I hear coughing and turn to look beside me.I gasp when I see Alpha David braced to the wall beside me, I look on the other side and see Christine and Wendy braced as well.They are covered in bruises, and Wendy has a gash that isn’t healing on her head.“You’re awake?” Alpha David’s voice sounds strangled and pained.I turn my head to him, making eye contact.
“Where are we?”
“Some sort of lab.” He throws his head towards the front.I look up, and I can see clear glass.We are in some sort of glassed room resembling a huge fish tank.I can see scientists in lab coats walking around on the other side of the glass with computers and notebooks, all working, not paying attention to us trapped in the room in front of them.I look over to Christine and Wendy.
“Girls?” I call out to them, but they don’t answer.
“They haven’t woken since they got here, the doctor injected them with something.They keep coming back, testing their blood and injecting them.”
“What do they want?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but we need to find a way out of here.”
I nod, I try to mindlink but can feel some sort of barrier blocking me.I hear the lock to the glass door open and the man from the bunker steps in, a smug smile on his face.
“Nice to have you back with us, Aria.”
I growl at him.“Let them go.You have me, leave them be.”
He walks over to me; he has some stick in his hand.It is long and has two prongs on the end.He places it on my shoulder.Pressing the prongs into my flesh.I hiss at the sudden pain and struggle against my restraints.“I don’t think so, see you aren’t in any position to do anything; therefore, I can do as I please.” He turns and presses the stick onto Lily’s back.He presses a button near the handhold, and she starts screaming and convulsing, the buzz of electricity in the air.It’s a cow prodder.I scream and pull on my restraints, and so does David.
“Leave her, fucking leave her, you fucking coward,” David screams.The man turns toward David and jams him in the ribs with the prodder, turning it on.David tenses, his muscles bulging and rippling under the current.The man stops and turns toward me.
“That all you got, you fucking maggot,” David screams at him before spitting on him.The man wipes his face and hits him again with the stick.I can smell his flesh burning, but he doesn’t scream.In fact, he just glares pulling on his restraints.“I’m going to fucking rip you to shreds,” he spits out venomously through gritted teeth.Lily stirs behind him, and her eyes go wide, realising her father is being electrocuted.Her eyes meet mine, and I mouth to her to stay quiet.I watch tears run down her cheeks before she freezes, holding back her sobs.
The man stops, and David fights against the restraints trying to break free.It is no use, though.The man walks around and sits across from Lily.
“Well, hello young lady.” Lily moves back in her chair trying to get away from him.
“Well, now that I have your undivided attention, listen up.I am not sure if your father told you about the experiments we wanted him for.” I stare shocked that he knows my father is still alive.“Oh yes, Aria, I have known for years.A body just doesn’t disappear.Anyway, back to what I was saying.I need your blood, and I need a lot quite frankly.The blood we took from your father years ago has run out, and I need more and you, my dear will be, let’s see, what’s the word,” he says, tapping his chin.
“Oh yes, my personal blood bag.” His dark hair falls in his eyes, and he throws his head back, pushing it out of the way.
“And why is it that you need my blood specifically?”
“You’re incredibly unique, and your blood holds the key to immortality, why else?Nothing more, nothing less.Although over the years, we have had some developments.Your friends there are living proof our science does work,” he says, pointing to Wendy and Christine.I look over to them, still slumped forward, their faces hidden behind their hair that is acting as a veil.They do smell different.
Chapter 44
Reid’s POV
We had just finishedthe meeting; every back member was called.We had to meet at the Pack stadium just to cram everyone in.We tripled the border patrols, made sure that we had a plan.A plan that I believed was solid and would work, that they wouldn’t catch us off guard.The patrols were running smoothly for the first nine hours.My men were exhausted but alert.Geared up on needing to protect their families and our way of life.The Hunters haven’t been seen or heard from in nearly two decades.
We soon learned they had been biding their time, accumulating more members, they outnumbered us.There were over five hundred Pack members in my Pack.This should have been an easy victory, especially with the help of the Black Moon Pack by our side.We sent word to the neighbouring Packs outside the city, everyone that we had alliances with.But even they couldn’t get here in time.I had just received word that Alpha David had sent all the women and children to the bunker, we sent ours to be safe, or so we thought.I still don’t know how many made it.One thing I learnt was that our bunkers were old and outdated, not for the size our Pack has grown.I hope they made it, but I know it’s foolish to think they all did.
If we find a way out of this, if any part of the Pack survives, we will have hundreds of people to account for, hundreds to bury.Zane took Aria to the Black Moon Pack, to the safety of their bunker.Despite his past grievances and lack of training for his Pack, Alpha David was prepared for war.I was surprised when Alpha David told me to start sending my Pack members over there for protection.But it was a smart move less ground to cover if everyone was in one place.
What we weren’t prepared for was the fact that the Hunters didn’t need to cross the borders, they were already lying in wait for us, their numbers tripling both our Packs.They were well trained and had an advantage, they had something that weakened us.After I received the call that the Black Moon was under attack.I knew instantly that we failed.
We failed because to get to the Black Moon border, they had to get through ours.That’s where we went wrong, we were so busy protecting the biggest border of the city, not realising they were already well and truly past our city border.Smack in the middle by the hundreds.They snuck up behind us, and when the first explosions went off, everything turned chaotic.They attacked both Packs at once leaving a clear divide between both.The woman and children fleeing caught in the crossfire between borders.
Every street, every building lit up like Christmas trees, as they were blown to smithereens effectively trapping us.Both Packs tried to get to the bunkers to protect them.But with the amount of firepower the Hunters had and the amount of Hunters we didn’t stand a chance, they wiped out over half our people.
I had to block the mind link; nobody was able to fight properly, becoming distracted by the fear and screaming of their loved ones being ripped into the afterlife.I knew instantly when the bunker had been breached.I could feel Aria had woken, then I could feel her pain.Her pain as the explosions went off, I could feel the wolfsbane burning her skin, but she held on, and I knew exactly why.Aria wasn’t one to go down without a fight, especially when her loved ones were at stake, when our Packs were fighting for their lives, I knew she would fight for them.I was well aware of everything she was thinking, everything she was feeling, but I couldn’t focus on her alone when I could feel the teethers of my Pack, being cut and ripped away from me.I lost count after the first seventy.
The pain of their deaths only fuelled me to keep fighting.I knew if I stopped, I would break, it’s unnatural to feel one death, let alone hundreds of links torn.Hundreds of people now memories.Then the feeling of everyone’s heartache at having lost their mates, their parents, their children.It was too much to bear; I bore all that suffocatingly.I don’t know how my father survived living through it for years after the attack that killed my brother and mother.I felt like my soul was being split away piece by fucking piece, the sharp edges cutting deeply, bleeding my soul right out me and creating a void, that was now being filled with guilt.Guilt that I couldn’t save them.Guilt that I failed my job as Alpha.
When Aria finally succumbed, I felt that too, not only did I feel it, but the entire Pack was also linked to that teether we shared.We started dropping like flies.The Hunters did their research because they backed off as soon as she went down, going back to the shadows they came from.I tried to fight it, but her pull, the Lycan pull, was greater.Had I known being mated to her would cause not only me to fall but my entire Pack, I may have second-guessed marking her, although I knew that was a foolish thought to have, the mate pull is stronger than us, it would have been inevitable.The Hunters must have known, I don’t know how they knew but without a Queen to command or fight for, the soldier’s fall.