The Humans

LORELAI

There was no question in my mind. We had to help the humans. The only question was how, especially when it was going to leave the city vulnerable?

I ran back inside and dressed quickly in my fighting clothes—leather pants, a white tunic, and a leather vest. I strapped my blades to me, too. It wasn’t what the wolves did since they had to turn, but I fought better with my magic and shadows easily accessible.

The Alphas were dressing, too. Kai wore his leather pants, Derik in his cotton shorts, and Brax in his loose linen pants—all shirtless. I took a minute to admire them, then sucked in a breath.

“We can’t all go,” I said, looking at the wall the twins rested on the other side of.

“I’m staying,” Derik said. “If this is a trap, we’re not getting stuck in it. I’ll prepare the pack here, get ready for whatever might come. You three go help the humans with a team of wolves that are willing to go,” Derik ordered.

We all nodded. “If the city gets attacked, communicate. We’ll come back,” Brax said as we left the room.

Derik went to the twins, and we followed. They had to be safe first. He looked down at them with a small smile. “I’ll keep them safe. I’ll stay in here and use the link to keep the wolves in the city organized.”

I pressed a kiss to my son and daughter’s heads, then met Derik’s mouth. He gave a slow, sensual taste of him that filled me with dread—as if he was saying just in case. But it was.

I pushed the items my mom had given the wolves into his hands.

“Use these,” I whispered as I pulled back.

He looked down at them and clutched them tighter in his fist. “I will. Now go. Your mother and Galen are almost there, and by the sounds of it, they’ll need backup.”

I nodded and stepped back. Kai and Brax said goodbye to the twins, then nodded at Derik.

Then we left, and we were running. Kai shifted, leading the team of wolves he had recruited to the humans’ villages. I climbed on his back and threw my shadows and magic out in a wide net.

I took out every vamp I felt touch my magic.

~“Save your magic; you’re going to need it for Silas,”~ Brax said in the link. I looked to him, running next to Kai, then nodded. I yanked my magic in but left my shadows out. I needed to know if there was anything waiting for us.

But the vamps were focused on the humans.

Galen kept the link open, as did Ryleigh. And they were fighting. Vampires were everywhere, attacking, snarling, hunting the humans.

Ahead of us, there was an explosion. It exploded above the trees, and I gasped, my eyes wide. The wolves pushed on faster.

We came upon the village and were instantly attacked. Vampires came from every direction, and I had no time to think, only to act.

I jumped off Kai’s back, using my shadows to rip the vampires apart, but they were damn fast. They got close to all of us, going hard as we fought, ripping through them.

But they were relentless.

“Where are the humans?” I called out to Galen as he bounded into the courtyard we had been cornered in. He tore a vamp's head away from its body, then looked at me, his huge body bashing away vampires just for them to come back.

~“In the tunnels, hiding. But they’re the last line. They’re ready,”~ he said. I frowned at that, ripping out my blade from my thigh holster as I sensed a vamp getting close. Stalking me. I kept my eyes on Galen as he narrowed his.

As soon as the vamp sprung, my shadows enclosed it, and I spun, slicing my blade through its neck. Its head rolled away, and I let out a breath. They were strong, their bodies hard to break through. After one vamp, my arm already ached.

Kai and Brax were chomping their way through vampires, surrounded by the creatures as the pack peeled each one off. But the vampires were still coming.

Their eyes were red, their teeth bared, hissing at us before they tried to sink their fangs into us. I knew I was meant to save my magic for Silas, but I needed to make sure we all made it to that showdown.

So instead of watching my mates fight the creatures, I threw my magic up in front of them. Then I crashed it down on the vampires. All of them hissed and screeched, writhing in pain before they collapsed into ash and floated away on the night air.

The wolves took a second to regroup before more vampires swarmed. How the hell were there so many? They fought again, engaging every wolf in a fierce fight. More vampires ran at me, the blurs of their bodies coming in fast.

I spun my magic and shadows around me, throwing it out and shoving each enemy back into a pile of ash.

~“Conserve your magic!”~ Kai growled. I gritted my teeth, not answering him. I knew I needed to, but it was harder than they knew. I had this urge to use it, to take out the threats. It was a need in my bones as real as the lust I felt in my alphas’ presence.

~“It’s addictive, Spitfire. Control that urge,”~ Brax said in a more soothing tone. I nodded to him, then pulled my magic back and held it in while I used my shadows and training to take out what vampires I could.

But they were fast, and my body was worn.

A vamp got me from behind, his fangs brushing my neck a second before he turned to ash.

I spun, my eyes wide, expecting one of the Alphas to have saved my life.

It was Ryleigh. She spun a blade dripping with vamp blood in clenched fists. She bowed. “Derik wants you safe, which means I have no choice but to bodyguard you, Luna,” Ryleigh said bitterly.

I raised a brow, my breaths panting out in the middle of the carnage.

“Uh, thanks. But you don’t have to if you’d rather be somewhere else?” I said, getting the distinct impression she would.

“I have a daughter and a human mate. Of course I do,” she said with a sigh, then spun and shoved her blade through another vampire. That was an impressive sword she had there. “But I am bound to Derik. His will is mine. And don’t get me wrong, I want you to live—” She turned back to me.

“But you’d rather be protecting your family?” I assumed. She nodded, then wiped her brow, eyeing the courtyard for more threats.

They were everywhere, so instead of continuing our conversation, we engaged in the fight. I peeled vampires off the wolves with my shadows, standing in the center of the courtyard by the water fountain.

A wolf was thrown into it a second later, and I jumped out of the way as debris fell over everything. The wolf crashed into the water with a splash. I intercepted the vamp that went for it, wrapping my shadows around his neck and yanking.

He turned to ash, and the wolf bounded out of the broken fountain, nodding to me in thanks before rushing off to rip through more vamps.

Galen was still doing the same, as were we all. The courtyard was getting destroyed, the torches flickering, casting shadows in the flames, the wind howling around us.

I was about to go to Brax and help him out of the grasp of a vamp that had gotten to him when there was a scream from the huts.

“Mom!”

Galen roared, shaking the entire village as he stomped and stormed toward the scream. I latched onto his fur as he passed and hoisted myself up onto his back. Kai came with us as we ran.

They threw vampires off as they tried to stop us from getting to the humans. But Galen was determined, and I finally saw the beast in him that everyone warned me about. He was vicious, eating the vamps as if they were a snack.

He snarled and gnashed until we found my mother outside the main hut my father used to have. She turned the vampire to ash before it could sink its teeth into her. Galen came to a stop, and I jumped off his back.

She ran forward and hugged me, her hand going to my cheek.

“Lorelai, are you okay?” She panted, looking over my body, her own cheek bleeding.

“Are you?” I asked. She grabbed my hand that was bleeding—something I hadn’t even noticed. It was already healed, but the blood was still there.

“You shouldn’t be here; we can handle this,” Mom said. I looked at the ash on the floor, smirked up at her, and hugged her.

“You can, but I’m not going to let you handle it on your own,” I said.

She didn’t even argue. Instead, she pulled things out of her pouch. She was still wearing her dresses, and I refused to laugh at it. She couldn’t wear pants; she had to stay in the dresses. She was still a lady, she told me.

She thrust a blade at me—a shiny one—then a vial and powder. “Use these,” she said with a smile.

I didn’t miss the fact that it was exactly what I had done to protect my family too. So I took them, knowing she needed me to. Before I could say thank you, the wolves howled, and vampires screeched.

Then they attacked.

We were swarmed with vampires coming from every direction. The pack made it over from the fountain and kept the vampires entertained.

I watched every movement my wolves made, yanking vampires off them with my shadows. I watched their backs when they couldn’t, and it took a lot. There was so much to watch, so many vampires to stop.

They were lurkers, barely discernible among all the bodies in the small spaces between the huts.

The huts around us were destroyed, with vampires and wolves getting thrown against them until they were rubble. They sprayed dust and wood splinters over everyone, and I squinted in the dark to see through it.

I used the link to monitor more than my eyes could see. Kai and Brax took on the brunt of the hits. They stood in front of me, keeping them away from the huts. Galen guarded my mother.

I wasn’t sure how long we fought, but my mind was weary, and my shadows were growing sluggish within me. I was tired. I had never had to use them for so long before. The wolves were tired too.

But they kept fighting.

We couldn’t stop until the vampires did, and they didn’t seem to care how long we had been fighting. There was blood and ash littering the concrete. The snarls and hisses broke through the night, and I gritted my teeth.

When would it end?

I jumped as there was a thump from behind me. I turned to the sound, glaring as three tall vampires landed on the roof of the main hut.

The front one grinned at me, his sharp teeth daring me to come for him. I took that challenge and whipped my shadows out. He dodged them, while the female vamp next to him hissed as it hit her.

She spun off the roof but jumped back up. My shadows weren’t packing as much of a punch as before. The furthest vampire punched through the ceiling.

“No!” I growled, then used my shadows to lift me up to the roof.

I shoved the vamp off, using my shadows to make sure he splattered over the concrete. His ash flew away, and I turned in time to catch the next vampire. She was still angry about the shadows, obviously, because she went straight for the kill.

I stabbed her stomach with the blade Mom gave me.

The vampire hissed and bared her teeth at me. I grinned.

“Burns, doesn’t it? So did that fucking wolfsbane,” I snarled, then yanked the blade out of her stomach and sliced across her neck.

She turned to ash in seconds. I was still grinning at her body disappearing before me when the other vamp broke through the ash. He charged me, knocking me from the roof before I could catch myself.

I landed with a thud on the ground as he jumped, landing over me. He pinned my arms down as I kicked at him. My shadows wrapped around his throat, yanking, but he was strong—stronger than the other vamps I had dealt with.

“Your shadows are weak, just like you, little winter born,” he seethed. I bit his fucking face.

My canines slipped right through his cheek. I spat out his blood and kicked him off me. He cried out, holding his cheek as my head throbbed from where I had hit it on the ground.

“Maybe. But I’m not.” I smirked, the taste of blood on my teeth making my stomach roll, but I handled it and shoved the blade through his heart. He turned to ash.

I let out a breath, my head spinning. I held the back of it, wincing as it ached. A sticky substance covered them, and I pulled my fingers down to look at them.

Blood. Damn.

“Little Luna, are you okay?” Kai asked, breathing heavily, covered in healing scratch and claw marks, bruises, and blood. He was covered in sweat, pulling his shorts on as he wiped his forehead.

I nodded. “Yeah, you?”

He nodded back, smirking at me, then wiped his thumb across my lip.

“Vamp blood looks good on you, savage.”

I grinned, then moved into him, heading back to the front of the huts where the fight was still happening. But it was much less now. The wolves and vamps were one on one, and I looked to Kai.

“They’re not coming now?” I asked.

“Not as many. Told you we could handle them,” Kai boasted. I grinned and went over to my mom, who was smiling at Galen as he kissed a cut on her forehead. It sealed and healed. Ryleigh came over then, wiping her blade on her shirt.

“These vamps weren’t behaving normally,” she scowled, looking over her shoulder.

I frowned at that. “How do you mean?”

“Well, they only engaged once we did. From everything Vaughn and Derik have been teaching me since I turned, vamps go for their goal. But they didn’t go for anything but us.”

“They were after the humans. One of them punched a hole in the top of the hut,” I pointed out.

“But they waited for you to come for them. They could have gone right through that as soon as they punched in. They didn’t,” she said, and it turned my mind over.

“So what were they doing?”

“You don’t think they wanted the humans?” Brax asked, shifted, and tugging his pants back on. I shook my head. What Ryleigh said made too much sense.

“They didn’t go through any of the other huts. They went straight for us in the courtyard,” Kai growled, his fists clenching.

“Which means they didn’t actually care about the humans,” I came to the realization with a heavy, broken heart.

Despite wanting to avoid it at all costs, we had done exactly what they wanted us to. We had walked into their trap.

“They wanted us here. Away from the city,” I whispered, and the entire pack felt what I felt.

A mix of fear, regret, and panic.

I checked the link for Derik. “Derik?” I asked.

There was a symphony of howls from the city breaking the tense silence of the night, and I had my answer.

The vampires were attacking the city. And I wasn’t there to protect them.

But I would be, and I wasn’t fucking around with the vampires this time; I was going straight for Silas.