The Beta and his Mate
Chapter 25

Blaines POV

At first nothing happened, it was as if the pack had been frozen to the spot they were standing, but then in a blink of an eye everyone was moving at once. One minute it was quiet enough to hear a cricket chirp in the background, the next it was so noisy with people barking orders left, right and centre that I couldn’t figure out what any of them were saying. They all seemed to know what was happening though, probably because of the mind link, because they all suddenly broke off in unison into their own respective parts of the forest.

I debated who to follow, seeing as no one had verbally told me what the plan was, but in the end I just decided to follow Xavier. Anna would be fine without me I concluded as I saw her being escorted out of the training field by a group of fifteen warriors, blanketing her from view with their size. I watched her leave with a trickle of fear lacing its was through my spine. She would be fine, I told myself again before I turned in the opposite direction and followed Xav who had shifted into his grey wolf.

I paused for a second, debating whether or not I should change out of my clothes before shifting. They weren’t mine after all and the last thing I wanted to do was destroy some of Hannas clothes, that and the fact that I wouldn’t have any clothes available to me if I needed to shift back into my human form. I rolled my eyes at the stupid thought and quickly shifted before running to catch up with everyone else, they were just clothes, if she was really that fussed about them I could just buy her some more.

Thankfully I still was linked to the pack through Xavier, us being mates meant we could communicate without the need of me being officially introduced into the pack. If there was anything that I needed to know, he would tell me.

‘What’s the plan?’ I asked Xavier through the link as I ran along beside him, easily keeping up with the speed he’d set.

He growled slightly as he looked over at me, clearly not happy that I had followed him ‘Blaine what the hell are you doing? You were supposed to follow Anna so that you don’t get hurt’.

I scoffed at his words, not really believing that he was even saying that at a time like this. ‘And what... watch helplessly from the sidelines whilst everyone else gets to fight for their pack? Hell no, there is no way I am going to let this pack, my home, go down just because I’m supposed to sit back and let others fight for me all because I’m a Beta’ I growled.

‘It’s not because you’re the packs Beta-’ he started to explain but I cut him off.

‘So is it because I’m a female then? Is that it? Just because I’m a girl it does not mean that-’

‘NO!’ he growled in my head before skidding to a stop, the rest of the warriors carrying on without us. ‘It’s not because of your gender or your status I just... you were supposed to follow Anna so that you had some line of defence. I-I’ve lost my sister and my parents to these rogue attacks and there is no way I am going to lose you too’ he muttered.

His voice got softer as his speech went on, almost as if he was breaking at the mere thought of losing me. I whined and slowly closed the distance between us until my nose was touching the side of his snout, hoping the contact would bring him some form of comfort. ′You’re not going to lose me Xav, not anytime soon’ I reassured him as I took a step back so that I could look into his bright golden eyes. ‘Just let me know the plan next time yeah?’ I laughed ‘Besides I’m too good to let anyone even touch me anyway’ I grinned before turning around and started trotting in the direction we were originally heading.

I heard Xav chuckle slightly in my mind before running after me. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going as I didn’t know the plan but Xav didn’t correct me so I was guessing we were heading in the right direction.

And headed in the right direction we did because it wasn’t long before my ears started to pick up the sound of growls and whines and my nose started to pick up the tell tale smells of blood. I looked at Xavier with wide, alarmed eyes before sprinting the rest of the way and into a clearing where I saw a sight I had never seen before.

We had made it into a semi clearing in the woods where nearly seventy five wolves were battling it out. You could tell who the pack wolves were and who the rogues were based on the condition of their coats and the scent they gave off. Thankfully we outnumbered the rogues but it didn’t make me any less nervous about the scene, if even one of our guys was lost it counted as a loss in my eyes.

I charged into the frenzy of the battle, picking off the odd rogue here and there that was unaware of my presence, as I assessed the individual battles that were going on around me. We were doing well all things considering, their bodies were piling up and from what I could see not a single one of ours had dropped yet and I was going to try my damned hardest to make sure it stayed that way.

I suddenly spotted a lone pack wolf on the outskirts of the clearing being surrounded by three rogue wolves and quickly leapt over to him to offer my help.

Thankfully the first one went down pretty easily, it was to distracted by the wolf in front of him to notice me behind him as I jumped onto his back and crushed his neck, quickly ending his life before he even knew he was in danger. The other two were a bit trickier to take down but thankfully it was now one on one and with the help of the pack wolf next to me the battle didn’t last long.

I nodded to the wolf next to me before we went our separate ways, both looking for our next target.

I carried on with the tactic I had been doing, jumping into outnumbered battles, until the rogue numbers started to dwindle. At this point it was pretty clear to the rogues that they were losing and some started to make a run for it, trying to save themselves before they were met with the same end. Unfortunately for them I was a fast runner and tracked down any lose rogue that decided to try and make a break for it. The last thing we wanted was to leave survivors, it could tell other rogues or packs in the area that we were weak and ripe for the taking.

I sighed in exhaustion as I killed another rogue before looking up and taking in my surroundings. This rogue had been a fast one and it had taken me way out of the way from the clearing where all the others wolves were. I thankfully wasn’t out of the pack lands but I was definitely far enough away for it to be deemed unsafe.

Xaviers words rang back through my head and I cringed as I started to make my way back to the clearing, if he knew how far out I’d gone he’d kill me.

I was about one hundred yards from the break in the trees when I was tackled side on by a huge force that knocked the wind right out of my chest... what the hell was that?

I looked up from my position on the floor, still unable to get up from the hit I’d just recieved, and stared into a pair of golden eyes, eyes that were so cold and calculating I couldn’t believe they were real. I had never described the colour gold as being cold before but looking into these eyes now it was the only description I could think of. They were cold and menacing and I cringed at the mere sight of them.

My vision swirled from the impact as I slowly stood up, not liking the higher ground this rogue had on me, I must’ve hit my head as well if my blurred vision was anything to go by. As soon as I made it to my feet the wolf knocked me back down with a blow from his sharp claws onto my rib cage. My skin split with the impact and I cried out in pain as I collapsed back onto the floor. I quickly stood back up though, refusing to go down without a fight. I took a defensive position but it was all in vein as the rogue quickly sidestepped my sluggish attempt of an attack and knocked me back to the ground again for the third time.

This time the rogue didn’t let me get back up, seemingly bored with my feeble attempt of self defence and placed his bloody paw on the side of my head. The pressure he was using was horrible, just enough for it to be excruciatingly painful but not enough to actually break the skull.

I writhed around as much as I possibly could, trying to replace anything that would help me escape, but saw nothing. I was to far out for others to see me and too far gone to do anything about it myself.

‘Xavier’ I whispered through our mind link, hoping that my jumbled up concussed brain could still figure out how to get a message across to him.

‘Blaine? Blaine where are you’ Xavier messaged back frantically as I felt his worry trickle through the link and into my own head.

‘H-help’ I managed to get out before my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I passed out.

I must’ve been out for only a second, seeing as the rogue was still using his unique form of torture on me, but it was enough for me to lose a grip on my wolf and before I could do anything about it my body started to shift. I screamed as I tried to fight the shift, which is something we are warned to never do from a young age for fear of damaging our bodies, but it was of no use, within a matter of seconds I was back to my human form.

I lay there for a second with the wolf still on top of me, mortified at the fact that I was naked in front of him. I know, not the thing I should be worrying about at a time like this but what can I say. I screwed my eyes shut, ready for the rogue wolfs final blow, when all of a sudden the weight disappeared.

I sighed in relief as my vision started to unblur and I looked up, expecting to see Xavier or another pack member fighting the rogue but instead I came face to face with a human face, a stranger’s face.

“Well well well... if it isn’t little miss Blaine” the stranger taunted as he leaned over me.

The strangers voice rattled around in my head as I cringed at the volume, did he really have to be so loud?

“You’re the last person I expected to see here, and in a pack of all things” he laughed.

I tried to say something, anything to this person, but as soon as I opened my mouth the stranger wrapped one of his hands around my neck and pinning me to the ground, obviously not wanting to be interrupted.

“Do you know how long we’ve been looking for you?” He continued to question me as he brought my face close to his, close enough that I could smell the vile stench of his breath. It smelt of rot and decay, probably from a recent kill he’d just eaten, and the mixture of it made me gag.

I clawred at the hand that was gripping my neck tightly, enough to restrict my airflow but not enough to kill me.

‘XAVIER!’

“Your mum and dad are going to be so happy that we’ve found you” he muttered with an evil grin as he looked into my panicked eyes.

My what?!

It was that moment that I felt myself slip into unconsciousness, but not before I heard the stranger mutter one final thing...

“I’ll tell the family you said hi”.

EEEK!! We’re getting to the good stuff! Please please please let me know what you think!!