Javier

4.

-HIM-

I had a small meeting with some high officials in the council before I drove back to the office. It was already the end of the working day when I reached office but I was surprised to still find people there.

Although all of a sudden, everyone seemed to be in a rush and the air in the office seemed tensed. This happened either when some high official from the council was about to visit our office or when we were going to send some lycans on a risky operation.

“Commander Deviller,” Frederik greeted me as soon as I walked into my office, “We have found a lead to another coven” He added instantly. I froze at his words. The change in the environment of the office instantly made sense to me.

I didn’t waste my time to report to Ace that I was going to these covens with the other lycans. I didn’t go home that night as we prepared all night to raid the coven before dawn.  

After a series of meetings to discuss strategies according to the location and size of the covens, we grouped several lycans in several teams and got ready with gear and weapons.

Ace and Archer were in that mission too but they had their own teams while I had my own. Five vans, equipped with satellites and all sorts of things set out with a hundred and fifty lycans to the said covens just after midnight.

The drive to the place was mostly silent except for the time when we revised our strategies. We reached the covens at the darkest time in the night. The place was huge with very big warehouses. Our vehicles were parked almost a mile away to not raise any suspicion.

The first batch of lycans set out first to surveillance the neighbourhood before finally stepping into the territory. I happened to be one of them. The place was like a labyrinth but thanks to various satellite images, we were able to figure our way around the place.

We moved like the wind, swiftly and without making a noise. After making sure that everything was clear, slowly the other groups of lycans took their places around the warehouses. After everyone was where they were supposed to be, we finally blew the first warehouse open.

We barged into the moment the fire was out but didn’t wait for the smoke to clear. The whole place was somewhat similar to the last one that we raided- where Sean died. We were familiar with how they worked. It was like a beehive.

Most of the bloodsuckers here were workers but they had some more powerful ones that were warriors and then there was the one who ran all of this. We still had no idea but merely a name that was supposedly behind all of this.

I shot down all the workers as soon as I saw them and proceeded to move deeper into the warehouse. My team split accordingly. In that warehouse, I was mostly met with unarmed workers whom I easily shot down.

I also found various decapitated and dismembered bodies which mostly belonged to women. I was yet again reminded of the previous raid where I had to kill Sean. I did my best to do the work without having my emotions or the sick feeling take over me.

At one part of that warehouse, I was met with a warrior. We got into hand combat but I took him down without much effort. Like this, we continued to move through the rest of the warehouses until only one was left.

It was the easiest part- killing the bloodsuckers. The hardest part was going through the evil things that they had done. It was what scared me the most because I was afraid of finding my mate in it, dead, like Sean’s.

It was when we were taking down the last warehouse when I felt dread wash over me. My lycan had already been feeling somewhat anxious and restless but what I was feeling then was very different. I let him take over me and guide us to wherever our instincts led us to.

By then I had caught up with Archer’s group while Ace’s team was cleaning the already raided warehouses. This particular operation of ours was the longest and intense but by then it was successful with zero causalities.

I grew more and more anxious as I moved deeper into the last warehouse. It was in the middle of all the towering buildings. I finally came across a dark room which had all the dead and mutilated bodies of women. It was the vilest thing I had ever seen but I continued to move through the long room. I could see a light flickering at the end of it.

A worker happened to be there and he tried to attack me but I took him down with a single shot before looking around. I was surrounded by death. I clutched my silver gun in my hand as I looked at all the mutilated bodies that surrounded me.

It was hell on earth.

My attention was soon drawn to the flickering light at the very far end of the room. My lycan stirred as I squinted my eyes to try to figure out what was actually there. That dread was now intense and almost disrupting my being. 

I clenched my jaw and concurred all the courage that I had in me before I started to step closer to that flickering light. When I got a bit closer, I was able to see a body on the table.

When I got closer, I noticed that the body was dressed and all of their body parts were intact. As I got even closer, I was able to see the sleek black hair, hanging from the table. It appeared deep red in the flickering light. It was definitely a woman.

It was until I got very close to her when I froze on my steps and my senses screamed at me only one word.

Mate.