Page 107 of Fated to the Rogue

“Right away, Alpha.” My Gamma’s voice sounded inside my head before Dawn’s eyes landed on her mate.

“Are you ready to fight, sunrise?” I asked Tina.

“Only we can stop them,” she replied confidently.

“Stay near me at all times. I need to know you’re not in danger,” I pleaded.

“Even if you can’t see me, all you have to do is blink,” she reminded me as our wolves shared one last hug. They howled in unison to assemble another group of warriors, not hesitating to lead them onto the battlefield.

My heart was racing in my chest. This was the moment I had been preparing for since I stepped in as Alpha, yet I would belying if I said I felt ready. I wasn’t afraid for myself, but I couldn’t bear the thought of any of the members of my family getting hurt. If anything went wrong…

“Nothing will go wrong,” Dawn reassured me. “We can do this.”

Trusting her, I tried to clear my mind and focus solely on the battle. With a quick glance, I tried to analyze the fight we were about to jump into. The warriors who had gone ahead under Mint’s leadership had already been injured, scratches scattered around their bodies. Thankfully, there seemed to have been no losses yet. I also noticed that none of the rogues present were nearly as big as Ryder and his father. It led me to believe that lower-ranking wolves who had been turned into Fallen weren’t as powerful, though they were definitely still stronger than us.

Dawn wasn’t the least bit intimidated by the thought though; she had already taken down two Alpha-blooded Fallen after all. Without hesitation, she fiercely pounced on the first enemy we came across, knocking it to the ground. As she ripped at his throat, I used our special ability to get a glimpse of what Dusk was up to whenever she blinked. I realized that he was protecting Tina just fine, masterfully using his ‘bleed-out bite’ to weaken his opponents before finishing them off. Feeling calmer, I allowed myself to concentrate on mine and Dawn’s fight.

Full of energy, my she-wolf continued to take down other beasts with ease. She was faster than them, and she didn’t let the superficial wounds they inflicted on her slow her down. It also helped that we had practiced daily since we fought our first Fallen. However, we were both aware that this wasn’t training anymore; this was real life. It was kill or be killed, and I knew exactly which one my counterpart was going for.

As Dawn closed her jaws around her fourth opponent, causing him to suffocate on his own blood, I saw a flash of a dirtygray wolf coming at us from behind. Tina had probably been able to project the image she was seeing to us.

To the sound of her previous enemy taking its last breath, Dawn quickly turned around. Lifting herself up on her hind legs, she used her front paws to wrap her opponent in a fatal hug, taking him by surprise. The two wolves thrashed their muzzles against each other as both tried to injure the other with their teeth, but my she-wolf ended up prevailing. While her claws dug into the filthy creature’s shoulders, she sank her fangs into his neck, making him cry out in pain. As the rogue fell to the ground, Dawn stayed on top of him, securing him in place to wait for him to stop breathing, but before he did, another beast came to his rescue.

My she-wolf was sent rolling on the floor after she lost balance when the second rogue rammed into her side. She didn’t stay down, though. Shaking the dirt off her fur, she roared at the creature, making him lower his ears when she revealed her Alpha aura. She immediately jumped on the coward, but as soon as she knocked him over, the other enemy she couldn’t finish off came for her again. With no time to react, Dawn couldn’t prevent him from piercing her skin with his canines as he grabbed a hold of her scruff.

“Two against one…” Dawn huffed as she struggled to break free, caught between the two abnormally strong beasts. “These fuckers like to fight dirty, huh?”

A wolfish grin shone on her face through her pain, letting her bloody teeth show, but she knew she was in a complicated situation. She hissed when she felt claws on her left thigh, then jaws on her shoulder. Despite her speed and fast healing, it would be hard for her to win against two Fallen.

“I got you, Alpha!” A familiar voice echoed in my head, a moment before a dark gray wolf with bright yellow eyes showedup in front of us, promptly knocking down the beast on top of us. It was Bellona, my Delta’s wolf.

Grasping the opportunity she had been given, Dawn jumped away, gaining some distance to prepare her next move. While Bellona took care of one of the rogues, Dawn made sure to strike the other one with a fatal attack. She pushed him to the ground, pressing her paws against his chest to tear it open with her claws. The agonizing sounds of the creature were disturbing, but she had no mercy. Once she set eyes on her target, she used a powerful bite to rip his beating heart out of his chest in a not-so-clean, but very effective move.

“Shit! That was brutal,” I joked.

“These bastards asked for it,” Dawn snarled.

Once the situation was under control, she closed her eyes to get a better view of Dusk’s perspective. Her heart fell when she realized that he was up against three Fallen, and I found myself sharing her despair. We had barely survived fighting two at a time. Opening her eyes again, Dawn scoured through the battlefield in search of the huge black wolf, needing less than a second to find him.

She raced towards her mate without a second thought. Neither of us had a plan in mind; we just wanted to get to Dusk and Tina before something bad happened to them. But just before we reached them, a peculiar sight made us stop.

Dusk’s hackles were raised, making him look even scarier. His growls were loud as he stared into each of the enemies’ eyes, his own orbs glowing in a piercing, icy shade of blue. The soulless creatures, who had been snarling and baring their fangs until now, all froze in their spots. Initially, I thought that they were submitting to Dusk’s powerful aura, but the next second, all three beasts dropped to the ground. They started writhing in utter agony as their ear-piercing cries filled the air.

“What’s happening to them?” I projected my thoughts to Valentina, hoping she would have an answer. Dusk hadn’t laid a finger on his opponents, yet the three of them were acting as if they were on the brink of death.

“I…I don’t know. Dusk’s angry…” was all my mate managed to utter back.

“It’s like he inflicted pain just by staring at them,” my she-wolf guessed. “Like some form of psychological torture. The pain seems to be only in their minds.”

“You think that could be related to his powers as the Darkbringer?”

She didn’t have time to answer my question. My friends didn’t hesitate to jump into action. Mint took care of one of the creatures agonizing on the ground, while Talon landed a clean strike on another. Lastly, Bellona appeared to finish off the remaining rogue. Shortly after, I couldn’t hear any more snarls or growls.

“Looks like it’s over now.” My she-wolf sighed in relief.

Through her golden eyes, I watched as the light from the rising moon shone onto our territory, highlighting the dozens of corpses scattered over the crimson-painted grass. I was tense at first, afraid I would find familiar faces amongst the dead shifters, but in the end, I could only spot enemies. The fact that there were only wolves strewn across the ground meant that we hadn’t lost any of our own - if we had, they would have shifted back into their human forms, as normal werewolves did. Moreover, everyone would have felt the losses, since the magical ties that existed between members of a pack would have been severed.

At last, I sighed in relief, and Valentina ran into my arms as soon as Dawn gave me back control. I held her closer than ever, overjoyed to have her close again. So much had happened in the last few hours, with us finally discovering Dawn’s ability to take pain away, then the Fallen attack much earlier than weexpected, and Dusk seemingly unlocking another unique ability that caused the opposite effect of Dawn’s. Yet none of that mattered now.

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