HUNTED

The squealing of tires burning on the tarmac of the road resounded down the street after the black SUV swerved out of the way of an oncoming lorry. Damon had run a red light, one of many in his haste to get to Aila and the pack. The closer he was making it to her, the stronger the mate bond was pulling at him. 

As soon as he was on the countryside lanes again, he pushed the accelerator pedal down even harder. The car was filled with thick tension smothering them like tar on their skin; even the warriors seated in the back were stiff and tense with a murderous glint to their stares. The lush greenery of fields and trees zoomed by in a blur of green sea. 

Damon was brooding quietly with his jaw muscle ticking and his stormy eyes staring past the windscreen wipers swiping rapidly against the torrential rain. He will kill everyone that thought they could get away with attacking his beloved. Rip them to pieces-

"Burn them all to the ground," Darius growled in his mind.

"Either way. There will be no survivors today. Those c*nts thought they could attack Silver Crescent when we are away and using her friend.. if she is her friend.. to lure Aila to them." Damon snapped, trying to keep his boiling rage from bubbling over to the point he might accidentally crash. 

"Whoever orchestrated this knew we would be separated," Darius snarled, causing Damon to growl aloud with his eyes focused on the road ahead. His men didn't say anything; he had been brooding since they left with the occasional growl erupting from his lips. 

Kane sat in the passenger seat looking outside the window, his brows furrowed until suddenly he flung his head back into the padded seat and let out a guttural cry. Damon whipped his head to look at him, watching as the Beta's eyes began to glow and a growl vibrated from his chest. Kane clutched at his chest and began breathing heavily to the point of hyperventilating. 

"Kane, what is it!?" Damon growled and glanced back at the road. 

"Nairi!" Kane's cry turned into a howl as his nails grew into claws and the golden fur of his wolf began to slice through the back of his neck. He was losing control and shifting in the car.

"Kane! We are twenty minutes away-"

"She won't have twenty minutes, Damon!" Kane growled back and undone his seatbelt, "I have to go to her. I have to go to her, Alpha!"

"Do NOT shift." Damon's voice deepened from using his Alpha's powers, causing the car to shake from the intensity of his order. He heard Kane and his wolf's whining leaving his mouth as he fought against the command. He glanced to the side again, his face hardening at the tremendous pain on Kane's face. His eyes flickered back and forth, filled with unshed tears, and his eyes switching to and from a glowing amber and back to his own dark brown colour. The fur on his neck retracted as his head leaned forward, his eyes clouding over with a sudden darkness.

Damon hated using his Alpha's voice, but he couldn't have Kane shifting in the car, causing them to crash and then leaving. It wouldn't do him any good; even if he changed into his wolf, it would take the same amount of time to run there on all fours as it would for him to drive there. He didn't know what the situation was, Nairi and Aila could be surrounded, or their pack was not enough. Was Aila okay?

There was no contact from his pack, making it hard for him to stay in control. Darius was continuously pacing in his mind, but he could feel his feral side brewing as well as remaining dangerously calm. Darius wanted nothing more than to rip something or someone into pieces, but he kept himself in check because Aila was at risk of being taken or killed. Now was not the time for rash actions.

Damon gripped the steering wheel even harder; his chest tightened at not being able to feel his mate completely. He needed to mark her. His canines began to grow again at the thought, but he took a deep breath in and tried to relax his hands. If he continued holding the steering wheel any harder, then it would definitely break. 

"Why.. Damon.. Alpha… please.." Kane's voice cracked as his body trembled under the restraints of the Alpha's command.

Damon gritted his teeth as he felt his own heart clench tightly at his friend's pleas, "I will send a mind-link, Kane. Find out what has happened to Nairi. For now, I need you to stay in the car with us. You won't get there any quicker, and we need to assess the situation once we are there."

"Assess the situation," Kane chuckled without humour behind his voice. "My mate is dying, and you want me to assess the fucking situation.." He whispered with a scoff, "if it was Aila, you wouldn't be sitting in this car right now."

Damon's brows drew together at his comment, but he did not take his friend's words to heart. Backchatting the Alpha was dangerous, but Damon knew Kane was in insufferable pain right now. He wasn't bonded with Aila completely yet, and he was barely keeping it together. So he could only imagine what Kane was going through.

He narrowed his eyes after hearing the sound of another car behind them. When he looked in the rearview mirror, he realised there were three cars following behind them. Where were his other warriors? He knew he was driving ridiculously quick, but he presumed they would at least be two minutes behind them, still able to guard the car. Did these bastards take his men out?

"Jake, Zeke, did you bring the guns?" Damon grunted. 

The warriors, Jake and Zeke, grinned in response and pulled out their pistols. They looked behind them and reloaded them before rolling down the tinted windows. As they were about to raise their hands out of the window, Jake, who sat on the right-hand side, looked at the crossroad their car was passing,

"Alpha! Watch-"

Another car slammed into the side of the SUV, causing the metal to crunch inwards and the loud crash to resound on the empty road. All four of the werewolves jolted to the side at an incredible force as the car flipped over and rolled them over until they were left upside down. Steam rose from the bonnet as the road became silent once more.

Kane was the first to crawl out from the car sluggishly. His claws grew out to assist in pulling his body across the dusty road. Blood trickled out from his head and mouth, dying the earth beneath him with dark red droplets. The car had hit Damon's side of the vehicle. Kane tried to turn over onto his back to see if his Alpha was okay, but the driver's seat was empty when he checked. 

Where was Damon?

** 

Aila heard a pounding in her ears before feeling her heart thrumming against her chest. To see Nairi fall to the ground crushed her and without hesitation, she sprinted towards her at a phenomenal speed that she was unaware was in her. Her figure blurred in the sight of the others, and Aila reappeared, crouched by the side of Nairi's red wolf. The hunter who shot Nairi pointed their gun at her but just as quick as she made it to Nairi, another blurred figure ripped them from her eyesight.

With tears in her eyes, she moved the wolf slightly, "Nairi, I'm going to try and take the bullet out.." 

Nairi didn't mind-link her but just breathed heavily with the side of her head resting on the pavement. Aila could see her eyelids drooping and her breathing becoming slow. She grew her claws and psyched herself in a matter of seconds. It was just like doing an operation in the vets, she kept telling herself. 

"You've got this, Aila," Malia cheered her on in a gentle voice.

Aila inhaled deeply and placed her un-clawed hand gently down next to the wound, spreading the fur away from it. A low whine left Nairi's mouth, a small sign that she was still with her. With her other hand, she slowly reached with her thumb and finger, breathing slowly again after seeing them tremble. It was hard separating herself from the situation and the wolf whose life rested in her hands.

Finally, she stabbed the ends of her claws through the wound and seeping blood, watching the red liquid rise and trickle further down Nairi's fur as she inserted her thumb and finger deeper. After some time, her claws felt the edge of the silver bullet. Aila had to stop herself from getting too excited, already Nairi had lost quite a bit of blood, and the pellet was lodged in her chest, luckily not too close to the heart. 

While Aila scratched at the end of the bullet, Darren and the other wolf took out the remaining hunter. Their ears flickered up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Ten hunters strolled in the direction of Aila and the fallen wolf; Darren and the other wolf race towards them. 

But they stopped after seeing the guns pointed at their Luna as their leader tutted at them, moving his finger from side to side, mockingly scolding them.  The man with gelled salt and pepper hair stepped forwards at a leisurely pace, his face cold as he lowered his hand and raised the other with a pistol at Aila.

She was so consumed by Nairi, she was unaware of how drastically things had changed until her eyes saw the end of a gun pointed at her forehead. She did not stop what she was doing; however, the hunters would not kill her. So, Aila continued to slowly pull the bullet out from Nairi's chest.

"It is so good to see you again, my dear." 

That voice.

She knew that voice.

It was a voice that chilled her to the bone, and she tensed on the spot. Raising her eyes up, the man who occasionally haunted her dreams stood before her. 

Silas.