CHAPTER THIRTEEN
1701 Words
BASTIAN
Shock paralyzes me completely, and I can only watch in my stupor as the jerk in front of me seems to be communicating via mind link, then, just like his wife did just a couple of seconds ago, he turns to me, but unlike her, his gaze is not full of panic but of contained rage, and just before he begins to transform in front of us, he says to me with contempt:
"I hope you are not behind this, because if you dare to touch them, I will kill you with my bare hands," the asshole spits out the words, and then completely transforms into a black wolf with gray spots before rushing out to the place where Elina just disappeared.
“Don't even think about following them,” August tells me in a warning tone when he sees my body start to transform, but it's too late for his warning, because an instant later I am running in my wolf form after the two of them.
"s**t, Bastian, do you have a suicide wish today?" August asks me annoyed through a mind link, and a few moments later I notice that he too has transformed and is following me closely.
"Should we call the guards?" he asks.
"No, we must first see what is happening," I reply.
"This can be dangerous, we should go back, or call in reinforcements, what if it's a trap?" August asks me worried.
"I don't think so, she was really scared, something must be going on, and something very serious," I tell him, and I hear him snort in disbelief.
"Let me guess, you feel her fear through the half-broken bond between you," he tells me.
"No, it was evident on her panicked face that whatever she was told by mind link was very bad," I tell him, and he just huffs and shuts up for a moment.
We run in silence for a few more minutes, and I start to worry when I hear nothing but our footsteps in the forest, but I am sure this is the path she followed because her scent is permeated in every single loose leaf on the ground, I just have to run a little faster to catch up with them and find out what is going on.
"Stop!" I hear August tell me by mind link, and I come to a halt.
"What is going on?" I ask him, because I was too focused on following her scent to be aware of other things that happen in the forest.
"Listen," he tells me, and I prick up my ears to try to hear.
Just at that moment, a powerful howl is heard not far from where we are, it sounds like the howl of an alpha calling his warriors to help him, I know it is not Elina because I would recognize her howl wherever it was, so it must only be that asshole Crimson, and if he is asking for support it is because they are in danger, Elina is in danger.
"Bastian? What the f*ck are you doing?" August asks me with urgency.
"She is in danger," I reply.
"That is not our problem," he tells me, and I growl back at him.
But just before reaching the place where it is clear that a fierce fight is taking place , because the sound of grunts, squeals, and bodies colliding are unmistakable, August cuts my way and asks me to wait a second.
"What? Why?" I ask annoyed trying to go around him to continue.
"Pay attention, look further into that clearing, do you see what is happening?" he asks me, and I do what he tells me.
In the clearing, a few yards beyond where we are, I can see a deadly fight taking place and Elina is in the center of it all , several wolves much smaller than her surround her and she ruthlessly destroys them one by one, the lifeless bodies fall around her like leaves from a dry tree , while that asshole does the same with another smaller group of wolves, and to my surprise, a third wolf, not as big as the two of them, but still much larger than the wolves that are attacking them, is fighting with three of the wolves at the same time.
“We have to help,” I say to August without taking my eyes off the huge gold-spotted white wolf that now has her fur covered in blood, as I pray that it is not hers.
"Bastian, you really are obtuse, I am not telling you to look at her, look at the banner on the ground , doesn't that look familiar?" August tells me with annoyance, and when I notice the banner with the symbol of my kingdom, I frown immediately.
"But those are not our warriors," I tell him.
"I know, someone is using our symbol to attack her," he replies.
"Then all the more reason we should help them," I tell him, and he shakes his huge brown head.
"No, I think the best thing is to get out of here right now before they notice our presence and attack us," he tells me.
"But they will think it was us," I tell him.
"Precisely, they will attack us without stopping to think for a second , and we are at a clear disadvantage here, the best we can do is go back and try to find out what is happening and who is responsible behind this impersonation," he tells me, and although I know that he is right, I don't want to leave, I don't want to leave her while she is being attacked like this.
"Okay," I reply with concern, but I agree to leave because the fight seems to be ending already , only one wolf remains alive and they don't seem to have any intention of killing him, as they surely want to question him later.
And just as I am turning to leave, I hear something strange.
"Is that…?" I ask curiously.
"Yeah, it sounds like a baby," August responds, and he stops to watch, too.
Elina transforms back and screams out loud "Mom? MOM, WHERE ARE YOU?" with her voice full of panic.
The woman who was in charge of raising Elina throughout her life, and who disappeared from my kingdom along with her eldest son a few months ago, comes out of the trees carrying two bundles wrapped in blankets in her arms, and at that moment I realize that that the crying comes from two babies and not one as I initially thought, the smallest wolf of the three transforms back and I recognize Elina's older brother, I think his name is Elijah, who approaches the woman to examine her.
But the asshole Crimson does not transform back, he remains in his wolf form and on alert, moving in sync with Elina as if he were a shield, which makes it very difficult to see what is happening.
"Where is Lily?" I hear Elina ask, and her mother points to a body that is at the entrance of a large tent, which surely served as a refuge for them.
"Oh no, Lily," Elina's brother exclaims sadly, as he approaches the lifeless body that I recognize as the maid who helped Elina escape from my palace.
"Bastian, let's go or they will find us here and there will be problems," August tells me as he starts to turn to leave, but I am paralyzed watching Elina take one of the babies in her arms and bring it to her breast as if she were going to breastfeed the baby.
"Bastian!" August insists upon hearing the Crimson Woods men start to arrive from the opposite side, and I reluctantly take my eyes off the scene in front of me to rush past my beta.
- Is it possible? - I wonder as I run through the woods back to my own camp.
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