Chapter 0002

Dimitri

Fucking Masuzyo. He’s lost his mind. Well, he lost it two years ago when his mate and son died in childbirth, but now he’s truly going crazy. He’s waged war on my pack. Why? Because I have the son he never had.

He can go fuck himself. I lost a mate too and you don’t see me going all fucking nuts and starting a war. And no one…NO ONE comes after my son.

‘Zev, give me the status of the warriors,’ I say to my wolf. He and I work well together and right now he’s focused on the war, and I’m focused on getting our pup to safety. My son, Cathal, is only nine years old, still a year away from getting his wolf and shifting for the first time. It makes him vulnerable, and while I hate taking him from the pack, the fighting was getting too close to the packhouse. Since I know Masuzyo is coming specially to kill Cathal, I had to get him out of there, which means I had to leave my warriors fighting without me.

It goes against everything in me as an Alpha to leave my pack in this time of need. But as a father, I can’t risk my son’s safety.

“Dad, where are you taking me?” Cathal asks from where he’s riding on Zev’s back. Since he doesn’t have a wolf, I can’t mind link him. And since I’m in wolf form, he knows I can’t answer, so his question is more about nerves than wanting to know.

‘The warriors are holding. But your son’s question is a good one. Where are we taking him?’ Zev asks.

‘The mountain. It’s far enough away that hopefully none of Masuzyo’s men will find him.’

‘Make it quick. Our pack needs us,’ he says.

‘So does our son,’ I growl at him. I don’t like feeling torn any more than Zev does. I need to get back and I need to take Masuzyo out, so we can end this war. ‘Let’s find someplace where he can be hidden and safe and then we can get back to the pack.’

Zev focuses on the landscape around us, sniffing the air. ‘There,’ he says, moving us in the direction of a thicket that a man our size couldn’t fit into, but a child could. A wolf would struggle and possibly get tangled in the undergrowth, so it’s the best place to put him until we can get Masuzyo’s warriors off our pack lands, or until I can kill Masuzyo.

I shift quickly, pulling my son off my back as I stand.

“Get inside the thicket, Cathal. Stay hidden until I come back for you.

“But dad…”

“No buts. I need you safe and I need to go protect the pack. Stay here. I’ll be back. And stay quiet son. I love you,” I say, hugging him quickly, then pushing him toward the thicket, using precious seconds to wait while he gets inside before turning and racing back to our pack.

‘Update, Zev,’ I say as we run.

‘They’ve pushed our warriors to the back of the packhouse. They need us, Dimitri.’

Zev pushes harder, racing back to the pack. We pass our borders, leaping over the dead of our pack members and Masuzyo’s pack, pushing hard to keep his pack from getting to our safe rooms. When I break through the forest to the opening behind our packhouse, it’s chaos, mayhem. There are dead lying everywhere and everywhere I look wolves and men are fighting.

I find Masuzyo’s wolf, Alrik. He’s fighting four of my warriors at once. Zev snarls and we leap, slashing another of Masuzyo’s warriors before landing on Alrik’s back. The force of our body pushes his to the ground and Zev snaps his jaws, trying to break Alrik’s neck. My warriors move to fight against others, leaving the two Alphas to battle it out, trusting that I will win.

Alrik recovers quickly, moving just as Zev’s teeth sink into his neck, missing the spine. Zev uses the weight of his body to hold Alrik down while shaking his head back and forth violently, tearing the skin and flesh on the back of his neck.

Alrik jerks, ripping his flesh off, leaving a chuck of it in Zev’s mouth as he scurries out from underneath us. Zev spits out the flesh, lowering his head and giving a menacing snarl as he faces off against Alrik.

Blood is quickly soaking into his coat, the wound on his neck is deep and will take Alrik time to heal. I can see the moment Masuzyo realizes that he’s too weak to fight me.

He turns, taking off for the borders, howling for his pack to join him. I take off right behind him, snarling my fury that after all that, he’s running away. I want him dead. The taste of his blood in my mouth has only made me even more blood-thirsty for him.

I howl for the pack to attack as the others begin to retreat. I can still hear a lot of fighting behind me as the other pack tries to make it out before they are surrounded by my pack members and killed.

I’m hard on Masuzyo’s heels when I realize that some of his pack members are diverting toward the mountain to get away from my men.

‘Zev?’

He snarls, knowing that this is our best chance to catch Masuzyo, but also knowing that our pup is at risk if any of these warriors find him.

He diverts, heading to the mountain pushing hard and taking out a couple of the warriors who are trying to escape in the process.

‘Sergi! I need you to stay with Masuzyo. I have to check on Cathal,’ I tell him in the mind link.

‘Yes, Alpha. I can’t believe the bastard ran.’

‘Zev injured Alrik pretty badly. He’ll need a night to heal. He’s bleeding profusely.’

‘He’s a shitty Alpha for leaving his warriors behind to fend for themselves.’

‘I don’t disagree, but he’s a shitty Alpha for more reasons than one. I’m taking Nico and some of the warriors with me, in case there’s a fight. I have to make sure Cathal is safe.’

‘Be safe,’ he says, cutting off the mind link.

Sergi is a strong Beta, and he’s loyal. I know he’ll follow my instructions and since his mate is pregnant and in a safe room in the packhouse, he has as much reason to want Masuzyo dead as I do.

I reach out to Nico, my Gamma, and several warriors that I can see around me, ordering them to follow me. As I get close to the place where I left my son, my heart drops. Before I even get to him, I can hear the sounds of a wolf in pain and I can smell it.

Blood. Lots of blood.