Page 22 of Howl For A Kiss (Rebellious Mates #3)

TWENTY

DAMON

P atrick's truck rumbled to a halt just outside Cade's rebel compound as the November moon crested the treeline, casting silver light across the snow-covered ground. Damon helped Elena down from the passenger seat, his hand lingering protectively on her back despite the dull ache in his abdomen.

After partially claiming her last night in the cavern, Damon could now feel Elena's turbulent emotions even stronger—her panic, her determination, and her guilt that was so sharp it made his chest tighten.

She blamed herself for Fiona's capture, for walking away that day when the Tidewater Beta had held a gun to her sister's head.

The knowledge that his mate carried such crushing self-recrimination made his protective instincts surge like wildfire.

"Thank you, Patrick," Elena said, her voice steady despite the storm raging beneath the surface. "We'll get word to you about the outcome."

The rebel leader nodded grimly. "Bring those youngsters home, Elena. And watch each other's backs."

As Patrick's truck disappeared into the darkness, Damon caught Elena's arm gently but firmly. "We need to move fast, but we also need to be tactical about this. Usually when an Alpha issues a kill order, it's executed swiftly—within twenty-four hours."

Elena's face went pale in the moonlight. "Then we don't have time?—"

"We have enough time to do this right," Damon interrupted, his voice carrying the authority that had commanded respect for fifteen years as Beta. "Rushing in blindly will only get Fiona and those other rebels killed faster."

She whirled to face him, her blue eyes blazing with desperate fear. "You should really stay here. You're still healing, and if something happens to you because of my mission?—"

"Elena." The singular word carried enough steel to cut through her panic. "Look at me."

When her wild gaze focused on his face, Damon stepped closer, close enough that her scent filled his lungs and calmed his restless wolf. "I will not let you go into that stronghold without me. That's not even an option, ever. You are my mate, and where you go, I go. End of discussion."

Something in his tone—the absolute finality of it—seemed to ground her spiraling thoughts. Her shoulders straightened, and he felt her tactical mind clicking into gear through their bond.

"All right," she said, her voice regaining its characteristic steel. "Then let's make sure we both come home alive."

They walked through Cade's compound gates toward their shared cabin, Elena's thirteen loyal fighters emerging as word of their arrival spread. Maggie hurried over, her healer's eyes immediately assessing Damon's condition.

"You look like hell," she announced bluntly.

"I feel better than I look," Damon replied dryly. "But we have bigger problems right now."

Five minutes later, after Elena broke the news that Damon is actually the Beta of the Silvercrest pack and her fated mate, Elena's surprisingly understanding fighters crowded into their cabin's main room as she spread detailed maps across the dining table.

Damon studied the terrain surrounding the Tidewater Alpha's estate, his Beta experience automatically cataloging defensive positions, guard rotations, and potential vulnerabilities.

"So, let me break down the standard Alpha stronghold protocol," he said, tracing the perimeter with one finger. "Guards rotate every four hours, with skeleton crews after midnight. But there will be extra security now given the high-value prisoners."

Elena leaned over the map beside him, close enough that her warmth seeped through his thermal shirt. "I know the internal layout from Fiona's mating ceremony. The holding cells are in the basement level, accessible through the main house or the service tunnels."

"Service tunnels?" Daniel asked, the senior fighter's scarred face intent.

"Emergency escape routes," Elena explained, pointing to a section of the map. "They lead from the basement to an exit near the stables. Fiona and I almost made it out that way before..." Her voice trailed off.

Damon felt the spike of remembered pain and rage through their bond. His mate had been forced to abandon her sister to save her life—a choice that would haunt any protective soul, especially one as fierce as Elena's.

"The Beta's quarters are here," Damon said, indicating a section of the estate. "Marcus Tidewater. He'll be the one coordinating security for the executions."

Elena's eyes went flat and cold. "Good. I have unfinished business with him."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.

Damon recognized that look—he'd worn it himself during his darkest moments as Beta.

Elena was slipping into the mindset that had allowed her to survive her brutal childhood, the place where mercy became weakness and vengeance justified any cost.

"Elena." His voice cut through the planning discussion like a blade. When she looked up at him, he held her gaze steadily. "This is a rescue mission. We get in, extract the prisoners, and get out. We're not there for revenge."

"Speak for yourself," she said, ice crystallizing around each word.

"I am speaking for both of us," Damon replied with quiet authority. "You're not facing this alone anymore. I'm here with you now, and I'll be here always. But I won't watch you become the monster they tried to make you into."

The cabin fell silent. Elena's fighters exchanged glances, clearly recognizing the tension crackling between their leader and her new second-in-command.

Damon felt Elena's anger warring with something deeper through their bond—the part of her that had always craved someone strong enough to pull her back from the darkness.

"Fine," she said finally. "Rescue first. But if the opportunity for justice presents itself..." She shrugged with deceptive casualness.

Damon studied her face, reading the stubborn set of her jaw. His mate had agreed to the mission parameters, but she hadn't promised to abandon her thirst for retribution. He'd have to watch her carefully once they reached the Alpha's estate.

"Three teams," Elena announced, turning back to the map. "Insertion team goes through the service tunnels. Extraction team secures the prisoners. Diversion team creates chaos topside to draw attention away from the real objective."

"I'll take insertion with you," Damon said.

"Maggie and I can handle extraction," Daniel offered. "We know prisoner rescue protocols."

Elena nodded, already distributing weapons from their arsenal. As Damon watched her preparing for their mission, he felt a spike of fierce pride mixed with protective concern. His mate was a warrior born, deadly and beautiful in her element.

As they all prepared to leave the cabin, Elena checked her weapons one final time.

In the lamplight, her face carried the cold determination of someone who had waited years for this moment.

This wasn't just a rescue mission for her—it was personal reckoning, the chance to face the people who had torn her family apart.

"Remember," Damon said quietly as they stepped into the November night, "you're not the same woman who had to walk away that day. You're stronger now. We're stronger together."

Elena glanced at him, and for just a moment, the ice in her expression thawed. "Together," she agreed.

But as they disappeared into the forest with her fighters, Damon couldn't shake the feeling that tonight would test every bond between them—including the mate bond that was still so new and fragile.

The Tidewater Alpha's stronghold loomed before them through the snow-laden pines, a massive stone fortress that spoke of centuries of dominance and oppression.

Damon crouched beside Elena at the forest's edge, studying the imposing structure with the analytical eye of someone who had visited countless such strongholds in his fifteen years as Beta.

This is it, he thought, feeling the weight of the moment settle over him. After tonight, everything changes.

Next to him, he could feel Elena's coiled tension—part anticipation, part barely controlled fury. Her sister was somewhere behind those walls, and nothing in hell would stop his mate from reaching her.

"Three guard rotations on the perimeter," Damon murmured, his breath forming small clouds in the frigid air. "Standard stronghold protocol, but they've doubled the usual numbers." His eyes tracked movement along the tower battlements. "They're expecting trouble."

Elena's jaw tightened as she checked her weapons one more time—guns secured in her shoulder holster, knives at her hip, and extra ammunition strapped to her thighs. "Good. They should be."

Damon felt another surge of fierce pride watching her prepare for this infiltration.

His mate was magnificent in her element—deadly, focused, and beautiful in the moonlight despite the cold fury radiating from her every movement.

She was everything he'd never known he needed, and after tonight, he would officially choose her over everything else in his structured, duty-bound life.

The realization should have worried him. Instead, it felt like a homecoming.

"Remember," he said quietly, addressing Elena's thirteen fighters gathered in the shadows around them, "this is extraction, not revenge. We get the prisoners and disappear before anyone realizes they're gone."

Daniel nodded grimly, his scarred face set in determined lines. "Maggie and I will have transport ready at the stables. Once you bring them through the service tunnels, we move fast."

"And if things go sideways?" asked Chad, one of Elena's most experienced fighters.

Damon's expression went cold and deadly. "Then we adapt. But nobody gets left behind. Not tonight."

Elena caught his eye, and something passed between them—an understanding that went deeper than words.

They were no longer just Beta and rebellion leader, or even just mates learning to trust each other.

They were warriors united in purpose, ready to burn down the world if necessary to protect the people they loved.

"Move out," Elena commanded.

The teams scattered like ghosts into the night.

Damon followed Elena and three of her fighters toward the service entrance, his body moving with the predatory grace that had made him one of the most feared enforcers in Silvercrest territory.

But now those skills served a different master—love, not duty.

The service tunnels were exactly as Elena had described from her desperate escape attempt years ago.

Damp stone walls that reeked of neglect and fear, narrow passages designed for servants and supplies rather than armed infiltration.

Damon's enhanced hearing picked up the guards' movements above them as they navigated the underground maze.

"Two guards at the basement entrance," he whispered, holding up his hand to halt their advance. "Standard patrol pattern. We take them silent."

Elena nodded, her blue eyes sharp with tactical focus. They moved as one unit, fifteen years of pack training meeting ten years of guerrilla warfare experience. The guards never knew what hit them.

The holding cells lay beyond a heavy iron door that had seen too much suffering. Damon felt his wolf snarl as the stench of despair and dried blood filled his nostrils. This is what our laws created, he thought with sick revulsion. This is the legacy I helped build.

Elena's gasp of recognition cut through his dark thoughts. "Fiona!"

The young woman huddled in the corner of the first cell was barely recognizable as the vibrant girl from Elena's memories. Her dark brown hair was matted and dirty, and her hazel eyes were hollow with trauma. But she was alive, and when she saw Elena, those broken eyes filled with desperate hope.

"Elena?" Fiona's voice was barely a whisper. "Is this real?"

"Real as the snow outside," Elena said, her voice thick with tears as she worked the cell lock. "I'm getting you out of here, Fi. I should never have left you."

Fiona stumbled into Elena's arms, and Damon felt his mate's anguish like a physical blow through their bond. This was personal for Elena in ways that went beyond rebellion politics—this was family, love, and the promise of redemption for a choice that had haunted her for years.

"The others helped me escape during another forced mating ceremony," Fiona whispered against Elena's shoulder. "We thought we were free, but they caught us in the forest. They've been planning to make us an example..."

"Not anymore," Damon said quietly, already working to free the five young rebels in the adjacent cells. Each one bore signs of interrogation, but their eyes burned with the same fierce determination he'd seen in Elena. "Can you walk?"

"For freedom? I can run," one of the young males said with bitter humor.

Alarms began blaring above them, echoing through the stone walls like the howl of enraged beasts. Damon's blood turned to ice—they'd been discovered too soon.

"The diversion team must have been spotted," Elena said, helping Fiona toward the service tunnel entrance. "We need to move now."

"Guards incoming," Damon reported, his enhanced hearing tracking multiple sets of boots thundering toward their position. "Multiple directions. We're about to be surrounded."

Through their ever-growing mate bond, he felt Elena's determination crystallize into something harder than diamond. She wasn't just saving her sister—she was proving to herself that she could choose love over revenge, family over fury.

"Then we fight our way out," she said simply. "Together."

Together, Damon thought, drawing his weapons as the sound of approaching enemies grew closer. Whatever comes next, we'll always face it together.