22. Voss

22

VOSS

The second Bexley disappeared from sight, a war raged within me. My mate was being dragged off by my mortal enemy. Or, by something, at the very least. We still hadn’t figured out where in the fuck all of the fire came from. I had two entire packs to get to safety, and we couldn’t figure out who in the fuck set fire to everything. Plus, we had to get Dom back to safety, and he’d have to be hauled. We couldn’t figure out who in the hell had that kind of legitimate firepower within Delilah’s ranks. Vampires weren’t capable of that kind of nonsense. At least, they shouldn’t have been capable of it. And as I snatched one trying to rush by me out of thin air, I kept a tight hold on that fucker’s neck as I shook my hand.

I dropped its body to the ground.

Ronyn’s voice growled beside me. “Go get her. We’ve got this, Alpha.”

He sure as fuck didn’t have to tell me twice, either.

Immediately, I shifted back into my wolf form and sprinted around the ring of fire standing tall and proud in the middle of the goddamn woods. I placed my nose to the ground, scenting Bexley every step of the way as I pushed on as quickly as I could.

Merida. Lieutenant Reggie. Get Dom back to the compound. He needs medical attention.

Troops A and B: tactical sweep. I want this entire forest cleared.

Troops C and D: inner emergency plan. Get everyone into their homes and no one comes out until I give the order.

As I listened to Ronyn bark orders at everyone in groupthink, I pounded the forest floor in search of my mate. Miles and miles of landscape fell behind me in a flash as I jumped from tree to tree, keeping my nose to the bark and the ground wherever I smelled my woman. I no longer had them in sight, but I saw the glow of Bexley’s restraints off in the distance.

I let the wind carry me, as if it pushed me forward even quicker than my legs could propel me.

But even the glow fell away from my vision after a while.

I growled to myself as I picked up the pace. Never in my life had I run that hard or that fast or that far. I leapt over hilltops and trudged up mountains. But after a while, it felt like Delilah intentionally took the harder routes. I didn’t let it stop me, though. I kept pulling her scent from the ground and leaping into the air to check things like tree branches and leaves.

I’d catch up to them, one way or another.

Soon, the smell of smoke wasn’t even prevalent in the air. Soon, all of the screaming in the background ceased to exist. Soon, it felt like I had stepped into another world where darkness and silence reigned supreme. The stench of Delilah’s walking corpse intermingled with Bexley’s luscious floral-scented hair, and I charged forward. I had no idea how far away I moved from the pack. I had no idea if anyone was safe. Groupthink was shut down, and I was fine with it. I couldn’t worry about the packs. I couldn’t worry about Ronyn and his men. Bexley needed me.

My mate needed me.

And it was the only thing that kept pressing me onward.

“Come on,” I growled as I shifted temporarily back into my naked human form, “where did you take her, you bitch?”

I shifted back into my wolf form and took off to the top of another hill. I needed height. I needed a vantage point. I knew that vampires were quick movers, but even they had a terminal point where they needed to stop and rest. They weren’t impervious, after all. Maybe I had chased Delilah long enough that she needed to stop and take a second.

Did vampires have to catch their breath?

Did their lungs even work?

I raced to the top of the hill, clamoring up its rocky facade with my talons. Desperation clung to me as the fur of my wolf became soaked in sweat. But, when the wind kicked up, I noticed that the intermingled scent of death and delight had already faded.

No, no, no, no, I growled to myself as I skidded to the top of the massive hill. Come on, Delilah. Where did you go, you cunt?

As I gazed out over the darkened landscape, with no sign of that fiery glow in sight, anger gripped my heart. The wind kept kicking up, dissipating their scent and erasing them from the forest altogether. I swiveled in place, sharpening my eyesight as far as it could go until it damn near gave me a fucking migraine. But, there was nothing.

No glow of a fire.

No scent to track.

No footsteps to follow.

There was just… nothing.

Tell me you found her. Please, Dom said weakly as he finally reached out into groupthink.

I shook my wolf’s head as I continued twirling around in circles, desperate for any sort of a lead. Nice to hear your voice, Dom.

Did you find her? Ronyn asked.

I need another healer! Merida cried out.

What’s going on? I asked.

Did you find her, Alpha? Ronyn asked hotly.

But as I stood at the top of that incredible hill with the view of the forest all around me, my gut curdled as I answered.

Kill every vampire you come across until we find Bexley. That’s an order for the entire pack.

Oh, God, Dom said breathlessly. What the hell did she do? Why the hell would she do this?

Over my dead body, Ronyn snarled. We can’t just start slaughtering them on impact. It’ll create a tit-for-tat situation.

I growled as I skidded back down the muddy mountainside. Well, I’m Alpha of these packs right now, and what I say goes.

Well, you might be Alpha, but you made me commander general for a reason, Voss. I’m the protector of this pack. And Bexley is part of this pack. So, if we want her alive, we do this intentionally and with a plan. Got it?

I got down to the bottom of the hill only to shoot myself back to the top of a tree before I shifted back into my naked human form. Tree branches poked me in all sorts of unsavory places as I tried to get another, better angle of the forest. I sharpened my eyesight as the hair from my wolf slowly crept from beneath my skin. I felt my teeth sharpen as I ran my tongue along them, my night vision activating so I could do another sweep of the dense forest all around me.

And yet, no matter what angle I found myself in, whether in human or in wolf form, there was nothing.

No scent.

No trail.

No sign of Bexley anywhere.

I slowly turned around in a tree and gazed back toward the compound, noticing something else. The fires were gone. The twenty-feet flames that once threatened to burn us all to the ground had disappeared as if they were never there. The only evidence the fire left behind was a charred part of the forest and smoke that rose lazily into the starry night sky.

Just about everything around our compound was burned.

Except for our actual compound.

A show of strength, I thought to myself.

My mind swirled with all sorts of things as my wolf form took control once more. I jumped from branch to branch until I touched down against the ground, then I stood there. Unsure of what to do. Now, I’d met some strong-ass vampires in my lifetime. Hell, it took Delilah herself taking out my fucking father before that son of a bitch accepted death with his arms wide open. But, I’d never met a vampire that wielded the elements like that. The fires didn’t come from us, and there was no scent of gasoline, so they weren’t set. And fires didn’t rage out of control like that naturally unless there was some sort of solvent propelling it forward. So how in the fuck were those flames ignited? The entire forest should’ve smelled like fucking diesel fuel, and yet there was no scent at all. Just the smell of smoke and the scent of desperation as the thought of Bexley being in Delilah’s crutches filled me with white hot anger.

If that bitch laid a finger on my mate, her army of misfits would never stop finding pieces of her.

Ever.

Find my mate.

My soul cried out as I forced myself to turn back in the direction of the compound.

Go after that bitch.

My mind screamed out to me as I sprinted back toward the two vulnerable packs.

Go get Bexley. Go get Bexley. Go get Bexley.

My heart thumped with purpose. My soul shrieked with need. The more distance I put in between me and Bexley to get back to our packs, the more my heart shattered. But, I knew she wouldn’t want it any other way. If the tables were turned, I would have expected her to get back to the packs and keep them safe until we figured out what the fuck do to next. And Bexley was nothing, if not the most capable human I had ever come across.

She was trained. She was extraordinary. She was prolific.

And if there was anyone who could survive long enough until we got to her, it was my mate.

My Bexley. My darling. My purpose.

But even I knew that a human was no match for a vampire.

And that truth alone filled me with panic as I sprinted back toward the compound.