Page 70 of Blood Sacrifice

“We failed because those we trusted betrayed us. They took our protection and leashed our wolves.” I growled in anger and others in the room joined me. “Today we take back our pack, we re-affirm who we are, and we destroy those who seek to tame us.”

“Hell, yeah,” Jethro said. “I’m no one’s poodle.”

“More like a chihuahua,” Tarrack replied, ducking when Jethro threw a stapler at him.

“Dominic and his vamps will instruct you on these blasters, Tarrack will assign you into teams, and I want people on the ground by tonight,” I finished.

“Can I make a suggestion?” Dominic asked. “Put a vampire and magic user in every group. If I’ve learnt one thing over the past few months of being in the allied forces, it’s that each species has its own unique strengths, and together we make a formidable enemy.”

I studied him, evaluating such a team in my mind. I nodded at Tarrack. “Do it,” I said. “Whatever it takes to bring this to an end. We all deserve our lives back.”

Since there was nothing else to discuss, I spun on my heel and wandered through the base to one of my favourite thinking spots. Before I went into battle, I needed to know what it felt like to be in my own skin again without someone controlling me. My wolf howled in my head, his claws digging into my spine.

“Fuck it,” I said, making my way to the old tunnels Luna had questioned me about before this mission. They led to a forest area at the back of the base. Right now, I needed space and privacy, and my wolf could give me that. I shook myself until I stood on four legs instead of two, flexing my claws and opening and closing my jaws until I fit fully into my wolf form. Then, I ran.

There was something about the feral beauty of the forest that relaxed my soul. Everything was in perfect alignment because nature knew how to maintain the balance between life and death.

I ran, allowing the breeze to push against my fur, my claws digging into the ground and tree trunks while I twisted my body to push myself toward exhaustion.

Luna was my mate, and I hadn’t been able to protect her. I leapt through the air, dragging my claws down an unsuspecting tree. A suppressed violence simmered inside me, and I wantedto lash out and hurt everything around me. I stretched my spine, threw my head back, and howled until my throat hurt and I could barely breathe.

All my emotions bled out into the forest, absorbed into the trees and the ground. I released all the agony trapped inside, the memory of Luna collapsing in front of me as she accepted the curse meant for me. My claws dug into the forest floor, contracting until the pads of my feet bled.

Four hundred years I had walked this life without her, and she was ripped from me just as I found her again. Wolves were notorious for their sexual appetite, the full moon wreaking havoc on our senses, our hormones out of control when a female was in heat. None of that had ever applied to me. Luna had been the one and only love of my life. Both of us had been young when she arrived at the temple, and there was a strict law forbidding the wolves to take lovers as Balor didn’t want little wolves running around everywhere. We had broken all the rules to be together, and no one had interested me after she was gone, even when I thought she was dead. Looking back on it, I now realised my wolf knew all along that she was still out there somewhere, and that tore my heart to shreds.

How could I have been so fucking stupid?

I howled again, the pain in my heart overwhelming me.

No one could ever see me like this. I needed to find the strength to lead my pack, even as I fell apart inside. When I returned, this anguish would be hidden under the mask I wore to prevent anyone from seeing the real me.

The only one who had ever seen inside me was the woman who sacrificed herself for me.

I didn’t deserve her. I never had, and yet I had never been able to walk away from the magnetism that drew me to her. A helpless moth to her translucent flame.

“Luna…” Her name tore from me as my legs gave way and I was left lying on the ground.

In this darkest moment amidst my despair, I felt her presence, her touch as she stroked the top of my head. I had forgotten that she used to sit beside my wolf in the moonlight and run her fingers through our fur. Calm started in my chest and spread through my body, focus returning to my mind.

“I need you to get up and fight for us.”Luna’s voice echoed through my head.

My legs were weak under my weight, but I pushed myself to stand. She wasn’t there when I turned around, even though I still felt her presence. Luna had always been the strong one in our relationship, helping me to keep my faith and allow me to function when I had begged her so many times to run away with me. We should have had several lifetimes together, and enough love to earn ourselves a constellation to tell our story.

More wolves had arrived at the base when I returned, each of them screened by Maia and her assistants. Tarrack had assigned teams, and the majority of our soldiers were already dressed and ready for battle.

Jethro eyed me when I walked into the command centre. “Our team heads out in five minutes.” He paused, pursing his lips together as if debating what he was about to say. “Your head on straight?”

“Never better,” I snapped, striding over to the armoury and strapping blades and guns to me.

“Here.” Dominic handed me one of the blasters he had been demonstrating earlier. “Some curses need the witch of origin to help break them. Aisha can’t be used to save Luna if she’s dead.” His eyes met mine, and I felt a lump form in my throat.

I nodded once and added it to my arsenal.

We each had a communications device, and night vision glasses. Tarrack chatted to Jethro, and I heard the conversation in the room and in the aid in my ear.

“Where are we heading?” I asked when I could fit no more weapons on me.

“The old chapel on the outskirts of Lima,” Paulo replied. “There’s something about that place that has always interested me, but every time I went to visit it, I couldn’t bring myself to step inside.”

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