Fated to the Warrior Wolf (The Hunted Omegas #3)

33. Gael

THIRTY-THREE

Gael

W e cut a blood-soaked path through the castle, picking off wolves from seemingly the back of the attack force who were checking side rooms along the way. My gut felt like it filled with lead as we followed the trail of blood and stench straight toward the kitchen.

We’d torn through no fewer than ten wolves by the time we reached the exposed tunnel inside the pantry. If Cristian had gone this way, he’d have closed it behind himself to protect the females.

But how the fuck did the Hungarians find out about the tunnels in the first place?

We raced through without stopping, the scents of unfamiliar wolves burning my nose as we raced through the twisting tunnel toward the bunker. We picked off two more stragglers in a straightaway and then raced unimpeded down the last stretch. I was the tip of the formation, Kane and Sergei flanking me as we burst through the open door into the bunker.

The sight before me made a red haze drop over my vision. Leigh was in wolf form, her jaws locked around a human man’s bare throat from her position atop his chest as two other wolves leapt at her back. I howled, the sound a promise of death as I flew across the distance faster than I ever had to protect my mate.

I knocked one of the wolves aside before he could reach her, but the other was on the far side, and he knocked her to the hard stone floor as I eviscerated the first wolf with grim efficiency. I spun from the dying shifter toward the one who was tussling with Leigh, clawing at her side.

Her tawny fur was streaked with red, and my wolf took control. We sprang for her attacker, a scrawny gray wolf who was too big to be this gangly. I took him by surprise, clearly in the midst of a battle haze as he attacked my pregnant female with glee.

When my wolf started tearing chunks out of his side, he didn’t stop until his guts littered the floor like gore confetti, and he began to shift back to his human form under my muzzle.

The room had gone quiet, and when I scanned the area, none were left standing except Leigh’s wolf, another female, who was pinned against her shoulder to shoulder, and the three of us.

I should shift back, but my wolf wasn’t finished. He lifted his leg and pissed right on the male’s face, and finally, the red haze dropped.

I shifted, my bones cracking painfully as they re-formed, healing the few injuries I’d picked up on the way.

“Are you okay?” I crossed to Leigh, dropping to the ground next to her wolf with more worry than it felt like my chest could hold.

She shuddered and then shifted, clutching her wounded side as she swayed on her feet. It must have been deep if the shift didn’t close it all the way, and panic flooded me as she held her palm to her bloodied lower abdomen.

“Where’s Brielle? Olivia?” I asked, but she was shaking in my arms—from cold or shock, I wasn’t sure—and I kept my grip firm on her shoulders as I turned to look for them. “Brielle!” I bellowed her name like a summons, and scrabbling sounds from behind one of the doors had Kane hustling in that direction.

Brielle strode out a second later, Olivia hot on her heels with a first aid kit in hand. “Oh, Goddess. Lay her down on the couch, quickly,” Brielle ordered, and I scooped Leigh up to obey.

“I’m fine, I just need a bit to heal up. It’s a scratch,” she argued and tried to wave my hands away, but my wolf was having none of it.

I was as careful as I could be, but she winced as I laid her gently on the black velvet couch cushions.

I stayed by her head as Brielle and Olivia crowded around her, trusting Sergei and Kane to clear the rest of the bunker without me. Olivia gently dabbed the edges of the wound with something that smelled antiseptic while Brielle closed her eyes, bracketing the wound with her palms.

Holding Leigh’s hand didn’t feel like nearly enough, but I’d have killed the man who tried to pull me away at that moment.

Her shuddering slowed, her eyes blinking drowsily as the healers worked over her. But her color was good, and I held on to that like a lifeline.

Please let her be okay. Please let our baby be okay. I whispered pleas to the Moon Goddess like I’d never prayed before, like she could actually hear me. The faint glow of the omega seal on Leigh’s palm intensified, peeking around my fingers like a spotlight, and I rocked back on my feet.

Maybe she could hear me after all. That was an unsettling thought.

Brielle swayed on her feet, rocking her shoulder into mine as she poured all her energy into Leigh.

“The baby is okay. The wound didn’t nick anything in the reproductive tract. Her wolf should be able to heal it quickly enough to not cause a problem, so long as we…” she mumbled, eyes flickering open for a second before she crumpled to the ground.

“Shit!” I tried to catch her, but only succeeded in stopping her head from hitting the ground.

“Bri!” Leigh hissed with pain as she tried to sit up, turning toward her friend.

“You stay there! We’ve got her,” I ordered, alpha command lacing my tone. She bristled, eyes narrowing unhappily, but stayed on the couch as she watched me and Olivia settle Bri on the plush rug.

Kane moved so fast, he nearly blurred as he ran to her side, shifting to human form in the next blink. I looked away as he stripped off her shirt and lay down beside her to press their skin together.

Then a thought hit me. “Where’s Shay?” I asked, looking around the bunker. There were other female castle employees down here, but no sign of Dirge, Shay, or Cristian, I realized as I took a quick head count.

“Dirge got attacked three on one. She went up to help him after we twisted Cristian’s arm to let her out. Last we saw on the screen, they were in the Alpha’s rooms still. Although… those are empty now.” She craned her neck to look around me at the big screen, which showed nothing but security footage of an empty room, bodies cooling on the floor.

Shit.

“Alpha, one of us needs to go find the rest of the pack and resecure this bunker.”

Kane looked up at me, his limp mate in his arms, and I knew. He wasn’t leaving her side. I cast a tormented look at Leigh, whose color had already come back and was muscling her way to a sitting position while Olivia was too distracted to stop her.

I dropped to my knees next to her, taking her hand in mine. “ Someone needs to go check on your friend and make sure all the stragglers have been cleared out of the castle. I don’t want to leave you, but?—”

Leigh placed a fingertip over my lips, and I resisted the urge to suck it into my mouth, let it feel the bite of my teeth. She must have seen the heat in my gaze, though, because she pulled it back quickly, a blush creeping into her cheeks.

“I understand. I’m okay, really. My wolf is working fast on healing me. Look, it’s not even bleeding anymore.” She lifted the hem of her shirt, and sure enough, the injury had been reduced to thin pink lines of healing flesh, the wound no longer open.

“Promise me you’ll rest. Promise me you won’t try to fight anyone else. Sergei and Kane are here. They won’t leave you unprotected.”

“One, you’re sweet, but I was never unprotected.” She tapped her chest, and her eyes glowed with her wolf.

She wasn’t a trained fighter, no, but she was right that her wolf was certainly not defenseless. She was the most dominant female I’d met besides my sister, Galyna, and she was away training to become an elite warrior.

“Two, I’m fine. You heard Bri.” She cast an anxious glance at her prone friend. “The baby is fine too. We’re okay. And if it will make you feel better, I can hole up on one of the bunks until you come back and get me, deal?”

She proffered her pinky finger, mouth twisted into an expectant grin. It warmed my heart that she wasn’t fighting me. She knew that I cared, and she was working with me. To protect herself and our child.

“Deal,” I murmured, locking my pinky with hers.

“Perfect. Besides, that’ll give me time to ponder your new nickname. After seeing how you took that sucker out, I’m thinking WW—short for warrior wolf. Ooh! Maybe WBD, you know, warrior baby?— ”

I cut her off with a kiss, sealing my lips to hers with heat and promise of more later. She leaned into the touch, letting her fingers twine into my hair as she held me close.

When we finally separated, she looked a bit dazed, and my wolf preened at the effect we had on our mate.

“I’ll be back soon,” I promised. “And when I’m done with this mess, I’m going to carry you straight to my bed.”

With one last soft kiss to her forehead, I forced myself to turn my back on her and the glorious scent of her arousal.