●════════●♥●════════● Authors Note ●════════●♥●════════●
Didn't take as long as I thought it would! Enjoy my lovelies! Remember to VOTE AND COMMENT!
Dedicated to theoneandonlydaddyz for being first comment on the last chapter
●════════●♥●════════● Cassiie Alexx ●════════●♥●════════●
Recap:
“This day is really full of celebrations isn’t it?” Jonathon laughed.
“Yeah, it really is.” Stefan smiled as we stood there, looking around.
That was when all hell broke loose.
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Chapter 13
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“It is only in Love and Murder that we still remain sincere.” - FRIEDRICH DÜRRENMATT
Four large rogues walked out of the trees and stood in front of the pack, growling menacingly.
Parents pushed their children behind them, and making them go back into the house as fast as they could.
Stefan’s arms had tightened around my waist and I could feel how tense he was.
‘Stefan’ I whispered through our mind link so that only he heard me, ‘I have a plan.’
He nodded and motioned for me to go ahead.
Taking his hand in mine I lead him to the middle of our pack. Everyone stood back, watching us curiously.
“Shift back rogue.” I commanded.
One of the four shifted, pulling on the pants that he had tied to his ankle. He smirked at the pack.
“Who are you and what is your business here?” Stefan asked, beginning to catch on to my plan as I was explaining it.
“I am Luka. Shane is on his way. We’re looking for a girl, the daughter of Emily Grayson.” He stated simply, the smirk never leaving his face.
I felt Stefan stiffen beside me.
“And what, pray tell, makes you think that you would find her here?” I asked, slightly amused.
‘Nicole. I need you to get inside and call your father. We might need him; we don’t know how many they have.’ I told her.
Nicole nodded and backed away slowly into the house so she could make the phone call.
“This was the pack her mother belonged to, we know she is here, give her to us and no one has to get hurt.”
Something behind his eyes flicked, making me tense.
‘He’s lying.’ I announced to the pack, ‘one way or another, they’re going to try and tear this pack apart. Stand your ground. We don’t know how many they have, but we can get through this together.’
“Do you honestly expect me to believe you?” Stefan scoffed.
“I suppose not.” Luka mused, “Shane will be here momentarily, and if you don’t give us Ariana, we will kill you all.”
‘Dad is on his way along with his top fighters, about thirty of them.’ Nicole informed the pack as she returned to Jason’s side, just as eight other wolves came through the trees, followed by another in human form.
“I can take it from here Luka.”
The man, who I assumed to be Shane, stepped forward. He was muscular, his black hair was short and he was a least six feet tall.
“Where is the girl?” He asked, seeming annoyed.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Shane. Where is she? We will take her by force if we have to.”
I glared at the man in front of me, tightening my grip on Stefan’s hand to keep myself calm.
‘No one, and I mean no one, but me kills this bastard, understood?’ I growled through the mind link and was responded with a variety of ‘understood’ and ‘yes Luna’.
“Why do you want her?” Stefan asked, “Actually, why did you want her mother too? What has this pack ever done to you?”
Shane laughed, “What have they done to me? Your pack killed my mate.” He roared. “Jeremiah Blackwell killed my mate twenty two years ago. So I killed his. And now, I will kill his daughter to.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This guy actually thought he was going to get anywhere near me?
“Well, Shane, you see, you’ve failed to kill me every time you’ve tried.” I informed him, amused as his face turned to shock. “Yeah, that’s right. I’ve been standing right in front of you imbeciles this entire time. First you kill my mother, and then you send vampires to kidnap me? Really? Kidnapping? Can you get any more predictable?”
Shane let out a low growl, glaring at me.
“What you don’t seem to get, is that no one is going to let you anywhere near me. Not my father, not my brother, nor my mate. You’ll die trying. And for what? A feud between you and my father? “
“He killed my mate!” Shane growled.
“Yes, I did.” My father spoke up, placing a hand on my shoulder, “she attacked my mate and my son when they had done nothing to provoke her. She tried to kill my family. I did what I had to do to protect them.”
‘Stefan, I know I’m pregnant, but, I’m fighting if it comes down to that.’ I told him, eyeing the wolves that were appearing through the trees. ‘I’ll be extra careful, but I need to do this.’
‘I understand.’ Stefan whispered and I felt his lips brush against my forehead. I had tuned out of my father’s conversation with Shane.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Luka, now in wolf form, making slow, deliberate steps towards Stefan.
‘Protect mate’ my wolf screamed at me.
I pushed Stefan behind me and crouched down, letting out a low warning growl.
“Take one more step and I’ll snap your neck.” I growled menacingly.
“Now, now Ariana, no need to be harsh.” Shane stated.
“No need? No one threatens my mate and gets away with it.” I snapped back.
A whisper of sound came from some distance behind me. I knew that the rogues in front of us could not hear it yet, but the pack could.
“Ah, it appears that our guests have arrived.” I stated, amused.
Shane glanced around, confused.
The pack separated in two with Stefan and I still in the middle, as King Blake along with at least forty other shifters who were already in their wolf form, appeared at the side of the house.
“It’s a pleasure to see you once again King Blake.” Stefan smirked as King Blake stopped beside him.
“You too Alpha Nightingale.” He grinned back before turning to me, “and you as well Luna.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Shane roared, glaring daggers at King Blake.
“Well, hello Shane.” King Blake grinned, “It’s a shame really, that things turned out this way.” We all looked at him confused, “You see, about a week after I met with you, Shane came to us for help in taking out your pack. I, of course, gave him the impression that we would help him.”
“How can you stand on their side?” Shane asked.
“My loyalties lay with my family. And, as my daughter is part of this pack, my loyalties lay with her and these lovely people whom you have done such wrong to.”
Nicole smirked and walked up, giving her dad a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks daddy.”
“Attack!” Shane yelled, glaring furiously at us all.
Immediately all but four of the packs were in wolf form. Myself, Nicole, Jason and King Blake had yet to shift.
I watched as more wolves came out of the woods and began to attack my pack.
My pack. My family. I couldn’t let them down.
“This ends now.” I growled, “King Blake, tell your people that Shane is mine and mine alone.” I told him before shifting.
‘Ari look out!’ Stefan yelled in my head.
I moved, just in time to avoid a large female rogue that had been charging at me from the side. Growling I didn’t hesitate as I jumped at her, and bit her neck hard. I heard her whimper quietly but didn’t let go. With one quick movement her neck was snapped. Dead. My first kill. But I knew it wouldn’t be my last.
Glancing around me, I saw Stefan fighting off two wolves.
Running over, I narrowly avoided being tackled again before I leapt in next to Stefan so we were back to back, the two wolves circling us.
‘Are you ok?’ I asked, never moving my eyes from the brown wolf in front of me.
‘I’m fine baby. Are you?’
‘I’m alright. Let’s get rid of these shall we?’
Without waiting for his answer I pounced on the wolf, tearing a large chunk of skin off its shoulder with my teeth. The wolf clawed at my muzzle, cutting it slightly but not deep enough. It healed quickly. Growling I lunged at it again, finally getting my mouth around its neck and snapping it quickly.
Stepping back I surveyed the scene that was going on around me. Wolves were fighting everywhere. I could see a couple of my pack members barely hanging on.
One younger she-wolf was fighting a much larger male rogue. He had her pinned and was about to go for the kill shot.
I quickly made my way over and tackled him to the ground, grabbing his neck and snapping it as I did so. After that was done I made my way back over to the girl and immediately recognized her as Whitney. She had lost her mate four months ago when he was attacked by rogues during a routine perimeter check. They have a new born baby who’s only a month old.
‘Whit... hang in there, you’ll make it through this.’ I told her, nuzzling the side of her face lightly.
‘I won’t Ari...’ her voice came out in a whisper, ‘I can feel it. I won’t pull through this... please... promise me something...’
‘Anything.’
‘Take care of Rayleigh... keep her safe...’
‘But...’ I swallowed hard, looking down at her. She wanted me to take her baby? I couldn’t... I had two on the way...
‘Please Ari... I trust you... I know you can do this...’
You could tell that Whitney was just barely hanging on. If this was what she wanted, if this was her last wish, then I had no other choice. I wouldn’t let her down.
‘I promise Whit. I’ll take care of her as if she’s my own.’
‘Thank you...’
I laid there with my head on hers. We were into the trees a bit away from the chaos. I was on full alert, watching everything that was going on around me. But it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to let her die alone. It was barely even two minutes later when her breathing stopped. Getting up, I made my way back to the ongoing fight. From what I could tell, we had only lost three people including Whitney. The numbers were going further and further down as more and more rogues were killed.
It took me a mere minute to find Stefan. He was fighting against a huge light brown wolf.
‘Are you ok Ari? You disappeared.’ Stefan’s worried voice came through my mind.
I replayed the scene for him as I made my way over to where he was.
‘You did the right thing.’ Stefan assured me as we both lunged at the wolf, killing it.
‘Where is Shane?’ I growled in my head, looking around.
I couldn’t see him anywhere, and it seemed like none of the pack members had seen him either. He hadn’t been spotted since the battle started.
I made my way towards the last place I’d seen him, picking up on his scent.
‘Dad, Jason, Stefan, you guys coming or am I going alone?’ I asked, as I started to follow the trail.
In a second all three of them were with me. We ran through the woods, following his scent right to the boarder. I let out a low growl, glaring.
‘The bastard got away!’ I yelled furiously.
Stefan came over and nuzzled my neck lightly. ‘We’ll find him Ari. We will do everything we can to find him and kill him.’
I nodded my head slightly and looked at my father and my brother. ‘Are you both ok?’
‘Most of the pack is. A few people are badly injured but only five were killed.’ Jason said quietly.
‘The fight is over.’ Stefan announced, ‘Everyone is heading back to the pack house. Let’s go.’
The three of us followed him quietly. When we were at the tree line I shifted back, grabbing some spare clothes that I had hidden in one of the trees and pulling them on along with a pair of converse. The others did the same and we made our way inside.
Everyone was downstairs in the meeting hall, waiting for us. Once there Stefan, Jason and I took our seats in front of everyone.
“How many were killed?” Stefan asked.
“Three males and two females. Chad, Michael and Josh along with Becka and Whitney.” One of the guards announced.
Stefan nodded, “Have their bodies been moved to the morgue?”
“They have.”
“We will have a formal ceremony to honor those who lost their lives today.” Stefan announced. “I will handle the details for the families.”
“What about Whitney?” Tanya asked, wiping her eyes. Tanya had been pretty close to Whitney, almost as close as her and I are.
“What about her?” Stefan asked, a little confused.
“Her daughter, Rayleigh. Whitney has no family and her mate was killed a few months ago.” Tanya whispered.
I cleared my throat, looking around at the others, “I was there when Whitney died.” I told them quietly, “I was too late to save her; she had lost too much blood and wasn’t healing fast enough.” I could feel the tears building up. Closing my eyes tight I held them back, “I promised her that I would take Rayleigh.”
Tanya smiled at that, “Good. If there’s anyone who can be trusted with Rayleigh it’s you Ari.”
I smiled a little at that, “King Blake.” I addressed him; he was quietly standing to the side. “Did all your warriors make it out?”
He nodded a small smile on his face. “They did. Only one of them was severely hurt, and he is in the infirmary now. Alpha Nightingale, I owe you. You saved his life. If it wasn’t for you, he would have died out there. Thank You.”
Stefan smiled, “No need to thank me. It was the least I could do. If it wasn’t for you and your warriors we would have been severely out numbered. Thank you for coming to help us today.”
“You are very welcome. We will be making our leave now. Good night everyone.” He announced, before taking his leave.
“Well...” Carter said, “This was an overly eventful day. Is anyone besides me ready for sleep?”
A few people laughed but left to retire for the night.
“Annabelle, Jenna?” I asked, looking at the thirteen year old girls.
“Yes Luna?”
“Can you bring Rayleigh here along with some of her stuff please?” I gave them a small smile.
They were the girls who usually looked after the younger kids in the pack and had babysat Rayleigh a couple times before.
“Of course Ari.” Jenna smiled and the two girls left.
“We need to discuss a couple more things and get some other things done before the rest of us can get to bed.” I announced to the few people that were here. “Since Stefan has taken over as Alpha, and should therefore be in the pack house at all times, we have an offer for you.”
“Ari and I want to know if you would like to move into her house.” Stefan continued, looking at our parents. “We would have to move her stuff over here and yours over there, but it would be better for everyone.”
Katherine smiled, looking between her son and I, “You’re offering us your home?”
“There are four floors. You’d have lots of privacy.” I told her, smiling.
“Ari we can’t...”
“You can and you will! Please Katherine, it’s the least I can do after everything you’ve all done for me. You gave me family when I thought I had none left. You gave me everything I’ve ever wanted, without a second thought. You accepted me for who I am, and I will be forever grateful for that. I want you guys to have the house. Even if you don’t stay in it, at least take it until you decide to move.”
The three adults smiled. “Alright, alright.”
“Yay!” I giggled. “Now, let’s get everything moved over now so we don’t have to do it later. W can get a few of the pack members to help. It’s only ten so they shouldn’t be in bed just yet.”
It took the nine of us, plus three other pack members just over an hour to get everything finished. Once our room was to my perfection, Stefan, Carter and Jason got Rayleigh’s room set up.
I was in the living room, Rayleigh in my arms, talking to Nicole and Tanya while we waited for the boys to finish up.
“How’s it feel Ari?” Nicole asked, grinning as she watched me with Rayleigh.
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down at the one month old little girls face, “Completely natural.” I told her without looking up.
Everything went quiet then. It was a few minutes later when I heard the boys come down. I didn’t move my eyes off of Rayleigh. She stared back up at me, her tiny hand clasped around my pinky.
I heard a sharp intake of breath and looked up to see Stefan staring at me. Slowly he made his way towards me, sitting next to me on the love seat and wrapping an arm around my waist.
“I can’t wait until ours are here.” He whispered, stroking Rayleigh’s cheek lightly, “We’ll raise her as our own though.”
“When she’s old enough to understand, we’ll have to tell her the truth. But until then, as far as anyone outside the pack knows, she is ours.” I told him, looking up into his eyes.
Stefan leaned in and lightly pressed his lips to mine, “Let’s get you and the little one to bed.” He stood, lifting Rayleigh from my arms and cradling her against his chest, “We’re going to bed. We’ll see you guys in the morning.”
I went and changed into my pj’s while Stefan put Rayleigh in her crib. When he came back he had the baby monitor with him. After laying it on the dresser he quickly stripped down and turned off the lights before crawling into bed with me.
Resting my head on his chest, I left out a content sigh. “Tonight we relax. But tomorrow, we need to start the search.” I whispered. “I won’t risk him attacking again. Especially now that we have Rayleigh to think about.”
“I know baby. But for now, let’s just enjoy the fact that we’re all safe.” He whispered back.
I knew that this wouldn’t be the end. One way or another, we would face Shane again. But until that time actually came, I’d be happy.
●════════●♥●════════● Author's Note ●════════●♥●════════●
Hey again you guys! So this is it. This is the end. I want to give a huge thank you to everyone for your support in this story. It means a lot to me. Part one is offically over. I'll be starting Book Two of The Emerald Wolf within the next couple weeks. So don't worry! There's a lot more drama to come. We'll be seeing more of Ari and her friends soon enough.
Vote and Comment please (: this is still up for the Watty Awards.
I love you guys!
xo
●════════●♥●════════● Cassiie Alexx ●════════●♥●════════●