The One 111

THE ONE 111

Chapter 111: Battle Part I Hunter The minute the howls of alarm go up, I’m leaping out of bed. I quickly rush back, grabbing Sophie and kissing her hard. “Stay alive!” I growl, racing for the door. She knows to call Carter and Kayce, so I can focus on fighting. “You do the same!” She yells as I leap over the banister of the stairwell, barely missing Lucas as the two of us shift on our way to the ground. Shaw and Dario land side by side as everywhere around us men and women are leaping and shifting. From the guest quarters, I see Ezra’s wolf, Thorin, and Margot, still in human form running beside him. I’m guessing he told her to stay close. “WARRIORS TO THE BORDER! IF YOU’RE NOT FIGHTING, GET TO THE SAFE ROOMS. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! I REPEAT, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” I bellow through the mind link, forcing all the links open to wake everyone that has a wolf and get them moving. “Safe room leads, get to your safe rooms. Start checking your people. Get the pups safe and those doors closed!” I hear Sophie respond in the mind link after me. As an Alpha, I want to make sure my people are safe, the ones who can’t fight, but I know my mate and Kinsley will handle it, so I turn my attention to the battle in front of me. I keep my mind connected to Sophie’s, needing to hear if she’s in trouble. I 288 (Vouchers know that Lucas is doing the same with Kinsley. We talked about it and between the two of us, if we hear that they are in trouble, one of us will get to them. I hear the sounds of battle ahead of us and Lucas and I race into the fray, barreling through the warriors, ripping Joshua’s pack members off of ours as we go. Joshua is my target. That’s who I want because I know that Sophie is his target. He will be Ezra’s target too, because of Margot, but I won’t leave s life in another’s hands, even another Alpha’s. my mate’ “Safe Room One doors closing!” Kinsley announces in the mind link, and I instantly feel relief from

some of my warriors. They know that their loved ones in that safe room are now safe. I’m ripping another wolf off of one of my warriors, when a large wolf barrels into me, knocking me aside. This must be Joshua’s Beta, I don’t even know his name, nor do I care. He came for me and my pack, so he will die today. “Safe Room Two doors are closing!” Sophie announces in the mind link. I keep the announcements in the back of my mind as Shaw focuses our attention on the Beta in front of us. He leaps at us and Shaw dodges quickly, slicing his claws down the Beta’s side. However, another wolf comes up behind us, sinking his teeth into our flank. Shaw spins, snapping his teeth into the cheek of the wolf and ripping a chuck of flesh off his face, forcing him to release us. I feel the Beta swipe at me again from the other side, and Shaw quickly moves back trying to get the two attackers in front of him instead of on either side of him when I feel a third wolf slashing at our backside, raking his claws down our back and 288 Voucher the other flank. “Safe Room Three doors are closing! Last Call! Last Call!” Kinsley yells in the mind link just as Sophie’s voice bellows through the mind link. “THE PACKHOUSE IS BREACHED THE PACKHOUSE IS BREACHED! PREPARE TO FIGHT!” Fury and frustration rage through me knowing that my mate and pup will now have to fight to stay alive. I use the anger to fuel my fighting, pushing the force of my anger into Shaw as he turns, slicing into the third wolf behind us, ripping his throat out. He spins around quickly, going for the weaker of the two wolves, dodging a swipe from the Beta. He slashes the weaker wolf from shoulder to flank, feeling our claws scrape his ribs as he does. The wolf howls in pain as Shaw turns to face off with the Beta. Shaw leaps at him, but instead of landing on the Beta, another wolf jumps out of nowhere, tackling him to the ground. This wolf is bigger and smells like Alpha. Joshua. Finally. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Now I’m facing off with an Alpha and a Beta and the two of them have obviously been fighting together for a long time because they make sure to keep me between them. While Shaw attacks one, the other comes at me, tearing into Shaw’s side, his shoulder, his wounded flank. They don’t get any deadly hits on us, but they’re slowly weakening Shaw faster than he can heal. Joshua has just leaped at me when Thorin, Ezra’s wolf, leaps from behind me, grabbing him by the neck and ripping him 40 57% Chapter 111: Battle Parti 288 vouchers away. I turn, focusing my attention back on the Beta who now backs up, collecting himself and debating on continuing to fight. me or help his Alpha. In his moment of indecision, I leap ready to kill him, but it’s at that exact moment that my mate’s panicked voice shouts in my head. “HUNTER!” Leah POV I had helped the women and children assigned to safe rooms find their room, making sure that Safe Room One was full and had everyone before the doors closed. Safe Room One has the most pups. It’s set up that way so that if they can’t make it to Safe Room One, they still have two more to get to. I had then turned my focus to the others before spotting Brooklyn standing at her door, calmly shouting for her group to get inside. I rushed to her, hugging her as I heard Luna Sophie say that Safe Room Two doors were closing. “Be safe!” I say to Brooklyn, just as Beta Kinsley comes up. “Is everyone inside?” she asks. She’s breathing heavily but she’s not showing any fear. The packhouse is getting quiet as the safe room doors close and the pups are locked away. “I’m missing three, two pups.” Kinsley announces that Safe Room Three is closing its doors, a moment before Luna Sophie announces the breach to the packhouse. We all hear the windows shattering and the snarls as the attacking wolves race in. 09:03

甘 “We’re here!” A young mother says, rushing up with a baby and a young pup in her arms. Kinsley quickly ushers them inside before Brooklyn looks at me once more, a pleading look in her eyes to stay alive, before the door closes and I hear the lock click into place. “LEAH!” Kathleen, my partner calls. I race to her, and we stand together, ready to fight. I wish we’d have been able to practice. more, but Brutus gave me some pointers last night after he’d marked me. I take a moment to revel in what might have been my last night on this earth. Brutus had made it the most memorable night of my life. He is a gentle and passionate lover, giving me pleasure that I never experienced with Michael. I can still feel the soreness from him being inside me, his size much larger than what I’ve experienced before, or maybe it was the three times that I experienced it in one night. Either way, I will die a happy woman. ‘You’re not dying,’ he growls in my head. He’s been in my head since the moment that the howls had gone up. Neither of us had been able to sleep, so we’d held each other, and Brutus had given me little pointers on where to punch, where to slice with Millie’s claws. She isn’t strong enough for me to shift yet, but she can extend her claws and Brutus made sure we both knew how to hit hard and puncture lungs. “You don’t have to kill them. Maiming them like that will kill them slowly, but they can’t fight if they can’t breathe,” he said. As the wolves rush into the packhouse, spreading out, Kathleen and I turn back-to-back. Millie extends her claws, and we prepare to fight.