11. Attacked

Wrenched from sleep with a cry, I landed on the floor in a crouch, my eyes scanning for danger.

“Axel?” T looked down at me, his hair flowing into his face. He tucked it behind his ears with an impatient sound.

I put my finger to my lips as I listened. The sounds in the mansion were off. Something was playing with the acoustics. Everything was muffled somehow.

Processing this took seconds, then I took to the pack link. It, too, was distorted until the source of the panic that had woken me became clear.

Kade.

“We’ve been attacked!”

Teárlach scrambled to get out of bed. We both threw on pajama pants, T grabbing daggers held on a belt he hastily slung around his hips before rushing for the door.

“Go get the elves!” I yelled as I peeled off in the opposite direction. I paused, catching his eye. “There’s a guy, likely dead, in Blake’s suite.” He nodded in agreement before he started running away from me.

Watching him go, I tried to filter all the alarmed reports I was getting through the link. All I could really get was Kade. His absolute horror at what he had done. The life he’d taken, the damage he’d inflicted, were awe-inspiring from an omega. Kade had protected his child and his ex.

Roan’s hurt bad!Kade cried out through the link.

Blake got to his mate just as I did. He peeled Kade off Roan, then checked them both over as Aldrin and James arrived with Dakota and Jasper to take Roan to the clinic.

While he was down for the count, I didn’t want to underestimate the attacker. I went to him, checked he was alive, then kept my foot on him while the chaos went on around me.

Jasper’s face paled so badly on seeing the crumpled form of Roan, the boy he’d known since childhood, that he fainted. Chase caught the fox shifter and called out to Dakota to take him into the house. Dakota took Jasper from Chase with a muttered thanks. Chase and Deke ushered Kade after him.

“Let me get Kade and Elliotte safe and we’ll see to him.” Blake had bypassed anger. He was beyond livid. The betrayal he felt was etched all over his face. He turned to follow his mate, sure we had the situation in hand.

He looked torn at leaving Roan. Despite what Roan was to Kade, he was their family, our family now. Roan had no one else but us. We had to make sure he was okay.

Elves appeared, each looking distraught. They helped with a spell to stretcher Roan to the clinic while Aldrin did some basic healing on him.

There was just so much noise, so much pain in the air. Magic was everywhere, clouding my sense of smell.

Someone held out a potion to Aldrin. “Magic nulling. It should break the effects of whatever they’ve given him,” they said. Roan’s wolf was locked away, preventing Roan from healing on his own. I’d heard he’d gone through that before. It must have been terrifying. Still, he managed to get Elliotte back and keep her safe.

Roan was a hero. No one could doubt his loyalty to his Alpha and the pack now.

The healer uncorked the potion and worked it down Roan’s throat. “I need another one. To boost healing,” he ordered. “Axel, I’ll get him up,” he directed a glare at the shifter under my foot, “and talking as soon as I’m satisfied Roan is out of danger. I need to check on Kade.”

“I think Kade’s fine. Just in shock.” My observation seemed to soothe Aldrin’s worry.

Aldrin nodded, then used another potion on Roan. The young alpha lay suspended between Aldrin and James as they worked to stop the bleeding.

I watched in horror as Roan began seizing. Both the healers tried to hold him still while enforcers and elves scrambled to find another magic nulling potion.

“He’s not breathing!” James cried, tears rolled down his cheeks.

The elves set him down. It was Hakeem that raced forwards and began CPR, all the while calling to Roan’s wolf to protect him, to make him breathe.

Someone forcefully administered another potion to Roan before we all heard him take a breath.

Hakeem rocked back on his heels, relieved, while Aldrin clapped him on the shoulder gratefully.

Beneath my foot, the piece of shit stirred. Fury flared hot inside me. My wolf snarled. This… stain on our pack had hurt our family. Maybe I kicked him in the head. Who knows? He went still again.

After some more healing, they took Roan to the clinic suspended between an elven guard. Aldrin directed some enforcers to help me with the trash and he went to check on Kade and Elliotte.

I followed the sounds of my brother barking orders and found Jasper crying hysterically in Dakota’s arms. The bear looked terrified. He won’t calm down. I told him Roan will be fine.

Feeling helpless, I looked at Blake for guidance. He was shut off, clinging to his mate and child. Someone had brought the other two down. Blake kept one eye on their shared crib. They were still under the effects of the potion and were still asleep. For that, I was grateful. They didn’t need to see us all so stressed and scared.

Blake, though, was struggling. I needed to step up for my baby brother and direct things while he did what he could for his mate and children.

“Perhaps you should call your witch friend. She may be able to alter Jasper’s memory.” Teárlach’s voice was a soothing balm after all I had just seen. He wrapped an arm around me, giving me silent comfort.

“But the injury,” Dakota whispered. Jasper didn’t react, just shook with fear.

“Make the call,” Kade spoke for the first time. His face was bleached of color, his golden eyes dim. He held his phone out to me.

“Okay.” I took the device and called Poppy. Without letting her speak, I told her what had happened.

“I know what to do,” she assured me. “There’s a block I can put on the memory. I’ll be there soon. Don’t want him going into early labor!”

Fuck! I hadn’t even thought about it.

“Dakota, you need to use your alpha power to calm Jasper before he ends up in labor,” I told the alpha. He met my gaze and nodded, immediately acting to soothe Jasper.

Aldrin went to his son-in-law. “You’re right, Axel. I should have—“

“Nope. We aren’t playing the blame game. There is one of you and too many for you to heal.”

“We have Hiroshi,” he reminded me. “I’ll get him to look at the prisoner. I need to work on Jasper until Poppy gets here.”

The witch was goddess sent. She arrived with her wife, Zinna, so quickly I was sure she broke several traffic laws.

Once I was assured Jasper was safe, Kade was resting, and the babies were protected, Deke and I took Aldrin and James to the clinic so they could see how Roan was doing.

We gave the healers time with their patient to assess things before entering the room.

Roan was a mess. Truly, he was lucky to be alive. The Luna had to have been looking after him to survive such an attack. He was confused, wondering aloud how such a thing had happened. My mind was such a mess, I couldn’t get my head around it.

“The attackers likely had at least one other accomplice.” Deke explained as we entered the room. “They set sleep spells around the compound. You and Elliotte were in a silence bubble and they cut your connection between your wolf and the pack. It was powerful and expensive magic. They made it so you couldn’t call for help and didn’t have your wolf to fight with.”

I shared a look with my cousin, the healer and assistant. “The elves are sending for help.”

Blake explained the elves wanted more of a presence in the pack over our family bond. They were sending more fighters.

“I can’t believe someone tried this. We are so grateful to you, Roan.”

With Deke, I stepped forward to lay my hands on Roan’s legs, the only unharmed part of him, to give him and his wolf comfort. My wolf surged towards his, thanking him for what he had done.

Then they arrived. Hiroshi, the new healer, and his two betas. I had seen Tate around as he was in training with Deke to be an enforcer. He was a raven shifter, so useful for his ability to fly. We only had three avian shifters in the pack, making Tate’s alter precious, unlike in his birth pack, where they looked down on ravens.

Mate. Roan immediately claimed Hiroshi as his.

It was both beautiful and heartbreaking to watch, even as distracted as I was, I still felt the pain of something I would never have.

I watched them flirt, terribly, but it was adorable.

Hiroshi finally got to healing Roan. No wonder he was famous. The power he held was amazing! Aldrin’s shock let me know it wasn’t a usual healing. Their mate connection had strengthened it.

The Luna really was watching over Roan.

We made to leave, to let the omega spend some time with his fated mate. Just as we were leaving, Hiroshi climbed onto the bed and into Roan’s waiting arms. They were going to be fine.

I’ve healed that alpha in the basement enough, so his mind isn’t foggy with pain. Not sure you’ll get much out of him, to be honest. He just kept repeating, ‘she must die’, which is super creepy, FYI.Hiroshi sounded ill.

Deke gave an approving nod to Tate while I thanked Hiroshi for his hard work. Please do what you can for Roan. He nearly died for my niece…

He’ll be well looked after.I could almost hear the mental wink. Hiro was a spitfire.

We didn’t have cells, as such. Just a singular room in the cellar, not too far from the gym. It was reinforced to hold even the strongest shifter. The windowless room held a toilet, sink, and small cot. We used spells on the walls to muffle sound and cut off pack links.

Blake met us at the bottom of the cells around the corner from the holding room. He had set his face in a grim line.

“Let’s get this done,” he said with little emotion.

The shifter was standing, a smug look on his face. “I ain’t gonna talk.”

He held onto that resolve until we had removed his fingernails and fang teeth when Blake forced a partial shift on him. The shifter repeated his mantra about Elliotte until we began carving him up. Then he broke long enough to say there would be more, and they had the backing of powerful people.

Aware we would get no more, I grabbed the knife I’d been using, still slick with blood, and cut his throat just deep enough he couldn’t use his alter to heal so it would take time for him to die.

I watched him bleed out, gurgling and gasping. The life drained from his eyes, leaving us needing more answers.

Teárlach was there when I returned to my suite. He led me to the shower, stripped and washed me before guiding me into the bath, where he wrapped himself around me. We soaked for a long time, wordlessly.

He whispered words of comfort as he lay in bed with me. He uttered words of love I so desperately needed as he kissed me all over.

My lover worshiped my body for what felt like hours before spearing me on his cock. He made love to me gently, sweetly, holding me close and kissing me deeply until we both came.

It was the most beautiful, sensual experience of my life. I knew then there would be no one else for me but him.

With him still inside me, I said, “I love you,” for the first time, knowing nothing had ever been more true.

When he returned the words, my resolve settled. I was keeping Teárlach and protecting my niblings until The Luna called me home.