Chapter 65 - She would never again be safe ...

ALARIC HAD TO MAKE THE TOUGHEST decision of his life and he knew he couldn’t discuss it with anybody. He would have to tell his family once he made it. If hell hounds were coming after them, he would have to make this decision on his own.

All of them had to leave the territory for good, and his family had to leave the pack for good. He was alone in his office and growled. There was no other choice. They all had to get out of there and they had to do it now! Instructing Max to get the pack together, Alaric went to talk to Lena and Rebecca.

“NO Alaric!” Rebecca cried and Lena turned on him.

“We can’t leave.” Lena looked shocked. “If we leave, we will be leaving our ancestral grounds for all of us. We will slowly lose our power and our link to our ancestors. Don’t you get that? We will become weaker and probably not be able to fight the hounds!” Lena threw her arms in the air before turning to look at him. “You and Rebecca haven’t done the spell. The hounds will be coming after me, and only me. For as long as neither of you do the spell, you will be safe.” She sighed. “I should be the only one who leaves.” A tear ran down her cheek as she said it.

In the blink of an eye, their lives had become the same as those of a horror film. They were faced with the worst possible decision. Lena was right. The hounds would only be coming after her, but Alaric didn’t want to take the chance of anyone else dying while they made their way through his home.

“You can’t go alone. You will need us. Especially if you are going to get weaker.” Alaric walked over to where Lena was standing and rubbed the sides of her arms. He wasn’t going to let her go alone and he made that much clear.

When they walked into the dining room, they could feel the tension. Alaric cleared his throat and explained to all of their people what was coming. Shock ran through the entire room and Lena could feel the fear as it started to grow. People started to softly whisper to each other and Alaric silenced them.

“If you don’t feel safe, you need to leave … Now. If you want to risk it, you can stay. I will take my family and run as far away from here as possible.” He sighed. Max stepped up for the first time since Alaric started to explain what was going on.

“Alaric, you aren’t leaving. None of us are. We understand that you are doing this to protect us, but we also have a responsibility to protect you. We are all family here and we will stand and fight with you for always.” A loud roar of applause and shouts rang throughout the room and Lena felt tears running down her cheeks. There was a time when these people wanted to kill her. Now they were willing to kill for her. She couldn’t let them do that.

“NO!” Her voice rang out, silencing the room. “I can’t let you do this. Not any of you.” She looked at Alaric. She couldn’t let any of them do this for her. She couldn’t let any of them die because of what her ancestor did! She just couldn’t. Her eyes caught a glimpse of her son. It was going to kill her to leave him behind, but she had to do that! She had to protect them!

“Lena, you ran from us once. Please don’t do it again.” Alaric pulled her into his arms and she breathed in his scent as her sobs ripped through her body. All of this because some power-hungry witch made a deal with the damn devil! Lena nodded while clinging to Alaric.

“Nobody is running!” Max shouted and applause and cheers rang through the room again. Nobody was running. They would face the hell hounds together. No matter how many they had to kill to protect Lena. They would fight together until the devil himself came for her and then they would kill him! Lena felt love after joining the pack, but she hadn’t felt this kind of love since her parents died.

They had no time to waste and Alaric and Max started to shout orders. Lena had healed, but she still wasn’t at her full strength yet. In the meantime, she made sure that Rebecca and Alaric knew exactly which spell was the one they had to avoid. To make sure they wouldn’t use it, she left out one of the lines. That way, even if they tried to use it, it wouldn’t work.

Their pack house was turned into a fortress again as Lena and Rebecca moved around putting the potions near all the same places they did before. Lena double checked that none of the spells they had would be lethal. If one spell could land them in purgatory, only the goddess knew how many others there might be. Lena wasn’t taking any chances. She wouldn’t be able to deal with it if she was the reason a pack member was dragged off to that awful place!

ALARIC WAS RIGHT. The hell hounds didn’t waste time in coming after Lena. Their howls rang through the air two nights later and Lena felt as if her heart was about to stop. Everyone around her jumped and ran to their positions.

This time, Lena couldn’t fight outside. She couldn’t be anywhere that the hounds could reach her easily. She closed her eyes for a moment and a shiver ran down the back of her spine as the howls sounded closer and she knew that some of the pack were already fighting them. They were not just fighting hell hounds. They were fighting for their lives. Lena wanted to clamp her hands over her ears, but she had to remain as calm as possible. Alaric made sure she wasn’t anywhere near their son, which was making all of this even worse! Just when she was about to get up and fight with her people, Alaric came into the small storeroom, they had her hiding in. He pulled her up and into his arms in one swift movement and breathed in her scent.

“It’s over.” That was all he had to say as she breathed out and cried in his arms. They both knew it wasn’t and that more would come, but for now it was over. He kissed her cheeks, feeling her tears that stained her face. His lips found hers while she cried and he held onto her for dear life. When Lena eventually calmed down, they left the small storeroom.

People were walking around and Lena could see in their eyes that they were in shock. The hounds weren’t what they expected. It was far worse. She wanted to go outside. She needed to see the stars and although Alaric didn’t want her to go, he took her. Lena’s eyes went to the stars first and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the same sky she always saw at home.

She wasn’t in purgatory anymore. She was with her family and although the hounds were still coming after her, it didn’t matter. She was home. She was okay until they started bringing in the bodies from the battlefield. So many of them. There were so many of them that had been ripped to shreds. Lena cried out in pain. How could she have allowed this?!!!

She was simply heartbroken and Alaric took her back inside. The doctor gave her a sedative and darkness quickly pulled her in, but even in her dreams she wasn’t safe. She would never again be safe from the hell that now hounded her. She would never again be safe … Her family wasn’t going to be safe and her entire pack could die if they kept this up.