Page 27

War

Deke

S hock rooted me to the spot. I stood staring at my baby cousin cradling his older brother to his chest, tears running down his face while Chase lay unmoving in his arms, blood covering him.

“Chase?”

The wrecked way Axel called for his twin broke me. I lurched towards Blake, desperate to find any sign of life.

“Hiro!” I yelled as I cupped Chase’s face, my heart stopping for a moment until I felt his pulse thrumming under my fingertips. “He’s alive!”

“Outta my way!” Hiro ran to us. “Put him on the floor.”

Blake dropped to his knees. The sound of bone meeting concrete made me wince. He struggled to let go of his brother, finally placing him on the ground, but keeping a hold of one of his hands.

“Back!” Hiroshi barked. “Let me work.” The healer was all business while he used his talent to scan Chase’s body for the injuries. Chase was naked, likely post shift. Blood and grime covered him. Someone handed Hiroshi a towel so he could wipe the mess off Chase and treat his injuries.

It felt like I was barely breathing in the few seconds it took Hiroshi to scan Chase.

“Looks worse than it is, everyone. He’ll be fine,” he assured us.

A hand slipped into mine. Ozyn. His touch did more to comfort me than Hiroshi’s statement. Perhaps because I knew Ozyn was feeling the same as me, and if he could help it, nothing bad would happen to Chase. I knew Ozyn would drain what little remained of his magic to heal Chase if Hiroshi couldn’t.

It wasn’t necessary, though. Hiroshi’s golden healing light worked its miracle on Chase. The wide gashes on his legs, torso and arms soon closed to pink scars, which would likely fade with time.

“His eye,” Blake whispered, fear and grief choking the words.

“I’ve got it. Might need a little more juice.” He wiggled a hand for one of his mates. Both Tate and Roan were his fated mates. As such, they could help boost his energy to power his healing. Roan took his hand with a squeeze.

Hiroshi wiped the towel carefully over Chase’s face. The blood didn’t budge. “I need water!” Tate joined his mate on the ground by Chase’s head. He poured half a bottle of water over Chase’s face, clearing most of the blood.

My stomach nearly expelled itself at the sight. His eye was ruined. A deep claw mark bisected it, cutting the organ nearly in two. It would be a miracle if he kept it.

“Hold him still,” Hiroshi commanded as Chase roused. His limbs flailed under Blake’s hold.

Automatically, I fell to the floor to grasp Chase’s legs. Blake moved closer to me, pressing an arm across Chase’s torso. Blake’s body shook with his grief and pain. I leaned into my cousin, silently offering my support. Kade took Blake’s shoulders, rubbing them absently while he watched Hiro work. Axel took the other side, supported by his mate. He cried openly, never taking his eyes from his twin while gripping Blake’s hand for dear life.

“Tate, I’m gonna need a boost from you, too.” Hiroshi’s light was dimmer while he worked on the intricacies of Chase’s eye. “I can fix it so he’ll have sight, but he’s gonna scar.”

“He’ll love that,” I said, my voice shaking. “Won’t you, Chase?”

“Yeah. It hurts,” he croaked. I wished we had the time to get him some pain relief. We had to prioritize healing over it. Once he was stable, we could find something to make him hurt less.

With both his mates boosting him, Hiroshi healed the worst of the damage. “Ugh!” We all could see he was struggling.

Ozyn stepped forward, only to be pushed out of the way by Valethar. “Nope. I’ll do it.” He breathed his weird dragon magic breath over Hiroshi, making the healer’s light flare so bright I had to shield my eyes. Everyone turned away to protect their sight. When it dimmed once more, I could see both of Chase’s gray-blue eyes staring up at the early morning light.

“Wow!” he gasped. “The pain is gone!”

There was still a scar on his face from forehead, down over his eye, and halfway down his cheek, except this scar looked older, like he’d had it for a decade, not a minute.

Chase raised his fingers to his face, tracing the scar. “Bet that looks wicked cool,” he said with his trademark grin. Yeah, he was fine.

Everyone in the yard relaxed. It was like we all collectively took a breath now that Chase was joking around. Axel launched himself at his twin, wrapping him in his arms while he cried. Teárlach brushed his brother-in-law’s hair back off his face with a tender expression. Blake stayed kneeling, holding onto Chase’s arm like the man would vanish at any second, not that I was any better, I still had my hands on his legs.

Hiroshi swept his healing light over Blake, likely seeing the gash in our Alpha’s calf. It closed to a thin line. His shifter healing would do the rest.

“Alright, let me up!” Chase cried. “Deke, can I use your shower?” He shook himself free of everyone holding him, but spared a pat to the head for Hiroshi, the only part he could touch of the healer since he was surrounded by his mates. “Well done, Hiro! I feel great.”

He got up on shaky legs, stumbled for a bit until I broke out of my daze and rushed to his side. “C’mon, I’ve got you.”

“Yeah.” Chase leaned into me as I helped him to the bathroom I shared with Ozyn. There were two others on this floor, one the babies would use and Safi’s attached to his room. We were looking into a house for Nhil, thinking maybe he could take my old place now that it seemed he’d be sticking around.

My cousin was quiet as I started the water and found him a fresh towel. I caught him looking in the mirror in wonder.

“You look badass,” I told him, putting my hands on his shoulders, looking at our reflections.

“Damn right.” He let out a ragged sigh. “I was so scared I was going to die.”

Unable to even think about losing Chase, I turned him and just held him. I felt his tears dampen my shirt. Stroking his hair, I shushed him. “You’ll have half the house up here in a minute.”

His tears quieted, though he still shook with his sobs. Both of us had the pack link locked down tight. I could feel Ozyn getting anxious, but he knew Chase needed me.

“Are the eggs okay?” Chase finally asked. He rubbed his face, being careful around his new scar.

“The eggs are fine, thanks to Ozzy and his family.” My smile dimmed when I thought about what we’d just been through. “What the fuck was that, Chase?”

“Sam.” He offered no other explanation.

“What?”

“He betrayed us, Deke.” His expression was haunted. “They took Georgia and Erin because of him.”

My blood ran cold. They’d stolen our pack mates? Omegas. Goddess only knew what they would do to them. They needed to pay. “We’ll get them back.”

“I had to kill him,” Chase whispered. I could feel his grief and guilt like it was my own. We both had trusted Sam. He’d said all the right things, been where he was supposed to be. We thought he was one of us.

“Why?” The question just slipped free filled with pain.

“He didn’t want to be an omega.”

I thought about all the pain and suffering he’d caused all because he had been given a gift he could have refused. My heart ached for Chase who had to kill a pack mate because of his treachery.

“You did what you had to.”

It took some time for everyone to recover from the shock of the attack and injuries our friends received. Rather than have everyone return to their homes, Blake ordered us all into the community center. Except we couldn’t move the eggs for almost another day.

In his wisdom, he split the group. Half staying with us, the rest going to the community center. Ozyn’s brothers went to the center for that group’s protection. We didn’t think there would be another attack, but we couldn’t chance it. My older sons, because that’s what they were, stayed with us, glued to their papa’s side.

Ozyn couldn’t bear to be far from the eggs. I kept the bond open while I helped a still shaky Chase shower. I let Chase borrow some clothes and took him to the nest.

“Here,” Ozyn took Chase’s arm. “Come meet the eggs. Your brothers were just looking at them.” In a shock move, he pulled Chase into the nest so he could sit close.

I love you.

My mate beamed at me. “Come sit.”

“No, you should be resting, not me. You did all that.” I waved at everything outside of our bubble. The fence surrounding our yard was in pieces.

Ozyn grimaced. “I made a mess.”

“No,” Blake said, patiently. “You protected our families.”

The house was quieter without so many of the children running about. Acting as Head Enforcer, Larken had gone to the community center with his mate and kids, along with Roan and his brood. I was just grateful Blake had decided to stay put where he was. I didn’t want any of them out of my sight, it was bad enough the group was split. There just wasn’t the space for us all to sleep.

“Without you dragons, I’d probably be dead,” Chase admitted, his stare focused on the eggs. “You came through at just the right time. I don’t think they expected Ozyn to be able to fight, let alone everyone else arriving.”

“How did you know we needed you? It’s a couple of hours’ flight, isn’t it? How did you make it here so fast?” I wondered aloud.

Balon smiled. “We were already on our way to see you both and the babies. Nhil mentioned adding his magic and thought we might like to do the same for our baby siblings.”

Touched, all I could do was smile at the more stoic of our boys. He never really said all that much, but I liked that about him.

Blake returned from a call from the SDF. He’d been on the call for a while. His face was grim. Sharing a look with his mate, he went to him and kissed his forehead.

“It’s official. We’re sanctioned to go to war with the aviary.”

No one said anything. I guess we knew it was coming. We couldn’t continue to live as we were.

“What’s more, after the strike today, finding out who the spy was, and the mercenaries hired in, this has given the SDF the proof they needed to get a presidential order. The council has been disbanded with immediate effect, and all assets were frozen. Any members who try to continue under the banner of the shifter council will face terrorism charges. Once the dust settles from my Alpha challenge to Michael, the head of the aviary, then we can work with the SDF and other willing packs to form part of a new supernatural species council. All supernaturals deserve to have a place.”

“Is that wise?” Teárlach asked. He had a point. It was sure to be problematic. Part of why shifters were the only group represented was our community minded nature. Vampires had clans, but other types were more solitary.

“Neither is my choice. I believe the council deserves to fall after everything. They’ve lost their way from The Luna and this is justice for us. If they could have stuck to allowing betas and omegas to join, really tried to work towards equality, and hadn’t undermined us at every opportunity, then maybe I’d be more forgiving.”

“Yeah. They’ve caused a lot of harm, not just for the pack, my family, too.” Kade took his mate’s hand.

“How they dealt with Rincoln was ridiculous. We lost years of our lives running from that monster because he had half of them in his pockets,” Jasper added angrily. “Kade suffered so badly because of him, them, and we were powerless to stop them. If Kade hadn’t met you, Blake, I dread to think what would have happened.”

“The Luna guided Kade to me.” His smile for his mate was soppy. Honestly, those two were sickeningly in love. “Then you came, Jasper, and met Dakota, who had followed Kade. Grady and Trey came to visit and never left. Because Hiroshi trusted Dakota, he came to us when he needed help and met his fated, setting off more dominoes.” Blake sat, taking his mate onto his lap.

“I believe with my whole heart that The Luna put us on the path. All we needed was faith and to trust our hearts. It’s what makes the Sweetwater pack so strong. We all care about each other, which is why we’re stronger than the aviary.”

Blake wasn’t done.

“Tomorrow, once we are all rested, we’ll decide who is going and who stays. We need a large show of force because I know the aviary will fight dirty. It’s likely the remaining mercenaries are hiding there.” He scanned the crowd, all of us listening intently. “I’m ending this for good. I’m officially challenging Michael with the right to rule the aviary as their Alpha.”