Evelyn POV
Breathe in….breathe out….
I was preparing myself for when I felt the trespassing of each rogue onto my lands. Judging by their speed as they tumbled towards us, it would be at any second. I would feel each foot pass the invisible barrier onto my lands. The shear volume of them would shake me to my core, yet I will keep my strength. I will show no signs of its affect on me.
“Call Reuben..” Pierce’s whispers from the side of his mouth.
“NO!” I roar, annoyed by Pierce’s doubt in Noah and mine’s ability to protect our lands. This wasn’t four years ago. We’d learnt from our mistakes.
“I can fight my own battles….” And judging by the rogues speed, I was going to have to.
“Prepare, we fight until they submit or are dead.” I command through the mind-link to my warriors.
“Alpha!” They all confirm that they understand what is expected of them.
“Miss Smith…the children?” My mind needed complete clarity as the heavy steps of the impending battle continued towards me.
I, being the pack alpha, would be their main target. “I’ve moved them into the basement, they are fine Alpha.” Miss Smith instantly responds.
The basement was hidden and only myself, Noah and Miss Smith know how to access it. It was like a fortress and would take days to break into. Knowing they were safely held up in there cleared my mind to concentrate on the fight ahead.
When I was young, my father used to tell me stories of shifter battles that I found fascinating. One that always stuck in my head was of an alpha that would change between skin and his wolf throughout the fight.
He said it gave the element of surprise, that each move was unpredictable and something that wouldn’t have been trained for.
This is how it will have to be, I’ll have to shift which will tire me out more, but will keep the element of surprise.
“Hold!” I order to my warriors through the pack-link. We had no need to use valuable energy running to them, let them waste theirs.
The smell of rogues hit me like fog as it invaded my senses. They were pack- less yet followed orders of a female that was under the delusion that she deserved power. The male leader was still in the distance, walking slowly towards us.
Where his group of fighters gained ground…he held back, his eyes didn’t leave me once. Even from a distance I could see how strong he was, I don’t think he was even a wolf, I think he was a mutated bull. He’ll want to fight me, I can see that. But he won’t mind if his men try to tire me out. But when the time comes he’ll want to end me.
Noah takes a side step in front of me, the beta protecting the alpha. The man protecting the female that birthed his adopted children.
The warriors prepare their footing, we are the great mountain that will not be moved. Not by wave or wind.
“Fight in skin or fur, either way these rogues are not welcome, are not wanting a new life. We show them no mercy. “I let my aura run out through the pack-link, letting each and every pack member know that this isn’t a test, it isn’t a training exercise. This was it!
As they descend upon us, upon me…I shift at the very last second, instantly ripping through a skin form’s throat. I let my wolf take control, let her wipe out the threat.
Once she has taken out several rogues, she grants me back control and shifts me into skin form. I don’t have time for clothes, I am fighting in the skin form that the moon goddess has blessed me with.
Five….ten….fifteen…I won’t stop killing until the threat is erased. I’m covered in blood and fur as I shift between my two forms even sometimes during a fight, letting my wolf’s teeth do their damage.
Noah and Pierce do not leave my side once, even Donnie joined the fight, leaving Beatrice in the hospital. He had no choice, I needed all fighters.
The fight is relentless but I was starting to breathe easier when I could see we were making quite the indent into their size.
That is until I felt a new wave of impending doom wash over me. A realisation that this was far from over. I spun to find the scene of more rogues coming directly south of us.
“On your six…more rogues.” I shout through the mind-link updating my warriors. We would fight until every one of these invaders was destroyed…. even if it meant my own death. They couldn’t get into that basement.
“Noah….the children…” I mind-link him as he takes down a wolf with his bare hands.
“Go to them…”
“I can’t…” I couldn’t, I couldn’t leave my people and the rogue leader was still watching me with a demonic smile.
“Evelyn…” Noah calls to me but I can barely hear him, my ears are ringing from the explosion near the alpha home.
A house has been set on fire and my heart breaks, temporarily resulting in my frozen state.
No, not again!
I can hear the screams through the mind-link as the rogues start to target the unarmed, the families hiding at home. I turn to run in that direction when the second wave of rogues finally joins our fight. I am knocked to the ground but only for a second, the impact I hadn’t braced for from watching the fires burn.
He’s seen it as a sign of weakness, that I am tired and injured. I am not. It was a momentary relapse in my concentration and I won’t let it happen again.
He’s running towards me now, hunger in his eyes. She wants me dead, not captured…dead. I was right, he’s a hybrid of beast and bull. I don’t think there’s any wolf actually in him. He’s a monster.
I duck, I dive, I shift…it is only a matter of time before my body makes one mistake and he has me. He has the benefit of saving his energy for this very moment, whereas I’ve already taken out now countless of rogues.
On my left I can see both Noah and Pierce trying to reach me, but I think even they are as tired as me. As long as there isn’t a third wave of rogues we should come out of this alive.
“Alpha!” Miss Smith screams at me through my open mind-link. I’ve kept it open throughout the fight, I need to feel each injury and each death of my pack to stay tuned in to who needs help..
“Alpha, help.”
The children….
“Miss Smith?”
“They are breaking into the alpha house .” Her fear mentally hits me just as the beastly rogue physically punches me straight in the nose.
I am knocked to the ground by the impact, my eyes streaming as the salty tears burn on my vision. “Evelyn.” I hear Noah scream for me but I can’t see him, my vision is blurred by the tears.
I go to stand up only for him to kick me in the chest, knocking all air out of my lungs. In order to regain my breath, I slowly move away from him in a backward motion on the ground.
“End of the line.” He growls at me as he pulls his arm backward to punch me in the chest. Aiming to take out my heart. I won’t go down without a fight. I kick him in the shins, but he is incredibly strong and I have just made the bull see red.
By my throat he picks me up off the ground and lifts me up into the air. “The almighty Silver Moon Alpha…” He scoffs spitting into my face.
“…I’m going to enjoy this.” My eyes start to clear only for me to see his ugly scarred face and black teeth. He looks down at me and I am, for the first time in this fight, aware of my naked body . I need to shift, but his grip on my throat is so tight that I run the risk of being strangled mid shift.
“Alpha…” Her cry for my children’s safety turned my blood cold, that my desperation to get to them overtook every fibre of my body. I punch him in the throat, the only visible area to me right now that could give me some leverage back.
It works, he drops me to the ground calling me all names under the glowing moon. I use this moment to gain some distance on us. As much as I want to, I can’t go to them until he is dead. Otherwise I will lead him directly to them.
His anger has quadrupled, as he runs at me like that bull wanting the red flag. I brace my feet for impact as he reaches his arms out to me but they grab somebody else.
Someone has dived in-front of me at the last minute. Blocked me in a protective movement. A sweet leathery scent.
“GO!” He roars at me as he pushes the rogue off him and prepares to fight. I don’t wait, I use this last minute chance from him to get to our children, to protect them the best I can.
I push my body to its limit as I run to the alpha home. The basement is well concealed but a mother’s instinct has kicked in and I can’t deny it. I need to get to them.
I reach the courtyard to find a small group of rogues trying to break down the shutters. Do they think I am in there? That’s the disadvantage of being a rogue, no mind-link.
I don’t waste any time, I kill them all instantly. They weren’t the main warriors, they were given a different order. To break into the alpha house…
Even bloodied and bruised, they were not a match for me. “It’s secure!” I send Miss Smith calming emotions through the pack- link only to hear the breaking of glass behind me. I turn to see the anonymous rogue jumping from a top floor broken window of the house assigned for his arrest.
After landing on the grass ground, he looks at me for a moment before a sneer forms on his mouth. He was going back to her. Unbelievable!
Not if I can help it.
He starts to run towards the main fight, as I push my feet off the ground giving chase.
