Page 18

Chapter eighteen

Dirus Morales

We ran to provide the other team support.

“Fastest way is right through town. But they’ll definitely notice us.” Astria tried to run ahead, but my men kept a circle around her, preventing her from leaving us behind.

“Let them. We have to provide back up as soon as possible.” I had to assume they needed it, since no one had answered me in some time and we hadn’t seen the plane take off yet.

I couldn’t handle her begging me. She was an omega. She was not to beg a wolf for anything. All she needed to do was command it.

Part of me hoped that we’d get there and everything was clear, so we could bail out, but I knew Wallace. If it was clear, he would have already followed her orders.

I understood why she wanted things done this way. Strategically, she’d be my target. Her daughter probably wouldn’t remember this place. But Astria would.

I’d lose sleep thinking about her coming back if I was them. No, I wouldn’t. I’d cut her down where she stood to make sure she never came back to haunt me. She was right. They weren’t going to let her just leave.

We entered town, and it was eerily quiet. Not a single soul was on the streets. I studied the shadows, looking for anyone who was lurking about, but not a damn soul was here.

“Something is wrong.” The panic in her voice rang loudly in the silence.

“High alert, men,” I told them. “What would make this happen?”

She took a deep breath. “I haven’t seen it like this since the cleansing. But if one woman fled, the rest would follow.”

Awful shrieking filled the air. Not of women and children. No, this sound grated against the core of what I was made of and made me want to instinctively pull away. This wasn’t my first rodeo with these fuckers.

“Star-eaters.”

They would eat anything really, but they were named after their favorite meal. I eyed my celestial witch and my wolves made from celestial magic. It was my job to make sure I got everyone to safety.

If I didn’t, I failed as the alpha.

“Tight formation, watch your brother’s six,” I commanded, putting every ounce of alpha aura into the order, so they knew that I was here to take care of them. “Shifting gets their attention fast. Don’t use your wolf form unless they are on us.”

Clicks rang in our circle as the guns came out and safeties were turned off. “Yes, Sir.”

“What’s the objective?” I asked to center my men, keeping the goal firmly in their sights.

“Protect the omegas and get out alive, sir,” they all chanted with easy practice. At least everyone but the pup. He only mentioned protecting Astria.

“Nowak, tell the pup why he’s wrong?”

“Because if we die, you have to do more paperwork.” Nowak grinned. “And you hate paperwork.”

“Fucking A.”

No, I didn’t want to write down an essay long explanation about where I fucked up and cost my fellow wolf his life. Fuck that shit.

Astria stared off into the distance with wide eyes. I held my fist up so none of my men moved. “What’s wrong?”

Star-eaters poured out of the treeline on the other side, running right for us. From the direction the plane was parked in. There were countless numbers of them filling the street, eyeing us like we were dessert.

When she looked over her shoulder, I knew there was more coming from behind. Shit.

“Move.” I let the boom of the alpha command fill my chest. I fell back, taking my spot at the rear. My people were all in front of me and in my line of sight.

Nowak turned around and fired his rifle right over my shoulder, protecting my exposed back. Never stopping his backwards shuffle, and I didn’t miss the way he kept his shoulder to Astria’s back.

I could blame it on the emergent circumstances, but part of me wanted to preen that she knew Nowak would shield her. That she’d already wrapped Nowak around her tiny fingers.

Now the women and children screamed. They came out of the shadows like rabbits and ran. They must have sensed the danger in the air, but they would have been better off running far from here while they had the chance.

At least with a bunch of witches, we had a better probability of winning. Until I saw some of them throw weak spells that would never accomplish anything. The realization hit me that if they weren’t allowed to be taught on anything else, why would they be educated on any built in weapons to protect themselves with?

Damn it. More innocent citizens to give some nice padding to the body count.

Astria placed her arms wide and hands open. A thick gold shield wrapped around our team. Star eaters ran head first into the shield and started biting the globe of magic. With one chomp, the shield cracked like glass.

“Shit.” Nowak looked at the magic shield in awe. “She’s the real deal.”

That old wolf, Raj Ahmed, who used to tell us about how celestials were, would come tell us tales about how back in their day omegas would fight side by side with their pack. How it made packs fight three times harder, because they knew their omega would die if they didn’t.

We always laughed it up and called bullshit, because Nadine the golden, could never risk a perfect gold hair on her head.

Wolves were not servants, he would tell us. The celestial we declared our devotion to were supposed to guard us just as fiercely. I might owe that old fucker some beers.

I never swore my declaration to Nadine. It wasn’t required since there was only one pack. But it was frowned upon that at my high standing, I never formally took my spot.

Now, I knew why.

Because Astria was my omega.

There, I finally admitted it.

I stared at the back of her head as my breathing came in quick bursts. Priorities and plans shuffled around with a loud click in my mind as everything reorganized. I couldn’t move. Even as more of those shattering sounds filled our bubble of safety she created.

It was like someone did a reboot on my brain, and all the programming was self correcting to where it was meant to be, after spending centuries forcing it to be different. Yet I was stuck on the stupid loading page, waiting to be able to do anything.

Nowak’s pale blue eyes met mine and understanding filled him. Like he’d already experienced the exact same thing. He took over as I froze in place. “Steady and ready, pups.”

Arrows made of magic rained down around us, but there were two more to take the place of every one that went down. They must have had multiple facilities full of these things, and they weren’t a common breed.

A sharp splintering crack got me moving again. “Now!”

My men fired their rifles, gunning down any who approached us. We slowly pushed our way forward, but the solid wall of bodies was no joke. If it wasn’t for Astria, throwing a round of those star arrows out as we reloaded, we’d have been twenty kinds of dead by that point.

Her eyes turned to the sky, and she took a deep breath. “The wolf.”

Strength filled me with a renewed force. She was funneling power into the magic that laid latent inside me. It would be a waste not to unleash the full potential. I and several others shifted in unison, apparently having the same idea as me. The only one who stayed in human form was Nowak.

I could hear better. My reflexes were sharper. The taste of blood on my tongue was stronger. Everything was heightened, and it made it easier to dispatch the mob of star eaters.

“Keep it moving!” Nowak yelled to the pups, keeping Astria’s six properly covered. Killing anything that managed to escape the barrage of arrows and wolves. “Whoever kills the most eaters gets to take the first shower when we hit the real world again.”

Nowak did as I taught him and kept the pep talks coming, while I busied my jaws with removing kneecaps and snapping necks. We finally made it to the other side and to the high ground right as the pups’ exhaustion started really hitting them.

A piercing scream made Astria turn back, and she could finally see the bedlam below. Her eyes grew wide with horror as the horde was quickly destroying everything in their path.

Fires crackled as houses and businesses went up in smoke. Blood filled the streets. It was madness. Something told me the governor hadn’t released them. He lost control over the situation.

“My sisters.” Astria took three steps to return. “The children.”

I leaped in front of her, blocking her, and used my nose to push her back.

“My lady,” Nowak spoke up gently. “Their best chance is for us to keep moving, and for your magic to lead them away. We’re tired and we can’t fight all of them.”

She nodded, and let him lead her up the next hill. Only for us to find Zielle sneering with his eyes locked on my celestial. “Found you.”

This powerful witch trembled before this piece of scum.

Our omega would tremble for no one.

Nowak shifted in a second, tracking the same movement I did. He snarled with the force of an alpha. One that was on par with me. Shit, was he going to be another high alpha in her pack?

That was a thought for another time. I ran for Zielle with Rios and Nowak at my heels.

We jumped, ready to complete one of the best group takedowns I’d ever seen in my life. He didn’t even move to defend himself. I hoped it would be the worst pain he ever felt. I snapped my jaws, ready to rip his throat out.

Like he was just a projection, I went through his entire body, came out the other side, and fell on top of Rios and Nowack when the same thing happened to them. Instead of a perfect kill, we were rolling across the ground with each other.

What the fuck happened?

Zielle turned on his heel, and that sneer turned into a menacing smirk. “That almost tickled.”

Another set of wolves nipped at his ankles, but not one tooth scratched him. He kicked his foot out, getting one of my confused betas good in the side.

It was rare, but witches who practiced matter magic were real. How could we ever hope to protect her from him if we couldn’t touch him?