Chapter 127

#Chapter 127 – Night Stalker “Three.”

Victor pulls his trigger at the same moment as two of his Betas. All three of Rafe’s troops fall to the ground, shrieking hideously.

Victor grimaces at the sounds, but works to stay perfectly still. This is one thing that is different from actual combat. If this had been a real-life situation, he and his Betas would have aimed to kill, and Rafe’s Betas would have fallen to the ground as silent as stones.

As it is, Rafe’s Betas are free to shriek to their heart’s content. In fact, they’re almost unable not to, considering the horrible wolfsbane now working its way into their bloodstream.

His instinct, in this moment, is to move away from racket of the shrieking Betas, whose noise is letting Rafe know that at least some members of Victor’s own team are within shooting range of the fallen men. One strategy would be immediately to pack up and move to a different part of the forest to let Rafe’s team approach again.

But Rafe has studied military strategy. There is every possibility that this is itself a trap – sacrifice three Betas and wait for Victor himself to stand up, revealing his position.

No, Victor holds steady, letting Rafe be the one who takes the bait. Rafe knows where he is now.

Come and get me, Victor thinks.

Victor’s troops are spread out in a wide semicircle in the forest, all within sight of each other’s binoculars, creating a trap for Rafe to walk into. Victor himself is the furthest point of the circle and the plan, ideally, is for Rafe and his troupes to walk into the circle. Once they do that, Victor’s Betas will move to surround them.

Of course, Rafe knows of this basic – if strong – strategy. There’s every chance he has prepared counter moves against it.

But Victor can’t think that far ahead – he has to stay in the moment, countering Rafe’s moves until it is his own time to strike.

“Sir?” He hears in his ear.

“I’m here” he responds.

“We have eyes on two more of the opposition’s Betas. No indication, yet, of the Alpha leader.”

“Received, Beta. Continue as planned.”

Victor narrows his eyes, looking through his scope and scanning the forest for signs of his brothers’

forces. As it stands now, Rafe is down 3 men, Victor was down none.

Victor keeps his eyes out for the two approaching Betas from Rafe’s squad. He knows that they won’t be stupid enough to head right for their fallen comrades, whose yells have faded to whimpers, but still.

They’re approaching.

But where is Rafe?

The boys hurry through the forest, their boots crunching in the snow, their breath huffing out in front of them like tiny clouds. Suddenly, Ian puts out a hand, stopping his brother in his tracks.

“This isn’t going to work,” he whispers.

Alvin frowns. “Why not?”

“Because we are making too much noise,” Ian says, gesturing around at the rest of the silent forest.

“We can’t help papa if uncle Rafe hears us coming.”

Alvin nods quickly, understanding, staring around at the forest for a solution.

After a moment, he smiles, a little wicked. “I know,” he says.

Ian c***s his head at him, frowning, a little angry not to have figured it out yet. Alvin’s smile widens as he points his finger upwards at the boughs of the pine forest interlocking overhead. “We will be like the sneaky squirrel,” he whispers. “Looking down from above.”

“Yes!” Ian says, laughing a little and giving his brother a high-five. The two dash over to the nearest tree, Ian boosting Alvin up into the air so he can reach the lowest branch. Then, wrapping his legs around the branch, Alvin hangs down and reaches out his hands to pull his brother up.

The two move quickly after that, their light children’s bodies making the work easy for them. Once they are both in the tree, they move higher until they reach the boughs which are heavy enough to hold them, but long enough to intermingle with the neighboring trees.

“Are you ready?” Ian asks.

Alvin nods, a little anxious. “You take lead,” he says. “I will follow.”

Ian nods and then takes a deep breath, launching himself out along the length of a branch and then leaping, agile, into the next tree, where he lands on a branch there and takes two more running steps until he reaches the trunk of that tree, wrapping his arms around it for safety.

Alvin laughs, seeing how easy it was, and quickly follows his brother.

When they’re reunited in the next tree, they grin at each other.

This will be easy, Alvin says to Ian’s mind, his face carrying the message.

We’ll find them in no time, Ian responds, nodding.

With that, the boys move briskly through the winter forest, looking for their uncle below the trees. Their wolf’s instincts make easy work of their travel through the trees.

It doesn’t take them long to find a group of Rafe’s forces. They stop in a tall, thickly-branched pine, peering out through the needles to assess the situation.

“Six,” Ian whispers, counting quickly. He sniffs the air and studies their scents, their faces, their figures.

“None of them are uncle Rafe.”

Alvin frowns. “Where are the rest of them?”

Ian shrugs. “They must have split up.”

“Why would then do that!?” Alvin exclaims, confused.

Ian shrugs again. “I don’t know. We have to tell papa to tell us more about military stuff.”

Alvin nods in agreement, frustrated that he doesn’t understand. Suddenly, the two of them hear screams break the air ahead of them – it sounds like three separate people.

“We have to go that way,” Ian says, preparing to jump. “That could have been papa.”

“No, that was not papa,” Alvin says, shaking his head. “He is too clever for that.”

Careful to backtrack a little so that Rafe’s Betas below them don’t see or hear, Alvin and Ian work their way around the trees and move towards the screams in the forest.

They arrive soon – the other Betas had not gone too far ahead when they had met their fate. The twins stare down at the three Betas writhing on the ground. The two boys’ faces are stricken – it looks horrible, what has happened to these men.

Suddenly, it does not at all feel like a game anymore.

“Nine,” Alvin whispers. “That is nine of Uncle Rafe’s men. But where is he?”

The two boys look around in the forest when suddenly Ian leans forward on his branch squinting his eyes. “Let’s go higher, I want to see something.”

Alvin nods and the two scramble up higher, pulling themselves up branch by branch.

“There,” Ian says, pointing at a dark spot in the snow. “That’s papa. I can tell.”

Alvin narrows his eyes, looking closely, and then nods in agreement.

“It’s a good spot,” he whispers. “We can see him because we are up high, but Rafe’s men are too heavy to climb these trees.”

“Oh no,” Ian whispers, his eyes suddenly going wide. Alvin follows the direction of his gaze and spies the two men creeping quietly up behind their father in the woods. They have ski masks covering their faces and their black clothing almost allows them to melt into the shadows The men move slowly, close to the ground, pistols in their hands. They must know they are close to Victor – perhaps by his scent? – but they haven’t spotted him yet.

The three Betas writhing in the field, which Victor and his team took out, were indeed bait. But also a distraction so that these two men could sneak up from behind. Somehow, Rafe had known that Victor would place himself at the apex of his semicircle.

Alvin opens his mouth to scream out to his father in warning, but Ian slaps a hand over his mouth. “We can’t interfere,” he says.

“But we came out here to help papa!” Alvin interjects, tearing Ian’s hand from his mouth.

“We came to help if uncle Rafe is cheating,” Ian says, frowning at him. “If he wins fairly, father wouldn’t want us to interfere.”

Considering it, but hating to lose, Alvin presses his lips closed. The two boys silently turn to watch.

As the two men move closer and closer to their father on the ground, his back to them, apparently unaware. The boys’ little heartbeats ratchet up with worry. It would be so horrible to watch their father be shot with a wolfsbane bullet, to be in such pain! Why doesn’t he just turn around?!