Chapter Seven
Alexia’s heart pounded away in her chest with thrill and danger. Her hearing was sharp, picking up the sound of four pairs of feet shuffling around them. Her face was still buried in Hayden’s chest, “There are four people around us, right?” she asked him.
“Yes. One is directly behind you, and another behind me. We are flanked on both sides by the remaining two,” Hayden analyzed, eyes sharp as he watched each movement of their attackers.
The attacker directly behind Alexia shifted his weight onto his right foot, and slashed forward with his dagger.
“Now!” Hayden whispered harshly in Alexia’s ear before spinning her around.
Using the momentum of the spin, she launched herself into the air and delivered a flying kick to the attacker’s hand, knocking the dagger away.
She landed perfectly on her feet and took up a fighting stance, her back to Hayden’s back.
Their attackers, dressed in black clothes and facemasks, advanced closer.
“Ready?” asked Hayden.
“As I’ll ever be, Wolfie Boy,” she replied.
The hostiles rushed them and they started fighting.
The sounds of fighting came closer and closer to the packhouse. Ace, Henry, Malfoy, and Thaddius stood strong. Suddenly, a silver bullet zoomed past Henry and buried itself in the brick of the wall. The shooter stepped forward, armed with a gun and a dagger. He sneered and attacked Henry and Ace.
The two werewolves held their ground against the intruder and fought for a while. Suddenly, he hit Henry hard in the head and he slumped, unconscious. Ace realized that he was not going to win the fight in his human form, so he shifted.
The sound of bones cracking and joints popping rented the air, and then a big black wolf was standing where Ace stood a few seconds ago. The wolf snarled, exposing deadly, sharp canines. It attacked.
The assailant was well prepared. He supported the wolf’s upper body weight by holding up its front limbs. The wolf snapped and bit at him, but he had a pretty strong grip on the front paws. The wolf unsheathed its claws and swiped them across the attacker’s face. He howled in pain, cradling his cheek, before he kicked the wolf’s snout.
The snout was one of the most sensitive places on a wolf, and Ace staggered back, whimpering. When the pain passed, the wolf lunged at its attacker again. This time, the attacker did not wait for it to get close to him. He brought out his gun and shot two silver bullets at it. One went wide off the mark, but the other bullet lodged itself in the wolf’s side. It howled in pain, but it continued to fight.
The wolf bounded and latched on to its attacker’s arm with his teeth. He bit down hard, until blood seeped into its mouth, and it heard the cracking of bones.
The assailant yelled, and kicked the wolf’s underside. The wolf whimpered before it lost consciousness and shifted back to Ace.
With a severely broken hand and numerous lacerations, the assailant attempted to enter the packhouse.
Just as he crossed over Ace’s and Henry’s body in the threshold, he was seized by pain in every cell of his body. Thaddius came from around the corner with one clawed hand in the air. He closed the clawed hands into a fist, and more pain racked through the attacker’s body. He lay on the floor, sprawled in an awkward position with his face tightened in a grimace.
“How does that feel?” he asked sarcastically, tightening his fist again and again.
The pain levels kept growing until it became excruciating. Then he passed out.
“Oh, hell no, Mister,” Thaddius growled and snapped his fingers, “You have to be awake.”
The assailant woke up with a gasp. Thaddius clenched his fist again, and another bolt of agony streaked down his spine. After some time, Thaddius got bored of playing. He crouched and asked the assailant in a creepy sing-song voice, “What shall I do with you?”
He gasped like the idea came to him at that moment, “I know. I’ll kill you!”
Thaddius was about to kill the assailant when suddenly, all the fighting stopped. Their attackers started retreating. Very fast. He sighed heavily, and in a fit of anger, he killed the attacker by twisting his neck sharply, snapping it like a twig. He threw the body away contemptuously.
“Gather yourselves, warriors. You have done well. Help the wounded into the packhouse, and count the dead. We shall hold a feast in their honour tomorrow,” the tired warlock declared.
Almost after the announcement, Arthur who was in the defence line showed up, covered in blood, but otherwise uninjured. However, he looked extremely worried.
“Still no sign of Hayden or Alexia?” he asked the other clan leaders with the exception of the injured Henry. They all shook their heads tiredly. Arthur sighed heavily, “I have a feeling something bad has happened to them.”
“They can handle themselves, Arthur. Don’t stress yourself. Right now, what we all need is some food, and a lot of rest,” mumbled Malfoy. Thaddius nodded in agreement.
The three of them turned and went into the packhouse, supporting the injured Henry and Ace.
The battle was over. For now.
On Juniper Hill, a fierce fight was ensuing. Hayden and Alexia gave as good as they were getting, working together as a team.
Alexia dodged a knife swipe from the first attacker, before reaching back with her leg to kick the second attacker in the groin. The first attacker attempted a flying kick on her, but she swerved, grabbed his leg and used his own weight to flip in.
The second guy recovered and put her in a chokehold. She struggled and struggled, but her strength was no match for that of the burly man holding her. She was rapidly losing air and all the blood rushed to her head, making her dizzy. She remembered one of the earliest moves she ever learnt and attempted the SING.
S – Solar plexus. She jammed her elbow hard into her attacker’s solar plexus, making him double over because he was suddenly out of air.
I – Instep. She trod hard on his instep, breaking his toes.
N – Nose. Alexia raised her hand and slammed it into the guy’s nose. Blood spurted from it, and some splashed on her face. She tugged on the arm on her throat, but it didn’t budge, so she delivered the last move.
G – Groin. She brought her fist down and smashed it into his family jewels. Finally, he released her, and she swerved to give him another punch on the nose. He went down like a log of wood, unconscious from the pain.
Alexia smiled and made a show of dusting her hands. She did not notice the guy behind her with a knife. He grabbed her, and placed the knife to her throat.
“Hey, you!” he called out to Hayden who had eliminated an attacker too. His second assailant stopped fighting and smirked when he saw the situation. Hayden turned and his stomach sank when he saw the knife placed at his mate’s throat. He swallowed thickly when the man pressed the knife into her skin and blood seeped through the thin cut.
“Don’t hurt her, please. I would do anything you want,” he pleaded. His opponent, the other assailant, stood behind him closely, handcuffed him with a pair of silver handcuffs and forced him to his knees. They burned his skin, but he gritted his teeth and endured the pain.
“What do you want from me? What do you want from us?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“We have been watching you, Alpha Hayden. We know your every move. Every step you take, every breath you inhale; we’ve been monitoring you. We know that this young…huntress,” Hayden and Alexia’s eyes widened, “is your second-chance mate, although she has not accepted you. I wonder why that is,” he chuckled in mockery. Then his face lost all vestiges of humour.
“You are going to be an impediment to our plans, so we have to take you out. But I have to tell you, all four clans that you kept in the packhouse, they’re probably decimated by now. What a foolish idea,” he continued.
Anger burned hot in Hayden’s eyes, “You’re lying. Our clans working together are formidable. You bastards don’t stand a chance,” he growled.
The assailant tut-tut-tutted like he was addressing a recalcitrant child. He pressed the knife deeper into Alexia’s skin, and the barest sound of pain escaped from her mouth. The sound ran Hayden mad, but he was helpless so he pleaded instead, “Please, don’t hurt her. Please.”
“You Alphas, the big bad wolves. Who would have suspected that holding your petite mates captive would make you sob like children?” he cocked his head, “Anyways, Alpha Hayden. We have to start going.”
The last thing Hayden felt was a needle being jabbed into his neck. The last thing he saw was Alexia struggling, then hit with a blow to the side of her head.