CHAPTER 114: CHAPTER 114

Chapter 114

Kaeleen’s POV

SOME HOURS BEFORE ASTRID COLLAPSED

The world compressed into a cage of blinding light and the low thrum of four idling engines. There was no fear. Fear was a luxury, an indulgence for those with time to feel it. In its place was a cold, sharp-edged clarity, an Alpha’s assessment of a threat. This was not a random attack. This was a coordinated, professional ambush. This was Leon’s work, or the Council’s retaliation. It didn’t matter which. The response would be the same.

My eyes scanned the perimeter. Four sedans, standard models, untraceable. The location was a dead zone a long, isolated stretch of highway flanked by dense forest, with no cameras for miles. A perfect killing ground.

They expected me to wait. To be intimidated. They didn’t know me at all.

I didn’t turn off my engine. My hands moved with fluid certainty, shifting the car into drive. My foot didn’t just press the accelerator; it slammed it to the floor. The powerful engine roared in defiance, and the sedan launched forward like a missile, aimed directly at the car blocking my path.

The impact was a brutal, jarring cataclysm of sound the shriek of tortured metal, the explosion of shattering glass. My seatbelt locked, biting into my chest, but the airbag deployed a fraction too late to prevent my head from connecting hard with the side window. A starburst of pain erupted behind my eyes, but the way was clear.

Doors flew open on the other three cars before I could even recover. Twelve figures emerged, clad in black tactical gear, their faces obscured by balaclavas. They moved with the disciplined efficiency of trained soldiers, not the wild frenzy of werewolves. Humans. Armed and prepared.

I kicked my ruined door open and stepped out into the glare of the headlights, feeling the warm trickle of blood from a new cut on my temple. My enhanced senses cataloged them instantly. The scent of gunpowder, cleaning oil, and the faint, sterile smell of ozone from some kind of electrical weapon. They carried modified rifles, but several also held long prods that crackled with blue energy. Devices designed to disrupt a wolf’s healing factor.

One of them raised his rifle. He never got the shot off.

I moved, a blur of speed that the human eye could barely track. I closed the thirty-foot distance in a heartbeat, my hand catching the rifle barrel and twisting. The crack of the soldier’s wrist was a sharp counterpoint to his muffled cry of pain. I drove my other fist into his chest, the force of the blow collapsing his sternum and sending him flying backward into the side of his own car.

Two more came at me, one from each side, jabbing with the electric prods. I sidestepped the first, letting its momentum carry it past me, and caught the second prod with my bare hand. The electricity was a searing agony, a thousand white-hot needles digging into my nerves, but I gritted my teeth against it. My healing factor, though slowed, was already fighting the damage. I ripped the weapon from the man’s grasp and used it as a club, smashing it into the helmet of his companion.

They were well-trained, but they were still just men. They were fighting a force of nature. I moved through them like a storm, a whirlwind of calculated, brutal violence. A broken arm here, a dislocated shoulder there. I was a predator, and they were clumsy, fragile things in my path. One of them managed to land a solid blow to my ribs with the butt of his rifle, and I felt the sharp crack of bone. The pain was intense, but it only fueled my fury.

The fight was over in less than a minute. Twelve men lay groaning or unconscious on the asphalt, scattered amongst the wreckage of two cars. I stood in the middle of it all, my chest heaving, the metallic tang of blood in my mouth. My car was a wreck, but it was my only way out. I had to get back.

My thoughts were only focused on getting back to Astrid.

The bond worked both ways. If I was feeling this surge of violent adrenaline, she would be feeling the echoes of it, a cold dread seeping into her soul. She would know something was wrong. She would be worried. The thought of her, alone in our home, feeling my distant struggle, was more painful than any physical injury.

I limped back to my sedan. The engine sputtered and coughed when I turned the key, protesting the damage, but it caught. With a groan of tortured metal, I pulled away from the scene, leaving the carnage behind me. The drive was an agony of its own. Every bump in the road sent a fresh wave of pain through my broken ribs. The car shuddered and whined, the steering pulling hard to one side.

My phone buzzed on the passenger seat. I snatched it up, expecting to see Astrid’s name, my heart clenching. It was Alex.

"Yeah?" I answered.

I expected him to be frantic, to have sensed my battle through the pack link. Instead, his voice was tight with a different kind of crisis.

"Kaeleen, thank god. It’s Rebecca. She’s in labor. We’re at the pack hospital." He told me.

"And you didn’t bother to wait for me?" I asked him jokingly.

"Like I could. We never even expected it. And it’s already past the nine month mark but...ah, I have to go, your sister will kill me if I don’t get back to her."

I laughed as he ended the call. At least there was some good news amidst all the things going on. Astrid would be fucking elated when I told her.

I didn’t bother telling him about what just happened. There was no point in worrying him especially when I came out with just a limp. I wondered if Serena knew also.

I dorve with a smile because I was going to be a godfather, it didn’t matter that Marcus was fighting me on it. Finally, I saw the familiar, soft glow of the lights marking the entrance to the compound. A wave of profound relief washed over me. I was home. I was safe. Astrid was safe.

The relief turned to ice in my veins.

I saw them. Standing just outside the main gate. A guard, Lila, her face a mask of panic. And Astrid. She was barefoot on the cold asphalt, her beautiful face pale and lost in the flickering lights.

The wrongness of it was a physical blow, more stunning than any punch I had taken. It was the one place she was forbidden to be. The one place she was truly vulnerable.

I slammed on the brakes, the wrecked car screeching to a halt. I threw the door open and stumbled out, my own injuries forgotten.

"Astrid?" I demanded, my voice a raw bark of confusion and dawning horror. "What are you doing out here. What is going on?

Her eyes met mine, and I saw a universe of confusion swirling within them. She shook her head, a small, lost gesture. She looked at me as if I were a ghost, a phantom. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. I saw her sway, her eyes rolling back in her head.

And she fell.

The world seemed to slow down, the sound fading to a dull roar in my ears. I saw her body crumple, a puppet with its strings cut. I ran, my healing ribs screaming in protest, but I didn’t care. I crossed the distance in three long strides, catching her before she hit the ground, scooping her limp form into my arms.

She was cold. Terrifyingly cold.

My fear, held at bay for so long, erupted into pure, incandescent rage. I spun on Lila, my eyes blazing, the Alpha command thundering from my chest, shaking the very air around us.

"WHAT IS SHE DOING OUT HERE? EXPLAIN!"

Lila flinched back, her eyes wide with terror. The guards behind her took an instinctive step back. "Alpha, I... we... she got a call," she stammered, her words tumbling out in a rush. "It was Alex! He said you were in an accident, that you were in the hospital downtown! She was going to you!"

The world tilted on its axis. How was that possible when I just spoke with Alex and he was with Rebecca? There was something wrong. Something that didn’t add up at all.

But there was no time for that now. I looked down at Astrid’s pale face, her breathing shallow. I had to get her back inside. Back to safety.

I turned, clutching her tightly to my chest, and started for the gate.

Just as my foot crossed the threshold of the gates, another set of headlights cut through the darkness, a vehicle approaching at high speed. It swerved to a stop beside my wrecked sedan. The door flew open, and Elara practically fell out, her face a mask of pure dread, her eyes locked on the unconscious woman in my arms.

"Oh no."