Page 23 of Howl For A Kiss (Rebellious Mates #3)

TWENTY-ONE

ELENA

T he alarms shrieked through the stone corridors of the Tidewater Alpha's stronghold. Elena could feel the vibrations through the walls and ceiling as what sounded like half the Tidewater pack thundered toward their position in the basement holding cells.

"Fiona, stay close to me," Elena commanded. Her sister looked fragile as glass, but Elena could still see traces of Fiona's fierce spirit.

Elena felt her tactical mind snap into overdrive, calculating angles and escape routes with the cold efficiency that had made her the most feared rebellion leader in Tidewater territory.

The service tunnels were their only viable exit, but with guards approaching from both directions, they'd have to fight their way through.

Elena drew her weapons with fluid grace, the familiar weight of her guns settling into her hands like extensions of her own body. "We will make them regret the day they captured these young rebels for no good reason," Elena said, her blue eyes going flat and deadly.

They moved as one unit through the narrow service tunnel, Damon's imposing frame leading the way while Elena covered their rear with the three male rebels flanking the rescued captives.

The young rebels might have been beaten and traumatized, but they moved with the desperate determination of people who had already accepted death and found themselves gifted with unexpected salvation.

The tunnel soon opened into the stables, moonlight streaming through the tall windows and illuminating scattered hay bales and horse stalls.

Elena's enhanced senses picked up the familiar scents of leather and animals, but underneath it all lay the metallic tang of weapons and the musk of aggressive males ready for violence.

"Well, well," a cold voice echoed through the stables. "Elena Walsh. I wondered when you'd crawl back to finish what you started."

Elena's blood immediately boiled in her veins and her vision blurred red.

Beta Marcus Tidewater stepped out of the shadows with ten pack enforcers, their weapons gleaming silver in the moonlight.

His cruel face wore the same expression of cold satisfaction she remembered from that terrible day when she'd been forced to abandon Fiona.

"Marcus," Elena said, his name dropping from her lips like poison. Behind her, she felt Fiona press closer, trembling with remembered terror.

The Beta's calculating gaze shifted to Damon, recognition flickering across his hardened features.

"Beta Gray. I should have known the Silvercrest pack would be involved in this rebellion nonsense.

" His lips curved in an ugly smile. "Walk away now, Beta Gray.

Give them over to us. Come back to our side where you belong. "

Elena felt her heart stop. This was it—the moment that would define everything between them. Through their half-completed mate bond, she could feel Damon's internal struggle, the weight of fifteen years of duty and loyalty warring against something deeper and more primal.

For the briefest moment, Damon hesitated. His eyes met Elena's across the moonlit stable, and she saw the storm raging behind his carefully controlled exterior. The Beta who had served his pack faithfully for fifteen years stood at a crossroads that would change the course of his entire life.

Then something shifted in his expression—a hardening of resolve that made him look more dangerous than Elena had ever seen him.

"You're right about one thing, Marcus," Damon said, his voice filled with absolute authority that made even the Tidewater enforcers shift uneasily. "I am Beta. But I'm not your Beta."

He stepped forward, placing himself between Elena and the armed Tidewater pack enforcers with the protective instincts of a mate defending his chosen female. "I, Damon Gray, officially renounce my position as Beta of Silvercrest pack."

The words rang through the stables like thunder, carrying the weight of an oath that could never be taken back. Elena felt her breath catch in her throat, understanding the magnitude of what Damon had just sacrificed for her.

"I declare my loyalty to Elena Walsh, to the rebellion, and to truth and evolution over lies and oppression," Damon continued, his voice growing stronger with each word. "The old ways are broken, Marcus. It's time for something better."

Marcus's face twisted with rage and disbelief. "You're throwing away everything for a half-breed rebel whore?"

Damon's voice cut through the air like a sharp knife. "Call her that again and it will be the last words you ever speak."

The deadly quiet in his tone made several of the enforcers step back involuntarily. This wasn't the controlled Beta they might have heard about—this was a warrior unleashed, protecting the woman who had become his entire world.

Marcus hesitated for just a split second, clearly thrown by Damon's unexpected defection. That moment of uncertainty was all Elena needed.

"Now!" she shouted.

Chaos erupted in the moonlit stables as two forces collided with bone-crushing violence. Elena's tactical training merged seamlessly with her primal fury as she moved through the battle like a force of nature, her weapons finding their marks with deadly precision.

Daniel and Maggie burst through the stable doors with perfect timing, their arrival turning the tide as Elena's rebel fighters fought with the desperate courage of people defending their freedom.

The young rescued rebels grabbed improvised weapons from the stable tools, their traumatized rage giving them strength they didn't know they possessed.

But it was Damon who became the rallying point of the battle. His public renunciation of his Beta position had transformed him into a symbol of everything the rebellion represented—the choice to break free from oppressive traditions and fight for something better.

Elena found herself fighting back-to-back with her mate, their movements synchronized through their growing bond as they cut through the pack enforcers like twin forces of retribution.

She could feel his protective fury through their connection, and his absolute determination that no harm would come to her or Fiona.

When the dust finally settled, eight of the ten enforcers lay wounded and groaning on the stable floor. Marcus himself was on his knees, clutching a deep gash across his ribs that Elena had opened with surgical precision.

Elena stalked toward the fallen Beta, her weapons still drawn and her blue eyes burning with the rage of years of suppressed vengeance. This was the moment she had dreamed about—Marcus Tidewater helpless at her feet, finally facing justice for his cruelty.

"You held a gun to my sister's head," Elena said, her voice carrying the cold finality of an executioner. "You threatened to kill her while I watched. You made me choose between her life and her freedom."

Marcus glared up at her with unrepentant hatred. "I was following orders. Pack law?—"

"Pack law is wrong," Elena interrupted, pressing the barrel of her gun against his temple. "And you enjoyed every second of it."

Through their bond, she felt Damon's steady presence behind her—not trying to stop her, but ready to support whatever choice she made. The power of that unconditional acceptance nearly brought her to her knees.

Elena looked down at the man who had haunted her nightmares for years and suddenly found that her thirst for revenge had transformed into something else entirely—pity for a broken system that created monsters like Marcus Tidewater.

With deliberate care, she shifted her aim and put a bullet through his shoulder instead of his skull. Marcus screamed and collapsed fully to the stable floor, clutching the wound.

"Stay far away from me and Fiona," Elena said with deadly quiet. "Because next time I won't be as merciful."

She turned away from the wounded Beta, her weapons still ready, and found Damon watching her with pride in his green eyes.

"Ready to get out of here?" she asked, adrenaline still singing through her veins.

But even as they prepared to make their final escape from the Tidewater stronghold, Elena knew that everything had changed tonight.

Damon had chosen her over duty, over everything he had built his life around.

The rebellion had gained not just a powerful ally, but a symbol that tradition could be overcome by love and truth.

The wind cut through the moonlit forest as Elena led her rebel group and the rescued young rebels away from the Tidewater stronghold.

Snow crunched beneath their boots as they ran, each step taking them farther from the nightmare they'd just escaped.

Elena's heart hammered with residual adrenaline, but underneath the battle-high ran something deeper—pure, overwhelming relief.

Fiona was alive. Fiona was here, running beside her through the moonlit forest with tears streaming down her face.

"Elena," Fiona gasped between labored breaths, "I can't believe you came for me."

Elena reached out and squeezed her sister's hand without breaking stride. "I should have come sooner. But I should never have left you there in the first place."

Behind them, the four rebels who had created the diversion at the main entrance caught up to their group.

Daniel's face split into a fierce grin as he fell into step beside Elena. "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen—watching you put that bastard Marcus in his place."

"We're not safe yet," Damon's commanding voice cut through their celebration. Elena felt her pulse quicken at the raw authority in his tone. Even stripped of his Beta title, he moved with the dangerous grace of a born leader. "They'll send trackers. We need to cover more ground."

Elena glanced back at the other five young rebels they'd rescued from the holding cells. They were pushing themselves hard, but exhaustion and trauma were taking their toll. At this pace, they wouldn't make it to Cade's compound before the Tidewater pack organized a proper pursuit.

"How far to the compound?" she called to Damon.

His green eyes caught the moonlight as he calculated. "Eight miles through this terrain. Too far on foot with this many wounded."

Elena's tactical mind raced through their options, then landed on the obvious solution. Her wolf stirred beneath her skin, eager for the freedom of her true form. Around her, she could sense the other shifters having the same realization.

"We shift," she decided. "All of us. The young rebels can ride, and we'll cover ground faster as wolves."

Fiona's eyes widened. "Elena, I've never seen you shift before."

"Well, let's just say, I finally discovered my true nature," Elena said, already shrugging out of her tactical jacket.

The transformation started with Elena, her clothes falling away as her bones lengthened and reshaped.

The burn of her first few shifts had given way to something smoother and more natural.

When she emerged as her rare white wolf, the moonlight seemed to gather in her fur, making her glow like a spirit of the winter forest.

One by one, the others followed her lead.

Damon's massive dark wolf appeared beside her, the distinctive white patch over his heart standing out against his rich brown fur.

Daniel and the other rebels shifted into their wolf forms with practiced ease, while Fiona and the young rebels managed their transformations with varying degrees of success due to their exhaustion.

Elena's white wolf form moved to Fiona's smaller brown wolf, nuzzling her sister with gentle reassurance. Through the pack bond that connected them all in this moment, she felt Fiona's wonder and fear blend into something approaching joy.

"This is who we really are," Elena's wolf seemed to say through their connection. "This is freedom."

Damon's wolf took the lead position naturally, his dominant presence undeniable even without his former title. When the rescued rebels who couldn't shift properly climbed onto the backs of the larger wolves, Elena felt a surge of protectiveness flow through their group.

Then they ran.

Through the snow-covered forest they moved as one united pack, their paws finding sure footing on the treacherous terrain.

Elena's white wolf form raced alongside Damon's dark brown wolf, their movements synchronized in perfect harmony.

Behind them, their rebel pack followed with the determination of people who had tasted freedom and would die before giving it up.

This was what the rebellion truly meant—not just fighting against oppression but creating something new. Something better. A family forged not by blood or tradition, but by choice and shared purpose.

When Cade's compound finally appeared through the trees, Elena's wolf form let out a howl of triumph that echoed through the forest. One by one, the others joined their voices to hers until the night rang with the sound of victory.

They shifted back to human form just inside the compound gates, none of them caring about their nudity as they embraced in a tangle of relief and joy. Elena found herself laughing through her tears as Fiona threw her arms around her.

"We did it," Fiona whispered against her ear. "We really did it."

Elena pulled back to look at her sister—really look at her. Fiona's face still bore the marks of her ordeal, but her hazel eyes blazed with newfound strength. She was no longer the frightened girl who had been forced into an abusive mating. She was a rebel, a survivor, a warrior in her own right.

"Yes," Elena said, her voice rough with emotion. "We did."

Strong arms wrapped around both sisters from behind as Damon enfolded them in his protective embrace.

Elena leaned back against his solid chest, feeling the rightness of it settle deep in her bones.

This was her mate—not the Beta constrained by duty and tradition, but the warrior who had chosen love over everything else.

"Welcome to the rebellion, Fiona," Damon said, his voice rough with emotion. "Welcome to your real family."

As their group celebrated around them, Elena looked up at the star-filled sky and felt something she hadn't experienced in years—hope for the future. They had struck a blow against the old ways tonight, but more than that, they had proven that change was possible.

The rebellion had found its strength not in violence or hatred, but in the simple act of refusing to abandon the people they loved.