Chapter 67-Chaos

“Athena!” Andreas shouts, grabbing my arm.
“I’m okay,” I tell him as he inspects my arm, but I start to hear growls from behind me as my pack starts to rise from the ground, snarls filling the air as Alpha Leon laughs.
“That was just a warning shot. The next one won’t miss.”
Andreas’s head snaps up, and he lets out a murderous roar. Cassia roars as well, and they both surprise me by shifting and running toward Alpha Leon.
The rest of us roar and shift, and we run toward Alpha Leon and his pack as they shift and run toward us. We clash in the middle of the field. The sickening sounds of bodies colliding and the tearing of flesh fill the air as both sides attack each other. I finish subduing one of Leon’s wolves, and I look around for Ares and Ellie, and I realize they ran past Alpha Leon’s men and are trying to get the shooter out of the tree.
I watch as Ellie and Ares pull the shooter down from the tree by his ankle, and his screams fill the air as they kill him. But I notice one of Alpha Leon’s men stalking toward them, his teeth bared as he snarls, spittle spraying everywhere as he tries to sneak up on them.
‘*Ares!*’ I yell through the link and run towards them, tackling any wolves in my way as I try to get to them. But when I finally get through to them, Ellie is standing over the body of their attacker. His throat ripped out.
‘*Are you both okay*?’ I ask through the link.
Ares turns to us, his green eyes filled with gratitude. ‘*She protected us*,’ he says, and Ellie looks at me with pride as she lowers her head to me.
‘*Thank you*,’ I say to her and lick her face.
Ares lets out a low growl, and I turn to see Roy standing over Felix, kicking him, and behind him; more of Leon’s wolves are coming out of the tree line. I roar, letting out my aura over the enemy, making them cower in fear, baring their necks to me. I shift back and scream, “ENOUGH OF THIS! SHIFT!” I command them.
Alpha Leon and his pack all shift back, laying their foreheads to the ground in submission, except for Roy and Alice, who look at me with smug faces.
I roar at them, allowing my full aura out, but they don’t flinch.
Ares carefully stalks over and stands beside me. ‘*They’re human*,’ he links, licking my hand.
'*Why do they smell like wolves then*?'
'*It must be because of the witches*,' Ares says.
Roy suddenly grabs Felix, holding a knife to his throat as he starts to back away. “You’re going to let us go, Alpha.”
“I’m not doing shit,” I growl. “Drop the knife and let Felix go.”
Roy just laughs. “You have no control over me.”
I see Harry’s wolf creeping behind Roy slowly. ‘I need him alive, Delta,’ I remind him, and he gives me a slight nod, then pounces on Roy, knocking Felix to the ground as he clamps his teeth into Roy’s shoulder.
Roy screams out in pain, dropping the knife. Alice shrieks and tries to run into the woods, but Ares chases her down and restrains her, digging his claws into her shoulder, causing her to scream in pain.
“Restrain them all!” I command the Crescent Warriors. They all shift back, and Leah brings over a bag filled with rope and silver handcuffs from the truck as Harry helps Felix stand up.
“Felix, are you okay?” I ask as Harry removes the rope from his hands.
“I’m so sorry, Alpha,” he says sadly. “I swear I had no idea any of this was a trap.”
“None of this is your fault,” I tell him, squeezing his shoulder.
“It is. I promise I’ll do anything to make it up to you,” he says, bowing his head.
As everybody restrains Alpha Leon and his pack, I walk over to Ares, who is sitting next to Alice, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and his tail wagging. I drop to my knees in front of him and hug him, and he rests his head on my shoulder as I nuzzle my face in his fur.
“I thought you were too weak to shift,” I whisper.
‘*He tried to kill you. We couldn’t let him get away with that*.’
“And you’re both okay?” I ask, pulling away to look him in the eye.
He licks my face, making me giggle. ‘*We’re okay, Athena*.’
I look him over, and I notice his fur doesn’t look as white as it did, and I could feel when I hugged him that he felt thin, too.
Ellie trots over and sits next to Ares, wagging her tail happily.
“You protected my mate,” I smile at her, and Ellie barks happily. “Thank you,” I say, leaning in to hug her as well.
“Alpha,” Elder Laskaris says, walking over with a change of clothes.
“I thought you left?” I say, taking the shirt and shorts and quickly dressing.
“We need to survey the scene. We just couldn’t get involved in the fight,” he explains. “What do you want to do with Alpha Leon and his people?”
“I want to take them back to the pack and question them,” I tell him. “Ryna,” I call out, and he comes over. “Can you ring the Doc and ask him to meet us here? I want him to make sure Felix is okay and to check for any major injuries before we transport the others back to the bunker. And we’re going to need a couple of the trucks,” I tell him.
“Of course, Alpha,” Ryna says.
#
**Twenty Minutes Later**
**Andreas P.O.V**
“You can’t do this,” Alpha Leon growls as Harry forces him onto the bed of one of the trucks.
“You’re lucky I’m not ripping you in two for what you did to Felix,” Harry growls.
“He deserved it! He was a traitor! I’m an Alpha!”
“Sit down and shut up,” Harry snarls at him as he closes the tailgate.
“How are you feeling?” Doctor Apollo asks as he finishes looking over my wounds.
“I still feel weak,” I tell him, turning my attention to him.
“That’s to be expected, but your wounds seem better. The ones that didn’t have the toxic wolfsbane in them have healed. You should try to avoid shifting again until you’re stronger. You could have killed yourself tonight.”
“I’ll do my best, Doctor.”
He holds his hand out, and I shake it. “I’ll see you back at the pack house,” he says, then walks over to the truck, and gets in.
I walk over to Athena as she watches Elder Laskaris, who is walking through what’s left of the barn.
“I need you to stay over there, Alpha,” he says when I get near what used to be the main doors.
“What? Why?” I ask.
“Alpha Athena, do you know if Gamma Alex and his mate were the last ones in the building?” He asks, not answering my question.
“As far as I’m aware,” I answer. “The rest of our people got out.”
“I need Doctor Apollo,” he says.
“Doc!” Athena calls out. “We need you over here.”
“What can I do for you, Elder?” Doctor Apollo asks when he walks over.
“I believe these are the remains of Gamma Alex and his mate,” he says quietly, kneeling down.
I wrap my arm around Athena as she tries to hold herself together, and I hear a small sob come from Doc Apollo as he walks through the rubble and kneels down next to his friend.
“I want their remains taken back to the pack so they can be laid to rest properly,” Athena whispers, trying to hold back her tears.
“Of course, Alpha,” Doc says, his voice tight.
“Laskaris, I think I found something,” Elder Andino calls out.
I tear my eyes away from the Doc and swallow my feelings down as Athena and I walk around the rubble toward the back of the barn.
“Is this where the bunker was?” He asks. Athena nods as Ryna and Cassia come over.
He pulls away some rubble, and I realize the stairs are still intact. Bile rises in my throat as Elder Laskaris turns on his flashlight and carefully goes down the stairs.
“You should stay here, Andreas,” Athena says, but I shake my head and follow the Elders down.
When we get down to the bottom of the stairs, I see the basement is mostly intact, and Cassia gasps as she looks around.
“This is where they questioned you?” Andino asks, and I nod, unable to talk as memories flood my mind.
He walks over and looks at the tools on the table, lifting them to inspect them. “They’re coated in silver,” he says.
“And wolfsbane,” I say flatly.
I see Ryna walk over to the door near the back wall, and he tries turning the handle, but it’s locked.
“That’s where they used to take Teresa and Jack sometimes,” I tell him as he kicks the door open.
Everyone follows Ryna into the room, and it’s bare except for a chair in the middle of the room.
“Do you know why they were brought in here?” Elder Laskaris asks, looking around.
“No. Those two barely talked. Especially after coming back from this room,” I tell him.
“There’s another door over here,” Cassia says, and this one opens when she turns the handle. “I need a flashlight,” she says, and Elder Laskaris tosses his to her. She steps through the doorway and shines the light into the room. “It’s a tunnel,” she says, surprised.
“Well then. Let’s find out where it goes,” Ryna says.