Ronnie’s voice comes through the mind link. “They’ve got snipers in the tree line, thermal scope signatures confirmed. One of ours down already.”
Ryder swears under his breath. “Pull the teams back. We need to regroup.”
We sprint through the trees, joining the enforcers crouched behind the fallen logs that mark the inner perimeter. The air hums with tension. The scent of blood, wolf and the acrid poison is heavy in the air.
“Positions!” Ryder orders. “Cover the west and south flanks. No one gets through!”
“Watch for stray bullets; even standing on one could trigger a reaction,” I push out through the mind-link.
Shapes shift between the trees, the faint gleam of metal catching the moonlight. Masks, rifles, body armour. The bastards have come prepared.
“Visual?” Ryder growls beside me.
“Six confirmed,” I answer, eyes narrowing. “Maybe more behind them. They’re spreading out.”
Ronnie crouches next to us, nostrils flaring as he catches the same scent. “They’re organised. Moving in a semicircle. Classic containment pattern.”
“Or a lure,” I mutter.
He shoots me a sharp look. “Meaning?”
“Meaning they want us to move in… get close enough for the real ambush.”
The words have barely left my mouth when a single shot cracks through the night. It echoes through the forest like thunder, and one of our enforcers drops with a strangled cry.
“Sniper!” someone yells.
Then all hell breaks loose.
More gunfire follows, the forest exploding with sound and motion. Wolves scatter into the trees, but the hunters are ready, firing rounds laced with wolfsbane and the new toxin. The air burns with it.
I grab Ryder by the shoulder, dragging him behind the thick base of a fallen oak as bark splinters above us. He bares his teeth, fury flashing in his eyes, but he doesn’t shift yet, not while the snipers still have the advantage.
“Seven down!” Ronnie shouts, voice hoarse over the chaos.
“Fall back!” Ryder roars through the pack link, his Alpha command reverberating through my bones.
Second line! Move!
I lunge for a fallen enforcer, catching him by the arm and hauling him upright. He’s bleeding from a shoulder wound, but he’s breathing. “Go!” I snarl, shoving him toward the others. “Run!”
The scent of blood fills the air, thick and choking. It mingles with the bitter stench of wolfsbane, and the forest hums with panic.
“Ryder,” Ronnie calls out, keeping pace beside us, “They’ve breached the outer perimeter! They’re cutting off the west side!”
“Then we go to Plan B,” Ryder growls, his voice sharp through the link. “We can’t hold this position. Get back to the centre, we evacuate everyone to Midnight Pack!”
The words hit hard. Evacuate.
They’re not here to hunt strays. They’re here to wipe us out.
I glance back once. Wolves dart between shadows, some limping, some dragging others to safety. The low, keening howl of the wounded cuts through the air, slicing straight through my chest.
I think of Paige, her eyes, her voice, the warmth of her in that kitchen, and I run harder.
I
Branches whip against my arms as I leap over a fallen log, landing in a crouch before breaking into a sprint. The forest feels alive with danger, the thrum of distant gunfire, the crack of branches under heavy boots, the lights of the red dot sights sweeping for movement.
When the cabins finally come into view, I feel the first flicker of hope. It’s faint, but there. The lights glow weakly through the mist, like beacons.
Ryder slows, eyes flashing gold as he opens the link wide to the whole pack. “Everyone move now!
Evacuate to the Midnight Pack, they’re on their way to meet us with reinforcements.”
I open a smaller mind-link. “Callen, Parker, Leo, get them out now. Grab whatever medical supplies you can and run. We have wounded, but we will have to treat them on the go. We will hold them off.”
I glance toward the healer’s cabin and see her. Paige. Standing at the window, Jax in her arms, with the moonlight washing over her. Her eyes find mine, wide and fearful, and something inside me steadies.
She’s the reason I fight. Why I bleed. Why I’d die before letting this pack fall.
Ryder growls low, eyes fixed on the forest behind us. “They’ll be on us any minute, we need to buy the pack more time.”
I nod, muscles already tensing, the wolf in me rising to the surface. The shift hits like lightning, bones snapping, skin tearing, power flooding through me until the world sharpens into colour and scent and sound.
Ryder shifts beside me, a blur of fur, massive and furious, and together, we launch towards them, the sound of our paws hitting earth drowned out by the howl that rips from our throats.
The Alpha and Beta of the Phoenix Pack are going to war, because no matter what happens tonight, I’ll make damn sure they survive it. Even if it kills me.
Through the thick pane of glass, I catch sight of them-Ryder and Remy. Their bodies are taut, muscles coiled like springs, and their eyes shimmer with a faint golden glow that pierces the darkness. Even from this distance, their energy pulses through the air, wild and electric, crackling like the charged atmosphere before a violent storm.
A wave of relief crashes over me so forcefully that my knees nearly buckle. They’re alive. They’re still standing their ground.
For a brief moment, everything else fades away. Ryder’s gaze locks onto mine through the window, sharp and unwavering. His wolf form hovers just beneath the surface, almost visible, a silent presence beside him. That look-calm but resolute-is the one he wears when he’s already mapped out the next move. My eyes shift to Remy, whose wolf is equally close, but his expression betrays more. A subtle flicker of fear snakes down my spine. They’re not here to reassure us that the danger has passed.
Right on cue, Callen’s voice cuts through the tense silence, sharp and commanding. “Evacuate! Move now!”
He storms into the room, urgency radiating from his every movement as he barks orders. “Leo, Parker, flank left and right. Jake, Poppy-grab every medical supply you can carry without slowing down. No one gets left behind.”
Poppy dashes toward the medical cabinets, her breaths quick and uneven, clutching the supplies like a lifeline. Jake moves with a terrifying calmness, his focus razor-sharp despite the faint tremble in his hands. He methodically gathers transfusion kits, blood bags, antiseptics-everything they might need-his mind already racing ahead.
“Mummy, what’s happening?” Jax’s small voice quivers, fragile against the rising tide of panic.
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