Tonya POV
Noah keeps squeezing my hand as the car moves slowly toward our destination. We mated barely three days ago, yet it seems so long ago. Despite how much I want to wrap myself in both of my mates' scents, there are duties to be done, and meeting Alpha Damon is one of them. I hope I manage to keep myself calm in his presence.
Initially, I planned to invite him into my pack according to tradition, but when I spoke about it with Noah, he told me what Damon had been doing with Charlie. My anger made me spend hours on the training grounds to calm myself.
After all, Damon was my father's friend for many years; he was a close ally, I've been in his pack many times, and I know it is well managed; no one has been abusing anybody. Damon is loved and respected. And from time to time to take a break, he visited Shadow Pack to talk with Shane about business and rape my mate for a couple of days.
According to what Noah has told me, Damon approached him interested in two things: finding out why I so suddenly stepped away from all official pack business, so James has to represent me; and my sister. On both questions, Noah couldn't give him any answers.
Since inviting him to my pack was no longer an option, like hell I would ever let that bastard close to Charlie, I suggested meeting on neutral ground, in a human city. According to the tradition, each Alpha can only take these three persons. So, I have taken my Gamma Nelson and my Beta James since he was responsible for this treaty from the beginning. The Trio and Noah must wait in the car; they can't go with us to the restaurant.
Actually, I wonder why Damon had to choose the Italian restaurant like some Mafia's Don; as far as I remember, he hates Italian food. We leave the car and enter the first floor, which is all rented for us. Damon's Beta waits for us near the bar when he is engaged in casual chit-chat with the human couple, very interested in his opinion of which hotel in the town is the best. As far as I remember, he is serving as Beta only a couple of years from now.
We walk after him to our private section, where Damon is already waiting for us. As always, he has these sharp eyes that remind me that I must be cautious no matter what. I know him as a strong warrior and leader whom I used to call uncle when I was little; today, he is my enemy.
I don't recognize the girl sitting next to him. As far as I remember, Damon is single; his mate and son were killed by hunters many years ago before I was even born.
"It's nice to see you again, Tonya, James, and if I remember Gamma Nelson. Of course, you recognize my Beta, and this is Tania. She has transferred to my pack recently; she will be my new Luna."
I nod to the girl, who is an omega and looks younger than me. I would be surprised if I didn't know now that he likes kids; after all, he started raping Charlie when my mate was barely 15 years old. Silver is growling; maybe gutting him alive now wouldn't be such a bad idea.
"Congratulations to you for choosing your mate and for you, Tania, for your Luna position," I say politely and sit in front of him.
We are on the first floor of this restaurant in a separate room for private gatherings; nobody will be able to hear us. I wish for Noah to be here with me, but if I'm going to play this nicely, he must be sure I don't know about him approaching my mate.
"I'm not getting any younger," Damon says. "I need to have an heir, and I think Tania and I manage to make it work. After all, no mating bond means much less drama. I was sure you, too, would have a Luna by now. I saw you with those two in the club some time ago, for sure, your mates."
"For now, just mates, I still haven't decided. But If I did, I'm sure that shouldn't concern you." I say coldly, and he smirks.
James starts talking, presenting all the treaty conditions; when Damon pretends to listen, Tania gives me a polite smile. She is beautiful, but I don't sense any stress from her; she doesn't seem intimidated by her future mate. So maybe she has just accepted the marriage deal Damon has offered her.
"Since you don't seem to have any problems with our conditions, why were you so persistent in not signing it?" I ask after James finishes.
"Because I don't like to be ignored. And I was wondering why so suddenly you disappeared."
"That's not your problem. Why so suddenly are you so interested in my sister?"
"Because she is a Spirit Catcher, and her wolf was very yearend from mine. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."
I do; Zoya has the ability to calm down almost everybody around her with barely her presence. She affects even Silver, and that's no easy job. So, for sure, she had the same effect on Damon.
"I considered asking her to be my Luna, but she turned me down. Oh, she didn't tell you? Well, that is now out of the question, but still, my wolf was really attached to her presence." Damon says, "I will sign the treaty, but first, I want to visit your pack, and I want the annual gathering of our joint allies to happen in my pack next month."
"This year, it is supposed to happen in half of the year and in Howl Pack. The schedule is clear and was established years ago. Why so suddenly do you want to change it?"
"I wish to show off my new Luna," he smirks.
James growls a bit. Damon has shown too much attitude today.
"I have one more question; you started a treaty with Shadow Pack five years ago. Why? They are very far away from you."
"Because Shane was an old friend from my youth times. He desperately needed money five years ago, and he was frantically calling all the people he knew, including me. I have money to spare, and he is useful to me from time to time and obeys me blindly, so I have my profit. Tonya, you are young and inexperienced; I worry about you."
"Why would you worry about me?" I ask, still calm, although Silver starts growling in my subconsciousness. James is getting tenser; I'm sure something will happen soon.
"Your mate actually offered me to spy on you in exchange for protection. I know Noah from Shadow Pack. A cheating bastard, just like Curtis. Shane wants his head, and now he looks for protection everywhere. He offered me to betray you. But I'm first your father's friend and..."
He keeps saying how he considers me his daughter, how big a responsibility I carry, how he only wants to help me, and how Noah will be my downfall. My eyes shift. I'm angry because now I finally see what his purpose was. Alpha, who rejects his true mate, will always become weaker. Alphas with broken hearts will crumble more easily. He wants to buy my trust this way; he wants to make me more vulnerable, pretending to help me. Since Noah convinced him that I didn't trust my mates, Damon chose to sell him instead of using him.
"Tell me, Damon, how many Alphas around Shane are part of the ring-trading rogues and orphans?" my question stops his sweet talking. "There will be no treaty, and you need me much more than I need you."
There is anger on Damon's face as he says:
"Whatever Noah has told you, it was a lie! He is a cunning son of the bitch and..."
"And you have never raped Charlie during your many visit to Shadow Pack. Rethink this marriage, girl," I say, looking at Tania." He is no longer the Alpha he used to be. You want this treaty, Damon. You will give me any information about the Shadow Pack you have. That's the deal you have. And once I mark my mates, I may challenge you and rip your guts away for everything you did to my mate."
I stand up to leave; I'm sure he will now reach out to my father, who will make sure to export all the information we need from him. But I don't get to leave the room because the waiter enters.
He is a human, I smell it, and he smiles very brightly as he throws a hand grenade into the room, which explodes, but not with ordinary explosives, but with silver shatters. The impact of the explosion sends all of us in different directions, my body lands on the floor with a loud bang, and for a moment, my world goes blank.
But I go back to reality very quickly; there is lots of blood because the silver shreds pierced into my exposed skin all over my body. I focus but don't feel any of it get inside my blood system, so Silver and I should be okay.
I look around, seeing James and Nelson curling on the floor; their skin is burning cause of the contact with the silver. Damon, who has hit the wall on the other side of the room, stands up a bit wobbly; he, too, is wounded by silver sherds and must be in huge pain.
Ten people enter the room and open the fire in our direction. I move so quickly as I yank one of the tables and throw it in their direction.
And then I jumped shifting in the process. Neither of the werewolves present in the room can do it because of the silver burning their skin, but I don't have such limits. Our opponents seem confused. They are humans; I can smell it, and someone promised them that using silver would make us an easy target.
Killing humans in my wolf form is easy; I don't struggle too much to do that, especially since I got some aid from the couple who were at the bar and now came to help us. The Trio, alongside Noah, Damon's people, mindlinked by Damon, and I should be here very quickly to help clean.
"They came from upstairs, from the hotel above the restaurant; that's why we didn't spot them until the explosion," Anne says, and I nod to her.
Alistair kneels next to one of the dead enemies and starts checking his pockets as I walk toward James and Nelson. Nelson is unconscious; James pants hard but says he will live. The silver shreds give them a lot of pain but are not life-threatening.
"What the hell happened!" Damon screams, scrambling to his feet as his Beta looks around, confused. They are wounded but not severely.
"He has got napalm on him; they for sure wanted to leave no evidence," Alistair says, kneeling next to one of the dead attackers, as I walk fast toward Damon and press him into the wall. In his state, I have no problem with overpowering him.
"You have chosen this place; you have set the trap!" I scream, hearing the loud steps on the stairs as my people and Damon's people barge into the room.
Of course, Noah is next to me now, but the situation is tense. No one knows what has just happened; Damon's wolves and his half-consciousness Beta on the floor only know that I have their Alpha by his throat, pressed to the wall.
"I didn't! The place and the meeting were prepared by somebody else, not by me," Damon shouts, and his eyes dart around the room looking for someone, and that's when I understand.
Tania is standing at the end of the room. All the wounds caused by the silver shards that should be on her body have already healed, and no one heals that quickly, no one.
"Why the hell are you moving? You should be dead. What the hell are you!" she screams, looking at me.
"And you, who the hell are you, Tania?" I yell back at her as she bares her teeth and starts breathing hard.
"I'm the chosen one! I proved to be chosen, to be free! I'm no longer the disgusting monster our kind is. He has set me free! And now I will set him free from you! You will die, and we will create a new world! We will be at the beginning of the food chain!"
She starts trembling as her scream echoes in my ears; the scent that comes from her hits my nostrils, and I know what is happening, so I let go of Damon. I have no choice but to trust him.
"No matter what, she can't leave this place," I yell so everybody hears me, and then she starts shifting.
Her skin breaks, her bones start growing, and her muscles stretch as she howls in extreme pain. Her muzzle appears as her fangs start dripping with saliva; the fur covers the humanoid body of the wolf standing on his two paws. That creature is almost three meters more significant than Jake's brother, but their resemblance is undeniable, and soon she launches at us.
Jumping to avoid hitting Noah and I shift, Damon rolls over to the side. Alistair takes the gun of one of the dead enemies. I lock my eyes with him and the Trio; we know what to do, we have trained a lot, and now we will see if our strategy is worth a dam.
Anne screams to Damon's people to move the wounded ones away if possible, and they listen as she also grabs a gun to help.
The Trio and I jump at the creature at the same time, quick bites from different sides, and quickly withdraw; when the path is clear, both Alister and Anne shoot it with silver bullets. With another jump, I feel its flesh in Silver's mouth; Tyler is sent with the swing to the side.
Another shot, another jump, and Tania jumps, crashing with my body. I feel extreme pain but manage to move a bit, and the first swing of her claws misses my body an inch, but not the second. And yet, there is no sharp pain because Noah managed to bite into it, and the impact of his jump caused both of them to fall to the side. My heart skips a bit, but he quickly scrambles back to his feet, although he limps a bit. Alistair shoots again, distracting Tania from sinking her claws in my mate. I can't let her stand up; I can't.
In a flash, I'm close to her, sinking my canines in one of her legs as my cousins aim for different parts of her body; one of them howls in pain as his body is pierced with her claws, so I had to abandon my idea of breaking her leg and jump to her neck. Since she is trying to pry me away from her, my cousin's life is spared. I feel dire pain in my belly; thanks, Goddess, she scratched me, not sink her claws deep in me, but I have to let go of her. I land into Noah, who howls painfully, but his jump saved me from breaking some of my bones.
I smell the scent of burning, and then I realize that Anne and Alistair managed to throw some napalm on Tania. She howls in agony; half of her body is burning but soon stops, fuck she heals too quickly!
Another shot from Alistair straight into her jaws makes her furious; she jumps on him but misses because of two things. First is her leg, which I managed to damage; the second is one of my cousins who came to the hunter's rescue. She hasn't bitten into Alistair's stomach, but into his ankle, for sure crashing it completely. She pulls his leg, and he has to let go of my cousin's scarf to be dragged a bit away; the panic on his face is apparent, and that's when Noah and I jump, despite the pain, despite everything. He goes for her second leg, causing her to lose her balance; I push her to the ground, causing her to land on the back and let go of Alistair. Anne shoots her two more times into her stomach. Tania has to choose and chooses to reach out to Noah, turning her head back to me, and that gives me so much need opening.
Silver and I are in perfect sync; we shift, landing on her back in my human form, extending my hand and digging my claws into the nape; I feel my fingers and claws clenching around her spine, my eyes shift, and I pull. I literally feel muscles in my hand breaking as I crash her bones and rip her spinal cord apart.
She howls in agony and stops moving. Noah shifts, scrambles to his feet, and takes me into his arms; we both pant so hard, wrapped around each other, when I realize that someone is still screaming in agony.
Anne is holding Alistair, who trashes on the floor, screaming his lungs out. His leg, the leg Tania bit into, is rotting so fucking fast it's unbelievable; I just know that he will die soon, very soon. I act out of instinct when I mindlink Travis standing close to Alistair, still in his wolf form. And he listens to my command as he bites the hunter's leg off.
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