slightly in their fight to glance at me in fear. Feeling my blood boil and pump faster in my veins, I let my beasts overtake and growl furiously at the filth grinning before me. I shift, fur now covering my body, feeling my teeth extend until they are long and sharp, claws replacing my nails and red clouding my vision.
Standing on my legs, I pant heavily, snarling at him for even speaking about my mate in such vulgar terms. That innocent little beauty waiting for me back home belongs to me only, no other man is allowed to think about her except me.
I stalk forward, my huge form making its way out from the shrubs, reveling in the fear I notice in my enemy's eyes once they take me in. Oh yes, he is going to die at my hands and he is going to die today. My beasts growl in satisfaction, grinning at how my thirst for blood matches theirs.
He turns to flee but I quickly catch on and intercept him, pouncing on him quickly before my teeth rip a chunk out of his arm, a wail escaping him. Slashing my claws against his face, I'm pleased when they leave gashes in their wake, now oozing with blood. He escapes from my hold quickly and manages to dig his claws into my fur, ripping off a measly chunk before throwing me back into a cluster of trees nearby.
Growling in anger, I race towards him and knock him over before tearing off his fang just as he turns us around and slashes the underside of my belly. Snarling in pain, I take hold of his ear and rip it clean off, hearing him howl in agony before he sends a forceful punch to my shoulder. I groan mentally, knowing someone will have to push it back in place after I'm done with this filth.
Swiping my claws in hatred, I leave gashes on his neck before sending punches to his ribs repeatedly, growling in satisfaction when I hear them break under my fist. He wheezes noisily, staggering back and clutching his side whilst sending me a murderous look. I snarl back before charging straight at him, his eyes widening once more as he sees me coming at full speed towards him. Roaring, I pounce on him and pin him underneath me, snapping my jaws right in front of his face as he claws at my arms and fur, ripping out small chunks.
I growl in frustration when I'm pulled back by three vampires, thrown a few feet away. Skidding in the dirt, I find my footing before charging at them, ripping into their flesh one by one. I make sure they feel excruciating pain, tearing their fangs clean from their gums before thrusting my paw into their chests and yanking their hearts out.
Leaving them to disintegrate into nothing, I turn to race towards Dragos again, who has recovered and is now sprinting towards me also. This is it, I will tear him from limb to limb. I bite back a growl when he swipes at my face, managing to leave a gash. Done with his games, I snarl furiously before knocking him down and breaking his arm making him screech.
Next, I move onto ripping out his other fang, his wails spurring me on even more. I bite his ear off, spitting it out before my claws tear into his skin and shred it. He fights back but I can tell that the pain I'm causing him is weakening him, it makes me growl in satisfaction seeing the pool of his blood spread further across the grass, turning it red.
Finally, having let my beasts torture him until he can't even beg for mercy, I let them wrench his heart out from his chest and rip it to pieces while he watches in despair, his skin blackening and disintegrating slowly, flowing off in the wind like a whisper.
Pulling back, I stare at the pile of ash in front of me and let out a satisfied growl before turning and looking out at the field in front of me. Bodies are strewn everywhere, pools of blood oozing from them. I watch as Indigo and a couple of my warriors catch the vampires trying to escape when they realize their leader has been killed. In seconds, their heads roll onto the dirt land, hearts following soon after.
They turn to me, bruised and battered. A new set of wounds adorn their skin, blood trickling out steadily as their wolves work on healing their humans. I shift, pulling on a pair of jeans before walking forward through the war stricken clearing. Some warriors work on cleaning the mess up while others limp off to the pack's infirmary to have their broken bones and wounds tended to. Sadly, we have lost some of our warriors too.
I frown when someone is pushing at the wall in my mind link. Letting them through, a melodic voice echoes in my mind. Except she sounds terrified.
"Vulcan! There's something going on outside the bunker, you need to come quick!" Aurora yells, her voice shaking with fright.
"What?!" I reply, anger coursing through my veins as I realize this is why Dragos seemed so happy earlier. He must have sent a signal when he knew he was going to die. "I'm coming Aurora, don't worry. I'm on my way!"
I leave the mind link only to see Indigo standing in front of me with a worried expression, making me tense up. I too, have a sick feeling in my gut. My mate, my siblings and pack members are in danger and I need to get to them fast.
"Vanessa isn't replying to the mind link. We need to go. Now." He urges, panic in his violet eyes.
"Vulcan!" I hear her scream through our mind link.
I growl, taking off in a sprint back to the main territory, throwing trees out of my way and jumping over logs. Something is terribly wrong, I can feel it yet I pray it's nothing. That my mate will be waiting for me in the safety bunker with my siblings and pack members, all safe and unharmed.
We soon reach the pack house which is eerily quiet as we step in through the door. Indigo glances at me uneasily as we make our way towards the bunker with enforcers and warriors behind us. But when we turn the corner to the dummy bookshelf that hides the steel door from the naked eye, we freeze to find it torn down, the door to the safety bunker cracked open where women and children lay unconscious on the floor.
I growl, running forward and stepping over the metal door, looking around for her, for my siblings. Nikolai and some men, who stayed behind due to injuries, are passed out on the floor with bruises and bloody wounds indicating that there had been a struggle. I pick him up, slapping his cheek to wake him.
Looking up, I see Caia beside the bed in an uncomfortable position with blood trickling down her temple. Running over to her, I grab a cloth from one of the warriors and bandage it tightly around her head to stop the bleeding before glancing around desperately. I can't find Aurora in the mass of unconscious bodies and immediately fear the worst.
Indigo is beside me, trying to shake Vanessa into consciousness but it's useless until suddenly, the air vents open up once more and filter something through the air that smells like a weird concoction. It's bearable to our sensitive noses and begins to wake everyone up. One by one, mothers regain consciousness and pull their children close with dazed and confused eyes, the men and Nikolai following soon after with a groan. Caia and Vanessa's eyes flutter open, looking around in confusion before horror sets in.
"They took her!" Caia gasps once she has looked around the room, clutching onto my shirt desperately. "The vampires took Aurora!"
And with that, I let out an anguished roar that shakes the land, my beasts crying out in torment for their mate.
My mate is gone.
*** Notices the angry readers, backs away slowly...then decides to run anyway. ***
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- R.W. ♡