Chapter 32:

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The convoy suddenly braked and violently turned around and gathered speed as the drivers slammed the gas to the floor.

Sebastian had not asked her details but it was enough to know they needed to get out of here ASAP. Details would follow.

***

"Ted told me that the American council have demanded all alpha's to send their warriors out to specific locations. All of these locations surround Colorado" Serena repeated her earlier conversation with Ted.

"They had also asked him to send all his warriors. He has not sent them" Serena added. They knew what it meant, Ted thankfully was backing them and without his warning Sebastian would have been heading to his death.

"He thought they might take him out" Serena guessed.

"When?" Roma whispered shaken "When is the attack planned?" she asked.

"Within the next twenty four hours" Serena told her grim audience.

Roma took a deep breath and looked at Alex. She did not have to tell him anything he understood, a war was coming and they had very less time to prepare.

Alex got up and stormed out of the room his face full of fury and determination.

***

The alpha's phone rang again and he picked up "When?" he demanded and listened to the man on the other side "Shit!" he cursed "You know what to do! Do it, now!" he barked and hung up.

All the other American council alphas in the room looked at him. "The convoy turned around and is heading back in full speed" he informed them pissed off.

"Now what?" One alpha asked curious.

"We anticipated this" another alpha added "We have a contingency in place. Don't we?" He smiled wryly.

***

Sebastian relaxed after thirty minutes, they were still driving in top speed and would hit Colorado border in another twenty. Roma had called him back and informed him that she and Nick had dispatched reinforcements and they would be there shortly. However all him men had weapons ready in case of an eventuality.

Suddenly they heard police sirens behind them.

"Boss?" the driver asked. In the convoy of three cars Sebastian was in the middle one.

"Shit!" Sebastian cursed "Stop" he told them, he did not want the cops on his tail with everything happening. The driver communicated the same on the wireless radio they had in all three vehicles and they began to slow down.

The Convoy rolled in to stop. Sebastian was sitting in the middle car and the police patrol card overtook his and went to the car in front of him and stopped in front of it blocking its way.

A cop from the car got out and another deputy stepped out from behind him. The driver of the first car rolled his window down as the cop approached. The driver smelled the air and relaxed. Human.

"You guys seemed to be in an awful lot of hurry" The cop told the driver. Eyeing the convoy which stood out like a sore thumb in the wilderness.

"Yes sir, we need to get back home immediately...medical emergency in the family." The driver bluffed.

"Sorry to hear that but please ensure you yourself don't become one" The cop cautioned.

"Sure sir" the driver readily agreed.

"A speeding ticket will serve you as a remainder" the cop told him and his hand went down to his pocket.

The driver expected the ticket book and was surprised when he saw the gun instead. He froze.

The cop gave a wry smile "Here is a one way ticket" and started firing in to the car and simultaneously couple more deputies with guns climbed out with guns and started firing.

"Go! Go! Go!" Sebastian yelled ducking in the car and the other two cars in the convoy cut sharply and started speeding away.

The cops ran for cover but started firing on the speeding cars and now Sebastian and his men were firing back.

The driver veered on the gravel road trying to get the SUV not to skid off the road when suddenly he saw something shining on the road and before he could react the car sped over it and the tiers burst. It was a spikes strip. The speed and the burst of the tires led the car cartwheeling and all the men inside had removed their seat belts to fire back and now were being thrown around in the car. The car landed sideways. The driver was either dead or unconscious. The airbags were covering his face. Sebastian's head was pounding he had taken a severe blow and by some miracle he was still conscious. He kicked the door facing the sky and climbed out grabbing a gun. The car behind him has hit the brakes hard when they saw what happened in front of them but still the momentum carried them over the spikes as well and their front two wheels were toast.

One more guy had managed to step out of Sebastian's car and all four folks from the third car got out. All their cars were gone and they had no vehicles.

"Collect ammunition and let's get off the Road" Sebastian barked.

The cop car stopped at the carnage and pulled out a phone he spoke in to it while checking both the abandoned cars "They escaped on foot they are all yours" saying that he hung up. As he started to walk back towards his car gun fire exploded from the side of the road, the cop was dead before he hit the ground and Sebastian and the others rushed to the cop car where there were others inside it they opened fire and the guys from the car retaliated.

By the time gunfire stopped one of Sebastian's men was down and all the cops were dead. They quickly dragged the dead cops from the car and got in to the cop car. They now had a ride back home.

"Do you think they are real cops?" the driver asked Sebastian who sat in the back seat.

"Highly unlikely" Sebastian theorized all of them had been human so he assumed they were hired killers. That is why they had not suspected foul play when the cop had stopped their convoy they had not smelt any wolves, only humans. So they had been taken by surprise.

Ten minutes of driving them suddenly stiffened. They saw wolves running on both sides of the car.

"We got company" the guy riding shotgun announced.

"Lock and load gentlemen and save on ammo, shoot only when you have a perfect line of sight." Sebastian ordered.

A wolf suddenly jumped in front of the car.

"Brace!" the driver yelled ramming in to the bulk of its torso and swerved to keep the car going. The impact had knocked one of the headlights off but it was not a major concern all werewolves had excellent night vision.

Another wolf jumped and Sebastian shot it.

They could see the wolves closing in. "Fire and kill" Sebastian ordered and all four of them had guns drawn and firing. The driver was managing to drive with one hand and trying to shoot with one hand.

Two wolves jumped on to the driver side of the car, the guy sitting behind the driver shot one in the head and the other wolf and sank it's canines in to the right hand of the driver which was holding the gun before it was also shot.

The driver started yelling a good chunk of his hand missing, bitten out by the wolf at his window.

The car started to move erratically as the driver screamed in agony and disorientation four more attacked and one of them quickly snuck in to the driver side and took a chunk of the driver's throat out, blood spewed from his exposed throat as he died.

Sebastian and the other two guys got out of the car and started firing at every wolf in sight.

The werewolves fell back on the onslaught of bullets when suddenly Sebastian heard a whiz and the head of the guy next to him exploded.

"Sniper!" Sebastian yelled they were sitting ducks "Run" he yelled and they ran in to the woods. They head footsteps behind them and they started firing back and running at the same time.

And suddenly Sebastian groaned in agony, his stomach exploded in blinding pain and he put his hand to see that he had been shot. The whole area was burning as if it was on fire.

Silver bullets! Fuck!

He continued to run but he was slowing down as he was losing blood.

Form his peripheral vison he saw the last of his men fall.

He turned and kept shooting, the trees in the forest giving him some cover.

A few bullets whizzed past him and then he groaned as his shoulder exploded in excruciating pain, he had been hit again. He dropped his gun as his right hand went numb with pain. He started panting and running hunched. He could feel his vison blurring with all the blood loss and silver poisoning. He stopped for a few seconds to gather his breath and then took off as he heard voices in the woods behind him.

Suddenly pain exploded in his leg and he collapsed as his leg gave away but gathered himself and started dragging himself, he looked around to identify any place he could hide but he could feel exhaustion taking over his vision was almost dark, he thought he saw some rock and thought he could take cover so he started limping towards them when pain exploded in his back and he fell face flat on to the ground. He was beyond exhausted, his body simply refused to follow the commands of his mind, he had lost too much blood.

***

Roma was in the car, much to the protest of Alex and Nick but she insisted in tagging along, after their little meeting instead of waiting for Sebastian to come back Alex and Nick formed a group of hundred wolves to go out and meet him and escort him back, obviously Nick and Alex wanted to lead the effort but what they did not factor in was Roma.

They had sent in some advance scouts and the cavalry followed they added a hundred more guards to follow as wolves through the forest. Everyone was silent and the atmosphere tense, everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Praying in their own way.

***

The convoy came to stop on the road, the advance party was already there, Roma flew out of the car even before the car came to halt she was followed by Nick and Alex. She looked around franatically she saw a badly damaged patrol car and some bodies, her heart lurched, she scanned the bodies...he wasent there she felt releief and dread, where was he then?

"Where?" she demanded of one of the men.

"In the forest Roma" he responded solemnly raising his hand and pointing in the direction.

She ran, ran like she never did before. She saw bodies littered but she still saw some men ahead men huddled at something on the ground.

She came to a pause ten feet from them and as them men noticed her arrival they backed away. She did not notice. Everyone's face was glum. She did not notice. Silence hung in the air. She did not notice.

What she noticed was the bullet ridden unmoving body on the ground. Face down on his back.

A gut wrenching sob tore from her and echoed in the forest surrounding her.

She lost her balance, her legs refused to hold her, she collapsed on to the ground one of her knees scraping the rocky ground below and drawing blood. She did not notice.

Pain...sorrow so intense her body did not know how to handle, her body shook violently but no sound came.

Alex had collapsed in behind her. She did not notice.

Her vison blurred as tears streamed out in their own violation. She felt pain....pain so intense she wanted to curl in to a ball and die. This was not physical pain it was emotional. How could she survive with so much pain? Why should she survive with so much pain.

She cleared her eyes furiously and slowly crawled to him, crawled to his head and flipped him over.

Cold lifeless eyes stared back at her.

"No.No.No.No.No! She moaned in gut wrenching sobs.

She had taken his head in to her lap and was rocking him as if to comfort him.

"No. Sebastian. No. Please don't leave me. I need you. Please no...please no..." her agonizing cries echoed.

She did not know how long she stayed there, no one dared to come near her and everyone gave her space. Alex had yet to move from where he had collapsed against a tree. Nick shuffled around helplessly at a loss not knowing what to do.

She sat there in silence. His head in her lap, she staring straight ahead in to the forest. She blamed herself, every death was her fault, Roma died because of her, her parents died because of her, now Sebastian...it was all her fault. Sebastian had been right from the start, she needed to wipe out her enemies and he had been right all along until she made him go soft, she wore him down and now he was dead because of her. She had failed to protect them. How many more would die because of her?

Could she survive? Could she live with this guilt? So she decided....she had to do what Sebastian had insisted all along... wipe out any threat to her family and she would do just that but to do that...in order to do that...she had to kill the last remaining part of the eighteen year old girl Evelyn. She build a wall of ice around her heart. Impossible to crack, she had to if she wanted to see this through, if she wanted her remaining family safe. This was the least she owed to them.

She looked down at him. Tears marred his lifeless face, her tears.

His empty eyes stared back at her. She gently closed his eyes, the eyes she would see for the last time, the eyes she had looked to for advice and support, the eyes of a man she considered as family.

She leaned over and gently kissed his cold forehead.

This moment was so intimate, so private that all wolves looked away to give her that privacy, they felt intruding.

She ran her hand though his hair affectionately.

"Goodbye my friend" she whispered softly near his ear.

"My mentor"

"My brother"

She carefully removed his head from her lap and gently rested it on the ground as to not hurt him.

She got up and looked around. Wolves looked at her, not knowing what to do...waiting for her direction.

The burden on her shoulders just got heavier.

"He is of Roma blood" her voice carried over clearly "no matter what his last name, he was family"

"Take his body back to Roma" She instructed to no one in particular but knew that her orders would be carried out "Bury him in the Roma family crypt next to the woman he considered his mother" he would have wanted that.

Men slowly walked over to pick the body up.

Alex had not moved since he collapsed his back resting against a tree, his eyes void of emotions. She let him be.

She walked over to Nick "Take me back" she instructed him when Nick glanced over to Alex she added "Let him be, have the men bring him back when he is ready." At this point there was no comforting each other.

"Take me back Nick" her voice held steel.

"What do we do now Roma" Nick asked walking her back to the car after a brief silence.

She paused and looked at him "All of them, every one of them" she paused and added "We kill them all!"

The conviction with which she said brought shivers to Nick, he believed her..he believed she would carry out that threat to the T.

***

Serena recoiled at them emotions hitting her, the grief had almost brought her to her knees, but those emotions were not hers, they were coming from the other side of the door. She yanked the door open to see Alex...pale and lifeless.

"He is gone" he whispered

"He is gone Serena" he repeated.

"Alex my god!" she flew at him and she hesitantly put her hand on his heart and as if a dam burst Alex fell on the porch with sobs that could only come from deep within a wounded soul.

She sank down to her knees and engulfed him, she put his head on her bosom as a mother would to a child and hugged him as his body shook in violent sobs, silent tears streaked through her eyes. She tried to comfort her broken mate, sending him strength he needed through their bond.

She comforted him as only a mate could.

***

"It's done" The alpha said as he hung up the phone and informed the American council alphas.

"So it begins" Another alpha added.

XOXOXO

R.I.P

Sebastian Roma