“Is she your mate?”
“Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate. “My wolf will do whatever it takes to protect her and the child. If you take me back, she’ll come as well. There’s nothing I can do to change that.”
“I think you’re making a big mistake.”
“It’s a mistake that needs to be made,” he said. “I love her. That’s all you need to know.” He climbed into the truck and drove all the way back to the fallen town.
He didn’t bother to stop where everyone sat licking their wounds. He went to his home. The windows were all smashed but it hadn’t been destroyed. Then he went straight to the basement, to his cage, and he snapped the lock and went to the chest. He typed in the code and opened it up.
Brian was still following him around. “What’s that?”
“Let’s say I always like to keep weapons close.”
“You’re going to take the fight to them. You told us not to.”
“I know, and now they think they’ve won. They intend to kill us all tonight as we try to rescue our men and women. I’m not going to let that happen. There is no way Amber will survive. We’ve got one shot at this. One chance to remove this camp, take our loved ones, and rebuild.”
“It’s a suicide mission.”
“It is what it is.” He picked up the rocket launcher. During one of the main raids they’d done, he’d found this beauty and put it away for special occasions that might need it. That occasion had come and he was more than willing to use it.
“There are over fifty men,” Brian said.
“Then tell people my plan. Let them know it will work. No one is leaving that campground alive unless they’re wolf.”
He moved toward the truck and saw what was left of his pack waiting for him.
“We will fight with you,” Phillip said.
“We’re on your side and we will do what is needed,” this came from a woman.
“Good.” He told them the plan, each one given a specific job to follow. Once they all knew what they were doing, he climbed into his truck, and took off, heading back to where Brian had shown him.
He slowed the truck down, giving Brian the keys. “You will know my signal. When that thing goes up in flames, charge it. I’m going to go for the most populated areas. Get to our people, free them.”
He climbed out of the truck, took the rocket launcher, and found his secluded place.
His thoughts returned to Winter and Daphne. When this was over, he was going to come clean to her. Tell her how he felt, and how he’d been fighting it for so long. He was done fighting his feelings. He loved her and wanted to be with her. Looking down at the camp, he stared at the men and women, locating the weaponry.
It would be so easy to just load and fire. He had four rockets. He was going to use them to the best of his ability.
First, he’d take out the weaponry, followed by the food diner he saw them all queuing with bowls ready for food. “I can do this,” he said. Lining everything up, he took aim and fired.
The weaponry exploded, shaking the very ground. He didn’t wait around to see who was where. He loaded up the rocket, took aim, and fired at his next location.
In quick succession, he released the other two rockets, and he saw his men and women as they charged into the campsite. With the rockets gone, he ran, sprinting to help his men. Claws extended, his strength filled with the need to protect, he charged, slicing through the humans easily, killing them and annihilating each one.
His thoughts were on Winter. On his future with her as with each person he protected his pack. Time passed. Blood covered the ground. Peace didn’t fill him as he saw the chaos he’d done.
This wasn’t peace. This wasn’t free.
Brian stumbled over to him, Amber in his arms.
One by one, his men and women bowed before him. They’d defeated the camp with ease and now they accepted him as their alpha, but he truly didn’t know if he wanted a place within the pack.
****
Days passed.
Winter didn’t like how nervous being alone made her.
She had Daphne to fill up her days but at night, when the candles started to die down, she couldn’t help but panic about Rocko.
He hadn’t returned. She didn’t know how much time had passed since she last saw him.
When Daphne was asleep, her days were spent watching for his return. The fresh food was all gone now, but there was plenty of dried.
She’d sit at the door, listening out for Daphne while keeping an eye on the road.
What had happened to him?
Had the pack accepted him? Did he no longer want them?
She knew it was a risk sending him to his pack but it was the right thing to do, only now, she saw how wrong it was. She was now all alone, terrified about what to do next.