My Mate Is An Omega
Chapter 53

Lancaster POV

"Good night, my pup. Daddy already loves you so much," I whispered against my mate's stomach, caressing her belly.

"As does Mommy," she added, placing her hand over mine. We exchanged glances before I laid down beside her.

It had become a ritual for us to speak to our baby before going to bed. They didn't move much, and Caitlyn's bump wasn't even that noticeable yet. Regardless of whether they could hear the sound of our voice or not, we still enjoyed it. Less than a year ago, I would have never believed an insignificant stray like me could go so far. I didn't think I deserved happiness. Honestly, I didn't even want to live a long life. But everything changed when I met my mate, and our pup was proof of how strong our love for each other was. They hadn't even been born yet, but I was ready to protect them with my life.

The idea of being a father both excited and terrified me. Since my own parents abandoned me, Dario was the closest thing I had had to a parental figure growing up. I definitely had a lot of love to give, but I was afraid I wouldn't know how to raise a child - an heir, at that. I was still learning how to be an Alpha; how was I supposed to teach my pup how to care for an entire pack?

"We will make a lot of mistakes, but we'll learn from them, as we have up until now," Atlas wisely observed. "Just trust your instincts, and our mate. We wouldn't have come so far without them."

My wolf's encouragement gave me enough comfort to close my eyes. I drifted off with my beautiful Luna in my arms, but our peaceful moment didn't last long.

Two hours later, I woke up in a rush. My heart was beating fast, and there was sweat dripping down my forehead. It took me a few seconds to calm myself down as I tried to figure out what got me into such a state. As soon as I heard a low whimper, I turned around to replace my mate shaking beside me on the mattress. She was serene when she fell asleep, but her expression looked tormented now. Only then I realized she was probably having a nightmare, and I could feel her stress through the mate bond, which abruptly awakened me.

"Beautiful..." I tried calling her, gently brushing her arm with my hand. However, she seemed to be in too deep of a sleep to hear me. "It's okay. You're alright," I continued, but none of my subtle efforts to wake her up worked.

It wasn't until the loud sirens rang that she jolted up in bed.

"The bears!" she screamed, still in a sleep trance.

And once again, I freaked out. I held her close to me in an attempt to help her relax, but in my own rush of adrenaline, I doubted it was of any use. The sound alarm was a clear sign that we were under attack, but whatever she had been dreaming about, it couldn't be right. We had defeated our enemy; we didn't leave any alive. We even decided against taking prisoners, giving up the chance to figure out what they wanted, just to prevent them from escaping and causing us more harm. It was impossible for them to be back... or at least that's what I wanted to believe.

"We don't know who has crossed our borders," I finally said once she caught her breath. "But we're definitely under attack, and we have to act fast."

Despite the worried look on her face, she nodded at me. It tore me apart to pull away from her, but I had to put our pack first - after all, I would pass it on to my daughter or son one day. The rest of the members had definitely woken up with the loud sirens, so I didn't hesitate before reaching out to my team. My Delta seemed to be the most well-informed out of them. I almost couldn't believe it when she confirmed what I feared the most.

"It's them, isn't it?" Caitlyn's shaky voice caught my attention; my expression had likely given me away.

"I'm afraid you are never wrong. According to Sasha, a large group of werebears has just stormed across our borders."

My mind was racing a million miles an hour. I gave my ranked members a few instructions before shutting our connection, which allowed me to focus on my conversation with my mate. I rushed over to her, cupping her face with both of my hands. Her heart was beating faster, and I knew I had to help her calm down; the stress could be harmful for our pup.

"It's okay, beautiful. We still have our allies in our territory, we can defend our pack," I reassured her.

"They wouldn't have come back unless they knew they could win!" she retorted.

"Ever since they started attacking us, they never won, yet they kept coming back," I recalled. "If there were more of them living outside the cave, this is probably their desperate attempt at getting revenge. We will take care of them."

"Last time they came here, they only left after they killed the Alpha." Only then I could understand the reason behind the fear in her eyes. "What if-"

"I won't die, Caitlyn. I will stay true to the promise I made to you." I looked straight into her hazel eyes, and she finally seemed to relax a little. "The pack needs me, but I'll come back to you. Will you wait here for me?"

She just nodded hesitantly before jumping into my arms to give me one last hug. It pained me to have to leave her, but I had always been a warrior, and right now, the battlefield called for me. I had an entire pack to protect. I kissed her on the forehead, closing my eyes to take in her scent. It gave me the strength I needed to turn around and head outside. Once I opened my eyes again, I cleared my head and entered Alpha mode.

The second I stepped out of the pack house, the warriors bowed their heads at me, while my ranked members stiffened. "Gamma, report!" I ordered.

"The bears are advancing fast," he started. "They already took down some of our Sentinels, but Luke sent reinforcements to help them retreat. Our men and our traps have been holding them off, but we have to act fast." "How many are they?"

"It's hard to tell for sure, but we expect there to be around 150 of them," my Beta promptly replied. It was hard to hide my shock, but I knew I couldn't show it to my pack; I had to encourage them, not scare them.

"More than we killed back at the cave." I momentarily cursed myself for not listening to my mate sooner. Of course, she was right; I was just too desperate to believe I could finally have my happy ending. I shook my head, realizing it wasn't the time to think about that. "We still outnumber them. We can do this." My three friends nodded at me. "Delta, I want two of our best warriors guarding the Alpha suite." Before I could even finish my sentence, Sasha was already mindlinking the men I requested. "The rest of you, follow me!" I yelled at the army, who howled in response.

As soon as I shifted, all of the other wolves did the same. Without the presence of their respective leaders, the foxes and lynxes hesitated a little, but I had proven to be worthy of their respect the last time I led them. After exchanging a few glances, they finally assumed their animal forms and got into formation.

Alongside my three ranked members, we headed towards the borders to defend our territory for what I hoped would be the last time. It didn't take long for us to replace our Sentinels risking their lives to slow down the bears. These fierce creatures were almost unstoppable, but after being terrorized by them for so long, we had learned a few tricks to deal with them. The trap system Jasper had planned soon after he became Gamma seemed to be working quite well, giving us yet another advantage. Technically, it should be easy. Considering our success during the last raid, I expected our strategy to work just as well. However, I could almost hear my mate's voice in my head, warning me not to make the same mistake of taking everything for granted. Since we killed every single one of the bears in the cave, we still had no idea what they were after, but by now, it was clear they wanted something from us. Although they weren't the smartest creatures, they probably wouldn't engage an attack at a clear disadvantage - unless they were sure they would achieve their goal, whatever it was.

"They won't take anything else from us. I will make sure of it!" Atlas growled inside my head as he locked his eyes on a dark gray bear who had just slashed one of our Sentinels.

The howl that echoed in his throat was a command our warriors were too familiar with. In the blink of an eye, King was by our side, his attention focused on our first target. He didn't hesitate to jump onto one of the enemy's feet at the same time we did. It let out a painful cry as our sharp teeth pierced his flesh, securing him in place. The fox on our team immediately started climbing the creature's back with impressive agility, ready to follow with our winning strategy.

But to our surprise, the bear smacked the back of its own neck, almost crushing the small shifter, who dodged at the last second.

Atlas' eyes widened in shock, but he held his grip around the enemy's hind paw. Werebears were slow because of the massive weight. It shouldn't be able to react so fast - unless it already knew exactly where we intended to strike it.

To my disbelief, my theory was proven right when the opponent quickly used its free paw to protect its neck. Prevented from landing a fatal blow by slashing the bear's throat, the werecat instead sunk her teeth into its arm. The confidence in our eyes was soon replaced by fear.

How could the enemy possibly know our strategy? We only used it against the bears living in the cave, and we made sure to eliminate every single one of them. Our scouts searched the area more than a few times, ensuring that there were no more of the filthy creatures around. No one aside from our warriors was present to witness the m******e.

My mind was racing as I tried to make sense of the situation, but a loud yowl from the werecat brought my attention back to the ongoing battle. The bear had managed to get rid of the lynx by shaking its arm, sending the warrior flying a few feet back. Thankfully, cats always land on their feet. She flashed me a quizzical look, waiting for further instructions, and that's when I finally realized it.

We had to change our strategy.

But how? Not only did we have to think fast, but we also couldn't shift back; as long as we stayed in animal form, it would be extremely hard to communicate with one another. Since the werecats and werefoxes weren't part of our pack, we couldn't link them. I could practically hear the imaginary clock ticking in my head, reminding me we were running out of time. s**t! If Caitlyn was here, she would definitely know what to do.

As I tried to come up with a new plan, I noticed the fox moving across the bear's body with extreme speed, biting it at several different spots as he jumped from side to side. Not knowing where the agile warrior would attack next, our enemy failed to hit him, though it still wouldn't leave its neck exposed. Only when the fox's eyes landed on me did I realize what he was suggesting - if we couldn't go for a clean strike, we would have to adapt our strategy to weaken our enemy before taking it down.

My green eyes glistened with determination as I nodded at him. With a loud bark, Atlas caught the lynx's attention one again as we let go of the bear's leg to sink our teeth onto its thigh, causing it to roar in pain yet again. The werecat's eyes widened in realization, but she didn't hesitate to follow us. With a lot of concentration and teamwork, we were finally able to take the creature down, and the cat warrior finished it off by ripping out a chunk of its stomach.

A wolfish grin lit up my caramel wolf's face. We were content that our new plan had worked, but we still had to communicate it to the rest of our army.

Taking a quick look around, I noticed the other teams were struggling to fight off the bears. A pinch of pain struck my heart as I saw the familiar corpses lying around, but I took a deep breath to stay strong. I would have the chance to mourn later; right now, I had to ensure we would have no more casualties.

Atlas barked a few more times, desperately trying to catch the warriors' attention. As soon as the majority of them managed to retreat, shifting their focus to us, I realized it would be my best opportunity to instruct them on what to do. For the first time, I truly felt powerful and important. I glanced over at my Beta, who promptly nodded in understanding; although we could mindlink each other, it wasn't necessary. With the help of the fox and the lynx on our team, we repeated the exact same strategy we had used to take our first target down. Howls of agreement echoed through the territory as the other warriors followed us. And just like that, we managed to turn the tables.

It took a lot more time to defeat our enemies that way, but little by little, it was clear that their numbers were decreasing. Some of our men and women were badly injured, yet they continued to give their all, encouraged by our strong spirit. As our problems seemed to fade away, there was only one desire in my mind - to run back into my mate's arms and tell her about our victory.

When we were done with the enemies in the back, I instructed my Beta to take our team and check if the others needed help while I made sure no other bears were hiding around. With only a few superficial scratches and bruises, I was in good enough shape to be able to defend myself in case I came across another opponent.

Or at least, I thought so. I seemed to have let my hope get the best of me.

Only a few minutes into my search, I felt a sharp object pierce my neck. A horrible sensation followed, as if my own blood was burning my veins, corrupting my system from the inside. Before I completely lost my senses, I realized it had to be wolfsbane; I was probably hit by a poison dart. As my vision got blurry, I saw a slender figure approaching me. A gasp of horror left my wolf's lips as soon as we recognized the man. I wanted to lunge at him, but my legs gave out, and I dropped to the floor. "Sleep tight, stray." He laughed before kicking me in the head, and everything went black.