JADEN'S POINT OF VIEW.
My breathing came in short, desperate gasps as I struggled to stay on my feet as we already fought the first round.
I was so grateful on how Diana on the other hand didn't allow her to release her grip as her small arms were wrapped tightly around my neck, her cheek resting against my shoulder and she's completely unaware of the blood soaking through my fur.
I was tired…so damn tired…but I couldn't stop.
Not now, the rogues who now stood in their human forms just a few paces away, eyeing me like wolves do when they've cornered a dying deer.
One of them, the one who didn't join in the first round of fight we had, as the broad-shouldered man with a wicked grin and bloodshot eyes, stepped forward and tilted his head.
"If you think hiding behind the fur makes you harmless, you're dumber than you look," he sneered.
"We know what you are. A shifter, not just a beta. You're something more… and the girl, well, she ain't just a girl, is she?"
I didn't reply and I didn't flinch. I just stared, letting my silence speak for itself even as fear gnawed at my spine. How the hell did they know?
"Come on, fluffy," the rogue chuckled. "Drop the act. We both know the mutt on your back isn't just any mutt. That's the Crystal Pack's last heir. The one your precious Alpha died to protect, hmmm and the same one whose head is on bounty's.
To cut the long story short, the new Alpha Lycan had paid us and mind you rouges all over to get the last heir of the last Alpha Dinero and that is what we're here to do."
Oh so fast, Diana is now in the list of bounty. My heart clenched, wait… the news has spread so fast? So truly my best friend and Alpha is dead.
They knew already…Moon Goddess helped us…they knew who Diana was already.
I couldn't keep hiding, not now, not when they had seen too much. Not when Diana's life depended on me being more than a shadow in the woods.
I exhaled sharply and shifted back to my human form, gently pulling Diana off my back and setting her down behind me. Her eyes widened, lips trembling. She looked at me like I was someone else.
"Uncle Jaden?" Her voice was a whisper, confusion dancing across her delicate face as she has always referred to me as her uncle not knowing that I'm the same Jaden who would always want to turn into a big fluffy white dog for her to play with.
I gave her a tight nod and forced a small smile.
"Stay behind me, princess. Don't move, no matter what."
"But you… you're not just Daddy's beta," she murmured, stepping back, fear and betrayal swirling in her eyes.
"I'll explain everything later, I promise."
The rogues didn't wait. As soon as my body shifted, they dropped the facade as bones began to crack, flesh twisted.
And within seconds, they transformed into monstrous ugly wolves…hideous, with matted fur, red eyes, and snarling mouths that dripped saliva.
Diana shrieked and stumbled backward, falling to the ground.
"Leave her out of this!" I yelled, placing myself between her and the rogues.
The leader growled, then laughed, a sickening, guttural sound. "We gave you a choice. You made the wrong one."
They lunged and the first wolf hit me hard, sending me crashing into a tree. I grunted, my body screaming in pain as another bit into my arm, tearing flesh from muscle.
I kicked out, slamming my foot into its ribs, but the others kept coming.
Claws raked down my back. Teeth snapped inches from my throat, my vision blurred. Everything hurts, every breath felt like it might be my last.
But through it all, I never let Diana out of my sight.
She was crying now, hands over her ears, rocking back and forth, whispering my name over and over again.
" Uncle Jaden… please…" I fought harder.
Blood soaked my body even more. My knees buckled, but I stayed up, using my body to shield her as best I could.
"Moon Goddess, give me strength…" I muttered.
But strength didn't come as it was only more pain.
My legs gave out beneath me, and I crashed to the dirt, barely catching Diana before she hit the ground. My body was done, spent.
My arms trembled as I held her close, too weak to lift my head.
The rogues circled, one by one, they closed in.
This was it, this was how I'd fail her and late Alpha Dinero, I failed my pack.
I turned my head toward Diana. "I'm sorry, little one… I failed as not just a Beta to your father but an uncle that you see me as."
Then it happened, a sound…no, it's a scream…ripped through the forest like a lightning bolt cracking the sky. It wasn't human and It wasn't a wolf as It was something ancient.
Something powerful. It echoed through the trees, carried on a wind so fierce the leaves burst from their branches and swirled in a frenzy around us.
The rogues froze when they were about to pounce on me once again more like finishing me off
But then they all dropped and every single one of them collapsed, writhing and howling, clutching their heads as the sound drilled into their skulls. The air vibrated. The ground trembled.
I gasped immediately as I wondered what the hell was that?
My heart beats fast because I could have met my end today but the scream or should I say screech had saved me.
I couldn't move and I couldn't even speak. I could only watch as the power of that scream kept the rogues pinned to the earth, their monstrous forms twitching violently.
Diana clutched me tighter, her eyes shut tight, but she wasn't crying anymore.
She was calm, too calm, more like weak.
That scream… it had come from her?
No… it couldn't be. Could it?
I wanted to ask. I wanted to scream her name, to beg her to tell me what just happened. But my mouth wouldn't move. My body was frozen in place, half-dead and barely conscious.
And so I laid there in the dirt, blood leaking from every inch of my body, my arms still wrapped protectively around her.
Who screamed? What was she? And more importantly… what had she just awakened inside of her? And then I remembered the warning of her late father Alpha Dinero, as I'm now trying to understand all of these.