Page 28 of Her Reborn Mate

Vampires were attacking the werewolves from all directions. My pack members were struggling to hold their own in battle. But what was even worse to behold was the sight of the women and the kids. While the men had shifted and were fending off the vampires, the women and children of the pack stood not too far behind. I could see that some of the women had shifted to protect their children, but this was not going to be enough, at least not with the way the battle was going.

I could not spot Will anywhere in the battle ahead. My bond told me that he was still there somewhere and that he was alive, but other than that, I could not sense him fighting or shifting. Maybe the bond had realized the rift between us and was slowly dissolving itself.

Knowing that the women and children stood no chance in this one-sided battle, I quickly broke through the tree line and headed to where the women and children were stranded. The vampires outnumbered the men of the pack, and some of the stray vampires were headed straight toward the women and children.

There was only one thing I could do: Make the women and children follow me out of the clearing and back to the Grimm Abode.

But before that, I had to take care of the vampires.

As I quickly grouped with the women, those of them who had shifted in their wolf forms joined me, and together we advanced on the vampires coming toward us. Just as we clashed, I noticed a loud commotion coming from the main fight, and it was here that I saw Will emerging from underneath a horde of vampires in a form I had never seen before.

Taller, broader, fiercer, he had shifted into the legendary wolf within, a form that was revered by all and was considered to be Fenrir’s living avatar. Very few werewolves had ever unlocked this form, and seeing Will take this form emboldened the rest of the wolves beside me and me to fight more bravely.

Now we knew that the vampires were not going to stand much of a chance against us, even with Ralph on their side. It was as if the vampires had sensed the same thing because the moment we clashed, there was fear in their attacks, and their strategies seemed to be all over the place.

Still, they outnumbered us, and there would be no recourse for the rest of the women and children if our current line of defense were breached. With this realization, I finally let go of all the frustration, anger, fear, confusion, and depression I had been feeling and poured all my emotions into the fight. The more I channelized these emotions, the more berserk I felt myself going till a point came that I was singlehandedly taking on all the stray vampires, driving away most of them.

Some of them stayed, undeterred by their scramming comrades. I recognized these vampires. They were the ones that I had fought at Beckett Tower. No doubt, they were looking for some retribution for their murdered brethren. At any other time, I would have given these vampires a run for their money, but right now, I was tasked with protecting the women and children. This put me on the defensive.

I looked at the pack behind me, saw the troubled faces of the kids and their moms, noticed the panic on the older women, the ones who couldn’t shift anymore, and understood right away that their place was not on this battlefield. They belonged back home. It was my job to escort them back, but not while the vampires still loomed so near.

The three female wolves beside me nodded in acknowledgment, letting me know they had my back on the field.

With this bolstering, I attacked the vampires ferociously, clawing at their faces, necks and chests. Perhaps it was that I was unfettered from all emotion, or maybe it was that I was feeling particularly vengeful because my attacks landed on their bodies so forcefully and tore them apart so easily that it felt like I was fighting paper-mâché dolls.

They crawled away from me, screaming for mercy, their hands held high. They would get no quarter. My fellow wolves and I ensured their swift deaths, and only after all the vampires in our vicinity were taken care of did we turn our attention back to the pack.

Behind me, the battle was waging hard than ever. With Will’s feral form dominating the battlefield, it was apparent that the fight was going in our favor. The fact remained, however, that this was a fight and, therefore, an unsafe place for the women and children.

I shifted back to my human form and went to the pack.

“Lexie! You’re alive?” an old woman called from the pack.

“Yes. I…it’s a little complicated,” I said. “But please understand that we have to leave. We can’t stay here in this ambush.”

“Maurice betrayed us all,” another woman spoke sadly. “Why must those whom we look up to take advantage of our allegiance in such a manner?”

“That’s a long story, Cindy,” I said. “Right now, we all have to get back to the commune.”

“But don’t you see? Will’s alive? He’s over there, fighting the vampires,” Cindy said.

“As admirable as that is, this is a dangerous place. Think of the children, the pregnant women, and those of you who are too old to fight or shift. We have to get back to safety,” I said, hoping they’d understand that this was not a place to spectate from but to run away from.

At last, they finally gave in and followed me out of the clearing into the forest. Before we left, though, I had to look back one more time and see the ensuing fight between Ralph and Will. Will was fighting so devotedly, with such finesse and power, that I could not help but feel drawn toward him. The only thing stopping me in my tracks was the pain that his death had given me and the sorrow that his last word had sown in my heart.

“Come, all of you,” I said loudly, addressing all the women and children as I headed deeper into the forest. I could not resist getting one last glance. After all, Will was fighting Ralph.

As the kids and the girls passed by me, I peeked around the thicket of trees one last time, just in time to see Will killing Ralph. Such satisfaction coursed through my veins upon seeing Ralph die that I had no way of putting it into words. A vile vampire, an evil conspirator, and a most malicious and cunning man was finally dead at the hands of my mate. The man responsible for killing my parents, for pitching this town into total darkness, and for terrorizing the people of Grimm Abode and Fiddler’s Green had finally fallen.

I wanted to go to Will and congratulate him for vanquishing one of his three foes, but I barely held myself back. I did not want him to know that I had been there. That I had seen him fight and considered him very brave and admirable on the battlefield. Sharing those thoughts with him would only make him think that I’d forgiven him, accepted him, and wanted him back as my mate. If anything, I wanted more distance between us—but why did that last feel like a lie I kept telling myself?

“Where were you, child?” Cindy asked again. “When Maurice came with Will’s body, we thought you’d be with him too. But when we didn’t see you, we assumed the worst. That you were dead.”

“Oh. It’s not so easy to kill me, Cindy,” I said, taking the lead once again and leading the pack back to the commune. “But you must know that Maurice was conspiring with the vampires and some other terrible people all this time, using his powers as the mayor to bend the town to his will. Tonight, he meant to wipe out all the wolves. He wanted to give the Grimm Abode to the vampires so that they’d use our home as their new headquarters.”

“Headquarters?” a little girl from the crowd asked.

“Yes, dear. They wanted to smuggle blood and drugs from the Grimm Abode all over America. The vampires have been running a smuggling ring from this very town for the longest time.”

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