Chapter 24 - Rin the Hero

We picked up speed to rush to the pack. As soon as we got nearby, I heard the shouts of pack members in the link trying to communicate as we were attacked. Erin and I jumped out of the van before it completely stopped and sprinted right for the fights. It didn't take long to find them, either.

After shifting quickly, I jumped onto a rogue wolf's back and tore into its neck. It dropped to the ground and I moved on. Rogue wolves seemed to be the only attackers, but I wouldn't be surprised if more people were lurking. Goddess forbid that shadow man come back around-

I really had to jinx it, huh?

I was suddenly on my back looking up at a shadow creature snapping its jaws at me. Using my paws to vault it off my body, I flipped back onto my paws and bolted past the creature to find its owner. But, before I could, two rogues jumped at me and pinned me down. I growled loudly, trying to bite at anything I could, but a pair of blood-red heels stepped in front of me. Shit. You've got to be kidding me.

"Ah, lovely to see you again, dearie," the fire lady cooed.

Her heeled foot stepped onto my muzzle and dug into it. I growled, still struggling to escape. "You took something very precious away from us, so we thought we'd return the favor. But, we also came for more." She knelt in front of me, a wicked grin on her painted lips. She'd be gorgeous if she wasn't so evil. "Our goal was never to kill the little girl, simply draw in as many of the prizes we came for at once. And it worked!"

Risking vulnerability - though it wasn't like I was already at their mercy - I shifted back so I could speak to this crazy lady. "What are you talking about? And how the hell are you still alive? We killed you."

She laughed loudly, then her hand shot out to grip my face between pointy nails. Geez, lady, get a nail file or something. "Oh, you didn't kill me, little wolf. You merely weakened me."

"You didn't answer my other question," I seethed.

Why was no one coming to help me? It sounded like there were still fights going on around me, but no one was even going to try? I attempted to link pack members for help but I got nothing. My face must've shown my confusion because the lady laughed again and let go of my face to roughly pat my cheek. "No help will be coming for you. But, to answer your question, Father requires us to retrieve some...special goods for him. And I've caught the first one!"

What? "What-" I began to voice aloud, but she sighed.

"Oh my, how dense are you werewolves?" The rogues still on top of me growled at that, but she glared and they whimpered quickly. "I suppose I can leave a bit of the surprise for you, but for now, let's get you out of here."

"Shit," I cursed and began to struggle and thrash around violently.

The rogues growled in warning but I ignored them. I couldn't move my arms because they were pinned to my sides, but I was able to turn my neck enough to sink my teeth into one of the rogues' paws when it shifted to maintain balance. They yelped as I dug in deeper, momentarily loosening their grip on me. I flipped them off and scrambled to my feet once the other rogue lost their hold on me due to the jerky movements. The lady smirked at me. "You can try to run, but it's futile. Father demands your presence, and I will obey his command," she said as if that totally made everything okay.

"Right, sure. Let me just hogtie myself so you can take me to your sick cult leader. As if that's going to happen without a fight," I muttered.

But before she could lunge at me, we both froze at the sound of a roar. It practically shook the earth. No fucking way. We both looked up only to see a large serpentine-like body in the air, and it was coming right for us. I scrambled out of the way once it was clear the dragon would be landing right in front of me, and it did. Once it did, I could clearly see how gorgeous it was. Iridescent scales mixed with silver and hints gold. Its body was long and curled protectively around me it seemed. I knew who it was.

"Oh, Rin! Hello, dearie. I always forget how beautiful your dragon form is. Wonderful. Maybe we can bring you both back to Father," the lady said with a clap.

Rin's body trembled at that, but they maneuvered their body to coil tighter around me. The lady chuckled. "Ah, right. You must be upset over what we put you through, but you must understand. Father needed your power, and it wasn't like you'd give it to us willingly, correct?"

Rin growled in warning when she stepped closer. I quickly noticed that they had no wings, unlike Minori's dragon form. Huh. Then how the hell did they fly? Focus, Aaron. A crazy fire lady is trying to kidnap you and your best friend's mate! Don't worry about whether Rin has wings or not.

"Hmm," she suddenly hummed, then snapped her fingers.

A ring of fire suddenly surrounded us and Rin coiled in tighter, almost smooshing me. They hissed, wary of the fire. But, aren't dragons supposed to like fire? Minori did say that not all dragons breathe fire, so maybe it's the same about liking it. I pushed the thought away - Goddess, I needed to focus - when the ring of fire burned higher.

"I know how much you hate fire, Rin. Give up and you won't have to be punished," she said.

Rin's body trembled again at that, but another warning growl left them.

"Alright, enough playtime. I've had enough of toying with you two. Father told us to make this quick."

She snapped her fingers again and the fire began to climb higher and arc inward, beginning to trap us in a dome. Rin roared. Why couldn't they fly? Was it because they were protecting me? As the fiery dome began to close at the top, we heard a screech, followed by multiple growls. Then something odder: the sound of liquid splashing against the ground followed by another screech.

The dome of fire began to dissipate after that, but Rin kept me carefully tucked into their body. As the dome finally disappeared, we saw Erin, Alpha James, and Evander standing there while a bunch of other pack wolves surrounded us protectively. The two rogues were dead to the side and the fire lady was nowhere to be seen.

Rin unfurled around me and shifted back. Immediately, they fell to their knees and hugged themselves tightly. Erin rushed over and cradled them in his arms as Rin shook violently. I couldn't watch for too long before my mate's arms were wrapped around me and my face was pressed in his chest. "Aaron, God, I couldn't smell you or hear your heartbeat and I was so worried. We couldn't find you anywhere until we heard Rin's roar," he mumbled worriedly.

"I've been here the whole time. There were even fights going on around me but no one came to help except for Rin."

"She was using a screen," Rin said.

We both turned to look at them. They had a blanket wrapped around them as they sat in Erin's lap on the ground. Erin had his face pressed into Rin's neck and I could tell that his arms were wrapped securely around his mate. "Arya is a witch. She used a magical screen to hide you and the rest of her group from sight. That kind of screen can only work from so many angles. I was already flying around trying to look for people to help when I saw you in trouble," they explained.

"Thank you, by the way. You saved my life," I thank, before asking, "But, why didn't you fly away again? After you had me?"

"I couldn't fly away because I was using my body to protect you. That and the screen had strengthened after she saw me. Then the f-fire and I couldn't-"

Their voice trembled and Erin shushed them gently as Rin began to shake again. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more. I wasn't even sure if my roar would reach my mate and the others in time," they whispered.

"You did good," Evander said. "You saved you both, Rin. She could've killed you."

"No," I said. "She wasn't going to kill us. I know it. She was trying to take us with her."

"What?" Erin asked. "I get why'd she'd want to take Rin, but why you?"

I bit my lip. Shit. Everyone else here would probably understand. James and Evander already knew about my abilities, but Erin didn't. I figured Rin would understand given that they were magical, too. And I was only grasping at straws here with the whole ability thing. That had to be the common denominator, right? They probably tried to take Ella but couldn't, so they used her as bait. She was special. The witch said she wanted to lure in as many "prizes" as possible. Did she mean people like me, like Wren?

"Aaron?" Evander asked softly.

"I think they were trying to take away people with abilities. Wren said that they almost killed Ella, but the witch said they were using her as bait. I think they're trying to target special weres and use them for something, like how they used Rin."

"Aaron, you're not making any sense," Erin said.

I winced. "It might not make sense to you, but I'm sure it makes sense to your father," I said, looking at Alpha James.

He nodded his head. "Yes, it makes sense to me. If your theory is correct, then we have to do something. You are all spread thinly for your protection, but we can't protect that large of a general population all at once to keep hiding you all."

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"We might need to bring you all closer together, but not in one place. We should concentrate groups together and pool resources to protect you that way," he suggested.

"Ella and Wren could come here," I offered.

"That would be the most convenient for us, yes. I must talk with the other packs about this. Excuse me."

Alpha James left, and I realized the wolves that had once been protecting us were long gone. James must've sent them away before we talked about this. But, he didn't send Erin away. Goddess, I didn't want to talk to Erin about my powers like this.

"What the hell was that?" Erin demanded.

I sighed. "Do you want me here?" Evander asked me quietly.

"Can you take Rin with you back to the packhouse? Find Aubrey," I answered. "I want to talk to Erin alone."

"Okay."

Evander let me go and walked over to Rin. "We should get you some new clothes. Let's give them some privacy."

Rin nodded. Erin sighed and let go of his mate, who took the blanket with them and walked away with Evander supporting them. I was left alone with my alpha, who glared at me from the ground.

"Erin, please don't be upset," I started off.

"I'm not upset," he scoffed. "Hurt, yes, but not upset. What is going on? We're best friends, we're not supposed to have big secrets between us."

"I know, I'm sorry. It was for your own protection, though," I tried to explain. I sat down across from him and ran a hand through my messed up hair. "Look, there's something you don't know about me."

"Well obviously," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Ignoring his remark, I continued with, "Ever since I was little, I could see something no one else could. I could see these small red glowing strings attached to people's fingers that led to their mates. Remember those sky Twizzlers I used to talk about all the time?"

"Yes? Is that...was that what you meant?" Erin asked.

"Yes. I didn't realize that no one else could see them. I thought it was normal. Once my mother realized I wasn't playing around, she told Alpha James and we realized I was special. I'd been blessed by the Moon Goddess. I could see fated bonds."

"And Wren, Ella...they have abilities, too?"

"Yes. We only recently discovered that they had these abilities. Ella had kept her's hidden for years like I did with mine, but Wren's were magically suppressed until he mated with Joshua. Ella can sense magical presences and is able to astral project. She's basically a magical detector. Wren has visions in his sleep. All of the information we've gotten from Kit recently..."

"Actually came from Wren," Erin finished.

"Yes. I'm sorry I kept this a secret from you, but I wasn't' allowed to talk about it to keep me and the others like me safe. I only just recently told my mates about it. I planned on telling you, too. You'd have found out anyway once you became the pack alpha."

Erin sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. "So, my best friends aside from Ryder have special powers that they were given by the Moon Goddess?"

"I know it sounds weird," I mumbled.

"No weirder than the other shit we've been dealing with," he answered. "I have a dragon mate who can see the present with a twin and older brother who can see the past and future. It's not that hard to believe that some wolves would have magical powers."

He offered me a small smile. "I'm still hurt you didn't tell me sooner, but I'm glad you finally did tell me. Now, I can protect you better."

"Or, I can protect you," I pointed out.

He laughed. "It's not like you have super strength. You can see sky Twizzlers. Not that powerful, Aaron," he teased before his eyes widened. "Wait, so, you knew about Rin?"

"Sort of," I admitted. "Your string led in the direction of their prison and I guided us towards it. I was...I was tired of seeing you so lonely and hurt. I hated it. When I saw how close you were to your mate, I couldn't help myself. But, it worked out in the end."

"Goddess...thank you, I guess."

"I had to. I couldn't stand to see my best friend heartbroken," I mumbled.

He scooted over to me and hugged me tightly. "You're such an amazing friend, Aaron. Seriously."

"I guess."

"So, is that why we never made anything out of our feelings for each other?" He asked with a smile.

I pushed him away. "Well, duh. I can't see my own string, so I was hoping yours would never appear. When it did, I knew I had to give up," I answered with a shrug. "It wouldn't have helped us if we got together."

He hummed. "If only you'd told me sooner. I could've saved myself a lot of heartbreak," he said with a small laugh.

"I really am sorry I couldn't tell you sooner," I said again.

"It's okay. You told me now, and I have Rin because of you. That's all I care about."

He hugged me one last time before we both got up. "Damn, this past month has been crazy," he sighed.

"Yeah. I hope things die down," I said.

"I doubt it."

Me, too. I was being honest, I had a feeling that things would only continue to get crazier and crazier. Fun.

~~~

First upload of the year and it's late...yeesh. I'm sorry, guys. I've been having a not-so-fun time recently and it's just really taking a toll on me. I have chapters written but then I either forget what day it is or get swamped with other stuff.

I hope you enjoy it either way. Please bear with me.

But, what do you think about Rin saving Aaron? And that fire lady

Stay tuned for more insanity and thank you so much for reading!

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