Page 26 of Her Reborn Mate

“Ah, alas, how splendidly that would have worked out for you. But sadly for you, while I still draw breath, I will defend this pack with every inch of my life. So what’s the plan, Maurice? Where are your reinforcements?”

He didn’t even bother replying. Maurice immediately jumped off the stump and headed in the opposite direction, running haphazardly with his legs and arms flailing comically.

I turned my attention to the pack, now occupying the place where Maurice had been standing just a few seconds ago. “He invited you all here to kill you. He has been working with the vampires all along. He intends to destroy the Grimm lineage and hand over our sacred commune to the vampires. There has been a massive conspiracy underway.”

“How are you still alive?” a voice rose from the crowd.

“As much as they tried to kill me, fate had other plans for me. I arrive at the turn of the tide to aid you in this fight. Stand with me, fight by my side, defend this town. The vampires are coming!” I said.

Just as I had uttered these words, a horde of vampires broke through the tree line behind me, rushing towards the werewolves. Their numbers were far more than ours. As I braced myself for the charge, Vince came up by my side and shifted into his wolf form. Behind me, all the pack members shifted and howled furiously, planting their paws deep within the ground, preparing for war.

At this exact moment, three more flanks of vampires appeared from all sides, completely surrounding us. The werewolves, who had just established their position, were attacked from every direction. Maurice had pulled all the stops in planning this attack. He had meant to kill every last one of us.

And it seemed, at this particular moment, that this was exactly what would happen. There were five vampires for each werewolf present, and they were fighting dirty, attacking the werewolves with knives, and machetes, shooting at them with guns and digging their teeth into their skins.

I saw Vince being dominated by ten vampires, all of them prodding their makeshift spears at him, piercing his skin. Hurriedly, I took out my pistol, aimed it at the vampires, and unloaded the magazine on them. But this served no purpose, as the ten who had fallen were replaced by ten more.

Before me unfolded a sight of utter despair. All the wolves being subdued by the frenzied vampires. I had never felt so helpless in my entire life. When it had just been me whose life had been in danger, I had persevered through the worst of tragedies knowing that no matter how terrible it got, it would just be confined to me. But this concerned my entire pack, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Such helplessness overcame me as a swarm of vampires broke upon me, grabbing me by my limbs and my head and wedging their nails and teeth into my torso. Overwhelmed, outnumbered, and outmaneuvered, I fell to the ground, experiencing what I thought were my final moments on earth.

Something happened to me as I fell, covered by aggressive vampires striking me from head to toe. My body contorted painfully as if every bone in it was breaking. The blood in my veins began seething till it was boiling, and I felt like I was burning alive. I could feel the tears in my muscles as each fiber was being impaled, rent, and stretched.

The sound of the howling wolves rang in my ears till it was the only sound I could hear. When I opened my eyes, I did not see the vampires but a total redness, as if blood had been dumped on my face.

And then I howled. A bloodcurdling howl came from deep within me as my body rose, throwing aside every single vampire who had been clinging to me. My nails grew into claws, but these were not anything like the claws I used to have before. These new claws were the size of small daggers. I kept growing and growing in size till I was taller than every single wolf on the battlefield, and even then, I did not stop growing. By the time my transformation into my feral form finished, I was left feeling like I was born anew with the strength of all the old gods flowing through me.

There was no more weakness in my system, far from it. I could feel the strength of the moon surging through my veins. Before tonight, I had only heard legends of this transformation. The old wolves used to call it “the wolf within.” Witnessing the agony of my pack members had somehow unlocked the wolf within me, allowing me to shift into the most powerful version of myself I had ever been.

All the vampires cowered below me, my shadow covering them from head to toe. When I opened my maw, I didn’t just howl; I roared fiercely. The vampires fled as my wolves came to my side. Here we stood, all the wolves behind their new Alpha and all the vampires on the other side.

Then he appeared. He was wearing a cloak and wielding a spear drenched in blood. Ralph looked formidable as he parted the horde of vampires and stepped into the clearing between the two clans.

“Resurrection suits you, Wilhelm,” Ralph said, aiming his spear at me. “But this is the end of the line. I have endless men. You have but a hundred-something wolves. Come now. Surrender. Let this end with some dignity.”

My forearm stretched past the clearing and swiped at the vampires standing in the front, tearing open their bodies, and sending them flinging in the back. I could see them writhing painfully as death embraced them. This angered the formation of the vampires who had gathered behind Ralph, but Ralph held up his hand, prohibiting them from fighting.

“No, no. Will and I have some unfinished business, have we not? What say you we fight each other one on one?”

I drew my breath in, then howled so loud that I could feel the air around me resonating with raw power. It was a howl so fright-inducing that half the vampires standing behind Ralph turned on their heels and ran for their lives. My wolves, emboldened by my battle cry, charged without warning, turning the tide of the battle in their favor, rending apart the flesh of the remaining vampires, attacking them mercilessly. I advanced on Ralph, who was no match for me, even with his tall spear.

I grabbed his spear between my teeth and pulled it off him. Then I bit on his neck and flung him as far back as I could. He hit the trees and collapsed limply on the soft ground. While he was busy getting up, I swiped and slashed at the remaining vampires, and, aided by my wolves, I killed dozens upon dozens of vampires, all thanks to my new, terrifying, feral form. With each slash, I was killing six or seven vampires. Those who were foolish enough to engage me in combat got their heads bit off, the flesh ripped off their bones, and their bodies dismembered brutally.

This would be a night every vampire, every werewolf, and even the moon would remember as the night Will Grimm attained his true form and stood up for his pack. I would make sure of it.

The vampires’ horde was thinning till only a few handfuls of them remained. They were retreating behind Ralph, who was slowly advancing toward me.

But now, the battle was ceasing in favor of this new proceeding. The vampires were behind their leader, and my pack was behind me. A circle began forming around Ralph and me.

I stared fiercely at my foe, remembering the events that had taken place in Beckett Tower. He, Maurice, and Blair were responsible for the rift between Alexis and me. It was his conspiracy that had prevailed chaos over this town for so long.

Not anymore.

There was no match. This was a one-sided fight. Whenever Ralph attacked me, I simply pawed him away. He had no strength compared to my new form. At times, he flew to slash at me with his knives, but even then, none of his blows hit me, and the few that hit me didn’t even pierce my skin. It felt like he was tickling me.

When I grew tired of his flimsy attempts at fighting, I howled at his face and watched the life leave him as he realized that this was his end and that he’d die a horrible death. My wolves howled in unison with me, our sound an ethereal wolf song reaching into the cosmos, rousing the moon to shine its resplendent beams upon us, nurturing us with strength.

Ralph and I raced toward each other one last time. Before he could pull the spear off the ground to impale me, I leaped into the air, opened my mouth, and collided with the vampire in mid-air, tearing away his head from his body and feeling his cold blood gush through my mouth. When I landed, I was holding Ralph’s head in my mouth. I spat it out and stomped on it, howling one more time to announce my victory.

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