Stronger by Ang Chris
Chapter 45

He would’ve shifted back, and that meant breaking more bones. I didn’t bother tracking him; he wouldn’t get far.

He knew that too. I could see his fire right now; he wasn’t bothering to hide. He wanted to negotiate a surrender. He didn’t want to die, or he was drawing me in.

I had Luna Lillianna head west so that if he had a trap planned, she wouldn’t get caught. I had a flare ready to light to signal her to go.

I had asked Beck from the Waxing Pride to hold off with a bow. Wolves typically preferred hand-to-hand combat as it was more honorable and it required more strength.

Having him follow behind with a bow and arrows wasn’t entirely ideal in combat, but I didn’t like anything to do with the cat-and-mouse chase they had led us on.

I headed down from my perch I had climbed to watch him. All I had to do was get the information and leave him to die.

I walked through the woods, keeping my feet silent only on the dry floor. I watched the roots and I moved in on my target.

He was bloody and wheezing. Battered and bruised and an inch from death. He had so little time left.

“I’m alone,” his raspy and breathless sounds crawled and grated on my morality. “I can’t go home or ask for help.”

“If you try and kill me, I will burn you alive,” I warned.

The laugh that followed would probably haunt me for the rest of my life. The way I heard the blood gurgling inside him.

“They’ll kill me for failing, or worse,” he managed to get out.

“Then why stay there?”

“They’ll kill me for leaving,” he chuckled again, the sickening sound gumming up my mind.

“Why am I here? You knew I’d come.”

“I’m not sure I should say this. But I know that I’m dead no matter what. I suppose that when we go, we all want a clean conscience just in case,” he confessed.

“The sigma your alpha killed was the elder brother of my alpha. Now he wants to raze your pack to the ground,” he spoke.

“What are they going to do?” I pressed, finally stepping into the light.

“I don’t know.”

That was all I needed. I turned and headed back to the camp and sent up the flare. I had to get back and prepare for whatever they were planning.

Lillianna had to leave. They wanted us wiped out for revenge, and in wolves, that was potent motivation. We felt everything more than humans—anger was coursing through our veins.

I made my way back as quickly as I could.

“We need to go home, everyone. They want us gone; that’s all they want. Which means we now need to defend,” I shouted, grabbing everything I could replace.

“War,” the Luna gasped.

“Personal too. I do not know what they wish to do, but imagine everything is at risk,” I huffed, zipping up my pack.

“It’s time to go home,” she shifted into her wolf, shredding her clothes.

Beck and I did the same. We were at war.

“Stop it!” I giggled, gasping to catch my breath.

“Mm, no,” Grayson continued to attack my neck with soft, tickling kisses as I shrieked and laughed, trying to roll away from him.

“Stop!” I laughed as he tickled my sides. “Aaah!!”

Then the knock came at the door.

Grayson had sensed my worried mind all day, and this morning, when the sun crept through the window, the surety of his arms comforted me again.

That was when he began to run his fingers up and down my body and whisper in my ear how I should go back to sleep.

When I had asked him what he meant by “or else,” he instigated the onslaught of tickling that had banished the fear from me.

Whoever dared to come into our home unannounced and even come to our bedroom, there was no excuse.

“Alpha, the man has returned,” Matt called from the other side of the door.

I called, zipping Grayson’s arm that had clenched around me.

“He needs to speak to you,” I said.

I looked over at him, his face now gray and mane-like. I gently ran my fingers over it, the decision I had made to keep the likelihood of us bearing a child a secret seemed so stupid and naive.

“We will be down in five minutes, Matt. I need you to leave the house,” I commanded.

He was shocked at my request, I bet. But I didn’t want them to hear or see what was about to take place.

When I heard the faint click of the door, I stood and paced, gathering the courage to admit my lie.

“Do not worry. We will not lose,” Grayson guessed at the anxiety that controlled my actions.

“Grayson,” I crawled back into bed and placed my hands gently on his chest, not meeting his eyes as tears began prickling my vision. “I lied to you,” I breathed. “I—I had a dream before our bonding and the night of the fever dream. I have dreamt of pups…”

His warmth left my hands, and the sob escaped me.

“Why?” he kept his voice calm, but his knuckles cracked as they went white.

“I was scared we weren’t ready.”

“You should have said—!” he held himself back.

“You know and I know if I thought this threat was more, I would have said something right away,” I sniffled. I felt like a naive imbecile, way too optimistic about the world.

He loosened slightly and walked back to me, tilting my head up to look at him. “No more secrets.”

“I promise.” I grabbed him and wrapped my legs around him, his lips pressing into my neck.

When we separated, I had no fears. This time, nothing was between us. We got dressed and walked down together.

We walked downstairs after getting dressed, and Matt and Elizabeth were waiting for us.

“Luna, I assure you that this will be dealt with swiftly,” Elizabeth spoke, following behind me.

I don’t think everyone would be this on edge if it was something that we could handle swiftly. I know she wanted me to have faith in our warriors, and I do, but I don’t want things sugarcoated.

When we entered the keep, I was thankful for the early rise. If the people had seen the warriors the way they were on guard and the distress inside, I think mass panic would have been the pack’s only option.

I entered the medic bay, and Brian was panting between gulps of water.

“Are you alright?” I asked as I entered the room.

“Alpha, Luna,” Brian bowed his head.

“He’s exhausted because he ran here without sleeping, but he’s alright—a little dehydrated but alright,” Aarron sighed as he started an IV of fluids.

“Alpha, they are from the pack we thought. They want war. The sigma you killed was the brother of their alpha, and he wants to take everything you hold dear,” Brian told Grayson the worst thing I could think of.

The chill down my spine made me turn away from them all.

We have no choice now. We were no longer growing; we’re now being forged.