Alpha Loren novel Chapter 44

November 3rd

After that all hell broke loose. Haden's men kept emerging out of the trees, snarling and growling until they were completely surrounding the truck. Leo's men fought them hard and with more force than I could ever imagine but they were vastly outnumbered and I could only see this going one way.

"Blair, call for back up," Leo ordered, his face creased with worry as he jumped off the truck and dragged me by my wrist with him.

He fought through what had become a battlefield, defending us both from approaching attackers. One he kicked in the stomach so hard that he flew back and hit a tree, his body instantly turning limp, another he slashed across the throat with a knife, blood spurting everywhere.

I took a deep breath in and clenched my jaw unable to process the amount of violence occurring around me.

"In a minute, when the coast is clear," he said pulling me behind a tree but keeping his eyes scanning all around us. "I'm going to ask you to run and you will run as fast as you can South for as far as you can without looking back, understand?"

I hesitated for a mere second, "I said do you understand?" He asked shaking my shoulders.

I nodded and swallowed, "Y-yes."

"Okay," he replied in a softer tone. He then quickly kissed my lips and looked around once more. "Go."

This time I didn't hesitate and raced away from my mate and the relative safety he provided. I had no idea where I was or where I was going. I just had to follow Leo's order to simply run South.

Obeying Leo's commands was something I'd always struggled with. Sometimes I had good reasons, sometimes it was just for the sake of it. But when I spotted Mateo struggling with an Ayas warrior pinning him to the ground as he desperately tried to keep the blade of a sharp knife away from his throat, it was certainly a good reason.

I gripped the knife Leo had given me and took a few deep breaths. But with Mateo getting closer and closer to decapitation, I had little time to prepare myself and just lurched forward and before the Ayas soldier could see me coming, delved the so-called magical knife into his back.

I nearly vomited as blood began to spurt out but my shock of what had just happened made doing anything but standing dumbstruck impossible. I was sure I had seen the knife glow for a short second but perhaps even more peculiarly, the man had completely frozen and dropped to the floor like a dead leaf. He still seemed very much alive yet unable to move in any way.

Mateo scrambled out from underneath the limp body and stared down with as much confusion as me.

"Did I...kill him?" I asked.

"No..." he replied prodding the man with his foot. "I guess that thing paralyses people."

"Well shit," I cursed. 

"Thank you by the way," Mateo said. "You saved my life but now you need to run before I have to save yours."

I nodded and he raced back in the direction of the fighting as I raced in the direction away from it.

Just as I picked up my speed, I made eye contact with somebody. He was tall and strong looking and heading right for me. Without hesitation, I changed my direction and moved my short little legs faster than I ever thought they could go. I glanced over my shoulder he had shortened the distance between us and his glare had got more murderous. Although much faster than me, he was big and I had little faith in his agility. So I began running in a zig zag line, weaving through trees and slipped through small gaps in the brances.

I learnt at school once to never run in a straight line if a crocodile is chasing you because they're muscular and fast but struggle with corners and turns. Today that man is the metaphorical crocodile.

After glancing over my shoulder, I found that the crocodile was adapting. He was finding short cuts around my weaving excursion and beginning to gain on me again.

10 metres away.

I considered shifting but I knew that would only make him shift and his wolf would be even stronger and faster.

5 metres away.

All I had to do was pierce his skin with the knife and he would be paralysed. But what if I missed? What if he saw it coming and stopped me?

4 metres away

Fuck fuck fuck.

3 metres away

I took a deep breath before turning around, the knife firmly in my hand, but it wasn't the face of the Ayas man I was faced with. It was Blair's back. As he turned around I noticed the man was lying lifelessly on the floor. I lowered the knife.

"Do you know where the vault is?" Blair asked.

"No, Leo just told me to run," I answered before Blair pulled me into him. I heard a knife hit the tree behind where I was stood. Blair instantly pulled the one out from his holster and threw it with such force and accuracy it hit a man in the chest that was about 50 metres away that I hadn't even seen.

"Where to?" Blair questioned.

"As far away from the hell unfolding back there in the general direction of South," I replied.

"The vault is 20 minutes North-West of here. But you'll never find it alone and I'm not willing to take you back towards the fight," Blair said. "So keep going South and try and get back to the base. You'll find a degree of safety there."

I nodded and ran for hours until I reached a slight clearing in the woods. I could only faintly hear the battle now, I knew I couldn't stop for long but I could move faster after a 5-minute break.

I was getting ready to leave when I heard the heart-wrenching sounds of a child's sobs.

I scanned the clearing, looking for where they were coming from, before I eventually saw a small bundle of dark hair and clothes.

I jogged over cautiously not wanting to startle her. She sensed my presence immediately and lifted up her head to reveal a big pair of watery, brown eyes. She was only about 9 with thick, long, dark brown hair that was tangled and had bits of forest in it. Her feet were bare and mud covered her legs all the way up to what had once been a white dress.

"What is your name sweetheart?" I said kneeling down.

"Milly," She snuffled.

"Why are you out here Milly? This is a dangerous place to be right now," I said.

"I want to find my brothers. They left me at home all on my own and I'm really scared," she replied. 

"What are your brothers' names?" I asked standing her up.

"Miles and  Mason and Mattio and, and, and Max, but I haven't seen my brother Max in ages," she said and then everything clicked. The dark hair, the eyes, the name. But Max didn't have a sister...not one that I knew of anyway. 

"I'm sure we'll be able to find them," I said on a soft tone after my thought pause. At that point, two Ayas men emerged from the forest on the other side of the clearing, they hadn't spotted us but they would- very soon.

"What's your name?" Milly asked.

"I'll tell you all about me later," I said taking her hand. "But for now we have to run. As fast as we can okay?" I said in what I hope was a reassuring voice as I began leading her into the forest. She nodded her head clinging to my hand

"As fast as we can," She repeated and we began to run.