(Athena's POV)
Today's the 3rd day after we received the letter from Lucius. The pack is on high alert. The witches have upgraded the shield with some extra powers. Victor and I had a quick breakfast and we are in the living room now, with our parents. The tension is thick in the air. I can sense Victor is on the edge. But there is nothing to do now, other than wait.
"Urgh" I start getting a headache, I didn't get any vision after yesterday, thanks to Victor. I want to see what this vision is about, I have a feeling there is something new in the one that's coming. I grit my teeth to avoid showing any hints of pain, which could grab Victor's attention. He doesn't want me to be in pain, which is very heartwarming, but I want to know. So, the curiosity gets the better of me.
I see flashes of white, and I see the same village and the killing of the female vampire...The same thing... White light... There is a sudden shift in the surroundings though. This time all I see is snow, and boulders of snow falling, starting a chain reaction, causing an avalanche... Screams... A fluffy tail - The tail of a wild cat...
"Athena!" My mom shouts grabbing my arms, and I can feel Victor massaging my temples and pressing kisses on the top of my head. The pain recedes, and I inhale deeply.
"You should have told me another one was coming Athena..." Victor says sternly.
"This one was different." I tell them the details of the new premonition. No one says anything. Victor carries me to our floor to make me rest, our moms following us.
.
.
The sun sets and my anxiety hits an all time high. Victor holds my hands, "Love, I promise to you, that no harm will come to you. Lucius won't be able to get anywhere near you. Relax" I can only manage to nod.
I took a nap after lunch, and had the snow and avalanche premonition again, but since it was in my sleep, it didn't hurt.
(Victor's POV)
'Alpha' Z mindlinks me.
'Yes Z'
'We have visual confirmation that Lucius has left his mansion and is on the way to our pack' he tells me.
'Take positions' I tell him and cut off the link.
"Love, Lucius is on his way here. I want you to stay here in the packhouse."
"I want to come with you..." Athena drags
"No. He wants to kill you. More the space between him and you, the better it will be. And it is not up for discussion. Stay with your parents and my mom." I tell her firmly.
She sighs, "Be careful Victor, I would never forgive myself if something happens to you because of me..."
"Don't worry. I am capable of taking care of myself. Besides, Lucius won't be able to get past the shield put up by the witches. I am just going there to ensure and see for myself that he and his men fail in their attempts to get inside and capture him."
"So, you won't kill him?" she asks, confused.
"I didn't say that."
"Victor, if you get close to him, he may hurt you. I don't care how strong you are, I don't want to even think of a possibility where something will happen to you" she tells me, her eyes welling up.
"If we leave him, he will not stop his attempts to kill you. It will be handled properly. So don't stress." I tell her, pulling her into my arms.
.
.
We are downstairs, in the main living room, I leave Athena with her parents, my mom and female warriors of my pack. Female warriors because, they are real fast and agile. Just in case Lucius enters the pack somehow, the female warriors will be able to match his speed. Few of the pack warriors are standing guard at the houses of the packmates. I am taking male warriors with me. Already, I have sent some of the warriors to camouflage themselves outside the pack boundaries. They won't attack till I ask them to. Athena is currently sitting on that old rocking chair, staring at nowhere. My mom ensures me that she will look after her and I leave, with my dad and Z.
.
.
Itis almost night and pitch dark. But we can see clearly due to our night vision. At the pack border, we assemble into formation, and I see cars and trucks pulling up. First his human assassins line up with weapons of all sort. Guns, Rifles, Knives, Tranquilizers, Rocket Launchers and what not. Then his armed human soldiers lined up. There would be about a 100 people on his side easily. I can't help but smirk. He didn't underestimate me. Which is good, because if he had underestimated me, then it would have been an insult to my reputation.
Lucius gets out of the car. And starts to walk towards me. His eyes a deep red, with a look that lets us know that he is insane and will do anything to get what he wants. Every one of my warriors visibly stiffen on seeing him. They should, even I should, after all he is an ancient vampire who wants revenge.
He stops just a meter outside the shield. He clears his throat "Victor, I will ask you one time. Give me that wretched woman of yours. She doesn't deserve to live."
"I can see from your preparation, that you already know my answer will be NO." I tell him calmly.
"Let us have it your way then." Lucius sneers and motions his hand towards us.
The assassin group immediately starts firing and throwing knives and I must say they were quite discrete in using their weapons. I am impressed. We on the other hand don't move an inch and just look at them trying to attack us. All the bullets and knives hit the shield and bounces back only to hit the ground.
I had intel that Lucius ordered Rocket launchers and bombs. I figured what his plan would be. He doesn't have vampire warriors, naturally he will resort to ammunition. So, I had asked the witches to create an attack proof shield. They did it easily. We owe the witches a lot. All they wanted in return was protection for their clan. It was a win-win deal.
Lucius scowls and orders his people to use the rocket launchers. Meanwhile, the firing never stopped. I can tell that they are hoping that the shield will give away eventually. But it won't.
I order my men outside the border who are waiting patiently, to attack and ambush the enemies. The plan was to trap them from all sides. Kill everyone who tries to attack and capture everyone else. I had given a strict capture-only order for Lucius. He needs special treatment in my prison cells.
The human assassins and soldiers he recruited will be handed over to the supernatural council, who will erase any memories related to the supernaturals before letting them go back to their lives.
Sadly, no one had super smelling powers as they were human, to notice that there were werewolves hiding in plain sight. Also, Lucius is more focused on getting revenge than actually trying to win the battle. He must have thought that the smell of werewolves around him was coming from us. He wasn't cautious enough. Good for us. I tell Z that I am going back to my mate and ask him to take care of the proceedings. Most of my warriors stay back with him to handle the ongoing commotion. It must have been a nasty shock for them to be ambushed all of a sudden. To be honest they should have expected this to happen.
It is starting to drizzle and lightnings strike here and there. It worries me. We will win this battle anyways. But I am concerned that Athena's premonition where Lucius throws a knife at her will happen tonight. The premonition had similar environment. I should get to her. Me, my dad and some of my men start our run, in wolf forms back to the pack house.
(Athena's POV)
My parents are speaking with Victor's mom and they seem to be getting along well. I can't help but think of the avalanche and the screams and the tail of a wild cat. If my intuition is correct, it has to be a snow leopard. But how is it all connected?
My head starts throbbing again. You have got to be kidding me... I try to keep my breaths even and start meddling with the arm rest, when I see the engraving, 'C' on one arm and 'Crimson' on the other arm. I need to get some fresh air, but I don't want to go out, Victor has told me not to leave the house. I feel as if someone is watching me and I lift my head to look out the glass doors, that lead to the forest.
And I decide to go out, or should I say my legs decide to go and my mind has no control over my body. I know it is stupid, but there are guards everywhere right? I will just stand on the porch, I think to myself, the pain becoming unbearable. I need Victor. Lightning strikes were the only source of light in the dark night sky. It was raining heavily, with ground shaking thunders every few seconds. In the distance I see a silhouette when the lightning strikes again. And poof it's gone. I get the eerie feeling of being watched. Shit! This is too similar to my first nightmare... NO its not possible, the shield at the pack border won't allow anyone to enter. I must be hallucinating because of the headaches.
"Luna! What are you doing outside, on the porch?" I see a female warrior, named Nora coming to me.
"Nothing, I just needed some fresh air. Did they capture Lucius?" I ask her
"I don't know Luna, do you want me to mindlink them and ask?"
"NO! It can be distracting to them. We can wait." I tell her and she nods.
"Luna, I really think you need to get inside. I may have to face the Alpha's wrath, if you catch a cold" she giggles nervously at the last part.
"Okay!" I sigh in defeat and turn, when I see the silhouette again, it's a man in a black coat, I can only see his back, he is walking away from me. About 200 meters away from the porch. Is that Victor, NO, it's not his body shape, Victor is more heavily built, who is this? Is it? Oh my god!
When Nora sees that I am not moving she turns to look where I am looking. "What the hell?" she curses.
Lightning strikes again, and I see something I probably shouldn't have... He has a big Rambo knife, with blood dripping from it. And I see two guards laying unconscious on the ground beside him. Are they? Are they dead?
"Luna get inside" she pushes me towards the door and runs towards the man, shifting mid-way, I try to shout, asking her not to go near him, but no sound comes out. I buckle forward when pain shoots in my head. Excellent timing!
(Victor's POV)
I am about a minute away from the pack house, we are running through a dense forest like area, when, I get linked from Z.
'Alpha, we have captured everyone except Lucius. He is gone. Just like that. But he didn't go out of the circle of our warriors.'
'Shit, he must have gotten inside somehow'
I push my legs faster than before, and I am a few feet away from going into the clearing where the packhouse is, when a female warrior links me,
'Alpha! Lucius is here! near the packhouse, two guards down.'
'Damn it!' I come outside the forest area and run into the clearing where I see the scene â Athena standing on the porch holding her head in her hands, possibly in pain. I see Nora shifting and running towards Lucius who is standing about 200 meters away from Athena, his back turned towards Nora and Athena. I also see two guards lying limp beside him and I run faster than ever, my warriors following me, I should reach in about 20seconds. I see Nora attacking Lucius, when a few other female warriors who noticed the chaos start running towards them and Lucius swiftly throws Nora hard against a tree without even turning to look at her.
I know from what Athena has told me, that, he will throw his knife at Athena. I should get to her before the knife does.
(Athena's POV)
My head is pounding and I get flashes of white light, and I can vaguely see Lucius throwing Nora against a nearby tree. He turns his face slowly, I can swear he smirked even though he was at a distance. And with a swift movement he threw his knife at me. The knife came spiraling towards me, ready to cut anything in its path. I know how this will go, I have practiced a million times in my head, when he throws the knife at me, I should move away or duck. Yes! I will do that! But the pain gets too much and I start getting the vision, making me defenseless.
God save me just this once...
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