chapter 28

Chapter 28

The night was tainted in blood.

Though the moon shone its silver blue light upon its creatures below, the trees swayed as usual, the night waltzed with subtle wind, and nocturnal insects chirped and crept through the earth, there was commotion in the atmosphere.

Like a reversal, I was pulled back into everything at once. It all happened so fast, and I was in the middle of it all.

Bodies dropped at my feet, men who had been slashed down by claws, some with their necks brutalized by the jagged size of monstrous fangs. Others simply fell to daggers or swords.

The air thickened with death and fury. It reeked across the earth flowing with their blood.

And somehow, I came in contact with Kai. From behind me, he grasped my shoulder, pulling me close to him just in time to avoid a man crashing into me.

"Alex, how are you here?"

Kai's heavy breathing was what gave him away. My palpitations spiked. And I was here. With him.

He was who the One Tree was talking about. It had to be. Our hearts were in sync. One way or another, he had called to me, just like I had once called to him. But if I had called him when I needed help, then did that mean he needed my help too?

"How could I possibly help you?" I asked in a whisper, and he heard me as clear as day.

"What do you mean?"

His eyes scanned past my shoulder, swiftly shifting me aside right before he smashed a man to the ground. With one grip at the man's chest, Kai's victim slammed into the earth before Kai drove his foot into the man's face.

Done. He finished the man just like that.

"Come on. It's not safe."

"Why are you here?" I found myself asking at the most ridiculous time.

"Well, you know me." He shrugged, keeping his secrecy under wraps.

"Did this fight happen because of me?"

Kai scooped me away once again from another attack, my body moving fluidly with his motion. As though we had practiced some sort of choreography or could communicate mentally.

"Can we leave the questions until later?" he said, panting.

The rest blurred into sweat and the raw sound of war cries. Another man approached us, whom I was about to pity since Kai had been slaughtering everyone in our path, except this time, the man bowed before Kai.

"Sire, we're losing men."

"I'm aware, Clawface. Get the men to retreat. I've found what I came for." Kai ordered the man, capturing my gaze once he finished speaking.

The man bowed deeply, agreeing with Kai's decision. The crest on his chest confirmed to me he was from SilverFang. He had to be a royal guard or someone of even higher rank within Kai's circle.

"Before then, take Alex and keep him safe for me, do you under..." Kai halted out of the blue.

My eyes slid to the left, seeing Nathan there. Behind Kai.

Not a second later, Kai slammed his elbow into Nathan's cheek, sending him staggering backward.

"Motherfucking backstabber." Kai spat, tilting his head like some wild animal, a growl escaping his grated lips, fangs piercing his bottom lip from fury, and eyes turned black with glowing red irises.

The ultimate definition of an Alpha.

He was enraged, and even I felt the aura radiating off him.

Nathan maintained his stance. Clawface, on the other hand, pulled me back, dragging me farther away.

"No, I can help. I can stop this."

"You can't do shit." Clawface spat the words directly into my face.

Turning to see the malice in both parties' auras, perhaps he was right. I was just an Omega.

Kai and Nathan clashed into each other. There was no breathing space. Fangs aimed to tear into flesh, each weaving through attacks only for the other to lash out with claws.

Nathan's neck caught Kai's claw, which ripped a slash so deep Nathan's blood spurted out. One hand gripping that side of his neck, he continued fighting. His own rage was unstoppable.

He kicked Kai out of his stance, but before hitting the ground, Kai recovered, bouncing back up. Although the destabilization gave Nathan the upper hand in ripping another claw into Kai's chest.

But the unexpected part was Kai allowing it to sink deeper before he snapped Nathan's hand. Having broken the bones, Kai uprooted Nathan's claws from his chest and did the unthinkable, cutting them off with his own.

Nathan's scream filled the air, dropping him to his knees at the horror before him. Kai struck him across the chest, leaving him with an everlasting wound.

A wolf's pride would always be their ability to shift. And Kai took away a part of that from Nathan.

Kai was returning to join us in the distance, where dozens of his men stood their ground, protecting the area, when my eyes flared at the sight of Nathan charging toward Kai from behind.

With a spear.

One sharp enough to pierce straight through Kai's heart.

My own chest tightened, blood rushing violently through my veins, intensifying the pressure. My heartbeat slowed unexpectedly, and everything faded out.

The night dissolved into nothingness, leaving only Kai, Nathan, and me.

And then, I heard the voice.

"You are his Fated Mate as he is yours. He'll be the anchor..."

"Use your powers..."

And in that moment, I felt a violent push snap me back to reality. Power coursed through my veins and I outstretched my arms in their direction.

Seconds and inches away from stabbing Kai from the back, roots laced with thorns split the earth from its core. In their wake, the ground cracked into two, wrapping themselves around Nathan.

I had no idea what I did, but they kept him locked there. My eyes glowed with a glint of their own, something even I was startled by.

Nathan's eyes caught mine before the roots swallowed him whole and trapped him in place, engulfing the spear as well.

He looked like a piece of art, except with spikes as decoration instead of flowers on branches.

My senses wobbled out, feebleness settling in as I felt myself slipping into darkness.

When I woke up, I was in a warm space. Kai's face was the first thing I saw.

"Where am I?"

He flashed me a smile, drenched in the wetness of blood. Blood from his victims. Everything came rushing back to me, making me want to shift away, but Kai kept me in place.

"No, don't worry. You're safe. We are safe."

And truly, I realized we were in a car... and I heard distant horns and saw tall buildings stretched beyond the window, which meant we had to be back in SilverFang.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked as sleepiness waltzed in again.

"Home, Alex. I'm taking you home."

In the safety of his arms, I let my weak muscles rest, remembering what the One Tree had prophesized.