Chapter 65

Axel

I vaguely remembered mayhem breaking out all around us as the warriors dragged our women away. Beast went into a frenzy, and I would have lost it too if it wasn’t for Gabrielle’s soft words of encouragement she murmured into my head through our new link.

She kept speaking to me the entire time, knowing all too well that it was the only thing that kept me sane, kept me from losing my mind.

The tainted young male with the black bands over his face watched us in amusement as his warriors hauled our thrashing women away. He was standing just beyond my reach, smirking at me like a maniac. Someone who indulged in the suffering of others. I kept my eyes locked onto his, silently promising that his end would come soon and that it would be far from swift and merciful.

As if he could hear my thoughts, he chuckled, turned on his heels and sauntered after his men, waving a lazy hand in the air as a goodbye.

I stayed, staring after them until the darkness in the distance swallowed them hole and when I couldn’t see Gabrielle anymore, I stormed to Lighthaven, my boots heavy beneath me and my steps proclaiming my outrage. Someone was going to pay for what had happened.

Shaking with crude fury, I stepped into the chaos beyond the cave’s mouth and demanded, “CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?”

Wolves and fae alike who had been running around to aid injured pack members scattered out of sight or cowered away in fear.

The distressed faces of fae royals and warriors snapped towards me as I stalked towards the group. I was already caught in a half state of shift, my golden orbs predicting violence and my bloodied canines itching for traitorous flesh. They stood next to the iron gate’s lever, facing each other and glaring. Wolves, Locke and Davin stood on the one side, with Prince Gerek, Jumoke, king Gaute and a bunch of their fae warriors on the other side.

Hostility hung heavy in the air and their flushed faces and wide eyes told me that they had indeed been fighting amongst themselves. Prince Gerek stood closest to the lever with his back pressed protectively to its metallic surface.

Alpha Blake who was visibly white with rage had his fingers closed around the egotistical prince’s neck. His Luna sobbed in a state of shock behind him, and Dorian tried to calm the livid Alpha as fae warriors threatened to skewer him with their swords should the hot-headed Alpha decide to cut off the last of the prince’s air supply.

I marched right through the mass of bodies, stopping mere inches from the fae prince’s face. “Why?” I growled, my voice sounding more animal than human.

He surveyed the Alpha’s hands still clamped around his throat and answered, “the risk was too high.”

Alpha Blake’s fingers constricted and a flash of light, followed by a sizzling electricity current shot from the prince, shoving Dire Mountain’s Alpha away from him like he weighed nothing.

I didn’t flinch. Panted in anger but kept his gaze.

“Please understand, it was a risk we couldn’t take,” King Gaute said to my left. “We couldn’t endanger the entire kingdom for four women.”

My blood boiled, fury simmering in my veins.

“We will send out a search party, launch a rescue operation on our own terms.”

“And if they are killed!?” I yelled over my shoulder at the king, uncaring of the power he possessed or the fact that I was standing on his turf, in his kingdom.

The king shook his head, “I love Gabrielle as my own. My mother practically took her in as one of the grandkids. Do you honestly think it was a light decision to make?”

Alpha Blake stepped closer again, rolling his shoulders. His eyes lingered on the prince’s neck where he had left angry red marks with his fingers, but I could see that King Gaute’s words had gotten to him.

Jarryd put a heavy hand on my shoulder, “let’s go,” he said gruffly, “we need to formulate our retaliation plan.”

My eyes blurred and my vision blackened, “Axel? Can you hear me?”

Seeing my eyes glaze over and sensing that the mind-link was from his daughter, Alpha Blake bolted to my side.

I replied in my mind, “Sweetheart, I can hear you, please tell me you are ok?”

Pain shot through my longing heart as her sweet voice sounded in my head again.

“I am fine, we are all fine for now.”

My hands went to my face. I needed to sit down. “Where are you?” I could feel her through the bond, but only faintly, they were moving further and further away.

“Somewhere outside, they blindfolded us, but I can hear the girls around me and smell fresh air and blood.”

It had been a gruesome battle in the village. If she could smell the blood, it meant they were still somewhere inside Dire Mountain. Inside pack borders.

I took a seat on the ground and buried my hands in my hair. Jarryd, Dorian and Alpha Blake hovered close by, waiting for me to give them an update on Gabrielle. I had claimed her, marked her, and by the laws of nature, her connection to her old pack had been severed, creating a new link to the pack I belonged to, which at this stage was Cassius’s pack, Hollow Stone.

“I am going to come for you. Do you hear me? Hold on tight, I will come. I promise.” It was an effort not to let my emotions get the better of me, especially when I felt her floodgates breaking. She was crying and I couldn’t comfort her. “Don’t cry. You need to be strong. I will not abandon you.”

“Axel, they are laying out traps for you. I heard the dark prince give the orders myself.” I swallowed hard and nodded even though she couldn’t see me.

“Don’t worry about me. You just focus on surviving, ok? We can deal with the aftereffects later, but please just stay with me.” I begged.

“Will you promise me the same?”

I didn’t know what to answer. How could I promise her that I would survive if I was willing to lay my life down in exchange for hers?

“I promise you will see me again,” I said and meant it.

Gabrielle would see me again. But whether I would live beyond that moment was an entirely different story.