Page 47 of Twinning and Sinning

"I promise."

With that, the warriors dragged her down the darkened room. Her eyes never left mine until we shut the large doors with a slam. Rugs placed on top of the cellar doors and a table to camouflage the area. No one would be able to get in the unscented room that had been covered by a ward from Tua.

"Let's go kick some ass," Dax was already naked, half shifted by the time I had my clothing off. Dozens of Wolves were already outside, ready to face what could be a blood bath if we genuinely were under attack by this mysterious gas.

Hearing only the tail end of the conversation, the borders were attacked with gas. The rogues came and stopped at the border, waiting for us to attack. I could smell the rotting flesh. The stink of disease wasn't just coming from the borders, but within the territory as well. Our noses took in full breaths of air, smelling them out immediately. They were poorly prepared, and the stench of their betrayal on their own packs leaked up our noses.

Part of me wanted to just find Jonas. I wanted to scratch the stupid mug off his face and use his fur as a pelt. I'd wear it during our Alpha ceremony to prove to others that we would not be walked all over, to fear us. Just because we are King Kane's sons doesn't mean we expect special treatment, that we are weak. We have trained just as our father, if not more so, at the age of thirty.

Alpha Big Claw took the lead while we flanked him. This was his pack and showing mutual respect to another Alpha was proper etiquette no matter how much we wanted to lead. This was his territory, and he knew it like the back of his hand.

Up ahead, bears jumped from the trees, four of them, none of them Jonas. Their smells were familiar; one came out staggering with a limp. A bullet hole was pelted into its fur, Seraphina had shot this one, and it had yet to heal. My thoughts of why he had not healed left me; I charged head-on, going straight to the throat. Bear's skin was tough, thick, and hard to penetrate. My maw was more substantial, many, many moons of training to find the perfect spot on all Shifter for a deadly kill.

One turn of my jaw locked on its throat, and it laid dead. I would have preferred to have the bear suffer, but not when Seraphina and the Red Wolves Pack's lives were at stake. Who knew when the silver gas would begin blowing through the territory? If there was one grenade, there would be more.

Dax finished with his Bear; he wasn't as graceful in his killing as I was. Blood ripped from the throat, spraying the ground and his paws trampled in the pools of blood. Alpha Big Claw was wrestling three Wolves, covered in mange, fleas, and dirt; he swiped them away easily. These Shifters were weak, only meaning they were a distraction. Sensing my distress, Dax and I howled at the same time. Letting the Wolves around us know something was afoot.

Two men dressed in black suits appeared behind a grove of enormous trees. Faces covered entirely with tight ski masks along with reflective sunglasses. One of their hands reached in their suit pocket, the other tightened its grip on an AK-47-style rifle. The pine-cone-sized metal contraption was pulled from the pocket. It was the invention we had been looking for. Another howl ripped through the air, Dax seeing the danger.

The weak Bears and Wolves fighting against us were almost gone, dead, or ran out of fear. Our warriors stood at attention, waiting for orders. Dax and I didn't hesitate. We ran in different directions, confusing our prey; we charged the men and let Alpha Big Claw control his pack. This had gotten much bigger than just a few isolated incidences. What if these devices reached our home in Bergarian? Devices such as these needed to be destroyed along with the people trying to control them. The question was who. What person or group of people or supernaturals dare to try and take down Shifters?

The man pulling the device from his coat pocket dropped it in shock without pulling the pin to detonate. Scrambling to the forest floor to pick it up, Dax pinned him with his paws, landing him straight on his back. I wasn't so lucky. A gunshot ripped through the silent air, hitting me right in the shoulder. I yipped in surprise but continued with a full-frontal assault. The one bullet couldn't stop me, not in a long shot.

It was laced with silver, but the silver to an Alpha was hardly anything. However, getting in our lungs would have been disastrous until it cleared the air. That we were confident of. Ripping the gun from his hands, my maw crunched the metal in two. My teeth were snapping, snarling, and drooling heavily. My wound was bleeding, not healing as quickly, but it was doing its best. The bullet squeezed out of my shoulder, still steaming, hitting the reckless human in his sunglasses.

Pawing the glasses away, the men seized violently. The foam generated from the mouth with their bodies spasming. "The hell is going on?" Dax screamed at me through the link. "What are they doing?" Shaking my head, I pinned one down only to smell rancid breath. It was a suicide pill of some sort because now the men were not breathing. They had to have put it in their cheek for such an occasion of being captured. Cowards.

We were close to finding out who was doing this, only to have both of them kill themselves. What kind of men or supernatural beings were we messing with that did not value life for themselves?

"Your highnesses," Alpha Big Claw's mind-link came through.

Thankfully, being royalty, we heard all of the Alpha calls. It was the first time listening to his mind-link come through loud and clear.

"A group of rogues at the packhouse; they are trying to get into the dining room!"Everyone snarled. Leaving the dead Wolves and Bears behind, our claws sunk beneath the cold Earth. The borderline wasn't far, and we quickly arrived in the center of the territory. The bonfire was roaring to life, ready for the celebration that was to happen after dinner.

Rows of rabid Wolves, breathing heavily, stood in front of the packhouse. They had lured us away to take over. Several of the Red Wolves warriors laid on the ground in a submission form. One false move they would be done for, along with their mate, if they have one.

Alpha Big Paw shifted to speak to the enemy. "Surrender," Alpha Big Paw walked plainly into the center of the war line. "And you shall keep your lives today." Foaming saliva dripped from the mouths of the rabid wolves. Bears, standing on two paws, towered over the youngest warriors.

Big Paw continued his speech, Dax and I took in the scene to play the perfect means of attack.

One Bear, in particular, stood at the front door. High on his legs to make himself appear taller was none other than Jonas. How dare he come to this pack with his horde of useless friends? Alpha Mason was warned, there would be bloodshed this day. Both Dax and I would rip him to shreds and feast on his bones.

With a scornful roar, saliva sprouting from our jowls, we sprung forth and bolted up the stairs without warning. No other Wolves mattered; the Bears running towards us steered clear once they saw who we were. Jonas never even told them that the princes of Shifters were even here; what a sorry piece of work he was.

Jonas was larger than other bears, but he was no Alpha. One of us would put up a great fight, but two would mean certain death to the cub. He was either extremely dense or had a trick up his sleeve.

The way he has betrayed his own pack, I'm assuming the former. A click was heard from behind, the wind's swoosh sound landed right on the deck of the packhouse. Smoke poured forth; it was the gas we had encountered months ago before we found our mate. Shaking our heads, we covered our noses with our paws backing away. Jonas roared, landing back on his front legs. He was unaffected, charged to my side, and ripped a chunk of the shoulder that was wounded earlier. The ripping of muscle could be heard around the roaring fire.

The squeal of surprise didn't deter Dax; his maw clamped on Jonas's face. One of the weaker points of a Bear. Dax controlled his paw to shift into one of his hands; and plucked one eye from Jonas. Even when Dax' landed on his back, the screams were music to my ears. Dax hissed in triumph while stomping the eye to the ground with a back paw.

Jonas's thrashing opened the packhouse door. "Find Seraphina,"Dax yelled through the link. Dax' hand, which was still human, grabbed the smoke like a bomb, threw it into a trashcan wheezing. Alpha Big Claw put on the lid, fighting in his human form.

"Go," he yelled, transforming back into his wolf.

Dashing up the stairs, my claws clicked through the hallway leading to the cafeteria. Tables were moved, Wolves were scratching at the flat surface of the floor, trying to find a way in. Wolves behind me announced our arrival. Immediately they turned to fight. Many foaming at the mouth, many too busy trying to figure out how to get inside.

My jaws clamped on the back of a random Wolf's hind leg, pulling it away from the cellar door. Pulling just enough, his leg came out of his socket, slinging him to the opposite wall. Dax soon joined us, like the rest of the pack. It was a quick victory inside the house, which I was grateful for. The three Wolves were left alive, huddled in the corner, and forced to shift to human form by Alpha Big Claw's Alpha command.

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