Awakening (2 book series)
Awakening – Following Fate Chapter 112

I know what he's thinking. Deal with the attack, rally the pack and put me furthest away from the fight while he does it. His plan to stay with me isn't going to work if the vampires have separated out to flank the entire village. He won't be able to fight hard and gain control with one eye on me the whole time.

He knows he has to come to the manor where his father will be hiding, so right now he thinks it's the safest place for me to wait. Varro won't know where Juan is and will expect him as alpha to come to the aide of his pack at the south edge. They have no idea that Juan will happily watch his own blood die to save himself and his loyal.

"Okay... I love you." I don't know what else to say beyond that. I can argue, beg him to stay with me but we both know he needs to lead. Our pack is strongest with him at the forefront.

"Take her and go." Colton nods to Radar who immediately comes to my side and presses to my shoulder with his. Flanking me and I'm almost squeezed as another wolf gets at my other side. Colton leans in fast, hits me on the forehead with a firm kiss before turning and leaping backwards into the air and turning mid flow. Form beautiful human to fierce beast as he lets out a war howl and it seems to erupt all around us.

In the blink of an eye he's gone, along with a trailing tail of wolves coming from the undergrowth. Heading where they are needed where the battle is already beginning.

Luna....Please Radar links me and I am nudged out of my trance like state and pushed into moving in the direction their bodies force me. I glance back to see my entourage forming a circle around me and Sierra comes up at my rear so her nose is an inch from my neck.

We will get through this together. Don't be afraid. She links me with that sweet and calm tone. The mother in her needing to console me.

We move stealthily through the woods and out into the open, the night air chilling my skin into goosebumps. The sight of old familiar territory churning my soul in strange ways as my own homeland appears before me like a dark and haunting memory. We are fast to close the gap across wide open space and head to our destination with intention.

To the Manor, the place I never thought I would go back to and the man hiding within its walls I hoped to never lay eyes on again.

I can feel the tension in the air and the sounds of a raging fight begin to echo our way on the wind, which is strangely soft tonight. My hair rises on my skin as the hackles on my wolf guards follow suit. The noises of a war that are familiar with past experiences yet so different form this distance.

Calls, cries, ripping and crunching. It sounds like trees being pulled from the earth while rocks crumble and wood splinters. Howls circle around us and links form the pack begin a dizzying crescendo in our heads as they communicate and try to filter one another out amid the frenzy of battle.

Block the links, don't listen. I'll tell you if you need to hear anything. Carmen comes through the deafening mess with her sweet and strong tone. Commanding me yet saving me at the same time. As Luna I shouldn't block out my people, but I don't have the mental capacity in human form to separate the links the way I can as wolf. It's all coming at once and ripping my heart to shreds as I absorb the fear and pain of my pack in our own special way of communicating.

"She's right. You are here to be seen and nothing else. When your father shows up, then you can do something. Let your mate do what he needs to do and block the rets out." Leyanne pats me on the head and it's only now I realize she is with me and not with them. I turn with a sudden flinch and glare at her.

"Why aren't you with Colton? Where he needs you the most?" I blanche.

"Oh pet. You really have no faith in your mate or your pack. I am where I need to be. You are important to not only your people, but the future of two breeds, maybe even three. I am only doing my civic duty as an immortal sister." She smiles in her carefree and grating way and saunters on ahead, lighting the way with a dull glow from her palm and yet it irks me on many levels. I open my mouth to protest but am silenced by Sierra.

She's right. You're in the center of all this. Colton wants you protected, and the witch is useful to us if we are strolling towards the lion's den. Juan may not stay inside and hide when he knows you and I are standing at his front door. In fact, I'm hoping on it. Sierra sounds detached and almost cold. Her emotions swirling with bitterness and hatred that I know are aimed at her mate. I blink towards her and have a moment of doubt. Knowing how desperately Sierra wants to see Juan fall, feeling it in her every breath, I suddenly become scared that she feels the change about our bond. That maybe somehow, she knows the witch has done something.

There's fight in her words, a weird sense of fire and fury coming through and I hesitate at the possibility Sierra is hoping for Juan to face us down while the pack is distracted. Maybe she knows already, maybe this is what she wants. If somehow, some crazy way, she sensed the bond between us had been unlinked, then maybe right now all she is focusing on is heading to a target she now thinks she has the power to take on alone.