Page 29 of Those That Defy the Realm

Pulling up and panting, I take a few seconds to survey the scene. My pack halts beside me, waiting for further instruction. This is on me and if I choose wrong here we’ll be helping the wrong side.

“What the fuck?” One of the vampires clocks our presence and my time is up.

“Wolves, please tell me you’re the shifting kind and not actual mutts!” A dark skinned smaller male hollers as he drop-kicks a male much taller than himself. My brain sifts through the vast amounts of information I’ve been absorbing and it clicks.

Bounding towards the male, I catalogue his dreadlocks, stylish clothing and most importantly the pointed ears of his lineage. He’s a vampire, the fangs protruding from his mouth undeniable but he was once a Fae.

Antares.

The male Henry sometimes shares his apartment with. He regaled me with several stories of different ways he’s saved this guy’s ass during our night together. I have to hand it to him, from what I just saw, the male can hold his own even though he’s small by Fae standards.

Shifting, to the shock of several of the males around us, I take my human form.

“It’s your lucky day, I’m Ash, the alpha in charge of your cavalry. Tell me where you need us,” I say as Antares breaks away. The shit show around us is happening so fast we really don’t have time for pleasantries but he gives me a smirk at my cavalry remark.

“Everywhere.” He shakes some fresh blood off his hand. “A few were in the house, but the majority were out here or arriving back from the city. We’ve stopped them getting in to aid Adicious but it’s carnage.” The fighting resumes full force around us, although a couple try to disengage to get a better look at my pack.

“Where are⁠—”

“They’re in the house, second floor.” I don’t even need to finish my sentence before Antares jumps in, telling me where Ty and Aurora are. “They could probably use your help. Although, can you split up? Two of you out here could really do some damage.”

“Sure.” I shift back without saying more. Barking orders for Emmerson and Tally to follow Antares’s orders, I call Parker to heel and take off into the house.

The scent of blood is even more potent as we enter through the rear entrance, but my wolf singles out Henry’s scent as soon as we’re over the threshold. I pick up Rory’s scent too but seeing as she’s been here several days it’s bound to linger in most of the rooms. The only one I can’t locate yet is Ty but there’s no way he’ll be anywhere other than at his mate’s side.

There’s banging upstairs and off to the left. Trotting round the corner in hope of finding a stairway, I spot him. Henry is engaged with two males in what looks like a larger communal room ahead. Leaping forward, I see that there are in fact five males, not three, in the room. A beast of a male is trying to get a grip on a smaller but still stacked vampire with a shaved head. The smaller male gets free and makes for the door. I barely have time to flatten my body to the wall as he barrels past. Parker isn’t as quick, and the male barges through him in his haste to escape. My companion growls at being shoved.

“Don’t let him get up there,” Henry shouts and the mountainous male shoots between us as well, although with far more care and a shocked looking expression.

However, he doesn’t slow his pursuit. Parker looks at me, bloodlust clear in his eyes and I let him go after the vampires.

As soon as he’s turned tail, I slip into the common room with a snarl.

Henry spins at the sound, our eyes lock and his face drops in recognition.

It costs him. One of Adicious’s males takes the advantage. Before I can leap, the assailant stabs a broken bottle into Henry’s side as the other one grips him from behind. The fucking coward has resulted to using weapons.

Henry twists, slamming a fist up into the face of the male holding him from behind. He’s not quick enough to avoid the weapon in the second one’s hand, however, and the shards sink into the flesh of his arm, shredding it open from elbow to wrist.

Hearing his cry of pain, pure fury like I’ve never felt before, floods my brain. Without thinking I’m launching at the male with the bottle. My jaws clamp around his fleshy forearm as my body slams into his midsection. We go flying away from Henry and onto the floor. My bite breaks his grip on the bottle and from the grunt he gives, I hope he’s landed on more of the broken glass that glitters all over the floor.

“Don’t let them leave,” Henry instructs in heaving breaths as he tries desperately to gain the upper hand of the other male.

No problem, I think, sinking my claws through my prey’s torso. This one hurt Henry, I don’t plan on letting him live, let alone leave.

Red blurs my vision, my wolf taking full control. The taste of blood on my tongue only drives me further.

Protect, protect, protect.

I lose myself to the attack, getting the male to the floor and continuing to shred his torso, until he starts to fall unconscious. I only pause every few seconds to ensure Henry is keeping the advantage over the remaining male.

My senses tingle as we’re joined by others. Rising to my full height and ready to attack again, I realise it’s Ty and Aurora. Looking far worse for wear, bloodied and bruised, but alive.

Ty immediately launches for the vampire Henry has been fighting. Him and Aurora dispatching him with brutal force and no mercy.

I sit with a paw on my prey and watch the show. I haven’t killed the bastard beside me but he’s pretty incapacitated, so I don’t mind halting my violence to wait whilst the first one is dealt with.

As Ty lets go of the body, now in pieces, our eyes meet. He looks different somehow; I can see the power and responsibility settling inside him. Adicious must already be dead, for there’s a calmness in his irises. We might still be fighting to take out the pack, but he knows that the win is his. This land is once again his.