Diana's POV
I am about to lose my shit with Karissa here. Luca and I stood in the backyard watching the thousands of pack warriors between five different packs. They all stood in formation preparing for whatever was going to happen next. Karissa has tried to take control multiple times and each time I had to stop her from getting us into more trouble.
James and Lena ordered them to quiet down as Luca waited impatiently to leave. After about ten minutes, they all became quiet turning their attention to Luca and me. As soon as those thousands of men and women saw me, like a wave they bowed down on their knees with respect.
Luca grunted in approval of their actions.
"WELCOME TO THE WOODS PACK!" Luca started, he clutched my hand into his, "TODAY IS A DAY WE HONOR THE FALLEN, THE DAY WE TAKE BACK OUR LAND!"
It was so quiet and I became slightly nervous recognizing all the werewolves in front of us. My palm was becoming sweaty making an obvious indicator I was worried about the events that were going to happen in just a couple of hours.
"I TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR SACRIFICE TO MAKE SURE NO MORE OF OUR KIND ARE TAKEN AWAY FROM US, WHETHER THEY BELONG TO A PACK OR CHOOSE TO RUN FREE!" He continued.
"LET US FIGHT FOR ONE ANOTHER, FOR YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS NEXT TO YOU, FOR YOUR FAMILIES, FOR YOUR MATES!" I exclaimed.
Luca snapped his head to me grinning when he heard me.
"That's my girl." He whispered before whistling to James and Lena letting them know it was time to go.
The crowd of warriors stood and emerged into the woods following the Alphas heading east passed Kings Lake prepared for whatever was going to come their way. James and Lena weaved themselves into formations and Karissa was last to go. Luca stayed next to me the entire time as we waited until every single warrior and member disappeared into the woods before we were able too.
My feet dug into the soft ground making the leaves crunch violently while my heart was racing. My stomach was churning trying to tell me something bad was going to happen. Instead of fixing the problem, I shook it off-putting on a brave face.
"Honey, why don't you go upfront to lead them up there? I will stay back here." I suggested.
Luca frowned tilting his head in uncertainty hoping that I would change my answer. There was nothing wrong with Luca being back here, but something was telling me to make sure he made it to the front before we made it further.
I pecked his lips nudging my head towards the front letting him know that it was okay.
"I'll call out if something happens. I love you,"
He grumbled allowing me to sense that he was upset that I didn't want him to stay here.
"Why don't you come to the front with me?" He tried to compromise.
I shook my head pointing to the front with my eyebrow raised. He sighed dramatically walking away slowly working his way to the front. I giggled when I saw how tall he was compared to many of the warriors as he tried his best to avoid shoving them on accident.
"What's wrong? Did he make you mad or something?" Karissa slowed down her walking so we were in step. I ignored her trying my best to not punch her in the face, trust me it was one of the hardest things ever.
I appreciated her fake concern knowing she was just trying to make sure I didn't do anything stupid which could possibly ruin everything. She just got on my nerves.
"Nothing." I just kept it to a one-word response.
"Can you maybe not hate me for two seconds?" Karissa scoffed.
My feet halted having her crash her shoulder into mine. I glared at her getting a glare right back as she folded her arms over her chest resting most of her weight on one leg.
"Really? Listen, and listen closely. I may have forgiven you for whatever you have done, whatever Theo has done, but I can never forget. The man you loved destroyed my mate's life when he was just a boy! Karissa, I don't hate you...I can't even look at you without feeling anger and anxiety."
It was true, I didn't hate her. I was upset, just so upset that she thought that we were in the wrong in this. Maybe we were, but maybe we weren't. I prayed to God that we would have been able to set our differences aside so that we can all live in peace. It has been years and not once did it go through her thick skull that I wanted to work our issues out.
"Your mate decapitated my Theo's head and left so I would find his headless body with Brady. Do you know how f*cking scarring that is for a young boy? The chance to have peace ended as soon as Luca killed his brother."
"You call him Alpha King, rogue," I sneered out feeling the adrenaline in my veins beginning to rush.
Karissa smirked knowing that she was getting under my skin.
"How is everything back there? I can't see you and I am starting to get worried babe," Luca mind-linked me.
I didn't seem to pay attention to a word he was saying, instead, I took a step closer to Karissa our noses close to touching. My eyebrows furrowed deep to my eyelids making me look like I would snap at any moment. I wasn't going to lie, I probably was about to snap.
"As soon as this is over with, I am going to make sure we put whatever this is behind us,"
She snorted at me thinking I was trying to make amends with her. Her small smile faded and her gaze hardened.
Karissa took a moment to realize everything and cackled, "Oh! honey, you really believe that everything will just get better after the mess you and Luca have left behind? That is not how it works here," She shoved me to the floor kneeling down punching me in the stomach, "I am going to make sure you feel as much pain as I did when I put an end to your Alpha King!"
"You bitch!" I grabbed her hair tossing her to the ground next to me. She began to shift into her wolf, her yellow eyes emerging to the surface. Her claws and canines came out in a quick motion as they tried to rip me apart.
"ATTACK!" Karissa screamed so loud that I had to cover my right ear to make sure my eardrum didn't break.
You have got to be kidding me. This is not how I wanted today to go.
My head snapped to see the hundreds of rogues snarl and attacking my pack warriors without hesitation. Karissa got a hold of my leg dragging me near a tree before slamming my head against the trunk. I moaned in pain trying to regain my vision. Her fist came near my jaw but I blocked it twisting her wrist back hearing a crunch.
"Diana! You better answer me NOW! Shit, this isn't good at all! What is going on? I am coming to get you, hold on!" Luca mind-linked once again.
I slammed my foot into Karissa gut pushing her off of me than sitting on top of her throwing punches left and right, "YOU WON'T LAY A FINGER ON HIM!" I screamed.
She spat out blood and I could see the bruises forming on her cheeks. She dug her claws into my thighs digging so deep I felt the red liquid seep through my jeans. Karissa took this as an advantage to flip us around so now I was on the bottom. My shirt slid down a bit exposing the stitches that were still healing on my left boob. She clawing the stitches off making me bawl so loud I'm sure Russia would have been able to hear it.
Karissa jabbed her right hand into my stomach twisting her claws so deep I was sure she could feel my stomach sac in her hands. Her left hand wrapped around my throat trying to choke me, I twisted my head clinging my teeth onto her wrist biting down as hard as I could. She shrieked at the sudden pang of pain tossing herself off of my body.
I got onto my feet limping my way through the bloodshed that was occurring in front of me. My stomach bled so much it was enough to supply a whole person who deprived of it. My breathing was all over the place consisting of constant wheezing and coughing up my insides.
Luca was only a few feet away from me struggling to shift with three rogues on top of him trying to get revenge. Before I was able to help him another male rogue had tackled me to the ground preparing to bite into my neck where my mark was. His mouth opened only to be closed when James pulled him off snapping his neck like it was nothing.
He held a hand out for me and I grabbed it quickly struggling to maintain my balance due to the amount of blood loss.
"Luna Queen! Stay behind me, we are going to get you out of here!" James encouraged.
I saw Lena helping Luca as she kicked off one of the rogues plunging her knife into their skull taking the knife out like it was nothing. Luca tore the arm off of the second rogue who straddled him.
His eyes met mine and they widened, everything was in slow motion when he was trying to warn me about something. All the words he spoke were gibberish just incoherent noises entering one ear and leaving the other.
A ringing in my ears started to come and go leaving a killer headache. Luca pushed off the last rogue yelling at me once again holding an arm out like he was able to grab me,
"DIANA!!!"
It was the last thing I heard when something sharp lodged itself into my core twisting back and forth. My head dropped seeing Karissa's claws deep in my tummy. The red liquid left my lips like a waterfall, the pads of my knees touched the floor. Everything in my body was in pain, so much pain it felt like it was becoming numb to the sensation. The ringing in my ear came back and my eyes became heavy.
Alpha Zander rushed to my rescue trying to stop the bleeding as best as he could while Alpha Derek and Alpha Leo created a barrier around me killing any rogue that tried to make their way to me. James roared when he saw Lena get thrown into a tree in front of me.
"Shit, shit, shit you are bleeding way too much. I-I don't know what to do," Alpha Zander panicked.
I choked on my blood trying to breathe except every time I tried the blood would go straight to my lungs. Luca roared so loud I swear I felt the ground rumble. He pushed passed whatever was in his way trying to get to me. Alpha Zander's hands pushed harder on my stomach trying to maintain the blood as much as he could.
"No, baby, no, no, no. You're going to be okay, we are going to get you out of here and we will go back home, you just have to stay with me. Stay with me baby, stay with me I am going to get you home." Luca said in a hushed tone, he knelt down next to me.
I shook my head slowly holding a hand up to his cheek letting him know that my time was up. He sobbed so loud helping Alpha Zander to stop the bleeding. He held one of my hands in his saying anything and everything to keep me awake.
"I-" I choked out with as much force as I could.
"You what baby?" Luca sniffled cuffing my hand into both of his,
"L-lo-ove"
"Shh, baby you need to stay with me. I will get you home."
"Y-you," I gasped so hard trying to get as much oxygen as I could.
He roared angrily looking around to see all the chaos that was happening. There was so much blood everywhere all I could see was nothing but red. My eyes started to close and I could feel the pain start to go away. My eyelids became too heavy to open and all I could do was hear Luca yelling for me to wake up. It was the last I heard, my mate, yelling for me, begging me to wake up.