Page 154 of A Mysterious Slave for the Lycan Prince

What horrifies me more, though, is that Benjamin stopped fighting entirely. He closes his eyes, probably eager to die.

I react fast, my eyes connecting with one of my fellow warriors. It’s Matthew, who is the closest to the group surrounding Colton. I nod towards him, noting how he is dashing forward. I follow suit. Matthew crashes into the group headfirst, using their moment of distraction to his advantage. The men scramble in different directions, and even Colton looks distracted briefly. I use the momentum to rip through his bodyguards as well, noticing with concern that some of them carry silver weapons. No guns, however. I dodge two guys holding knives while reaching a third, jumping at him and ripping his throat out.

One of the guys with a knife runs towards me, but before he can reach me, he gets punched by an unexpected person. Benjamin stares at the man he just hit and then back at me. He seems horrified by what he just did, then he just turns around and runs.

I don’t have time to catch him. We’ll worry about that later.

Colton narrows his eyes, a triumphant look on his face. “I would be careful,” he hisses. “We’ve got your luna.” He sneers. “My beta linked me a while ago. They got her. Tiny little thing, blonde,” he said.

My luna? I link my father instantly.Dad?

No clue what he is talking about. I can’t feel anything through the bond.

No sooner than the words are spoken, I spot the tiny figure of my mother practically skipping in our direction. She holds someone’s head in her hands. Seeing her like that is extremely creepy and kind of exciting. Mom waves at us cheerfully.

All the color drains from Colton’s face. “Is that your beta?” I ask.

Colton doesn’t hesitate, and soon he and a group of Blood Snow warriors circle my mom, Aurel, and Edward. To my shock and dismay, I see Freya is not with them. Where is she?

The ruckus in front of me keeps me distracted for now as the warriors try to lunge at my mother, but before they can even land a blow, a roar echoes through the pack. My father rushes to her, but my mother raises her hand and smiles at him, making him pause.

What… he is not going to intervene?

Mom hands the beta’s head to Aurel, who doesn’t even bat an eye, and turns to the warriors surrounding her. There is something about her all of a sudden, a regal aura, and before I can even grasp what’s going on, one man after another begins to drop to their knees. Those who were in their wolf form shift back and kneel too. One of them clasps his chest, and another pants heavily.

What is she doing?I link Liam.

She is…he pauses.Freeing their wolf spirits, I think.

I freeze at the revelation. It can’t be. No one can do that. I know the Council has measures to separate a wolf spirit from the human, but it’s a long and draining process and needs many strong, blessed wolves and witches to do it.

And yet Mom can do it on her own?

I start to allow my gift to come forward, scanning the group, and to my surprise, Liam’s right. I can see how one aura after another leaves the group surrounding my mother. Only Colton remains untouched, and I wonder why she spares him. By now, I’m sure, Mom has her reasons for every decision she makes during this battle. She isn’t showing mercy towards Colton; there is a reason for her not taking his wolf from him.

When I shift my attention further towards the aura of my mother, there is the usual white aura of light around her, but also something else. I try to touch it, but I can’t even get close. Something keeps pushing me back. It’s different from the aura I saw in Freya, which was unknown and locked in. Mom’s is too strong for me to touch.

Stop it. You are just going to weaken yourself,Liam says.

But I don’t understand what’s going on.

Neither do I,he says.I can only guess… like you. But we’ll need our strength.

I swallow, trying to battle my curiosity. But Liam is right; this battle isn’t over.

Mom takes a deep breath, stepping back while my father hurries to her to catch her. Whatever she did weakened her. The men on the ground shiver. “You… you made us human!” one of them yells.

They try to get up on their feet, but are too weak to do so. Meanwhile, Colton stumbles backward, trying to surround himself with a new group of warriors, but another roar rips through the area.

It confuses the warriors just as much as it confuses us. My mouth drops open at what I see. Two beautiful lycans cross the pack grounds, with a huge crowd following them. I see lots of young men and women in rags and torn clothes suddenly swarming the field. In the front is an elderly lady with a pan in her hand, which she uses to knock a warrior out who tries to approach her. One young man right behind her even holds a gun.

The two lycans make sure that no one gets close to the crowd while they let them have their moment of justice.

Aurelia shakes her head with a smile. “I’ve seen many things,” she says, “but that’s new.”

I’ll later blame it on my moment of distraction. A weak moment. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to be distracted amidst a battle. There is a sudden sharp pain to my side, and then Colton’s remaining bodyguards lunge at me, making us roll through the snow and towards the lake like a giant snowball.

I try to free myself from them and the unlucky predicament I got into, the stab wound burning and stinging. Fucking silver. These assholes. Before any of my allies can react, two wet arms emerge from the sea, a tailfin splashing water at my opponents, before a hand grabs one of the wolves with surprising strength, pulling him underwater.

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