33.

**Spirit Realm of the Wolves**

The calling of the wolves stopped the back and forth attacks between the siblings. Cora listened to her children as they announced their acceptance of the new king and queen, she felt their love for the new leaders and smiled at her twin brother.

"What have you done?" Corvineus shouted in disbelief. Taking away the prince's wolf to him meant that Caiden will crumble from already being so weak-minded. The pain of their mate's rejection was to help with that. He truly convinced Rion that Rosaline would never love him but now as Corvineus looked at the wolf he feared wrong. Rion was whimpering torn between two places. He wanted to dutifully return to his human but the dark lord's hold on him was too strong. He gave a lot of power to the dark lord and now hearing his wolf brothers and sisters accept his human and their mate made things clearer. The fog has been lifted but Corvineus' was dead set on destroying this world his sister created.

Wolves were meant to be dominant over humans not being used when time is called for nor to be hidden behind them. Corvineus wanted a world where the true power of a wolf was dominant.

"I gave the people the king they have been waiting for. This has been written since he was a babe, you coming in after feeling the threat of his power was certainly foreseen" Cora said smiling at him. Ever since pulling his first victim from his dark ways, her brother has been searching for a new vessel to corrupt, he was close to success with Caiden and Rion but he needed both not just the wolf.

"You won't have this one. He needs a wolf. Not just any wolf..." he said smugly while he glanced at Rion who was struggling not to submit and go to his human. Corvineus kept his hold very strong. "A royal wolf. Rion is the descendant of Darius De Leon, son of the first wolf. No wonder he was so easy to pull to my side." he finished laughing at the irony.

"Very good at acknowledging the wolf line and just like the past he will see what's right," she said letting down her shield.

"Not if I can't help it," he sneered calling Rion to him.

"Yes master," Rion said focusing entirely on Corvineus.

"We are going to visit someone special, he will be so pleased to see you"

"Don't you dare!" Cora snapped trying to close the pathway that leads to the earthly planes.

"Too Late" was the last thing she heard him say before the pathway was closed.



**********



The impromptu celebrations were put to an abrupt stop as the alarm went off. Everyone was frozen to the spot for a moment before they moved into action.

'Rogues are approaching, your majesty. And....hunters?' one of the sentinels reported in disbelief to Caiden.

'What? Are you certain?' he responded in alarm while holding onto Rosaline.

'Yes, sir. I believe they are the same ones from Seattle' he responded.

'To your posts' Caiden commanded to his men. He looked down at his mate who was watching everyone around her in confusion.

"Caiden. What's going on?" she asked as Eva came running up to her dressed in a large t-shirt and shorts.

Cupping her face in his hands, her eyes were only focused on him. "We have a bit of a situation that I need to handle. I want you to go back into the castle with Eva. Do not. I beg of you baby, DO NOT come back out" he said to her hoping she would understand the dangers of coming out blindly into danger. She nodded noticing the fear he had in his eyes. "I promise. You will be safe right? I can't lose you Caiden. We just got each other back. Please be safe" she begged of him. Without warning, he crushed his lips against hers showing her everything that he felt for her.

'I promise. For you baby,' he said to her over their personal link. He held her for one last time against his chest he knew she can hear how fast his heart was beating.

He looked to where Eva was standing who was now joined by Micah. Eva raised her eyebrow at Micah trying her best not to show him how much he affected her. Her agreement to be his was all done by taking a risk, knowing that their future wasn't guaranteed a happy ending she still gave in to this handsome devil of a hybrid.

"Kiss goodbye for me red?" Micah teased, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand.

"Not goodbye. Later," she said shyly while tiptoeing to meet his lips. Micah's eyes soften by her simple action he was afraid she would go back on her answer. This headstrong woman was now his and he'll make sure to come back to her. "Till later" he whispered bending to meet hers. It was a gentle kiss filled with a promise that one longed for and a promise the other hoped for.

"Take care of our Queen," he said against her lips. "With my life" she replied hugging him tightly for one last time. Micah took in her scent before stepping out of her hold. "Later, red," he said going to his best friend's side. Angelo stepped up to them just as Rosaline and Eva were running side by side towards the castle.

"Mom and dad have created a shield on the outskirts giving everyone time to get to the safe houses" Angelo reported, watching over his people as sentinels escorted the women and pups to safety. They made sure everyone was safe before going to the outskirts where Michael and Emma stood watching the feral wolves pace alongside the shield snapping at them. The hunters were uselessly shooting at the shield trying to break it.

Caiden stood motionless looking at a large number of enemies before them the quicker they were done with this threat the faster they can move on. Michael took away the fire from his mate's shield while she followed by taking down her shield. Emma and Caiden quickly re-shield everyone individually.

"Don't allow them to cross our boundaries" Caiden ordered. They all nodded. The sentinels shifted and charged to their targets, the hunters. The rogues were confused as to why they were bypassed until they were attacked one by one. They found their answer. They were easy opponents. Angelo and Michael worked together by manipulating them and torturing them by slowly burning them alive. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. Their painful howls followed deafening anyone within earshot but the royals and the sentinels were used to it all and were only focused on getting rid of them all.

Emma and Caiden used their telekinetic power bashing a few together and with Emma's control over lightning torturing them. Few turned back to their human form and was weakly begging for mercy. Emma scoffed in disgust at their begging.

Rebecca played with their emotions sending them mad while keeping their bodies rigid. A cynical smile played upon her lips as she walked around them, she was seeing it all just like her brother Angelo she was able to bring back their memories. Memories of them destroying packs and killings pups were the ones she used to torture them. The pain their victims went through had them howling in agony. Kneeling beside one, she willed the wolf to go back to his human form, it was a young man no older than twenty-four, she brought up his memories. "Tsk tsk what a bad boy you have been. Don't you think that this death, is fair? All your deeds have led to this," she said coldly.

"P-Please... please princess. F-For—give me" he said in a pain-filled voice. A brown wolf came up behind Rebecca and nuzzled her neck. 'Mate,' Rebecca and her wolf purred in content.

'Love stop torturing the mutt' the wolf said to the princess highly amused. Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine" she huffed. She allowed it all to take over causing them to go into violent seizures after a few minutes their bodies went still. Rebecca turned to her mate Matthew and pouted in a childish manner. "But I was having fun" she whined. Matthew tilted his head slightly and looked at his brown-haired beauty he still couldn't believe she was his. His cynical unpredictable princess.
'You can have fun with the hunters. That's if your brother allows you to,' he said to her while licking her neck. "Knock it off you two." They heard Angelo shouted as he walked past them heading towards Caiden. "Shove it, Angie," Rebecca yelled behind him.

Caiden turned his attention away from the dwindling numbers of rogues being turned to bloody messes. The hunters were holding up but it was child's play his men were doing with their mock attacks. A few were bitten from the sentinels' playtime. With them distracted, Caiden took their weapons from their possession by the use of his mind which turned their attention to the new wolf king. A few hunters recognized him from their previous encounter and stepped back in caution.

"This is too easy," he said to himself.

"Kill them all" he then ordered his men. The fear on the hunters' faces was priceless, they tried to run but was easily caught by the wolves. Caiden, Micah, and Angelo watched on as the men ripped the humans to pieces, blood staining their fur, their hatred for the hunters showed at every maul.

"Awwww Cay why do they have all the fun?" Rebecca whined. Angelo and Micah rolled their eyes at her. "For a she-wolf, she is very bloodthirsty, she certainly took after dad in that area" Angelo mumbled.

"I heard that" she snapped.

"Kids" Emma snapped. Caiden turned to his siblings and with one glare Rebecca bowed in submission while Angelo simply raised an eyebrow at him. His brother's constant defiance had him questioning his action. Angelo never submitted to their parents nor to him, he bows in respect to the hierarchy but walks his own path. He had to leave that for another time.

"Why would they all be so stupid to attack us. Their leaders are imprisoned who else do they report to" Caiden snapped.

"Me. Actually," a cold voice said behind them. They all quickly turned to the voice; Caiden knew that voice and without warning shielded his family and the sentinels. "Wow, what a welcome" Corvineus mocked.

"Why are you here?" Caiden snapped. At that moment Rion stepped forward slowly then began to charge towards his human. Caiden's eyes widen in disbelief as his own wolf was coming at him with the look of a feral wolf. He dodged the attack and fell to the ground. "Rion?" Michael said in confusion. They were all confused as to why would Rion attack his human and who was this stranger was.

Rion swiftly turned to Caiden and rushed forward once more, the young king stopped him in his tracks, taking control of his body, Rion struggled to get out of the hold. Corvineus saw this and attacked Caiden from behind pulling him away from Rion and throwing him a few feet away from anyone.

"Caiden" Emma screamed out loud as she saw how he struggled to stand up after that hit.

"Who are you?" Michael growled at the Dark lord. Fire engulfed his arms as he stepped forward to the man ready to strike in return for hurting his eldest pup. Angelo wasn't going to hold back and neither was his mother, together they sent their strongest attack towards the dark lord but he easily deflected it by sending it back to them knocking them off their feet.

Creating a whip of fire Michael cracked it towards Corvineus, he flinched as fire surrounded him. Rion saw how his master was in trouble and sought out to attack Michael but he didn't get far as Caiden created a barrier in front of him. Rion huffed in frustration and struck the ground shattering the barrier and throwing everyone off balance. "Rion. I order you to stop" Caiden commanded in his dominant voice but it didn't affect him much he slightly whimpered, nearly bowing to his king but he fought it. He turned to his human who was walking with so much confidence even in his bruised state towards him.

"You need to stop this foolishness now. Rosaline is waiting for us. Corvineus is just using you" Caiden said trying to convince his wolf.

"Don't listen to him. It's all a lie. She just wants Caiden not you as a wolf. They both left you in the spirit realm" the dark lord said coldly trying to step out of the ring of fire. Michael made it stronger but Corvineus created a shield and stepped out. What he didn't expect was the unpredictable attack by Emma, Caiden, and Angelo sending him into the trees. The breaking of tree branches was the only sound of his falls.

"Now Cay" Angelo shouted at his brother as he ran behind his family towards the direction they sent the dark lord.

Rion stood defensively as Caiden made his way towards him. "You need to see this" he said calmly as he projected the last few moments of Rosaline before the attack. Rion took in how beautiful her smile was as she looked up at his human, he whimpered remembering her look of adoration when he approached her in his king's human form. 'She loved us then?' he asked Caiden.

"It started then and she told me why she ran from us. Our mate was hurt in the past, Rion. You need to understand that she needs us. She loves us" he said kneeling beside his wolf.

'Need us?' Rion said more confused as to why all these happy memories with him and Caiden was affecting him.

"Yes. That's how much she loves us, she needs us to return to her. She's waiting." Caiden pleaded again. Rion was pensive for a moment as his mind began to get flustered.

"Enough of this foolishness!" The scream of Corvineus was heard throughout the field. He was angry how the royals kept him away from Rion and Caiden, he knew their sole purpose for this and he won't let it happen. He must keep Rion in the dark long enough to get rid of Caiden. Without Caiden, he can use Rion to carry out his sole purpose to dominate the human world and then all wolves. His anger strengthen his attack as he sent the whole family a few feet away from him; each of them landing at odd angles their bodies rattled in pain from the force of the attack. Corvineus made his way to the duo who were lost in whatever bubble the young king created. Conjuring up an energy ball in the palm of his hand, his sole focus was on Caiden.

Once in position, he threw the energy ball towards the duo but it didn't reach the appointed target, Rion saw the attack coming and without thinking used his body as a shield protecting his human. The impact was bad, his body was thrown harshly against Caiden's bringing both of them to the ground. Caiden was knocked out instantly. Rion was with more damage to his body, his fur was matted with blood, the damage to his side was bad, and anyone who saw it knew it was fatal. Corvineus smirked in triumph. "Two for one. Nice. Sorry that you had to get mixed up Rion" he said smugly while conjuring another energy ball.

Rion was no longer blindsided and was shown the truth and knew he had to keep his human safe; weakly he stood up and fought the excruciating pain he felt from his wound. 'Leave him be' he yelled towards the dark lord.

"Well ain't that a sweet sight. The pet wolf protecting his human master" he teased.

'I know what you are trying to do. I'm no longer a weak wolf, what I did was a mistake. My life, my duty is to him. My king and no other being beside my mate- my human mate Rosaline- have any control over me' Rion declared getting into a defensive stance shielding Caiden.

"Nice speech but all I heard was blah blah I'm weak and a slave to humankind," Corvineus said throwing the energy ball towards Rion, he easily deflected it with a small shield. It was thrown off to the side causing a small explosion. With every attack towards him, Rion grew weaker. Before he fell to the ground he heard his human groan coming back to consciousness, Caiden sat up only to fall back down heavily, looking to his side he saw why, his side was wounded, the flesh slightly burnt and bleeding, it so happen he was slightly hit with the energy ball. Pressing his hand against the wound to stop the bleeding he slowly got up and took in his surroundings, the first person he saw was the dark lord in mid-strike, on instinct he created his strongest shield. It bounced off once again. Caiden looked around again for his family they were still out cold, he looked down at his wolf, "Hold on I have to try to get us back to mother, but I need you to help me banish......."

'Mate is near' Rion said weakly cutting off Caiden.

"What?!" he shouted in disbelief.

In his peripheral vision, he saw her on the back of a reddish-brown wolf - Eva running towards them with his uncles Jonah and Noah both in human form fully armed. They didn't spare him any glance but immediately firing shots at Corvineus and dodging attacks.

"Denny. Rion" they heard her call out ambling off the wolf, he quickly lifted the shield and let her in. Tears were already flowing down her cheeks as she held Rion and stroked Caiden's cheek.

"What are you doing here baby. I told you to stay" Caiden said leaning into her touch. She looked down at Rion, "He called for me. I couldn't ignore him. He's my mate after all" she sobbed kissing his snout. Rion's eyes softened by her action and words. 'I am truly sorry, my queen' he said weakly.

"It wasn't you. Stay awake for me. Please. Both of you." she said eyeing Caiden. He looked pale and was getting weaker by the moment. "Need to get both of us back to mother. Corvineus is growing weaker without Rion and both of us need to be reconnected." Caiden explained resting his head on Rion's back. The shield rattled as a stray attack hit them, "Sorry" Jonah yelled while reloading his gun but ditched it when he realized he was out of extra magazines. Noah threw the bow and arrow for his brother while dodging another attack from Corvineus.

"How are you two going to do that?" she said confused. Rion shifted his head on her lap. 'You. Mother gave you the power the move between planes...... Once we are back there he will follow' he explained to her. She remembered back in Caiden's room when she held his hand and wanting to be with him she was carried to where he was.

"Wouldn't that be using you two as bait?" she asked stroking Rion's head. "Don't worry about us, love. Just get us there" Caiden said. She nodded, holding Rion closer then stretching for Caiden's hand.

'Keep him distracted for the next few minutes' Caiden said to his uncles.

"Things we do for these kids" Noah shouted to his twin before shifting into his brown and gray wolf. Jonah scoffed at his brother and smirked at the dark lord while aiming his silver-tipped arrow to him.

"Its called love, bro" he returned releasing the arrow as Noah distracted him by snapping at his arm. Corvineus received the arrow in his shoulder he fell to the ground in pain. "Well shit, he's human after all. Noah, did you see that? Maybe I aimed too high" Jonah shouted to his brother with a contemplative frown on his face. Noah rolled his eyes and returned to the threat at hand.

"No!" Corvineus yelled looking to the spot where the trio once was. If he goes back now it'll be too late but it was worth a try. Holding his wound he concentrated on pushing the twins away but succeeded for a few meters. He was getting weak; his mortal wounds were affecting him. Before the twins got a chance to retaliate the dark lord escaped going back to the spirit realm with a loud crack of thunder as a sound of his departure.

The twins watched as the skies began to get darker. "Do you know who he reminded me of?"Jonah said playing with his bow and arrow as they made their way to their family.

"Who?" Noah called out while donning shorts and ruffling his long dark hair.

"Loki" his brother answered. Noah stopped and looked at the skies in exasperation. He knew he was going to regret asking him the next question, "How so Joey?"

"Because he just left like Thor and he was dressed in black and he wants the whole world domination thing, oh and he wanted to kill Cay," Jonah said listing them off his fingers. Noah shook his head in disbelief, "How old are you again?"

"Eh. Some age I stopped counting after 25" Jonah said redoing his ponytail before jogging over to his sister and her mate.

"Are you sure you got the similarities right?" Noah asked.

"Wait. Maybe. I think so. I gotta watch over the movie to answer you" he said while kicking Michael in the gut. "He's gonna flip if you keep doing that" Noah warned him, Jonah simply shrugged and continued. While they rounded up everyone, their minds were only focused on their eldest nephew with sheer optimism that he will come back home.

Alive.