Page 40 of Wolf Bound

“They sent a second group into the forest to grab Talia while we were fighting them out here. I need to call Wes and Forrester,” I tell Penn once we reach the clothes. Pulling out the phone I scroll to find Forrester first and hit dial. “Go watch Alaric’s back. I’ll coordinate with Wes and Forrester to keep Talia safe.”

Penn nods his grey head and takes off towards Alaric’s large, white wolf who’s currently taking on three opponents at once.

Lifting the phone to my ear, I breathe out a sigh of relief when Forrester answers.

“Where is Talia?” I ask abruptly, already moving deeper into the trees towards the packhouse.

“Drayton?” Forrester clarifies with a hint of nervousness in his voice. At my yeah, he answers my question hesitantly. “She's doing evacuations on the west side of the packlands. She wanted to help so we gave her the smaller section that houses Penn’s mom.”

I start running west, anxiety spiking my adrenaline higher. “Please tell me that Wes is with her at least.”

“No, he’s doing the east side while I focused on the southern houses. What is going on, Dray?” Forrester asks, his breathscoming out faster as I hear his footsteps pick up pace. “Are the people attacking here for her?”

A growl of frustration leaves me, hindering my ability to answer him right away. “Yeah, they are. The attack at the front gates was meant to distract us from her while a second team from The Croises went in from the back to grab her.”

“Fucking fuck!” Forrester curses through the phone. “I’m almost to the outer edge of where she was evacuating.”

“So am I. Call Wes and let him know what’s going on. Make sure he keeps moving the others to the packhouse. I’m going to shift and see if I can follow her scent better.”

“On it.”

Forrester immediately hangs up and I toss Alaric’s phone by the nearest house so we can pinpoint it later. The Hudson’s house is the most northern house in the west end of the packlands and looks to already be dark and empty.

Shifting into my wolf, I inhale deeply and pinpoint the potent scent of my mate. She was here not long ago, but she’s already moved on from this area. Based on the intensity of her scent, she’s closer to Forrester’s side than she is mine.

My feet hit the ground running as I move towards the strongest scent markers for Talia. The scent of strangers mixes with her’s about halfway through the houses and I pick up my pace. Penn’s mother’s scent is also mixed in, but I haven’t found Forrester’s yet.

When I turn the corner around one of the houses, I finally catch sight of Talia standing in front of an unconscious Helen. Five men and women stand in front of her, two of them with guns trained on her while one of them holds his hands up in a placating way.

“Now, Talia,” he says with a condescending tone that pisses me off far more than I already was. “If you would just come withus nicely, no one else will need to get hurt. Do you really want to let your mates die for you?”

A menacing growl bursts from my throat as I stalk forward, my hackles raised as I fight the urge to attack first and think later. They could easily overpower both of us when they have a five to two advantage at the moment. Forrester will be here soon which means I just need to hold it together until he gets here.

Talia doesn’t turn to look at me as I stalk up beside her. She keeps her attention on the threat in front of her while protectively covering as much of Helen as she can. My heart hurts for my sweet, gentle mate and the circumstances that have made her face down a threat like this all by herself.

“I will not go with you,” Talia speaks, her voice tight with anger. “You won’t be killing any of my mates because you can’t. If you could, it wouldn’t be a threat you were uttering aimlessly to me. You would have done that first and then used the shock of it to subdue me. I know how you people work. I lived it for twenty-four years.”

Determination and strength floods out of Talia with every word. These fuckers tried so hard to break this woman, but not only did she persevere through it all, she came out the other side with kindness, strength, and the gentlest nature I've ever seen. Her mere existence is a fucking miracle.

Forrester's scent reaches my nose as the wind blows towards us from behind the fuckers in front of us. Talia takes a small, barely noticeable inhale and her shoulders relax just a fraction. Teal light moves over her body as she shifts into the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. Instead of staring at her beauty, however, I take the moment of distraction and lunge towards one of the humans with the guns. Forrester's black wolf moves in to take the other one.

My jaws clench around the throat of my victim before I tear it out and toss it off to the side. Forrester quickly follows and turnstowards the remaining three humans. The man in the middle is shaking with anger, but his eyes are only on Talia. Her pale jade body and large teal wings seem to glow in an almost ethereal way.

The momentary distraction from Talia is enough for one of the humans to tackle me to the ground. The cold steel of a gun presses into my side and I realise the mistake I made upon arrival. I assumed the two humans who had their weapons out were the only ones that were armed, but I was wrong.

The angle of the tackle has made it more difficult for me to fight out of his tight grip. My teeth scrape at his back, but I can’t move enough to bite down. My back paws push into his stomach and I use my claws to both tear into his clothing as well as push him backwards off of me. We roll around, neither of us able to get the upper hand on the other for more than a few seconds.

I feel the start of exhaustion and the sting of pain from my attacker, and a feeling of rightness comes over me. A pulse of magic comes from inside of me and I push it towards him. The exhaustion and pain is suddenly amplified inside of him causing him to scream in agony then pass out. Pushing him off of me, I turn to face Talia and Forr, ready to face whoever is left.

Talia's magic is wrapped around Helen in a protective shield as the man that taunted her before the fighting started circles both of them. Forr is still locked in combat with the other human, but he seems to be holding his own alright.

Talia is standing tall and unflinching as the man stalks around her. You would think she’s standing and waiting for her opportunity to strike, but I know she’s not a fighter in the traditional sense. Talia will protect everyone around her to her own detriment, of that I have no doubt. I’m worried, however, that her own detriment will happen far too quickly.

I know I need to intervene before the man can make whatever move he’s planning, I just can’t see if he’s also armed and whatkind of damage he can do if I attack him at the wrong time. With Talia and Helen in the line of fire, I need to be careful to not make things worse.

A blur of black fur flies by me, moving straight for the man that’s now standing in front of Talia. Forrester has no such qualms about trying to do this in the safest way possible it seems. Jumping after him, I barely miss him as he lunges for the man, snarling viciously as he moves for the kill.

It’s almost as if time stands still the moment the sound of a gunshot echoes through the forest around us. My blood runs cold as Talia slumps forward. Not a single thought crosses my mind as I shift and run towards my mate. Forrester rips into the fucker, his gargles of blood and the silence that follows enough to satisfy me that he’s dead.

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