Beta Cole

James' POV

It's a painstakingly slow hour later that Alex alerts us that there's someone outside.

I'm hoping it's the Vampire who ran for it the moment our backs were turned away, claiming that this is more than he bargained for. Johnathan had offered to track down the poor bastard, but I let him go, not blaming him at all for backing out of a possible suicide mission.

He goes to investigate and comes back with Charlotte, her cheeks flushed and the Omega breathing hard for once. I grab her a bottle of water from the fridge, trying to hold myself back from jumping her, forcing her to tell me everything.

After a moment she's able to catch her breath, setting aside the bottle I gave her after a few gulps. She wipes her mouth before asking Titan to grab one of the maps of Vollmond from the bookcase. The large wolf does as asked and brings it over the the large dining table that we crowd around as Charlotte clues us in on what's going on over there.

"Okay, so, this is the White Cabin. And here," She pauses, moving her finger over the lake close to the north east corner of the Rougelands. "This is where Makayla's camp is. There's a good covering of trees along the border, but it thins out into a huge clearing, and they've set up camp away from the trees, forcing us to expose ourselves fully, open for attack in order to get to them." She explains and all I'm hearing is bad news. "So after checking things out, they don't have any weapons, but all the Rouges there had these really daunting eyes that were fully black, no pupils. There were about thirty of them. I also caught sight of Richard who seems to be working with Makayla. He has the same eyes as the rest of them. They also have Jessica prisoner, they must think James knows about this 'Key to Heaven' and told one of the people he was with. I managed to talk to Cody, he looked bad, James, I'm sorry. He was bruised and I could tell he's been throwing up acid. He's staying strong, but with his Omega genes especially with being half human, I don't know how much his body can take." She tells me. She can't meet my eyes, and I find the rest of them can't either, worry and helplessness crushing my shoulders.

"But you're not saying it's impossible to save Cody and Jessica, right?" Taylor asks, he and Enza look close to either crying to high tailing it to Cody's side whether we're with them or not.

"No, I'm not. In fact, I think I know of a way we can catch them off guard. We stagger the blows, and hit them twice. First, we gather the majority of our forces and have them go the fastest route, cutting through the rivers on the bridges in Winter Moon, and approaching them head on. That's where they expect us to come. Once they see that that's where we attacked and they don't immediately see a second unit coming from the south, they're going to pull their guards back to the camp to help them defend it. And that's when the second unit goes in, cutting them off from behind once we've surrounded their forces. That gives Alpha James and Beta Alex the chance to grab Cody. I gave him my key to my set of anti-mana cuffs and I think they should work on his. I told him to make him move once he hears the commotion." She explains, tracing our paths on the map. The second group will take longer to get there having to circle more than half the lake, but it's a solid plan, and the odds of us being able to save Cody and Jessie feels a lot better than it did a few moments ago.

I take a breath to center my thoughts and ready myself.

"Okay, Autumn Falls isn't sending any help, it's me, Alex, my Commanders and Spy Master. I can't risk getting Zee hurt, and I need you to help fix Cody up once we have him back." I tell her and she nods. "Is this who we have to work with or are there more on the way?" I ask the table, and Lord Azrin is first to speak up.

"My Apprentice Athena is on the way, and to my understanding, her brother, Percy is as well." He says, glancing towards Artemis to nods firmly.

"And my three Commanders are on standby by at the Academy, they can join us on our way towards their camp. My Spymaster is staying behind along with my Head Warrior. I need to make sure they're safe in case something happens." Alpha Lucas adds, and I get it.

"Okay that leaves us with twenty people in total. We might be outnumbered, but our skills, powers and experience should easily overpower them as long as we're smart. I want Alex, Charlotte, Athena, Taylor and Artemis to be in the second unit. You guys will wait here for Athen to come, fill her in, and high tail it to the border. Don't tip our hand, make sure they've left to help. The rest of us will leave now. Alpha Lucas, please let your Commanders know they can either meet us at the border or catch us at the bridge. We've wasted enough time people. Let's go save Cody." I tell them, and there's a few determined salutes and nods, but I can tell that this is unnerving for all of us.

And while I wish I had the perfect words and knew exactly what to say to make them feel more at ease, I'm probably the most terrified person here.

With that, everyone starts to move, those of us at the front of the lines, filing out. While I would love to be one of the ones to help grab Cody and get him out of there, it would be hard for them to believe we were coming from the North at full force if his Mate isn't there leading the charge. It would give it all away.

'Stupid plans and their stupid logic.' Sloan curses, his anxiety continuing to grow the long we're apart, Charlottes words baring no comfort after the odds she's explained.

But I try to put it out of my head as we grab whatever weapons we want or need.

And I pray to Celeste that all twenty of us make it back with Cody in one piece.

✨✨✨

My hair is slow as my four paws softly land on the soft summer grass. Eight other wolves to the left and right of me slowly approach the border as well, staying low and out of sight. The Faeries are quick and stealthy, their rapid precise movements making them moments in the wind that seem like a dream afterwards.

My heart is pounding and I find myself sweating despite myself.

There's about five guards posted just inside the clearing, smart enough to know to be in clear eyesight of each other.

I crouch low, making my way through the trees and bushes until I'm right at the inner edge of the treeline. Even from here I can see that just like Charlotte said, the wolves have stark black eyes, engulfing both the whites and the pupils. Once I'm sure everyone is ready, and I take a deep breath, I give a low sharp growl, the wolves head snapping up in time to see eight wolves come at their unshifted shocked forms, the Faeries going around us to get further into the camp.

I lunge at a what looks like thirty year old man, the bastard leaning on a stick that he grabs to slam into my ribs. The force of the impact pushes me off course, slamming me into Timari that nips at me in annoyance as she stumbles too.

I see Beta Cole and Alpha Lucas teaming up against a massive wolf that had enough time to shift, the Supernatural even larger than Alpha Lucas' wolf form.

I snap back to my own fight, snapping at the man's legs as he tries to close in on me to slam the branch against my head. He lunges out of the way, rolling as he drops the branch, stopping his retreat once I give chase to stop and grab my chest bare handedly in an attempt to wrestle me down.

And if I had been another wolf, maybe he would achieved that, but I don't bugle, using my teeth to grab onto his arm, and throw him asides making sure not to let out of the appendage in my mouth, his screams agonizing as he slams into a tree. There's only two wolves left now, and I signal for my commanders and the unoccupied Winter Moon Commanders to follow me as I follow the Faeries further into the camp.

About twenty years away, there's another break in the trees, this one much larger, a little twenty or so tents gathered in one area, though of course one particular one catches my eye.

The same tent that Makayla had that day.

Rage builds up inside of me, but before I can go to move, I suddenly feel my body lock up, unable to move even slightly. I struggle against myself, my eyes searching for the cause, only to find my shadow connected to a young woman, her hands folded in order to hold against my struggles.

Artemis twists her body, using the momentum to lunch chunks of the earth at the culprit, making her hands break her casting as she goes to defend herself.

"Why the hell are pure blooded rouge wolves manipulating shadows?!" I hear Jasper yell in annoyance as I norrowly avoid yet another wolf aiming for my shadow.

"Because, Young Prince. Enchanted and Daemons can easily force anyone to be possessed by the shadow of their choosing. Lucky for us, we have our own personal sun." He says before nodding behind me after avoiding ripped apart trees that are being thrown at him.

I turn my head and find Percy, Artemis and Jasper's attendant and Advisor, the Faerie gathering what looks like pure mana so big and bright, it quite literally looks like a mini sun. The light from the spell shrinks our shadows into pools of darkness at our feet, shortening their reach for their shadow powers.

Able to move freely without looking at my feet, I lunge for the Rogue, grabbing onto his leg as Alpha Lucas appears from defeating the oversized wolf, taking his shoulder in his mouth before I toss the man to the ground. Them being possessed by Shadows would explain why they aren't shifting.

Though I look around the field, I'm not even sure if that's a good thing or bad thing.

Still I see no sign of Cody, Jessica, Makayla or anyone, not even from our second unit as more and more rouges show up.

From the corner of my eye I see Chelsea create two slabs of bedrock, slamming them into either side of the rouge, knocking him out instantly.

We all fight, blood, sheets and tears sparing the ground as people suffer injuries from both sides. One of the Winter Moon's commanders got pinned down by his shadow, a crude hole punched into him by the dense shadows some of them use as weapons. I've never seen anything like it, and for a moment I freeze, my breath, my heart, the world everything seems to stop as I look around and realize what war is.

The unrelenting drive to destroy one another in the hopes of saving something that inspires you.

Such a beautiful concept, but such a deadly and bloodied reality. I watch as Azrin suffers several cuts in the face as he avoids a crucial abdominal blow. Jasper's left arm is broken, but that doesn't stop Jasper from using the bum arm to create more earth ammo for him, Artemis, and Chelsea to use.

Everywhere I look I see people fighting for their lives, our home, our people, fear and love driving us forward when uncertainty pulls us back.

For the first time, I understand why it was necessary to shut Devils away, casting off Daemons and all associated with them. Because if this is what it was like, fighting against shadows, hidden Daemons in your mist, having to fight the face of someone you love with the Shadow soul of someone trying to kill you. It's terrifying, disarming and I wish that we weren't about to go down that road once more.

Because as we all fight, me being pulled back into the frey as a Rouge managed to rip some of the flesh from my leg, I realize something that I wish I could shove back into pandora's box.

Because now I understand that even if we save Cody with the worst of injuries being a broken bone or two, there's no way that we're going to be able to survive what's coming without loosing people.

The thought almost crushes me.

Almost sends me to the ground, because what's the point in trying, in doing anything if the only way this ends is with most of us dying anyway?

But before my knees buckle and my heart gives up in the bloodiest most chaotic storm of rage I've ever seen, I finally see him.

My lover, alive and standing on his own, in the far distance, the second unit seen running this way.

Relief is about to flood me, before I realize that there's five people surrounding my Cody, Makayla being one of them, blocking him from leaving. A wolf lunges at me, and I barely give it a second thought as my teeth pierce his neck, the satisfaction of the crunch noe nearly enough to satisfy the rage I feel seeing my sweet Cody surrounded by those monsters.

Ignoring what's around me, I push off of a rogue, shifting back to my human form in midair as I call for Cody's name, wanting him to hear my voice.

"Cody! I'm here!"

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Omggggggg this is getting so good! I can't believe i'm finally here. There are officially 11 more chapter and 1 epilogue left!!! I hope i did the fight scene justice. What do you guys think will happen next?

Thoughts?

Comments?

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