Chapter 28

~Laken’s POV~

As I stood just outside Carson’s door-less quarters I looked out into the courtyard. It showed the signs of the intense fighting which had taken place there before the enemy had been driven back into the trees.

I could hear the sounds of war, as loud as if it was right in front of me; the shouts of brave men and women, the howling and growling of wolves and of course the gunfire. It was when I reached up to drag my hand through my hair that I noticed I was trembling and I closed my fist to stop the shaking.

I was scared.

I had no idea how this night would end and I knew I was being selfish when I kept chanting to myself; “Anybody but my dad and Carson”. It wasn’t right that I would be willing to give up anyone’s life but theirs but I couldn’t help it. If they died out there then I’d die along with them.

I spotted movement to my left and gasped then let out a sigh of relief; it was only a guard. About thirty of them had been left here in camp to protect us and I bet they were just itching to join in the real fighting; that’s what they had been trained to do after all.

I looked down at my phone for about the hundredth time that night because I’d texted Lucas earlier as well as called him and he still had yet to respond. We needed his help out there and I was afraid he’d get here when it was too late.

“Laken I don’t think it’s wise to be outside at a time like this.” my mother called out to me.

“It’s okay mom.” I shouted back.

If I stayed in that place for much longer I’d go mad. I felt like I should be out there at least trying to help out, not stuck here worrying and wondering. I felt utterly helpless and I prayed this would all be over soon.

Five minutes later I found myself walking along the sidewalk pass the other houses in our camp and almost every one of them that I passed was crowded with either children, the injured or both.

I could hear crying, moaning and the cheerful laughter of oblivious children as I walked and my heart grew heavier. I never imagined that this could happen to us, it felt like one of those completely unrealistic nightmares that you woke up from thinking it would be a great scene for a movie but as far as real life went there was just no way it could happen.

I continued walking, lost in thought so that I hadn’t realized how far I’d gone until I was walking by Neil’s house. I stopped for a moment and looked over into his yard. The door was closed and no light shone through the windows to indicate life there. It looked just as cold and lonely as it had been before they had arrived.

I still felt guilty about what happened. When I’d come back, after the weeks away with Lucas, my mother had told me that they had left. Just got up one day, said their goodbyes and that was it. They had left before I had even had the chance to make it right between us and I figured I’d always regret that. I shook my head and continued on

. I was a bit surprised at the liveliness of this part of camp because usually when you passed during the day or otherwise it was always quiet and lonely. It was lively in the sense that many of the homes had their doors wide open and like with all the other houses I’d passed, they were filled with people.

One guard stood on this side of camp, a huge gun in hand, which I instantly recognized from my dad’s collection and I wondered how difficult it had been for him to part with it along with all the others he’d distributed for the good of the pack.

“I think it would be safer for you inside sir.” He said to me and my eyes widened.

I had to literally prevent myself from looking around to see if he’d been addressing someone behind me because I honestly couldn’t remember a time in my life that someone had ever called me ‘sir’. It took me longer than it should have to realize however that he had called me that because he now knew that I was the Alpha’s mate, which meant he had to show me an equal level of respect as he showed him.

I beamed despite the seriousness of his suggestion. To be respected by others; it had a nice feel to it. I nodded in understanding at the guard and turned to go back the way I came, however I had only taken about six steps in the opposite direction when a shot went off.

It was usually at a time like this when a person’s instincts should kick in and they’d run but keeping in mind I’m not quite sane, I found myself spinning around to see the same guard who had spoken to me fall to the ground with a grunt and I watched as his gun fell from his hand and slid along the gravel to come to a stop at my feet.

I didn’t even have time to dwell on the issue of coincidences, I just scooped up the weapon in both my hands and pointed it at the guard’s attacker and watched him advance upon the fallen guard, glock in hand. The guard was still alive; he was trying to crawl out of the way while pressing a hand to his side, where the blood was pretty much gushing.

I didn’t think to run away and hide or to call for help, I just held the weapon the way my father had taught me a thousand times, aimed it at the enemy who had yet to even notice me standing in the distance and fired. The kickback from the gun had me falling to the ground, but not before I saw the other guy go down like a log. I winced, pushing myself off the ground quickly and what I saw turned my stomach.

The guy I’d shot was laying on his back, his breathing coming in short broken gasps which sounded more like gurgles as the blood filled his wind pipe and seeped through his mouth. I watched in abject horror as he took his last wet breath before he was just an empty unmoving carcass.

“You saved my life.” The guard who had been shot whispered from where he lay. He was looking up at me in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Thank you.” He said again.

By now people were starting to come out of the houses as they spotted us on the street.

I dragged my eyes away from him once more to look at the dead guy, but I couldn’t feel proud of myself for saving one life when I had just ended another. I felt the bile rise up in my throat and I ran to the bushes, and retched. I threw up my dinner while the tears cascaded down my face.

……………………………………

~Carson’s POV~

It had been hours since Cody’s death and I was still riled up. I couldn’t get it off my mind; an innocent man was killed leaving his child father-less and his mate a single mother. My heart went out to all my comrades who had died in this battle; it was for them that I fought.

It was for them and my mate that I wouldn’t stop until I’d destroyed every single creature that stood against us. I would fight until nothing was left to give but there was one thing I was absolutely certain of; I wouldn’t be dying tonight.

I let off a few more shots then turned quickly so that I was covered behind the shelter once more. My breathing was becoming more strained as I sat there behind the massive tree trunk I was using for shelter. My left arm had frozen up on me about an hour before.

It was just as the doctor had predicted when I’d been shot by Victor weeks before, the doctor had told me to rest it and have the area massaged every day, twice a day otherwise the healing process would be stunted and it would become stiff and on top of that the slash I’d gotten across my chest was making it very difficult to breathe.

I wasn’t sure how deep it was but I could feel the blood oozing from the wound and I figured it would be best to get that dealt with as soon as possible. I cursed under my breath at my ill luck.

The arm was pretty much useless to me now, it needed medical attention because every time I tried to move it a horrible pain would shoot up my shoulder. It was too intense to ignore now and so I’d been pretty much stuck with the aid of just one arm which had served me quite well this past hour until I’d gotten shot in my thigh. That would explain why at the current point in time I was sitting behind a tree with my legs stretched out before me and my breath coming in harsh gasps.

I was in pain, plain and simple and without help there was no way I’d be able to move from this spot. I placed the gun in my lap and used my only functioning arm to unbutton my shirt. Now that I could hardly breathe it felt like the thing was suffocating me. I could feel the beads of sweat roll down my face and it suddenly felt very hot out here in the cold winter air.

I twisted around once again to look around the forestry and watched as the bear took down yet another man. Lucas had come through as promised and we’d been fighting alongside them for hours now.

We obviously had the upper hand with their aid along with the Marcana pack but it would still take awhile for us to do some serious damage to their numbers. I fired off a few more shots at the enemies I could detect then literally dove to the ground when one on the men lifted his shotgun and fired in my general direction.

I grunted in pain as my already defective shoulder slammed into the ground. When the shooting stopped I tried to drag myself up in the position I was in before but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find it in me to move.

I was just in so much pain. I had never felt so helpless in my life. To die by one measly gunshot when I’d been shot so many times in the past and had come out alive and kicking. How pathetic.

Even after all this, for some reason I still had it in my head that I’d survive this. I chuckled to myself. I must be losing it; which wouldn’t really come as a surprise to me because a person’s body could only take so much before his mind starting feeling the effect right?

My head rolled to the side of its own accord and I couldn’t even find the strength to move it back. I prayed I wouldn’t be discovered by the enemy here. Not like this.

If I was going to die, I wanted to go down fighting not laying helpless in the grass while someone had their way with me, so I gathered up what strength I had left and tried to push myself up from the ground, I managed to lift my right hand but then it flopped back onto the ground and I sighed in frustration.

I could imagine what my father would say if he saw me right now and it was enough to get me moving. He would call me a coward and a failure and I wasn’t surprised that even in death he had the ability to push me to do things I never thought possible.

I grabbed hold of a crevice in the tree bark and pulled myself up into a sitting position. My back was to the tree once more and I was breathing hard like I’d just done a marathon.

“What is it with you and bullets?”

My eyes had been closed against the pain so when I heard his voice they shot open.

“Boy am I glad to see you.” I gritted out.

Lucas was stooping next to me, his hand running over my battered body, trying to assess the extent of my injuries.

“Watch it will ya!” I said when he touched my chest wound.

“My bad, we gotta get you outta here, otherwise in a short time you’ll be nothing but target practice.” He said. It did nothing to calm me and so I glared at him. He only grinned.

“Yeah? who’s we? I can’t even get up.” It wasn’t easy for me to admit this weakness but I had no choice.

“I can see that smart ass, Jake’s coming.” He assured me.

“Who the hell is Jake?” my words were only coming out in a whisper now and that seemed to alert Lucas as to my declining health because he slapped my face as my eyes were drifting shut and I flinched.

“Hey stay with me here.” He shouted over the noise of war.

“I nodded and stared at him, wide eyed for about two seconds before I felt them closing again. I was just so tired.

“”Hey.” He was snapping his fingers in front of my face now but I chose to keep my eyes closed, too tired to put up with him. “I swear Carson if you die I’ll drag you back from hell myself and kick your ass!” he shouted.

“Didn’t know you cared.” I tried to sound sarcastic but it came out sounding sad and pathetic.

“Don’t get any ideas, the only person I care about is Laken and if you die it’ll kill him, so you gotta fight this, stay awake so we can get you back to camp.” He said firmly.

“I’m not gonna die you moron. My wounds aren’t severe…I’m just...tired.” I said to him with certainty. I’d gone through much worse than this, so I knew this was only a temporary thing. As long as I got the help I needed I’d be good as new in no time.

“Then prove it, keep your eyes open.” He told me and with a sigh I nodded.

“Here help me get him up, we’ve gotta get him to the camp. It’s not that far from here.”

It took me awhile to realize he wasn’t talking to me, but to another man who was crouched beside me. This must be the one he called Jake.

“Oh shit get down!” I heard Lucas shout before I felt him drag me to the ground and cover me with his body. This time the pain proved to be too much and I closed my eyes, not opening them even as I heard him calling out my name. He sounded so far away, was my last thought before I sank even deeper into the dark abyss.

…………………………………………

~Laken’s POV~

I watched with my heart in my throat as they carried him into the room. He looked like death warmed over and as soon as they placed him on the table I was running over to him and shouting his name.

Not again, not again. The thought whirled through my mind. I was pulled out of the way as I tried to force myself through the people at his side and I tried to fight off the person who held me. I had to get to Carson!

“Laken it’s okay, he’s gonna be alright, let them help him.” The voice said at my ear and I stopped fighting instantly and turned to face him, then before I could stop myself I hugged him, my head buried in his dirt stained shirt and I felt the tears pool in my eyes.

“I just want it all to stop Lucas.” I sobbed and he hugged me tighter.

He didn’t say anything though, he simply held me while I cried and ran his hands through my hair as a way to soothe me.

…………………………….

Minutes later we were both sitting across the room watching the men poke and probe Carson who had finally woken up and had managed to keep up a string of curses every time somebody touched a particularly tender area, in this case, that being his whole body.

I could only chuckle as I watched and even though I knew he was in pain, the simple fact that I knew he’d be okay made it easier to amuse myself with his antics.

“Hey! You do that again and I’ll AHHHH!” Carson shouted as they tried to clean his chest wound. The situation was hilarious and it was nice to get a chance to smile despite the seriousness of the matter.

Upon hearing my chuckle Carson turned his head to the side and glared evilly at me and I couldn’t hold back my laugh any longer.

“This means he’ll get to stay here right?” I turned to Lucas and asked and he nodded.

“Thank God.” I said, my mood taking a significant turn for the better. Yeah he should stay here I’d take care of him.

“It’s good to see you’re not doing anything stupid all in the name of helping Carson.” He said to me after a moment of silence and I smiled.

“Yeah well I figured I’d be more of a hindrance than a help in this situation. Not that I haven’t thought about it though.” I told him honestly.

“Well you’re right; you need to stay here while we deal with this.”

“I nodded, “I’m glad you came in time Lucas.” I told him seriously “why didn’t you answer your phone though? I called you so many times.”

“Battery died.” he said with a sheepish grin.

I should have known I guess, it couldn’t have been anything important, the Lucas I’d grown to know had proven that and I could only smile back at him, then we both looked up as Carson let out another string of curses, threatening to banish us all from the camp if anyone touched him even one more time. He was drugged up to the gills and we both looked at each other and let out a laugh.

……………………………..

“Just...be careful.” I told Lucas as he stood at the door. He was about to run back into all that mess to fight alongside his men he said.

Something heavy settled in my chest and I felt the almost overwhelming urge to reach out to him hold him here until everything got back to normal but instead I stood by and watched him run back out into the forestry to be gobbled up by the underbrush.

…………………………………..

It was about 5: am when the horn sounded jerking me awake. I looked around the room to determine what the noise was about. Carson was still asleep in the cot they had moved him to.

He’d woken up twice throughout the wee hours of the morning mumbling rubbish because of the drugs they’d given him and it had taken awhile to get him back to sleep. He looked so peaceful as he slept and I bent to kiss his forehead.

I looked around when the horn sounded again and cheers followed. I could hear people stomping about outside, whistled and shouting, crying and laughter and I jumped up from my post and ran to the door to see what was going on.

The courtyard was crowded with familiar faces; tired and worn out bodies were entering camp through the trees. People were shouting to be heard over each other while others remained quiet eyes staring anxiously in the direction of the trees.

I looked to my right when I heard my mother’s relieved laughter and my eyes widened at what I saw. She was hugging my father, arms tight around him, his face and clothes dirtier than I’d ever seen them. My knees threatened to buckle with the intense relief I felt and I grabbed onto a nearby post for support.

It was as if he felt my eyes on him for my father looked up and when he saw me standing there staring at them, a grin brightened his face and he held out one of his hands. I found myself walking toward them and then I was running until I was in their arms. Both my parents hugged me and I felt my father plant a kiss on the top of my head.

“Is that it? Is it over?” I asked with wide eyes, looking up at his face.

“That’s it! Haha we won!” he shouted with a laugh and I could only close my eyes and hug him back as the happiness overwhelmed me.

AUTHORS NOTES

ANOTHER CHAPTER COMPLETE WHEW! SO TIRED!!

-DoUbLe.A

-unedited