54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54

I rvine had been a rookie, but he'd had traps set up all over his property. It was only right to assume all the Hunter families near the base would do the same. Their traps would probably be more elaborate.

‘Everyone's ready.'

Jax looked back at Dylan and then at the gates of the house he had chosen. He had never thought much about the Hunter family structures since he assumed they were all soulless bastards. For what he planned to do to them, he hoped that was true. Not that it would damage his already unsalvageable reputation, but Layla wouldn't like it if he went around killing innocent people.

Even if they fucking deserved it.

She'd been disgusted by what he did to the Circle's vampire assassins, but this would get uglier.

‘Remember to watch out for the traps. I see a lot of silver and smell wolfsbane. The fuckers must bathe in it,' he told Dylan.

Dylan turned back to whisper, ‘silver and wolfsbane' to Chase, who was foolishly sticking to him, and another wolf from Ryker's pack. Someone divided them into small teams; all the members mixed so they could still mindlink and relay all messages. He didn't know whose idea that was; he just wanted to go in and get the ball rolling already.

He stepped out of the woods and into the road, looking at every inch of the locked gates and high walls that looked innocent to the naked eye. He'd chosen to take one of the bigger Hunter houses, where the stench of Hunters was most pungent. Nothing would be innocent about the gate or the big house at the end of a long driveway. To human eyes, it looked like a nice, wealthy, respectable family lived there. The lawn was manicured, the paint on the house looked fresh, and the whole setup looked welcoming.

But he heard an unwelcoming buzz as he reached the gates. And there was nothing welcoming about the suspicious substance that someone sprayed on the silver bars of the gate.

And there was something else.

He sniffed the air and looked up at the stone pillars on either side of the gates, following the scent that had no business being at a Hunter's house. Was it possible? His body wound up tighter than it had already been when his gaze landed on what looked like talismans on the ground behind the pillars. They were disguised as garden gnomes and reeked of dark magic.

‘Magic,' he warned Dylan.

Even though Hailey attacked them, he never once assumed any other witches would align themself with the enemy. Because the Hunters destroyed as many covens as they did packs. Who the hell would take their side?

‘Shit,' Dylan said. ‘What should I tell them?'

‘Tell them they should look out for talismans protecting the gates. They'll probably have some in the house, too. They should just draw the Hunters out if they can't go in. I bet they all have security cameras like this house.'

His gaze went up to the blinking light on the camera on top of one of the pillars. The residents in the house already knew he was there. They became alert; he could pick up their whispers and sense their growing fear.

Not active Hunters, then. The Hunters he'd dealt with feared nothing. Felt nothing. They were dead inside, like a void of darkness. Maybe not all Hunters became part of the army that hunted them. Perhaps some were just there to increase their numbers, as he said to Irvine.

‘The result will be the same. The calvary will come.'

On that thought, he ripped off the clothes Dylan forced him to wear so they could walk through the town without being reported to the police for indecent exposure. Even though it was still dark, several humans were still out on the streets. Bluffhill was a lot bigger than Wolfdale, so their nightlife was on a different level. It might as well have been daytime with all the potential casualties still walking around. If the Circle heard of this, they would not let it slide.

But he didn't give a shit about that anymore.

His claws were extending, and his arms thickened by the time he grabbed the silver bars. As he expected, a fine mist of wolfsbane coated his palms when he shoved the gates forward and broke the linked chain.

‘Now!' he min- linked Dylan.

A wave of nausea hit him as he crossed the wards set out by the ugly gnomes, but it was nowhere near as strong as Diedre's magic. It didn't take him much to pick up one of the gnomes and fling it across the yard, shattering it into pieces. His hand tingled from the sting of the magic, but as it rolled over him, he felt it burn out uselessly.

If the Hunters paid for that shit, they needed to get their money back.

He rolled his shoulders and looked back at the house. No one had come out yet, so they were relying on something else to keep them safe.

‘I count more than ten of them,' he warned Dylan. ‘Stay there.'

‘No chance,' Dylan said.

His Beta was already behind him, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Ryker's warrior slide into the shadows, blending in so effortlessly he would have sworn Night Walkers had a hint of red wolf in their blood. Chase came to stand on his other side and pointed at something that glinted in the moonlight.

"Silver arrows," he said aloud. There was no point whispering. "Tell the other teams what you see."

Hopefully, they had the same security protocols.

His gaze followed the traps lined along the wall, undoubtedly set to go off if they walked in further. Did they think that would stop him?

His simmering rage burst forward, and his beast took over, finally unleashed to do as he wanted. His bones cracked as his body stretched, shifting instantly in the enemy's presence. He could sense them just inside the house's front door, waiting. Their stench magnified, and their accelerated heartbeats sounded like music to his ears.

And then the fear.

He lowered his snout to the ground as he took it in. He would never have imagined that a Hunter's fear would smell so sweet.

‘Are you going to stop me?' Cain asked.

His voice was laced with his rage. It was husky and broken. Almost unrecognisable with the urge to taste that blood and see it flowing at his feet.

‘No.'

Cain looked over at the traps set along the wall. He saw the sharp tips of the arrows sticking out from behind the makeshift barrier and the hidden sensors beside it. Patches of slightly disturbed earth he saw leading to the house confirmed that those were not the only death traps he would face.

He'd only taken a step towards them when a branch flew across his line of vision and landed several feet away. Arrows immediately shot out of the wall.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Dylan hissed.

He looked back at where the branch came from to see Ryker's warrior shrugging before he took a step forward.

Okay, so he would give the guy that one. He hadn't thought of that.

‘Stay behind me. There are traps on the path,' he warned Dylan before he took several steps forward.

The fake grass that covered the traps would not have been unnoticeable to anyone else. The Hunters did well on those, at least. But they hadn't considered that the path they took to avoid their traps would be obvious to even the most inexperienced wolf. Even if they only activated their security at certain times, anyone would subconsciously avoid stepping where the danger was.

It didn't take long to get close to the house. A security light came on, half blinding them before the front doors were thrown open, and two men pointed large guns at them. He was on them before they could fire a shot, flinging one arm straight across the yard and then chomping down on another.

The screams.

The screams fueled him like nothing else. The darkness in the very depths of him surged up until he became the monster he warned the others about. He didn't care where his team was as he shoved through the open doorway and scanned the house for the rest of them. He didn't care that they saw him rip through the flesh of the Hunter and feed on chunks of him as if he just caught a deer.

The fear in the house increased as doors quietly opened and shut. The sound of more weapons being cocked prickled his ears. The hunter in him celebrated. What good was a hunt if his prey cowered at his feet? They fucked with the wrong one; the whole town would know it before he was through.

A large brown wolf shot past him and headed towards the back of the house. It wasn't the first time he had seen Chase's wolf, but it was the first time the arrogant Alpha willingly fought beside him. Blood was already dripping from his mouth. He looked feral. He looked worthy of his rank. He only hoped he would still feel like that when the real fight started.

His attention returned to the room above him where some Hunters hid with their weapons. It took him seconds to rush up the stairs. The hallway wasn't as wide as the Packhouse halls, so his frame filled it up, blocking the only escape route for the Hunters.

There were sniffles and more whispers. More fear colouring the air. A shotgun went off, leaving a large hole in the wall right in front of him. He didn't give them a chance to fire at him again. The door broke down with no effort, and he almost snapped his teeth around the offender's head until the sound of the sniffles hit his ears again. His teeth snapped in the air instead, mere inches from the frightened young woman's face. Her eyes were tightly closed, and tears streamed down her face. Her heart pounded loudly, and her body shook with fear.

She didn't look like a Hunter. She was petite and smelled of flowers over her natural scent. Anyone who saw her from a distance would believe she was a mere human.

A side of him with no business showing up in the middle of a war pushed forward and forced him to step back. The girl was no older than Faith.

But then again, her people took Faith, too, and Goddess knew what they were doing to her. There was no room for compassion anymore.

Still, he backed out of the room and went down the stairs. Killing these Hunters wouldn't satisfy him as much as killing the ones behind the base wall.

‘Let's go,' he ordered.

Dylan came in from another part of the house in his wolf form—a grey wolf next to the smaller brown one that was Ryker's warrior. He didn't stop to see if they would obey his command without question. Frustration filled him up as, once again, his need to obliterate all the Hunters went unsatisfied.

He crossed the road on the quiet street into the woods and shifted to his human form. Dawn was breaking; the rest of the world was waking up. In the distance, he heard the wails, the screams.

The Hunters at the base would hear them, too. They would come.

They had to.