Page 187 of Crystal Luna

‘Spread out,’ she ordered the others. ‘Make sure these are the only ones. Adam, go get the silver chains.’

Her warriors dispersed while she waited for Luka and Kenneth to tame the surviving wolf. Only then did she approach.

“Now, how about you shift and fill me in on your plans?”

The wolf only answered with a deep growl that bared his teeth.

“Fine,” she sighed and aimed the gun at his knee. “Silver it is.”

The gunshot cracked in the air and he whimpered as the silver bullet shattered his knee.

She aimed for the other leg and he didn’t flinch, so she shattered that one too. Lucky for the bastard, Adam appeared with the silver chains. He pulled them behind him with gloves on to prevent exposure. Smart man, she thought, noting that he brought two sizes: one for human and one for wolf.

A third warrior joined Luka and Kenneth as Adam approached the wolf with the silver collar. His eyes went wide in pain—then he ultimately gave up. The combined pain of shifting with his injured knees ultimately made him black out.

“Great,” Velora grumbled. “How fucking frustrating. Well, let’s get him fixed up. Don’t leave him unsupervised.”

She turned to the other two wolves, but the dissolving silver bullets had been too much for their bodies to heal. Had she shot them anywhere other than the head, they likely would have survived.

Velora reached out to her mates, seeing that their battles were over too. She updated them, then made sure the prisoner would receive medical care for the knees she busted—what a shame.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Isaiah

They stood around after the battle, surveying the damage. They needed to figure out what to do with the remaining rogues: both living and dead. Most fought to the death but the ones who had surrendered and survived their initial injuries were now spread all over their territory. Some had tried to flee—they would likely bleed out on the journey home.

Velora was already trying to get information from her prisoner while his own men began to pile up their dead and bring their injured back to the village.

‘They wanted to kidnap me. The ones you found were meant to be a distraction while I was captured,’ Vel explained.

‘How were they able to hide from detection?’ Ash asked, still infuriated by the fact that no one had been able to scent them.

‘They rubbed themselves in a tincture that they took off some hunters. They aren’t sure themselves what it is, but they believe lycan blood is part of it.’

‘I thought the only known lycan had been killed by Luna Mellowic when it attacked the Silvermoon Wolves?’

‘I don’t know. They killed a hunter and snagged it from him. Maybe there are more out there that we don’t know about’

‘Maybe,’ Isaiah agreed. ‘But we have more pressing matters to attend to now. We still need to figure out what to do with the survivors.’

‘If they can walk, let them return home, if they can’t they’ll just have to wait till nature does its part.’ Vel’s mind was dark and angry, but he couldn’t blame her—both twins felt the same.

‘So, everyone is alright if we let them go?’

‘Let them take whoever they think they can save, but get them out by nightfall,’ Ash added.

As they oversaw the transport of the injured, Axel huddled all the surviving rogues together. When everyone was accounted for, Ash made it clear that if they weren’t gone by nightfall, there would be major consequences. The men scrambled to escape before the words even left his mouth. Only a few tried to take the injured with them—most of the selfish bastards ran without looking back.

Only the rogue snitch stayed behind, holding his brother from running too. “I want what you promised me!” he called out, his brother’s fearful eyes darting around. “I did what you asked of me. Now I want what I’ve rightfully earned.”

Isaiah stiffened his shoulders and walked over to the young rogue, struggling against his brother’s strength. “Just moments after a battle where your kind attacked ours, you expect us to magically hand you a pile of money.” Isaiah scoffed. “Axel will arrange a meeting with you once we’ve taken care of our pack.”

The rogue opened his mouth to protest, but something in Isaiah’s face must have changed his mind. He let go of his squirming brother, then darted into the woods after him.

Once they were back in the village, they found Velora in the clinic, helping where she could and consoling the mates of the severely injured. So far, the Crystals didn’t have any casualties—but no one was out of the woods. The moment his eyes found her, the weight on his chest lifted. Nothing else in that room mattered. With Ash by his side, they charged across the space and pulled her into their arms. They fully expected her to pull away but much to their relief, she settled into their touch and wrapped her arms around each of them.

She let them kiss her head before she pulled back and gave each of them a once-over. “Go get checked before you bleed out somewhere.”

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