Page 53 of The Alpha's Forced Pregnant Mate

Saul just shook his head. "That's a story for later."

"He's right," Julian said. "We have to stop the demons before they get inside."

My brain was still fuzzy, but the urgency of the situation was slowly dawning on me. If the demons got inside the house, it would be over for all of us. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, and then carefully stood. The floor was shaky beneath my feet, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I needed to get back in the fight.

I saw Laura had her sword out and was standing guard in front of the door. There were growls and yells from outside, and I knew that we didn't have much time before the demons reached the house.

"Give me a weapon," I said, holding out my hand to Julian.

He frowned. "Are you sure you're okay? You were hit with a dart full of poison."

"I'm fine," I insisted. "Now give me a fucking knife."

He reached down and unclipped one of the many blades from his belt, placing it in my hands. I gripped the hilt tightly, feeling the familiar weight of the weapon in my palm. I took a deep breath, trying to push away the fear that was creeping up on me. I was still feeling a little lightheaded from the poison, and my vision was blurred at the edges. But I wasn't about to let that stop me from helping to fight off these demons.

"I can't let you fight," Julian said, his voice low and urgent. "You're not well, Whitney. You need to stay here and rest."

I glared at him, my blood boiling. "I'm not some fragile flower you need to protect. I can take care of myself. Let's do this."

Before he could protest again I rushed forward to join Laura, who took enough time to squeeze my shoulder affectionately and exclaim, "Glad you're back!" before running back into the fray.

Julian was beside me again, but he had given up trying to stop me. "Stay on the edges. We're almost done here anyway. And don't get far from me."

"I've got it," I growled, rushing forward to help Laura and a few others fend off the last wave of demons.

The demons were still coming at us, but they were clearly losing the battle. The sun had risen and the demons died in front of a stunning sunrise. We were surrounded by the pops of dying demons, and many of them were beginning to retreat.

"We're winning," Laura yelled over the chaos. "We've got them on the run now!"

The rest of the Red Canines cheered as the demons began to scatter, finally realizing that they were outnumbered. The ones who remained were quickly defeated, and soon we were left standing victorious in the blood-stained field.

"We did it," I breathed, hardly able to believe it. "Now…does anyone want to fill me in on what's going on?"

***

Julian was attached to me like a tick after the battle, and barely let me help gather the wounded and offer help. Someone passed around bottles of water, and I sat in a loose circle with Julian, Laura, and Saul, who pieced together the last few hours for me.

The biggest shock was the large group of wolves around us—the Red Canines. I was sure every one of them would rather watch Julian die than fight beside him. "How'd we go from 'get out by 7 am or else' to being war buddies?"

"Naomi." Everyone said at once.

Laura clarified. "Julian sent out a mass text—from my phone, since he's the world's most hated wolf—about what was going on. We never expected that she'd manage to rally the pack and send them out here, but it was a nice surprise considering we were about to die."

That made my stomach clench. "You should have left me and gone to get reinforcements."

Julian shook his head once, grunting. "Fuck no. They said they were going to bleed you dry for some ritual. There was no way I was leaving."

His words triggered something in my memory, snatches of words I had picked up when I was unconscious. "I heard them talking!" I gasped, nearly jumping to my feet. "They were talking about needing witch blood for a portal ritual, or something along those lines. I mostly heard 'witch blood' and 'portal' over and over again."

"Shit," Laura spat, turning to look at the others. "That makes sense."

The group was silent for a moment before Julian spoke up. "We have to go back into the house and see what they left behind. Once it's clear, we'll burn it to the ground."

We started to go over plans, Julian keeping a hand on my knee the entire time, and I was anxious to get away from the battlefield to confirm that the baby was alright. I still hadn't told Julian, and the guilt was eating me alive, but I wasn't going to risk telling him only to find out that the sedative dart had harmed the pregnancy somehow.

We were interrupted when a Red Canine member, still in his leather biker jacket, made his way over and pointed at Julian. "You. Danny wants to talk to you."

Everyone froze. "He's here?" Julian managed to ask. "Look, Man, I don't want to fight after all this—"

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