Series: Star Moon Pack Series by J.L. Beck
Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
He stares down at his plate, his shoulders heaving when he sighs. “Some questions aren’t easy to answer.”
My wolf stirs in anger. “Give it a try.”
His brows draw together, and his mouth turns downward in a scowl—but before he can offer even a pitiful excuse, the ear-splitting blaring of alarms drowns out everything else.
Our eyes meet, and I know we’re thinking along the same lines before he ever utters a word.
“An attack.”
28
WILDE
No sooner am I out of the shower than the alarms begin to blare.
As always, there’s that single moment of frozen panic. It isn’t fear; no, it’s my mind and body catching up to this sudden shift in reality. One moment, I’m toweling off after having washed most of Lili’s scent off my skin. I didn’t want to, but it had to be done.
The next, I’m running down the hall, propelling myself down the stairs without bothering to dress. What difference does it make? I’ll only be shifting, anyway.
The raised voices and pounding feet throughout the house tell me everyone is as ready to fight as I am. While my parents and the council won’t fight, the guards stationed throughout the property will. They come from all directions, no hesitation.
This is the second battle in as many weeks. At this rate, our opponent deserves everything they get for daring to breach the borders after already being soundly defeated. I can’t wait to tear them apart. Eventually, it has to be enough. It must be enough.
Once outside, my wolf bursts forth, and I hardly break my stride as I run across the front courtyard and over the lawn. Other wolves pour out behind me, and once we reach the street, we are met up with by the guards who were enjoying a little downtime while their brethren took their shift at the perimeter. I sense their eagerness in their eyes, growls, and frantic racing to where smoke is already rising. Their determination. Their rage at being once again disturbed, forced to protect what belongs to us, what is ours.
Already the battle is intense. Forrest falls in step beside me, and the two of us jump over a fallen wolf the healers are rushing toward. We barely manage to avoid crashing into them before continuing on to where the fighters have already managed to push the invasion back, closer to the border.
I hang back, and so does my brother, the two of us surveying the scene. At the moment, there’s what looks to be a wall of lightning around twenty feet high and yards across, and it looks as though the energy is being controlled by three cloaked witches, their hands held high as the power radiates from their open palms.
I look to my right and to my left, finding a handful of our pack who’ve fallen back slightly after already engaging. Forrest needs no explanation, reading my mind as always, and he gathers a handful of wolves before running at full speed to the right, hanging behind the tree line rather than exposing himself.
I take the rest and run in the opposite direction. If we can get around that wall—if that’s what it is—and meet in the middle, we can take out the witches generating it. We are far enough away from them that I doubt they’ve noticed us. We might have the element of surprise on our side.
If there’s one thing I’m grateful for as I run at full speed, my lungs burning, my muscles stretching and working faster, harder, it’s knowing Lili is safe. She’ll be back at the house, probably still asleep—no, that’s not true, I’m sure. The alarms would have woken her. Even so, if anyone had seen her around the house, they would have stopped her. Mom and Dad are back there; they won’t let her out here.
What I need to focus on is the stench of singed fur and burnt flesh. The further I run, the more fallen brethren I come across. The tent will be full tonight, but it doesn’t seem as though too many of them are horribly wounded. That gives me an extra burst of speed, and I’m lucky it happens when it does because, a moment after I pass an old oak, it explodes in a shower of sparks and flame, wood splinters flying in all directions.
A few of them hit me, but they’re superficial scratches at worst. Still, I slow down to make sure those following me aren’t injured. They look a little dazed, slowing down to shake off any burning cinders that might have landed in their fur. Once we gather ourselves again, we take off, and now I’m afraid Forrest and his group will get there first and be without backup. The wall seems to get longer the longer we run, but that has to be a trick of my overworked imagination. And my eagerness to get this over with. Once and for all, if possible.