Wolf's Fall (Alpha Pack #6)(62)

“Sorry. I should’ve got you up to come to bed.”

“No, I was glad to be with him.” He squeezed her hand. “I think we’ve finally made a start on repairing things. It’ll take a while, but it can be done.”

“That’s so great,” she said, smiling.

“Yeah.”

When his cell phone rang, he groaned again. “I’m seriously going to run over that thing with my SUV if it rings one more time.”

He looked at the screen. “It’s your brother,” he told her. “Crap, it’s early.” He had barely greeted the prince when Tarron broke in. “Nick, I need you back at the stronghold! You and your men. Leave Calla there, but come back as soon as you can!”

He frowned. “Why? What’s going on?”

“Teague found the file that Graham sent Ivan before he died. It was a detailed blueprint of the f*cking stronghold!”

“Shit!” He met Calla’s eyes. So that was how Ivan planned to destroy the coven—a direct attack. God.

“Every single f*cking room, corridor, doorway, every detail! We’re already evacuating the women and children—”

Tarron’s words were cut off by a loud noise coming from the other end. A boom that echoed through Nick’s brain and made his blood turn to ice. “Tarron? Tarron!”

There was no answer. The line went dead.

“What is it?” Calla asked, voice rising. “What’s happening?”

“The file Graham sent to Ivan contained detailed blueprints of the stronghold. Tarron was telling me about evacuating the women and children, and the line went dead.”

Her face paled. “Oh, my God!”

“I’m going and I need you to stay here—”

“No! I can help! You’ll need me to teleport you there and bring men back here to get the rest of your team, now that I know where it is. It’ll be much faster than hours traveling by plane and car. If they’re under attack, they need us now!”

One look at his mate’s determined expression and he knew there was no point wasting time on an argument he wouldn’t win.

“Fine. But when you get my men back to the stronghold, you get the hell out and go to the Pack compound. You’ll be safe there until your brother and I hand those guys their asses.”

He didn’t wait for an answer but rounded up the rest of his team and explained the situation.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” he finished up. “They’ve been ambushed, and it’s up to us to turn the tide in our favor. Questions?”

“How soon can we kick some sorry ass?” John growled.

“That’s the spirit.”

They were going to need more of it to beat some really bad odds.

* * *

Calla never thought she’d experience the terror of actually watching her beloved mate rush headlong into battle. Especially to save her coven.

The grand foyer was smoking rubble, the scene chaos. Blood ran thick on the stone floors, and everywhere the screams of the injured and dying rang out in the morning air. Horrible. Incongruous with the start of a new day that had been filled with such hope.

Losing sight of Nick, Calla forced herself to focus on her task. She summoned three guards who were running past.

“Princess, we have to fight!” one cried.

“First you have to come with me to get the rest of the commander’s wolves! We need all the help we can get!”

The number of rogues and hunters was almost overwhelming, perhaps two to one in the enemy’s favor. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Just then, a pair of hunters appeared, carrying rifles. Quickly, Calla grabbed the guards and vanished, teleporting back to Damien’s compound. Nick’s men were waiting on the lawn in front of the hospital building, along with every able-bodied man, it seemed.

And Damien himself. The man looked exhausted, but fiercely determined. “My men are at your disposal, Princess.”

Tears stung her eyes. “I’m grateful, but do you understand the risk? Chances are you’ll suffer losses.”

“There’s no greater loss I could suffer than to lose Nick now,” he said. “Our clan is behind you.”

“All right. You have my thanks, and my friendship. Whatever you need after this day, I’ll see that you have it. But we have to go. I’ll send more guards after you and your wolves.”

“We’ll be waiting.”

She and the guards teleported Nick’s men, who instantly shifted and joined the fight. She lost track of them in the mass of bodies clashing. Swords flashed; gunshots popped. In front of her, two wolves attacked and dodged by turns, slashing at the rogues, muzzles bright red.

Neither of them was a white wolf, and her heart cried out for her mate.

Nick?

Calla, hide! Stay safe!

She wasn’t a fighter. But today, she had to be. If she hid like a coward, there was no way she would ever be able to face her people again. Moving swiftly, she ran, dodging combatants and searching the fallen for weapons. There! A hunter was facedown, a pistol in hand. Crouching briefly, she pried the gun from his dead hand and sprinted for a pillar some thirty yards away. It wouldn’t afford much cover, but she could get off a few good shots before—no. Best not to think of that.

A sting pierced her side, but she kept going, ignoring it. Once she had achieved cover, she observed the fight and chose her marks carefully. Tarron had taught her to shoot, and she wasn’t bad at it. A short distance away, a brown wolf was fighting a rogue. A hunter was sneaking up behind the wolf, taking aim with his rifle. Calla brought up the gun and fired a round into his skull, and he dropped like a stone.