I reminded him, my voice grim.
He was quiet for a moment.
“They took something of ours,”
he said, just as grimly.
“We need to shift,”
my father said from the front.
We all slowed to a stop to look up at my father’s large and dark wolf who had turned to face the rest of us. We were all in our wolf forms still; Donovan and Aiden stood on either side of him, and Ethan stood on the other side of Enzo. There were three warriors from each of our packs, the Nova and Calypso pack, that were scattered around us.
My father was first to shift, and he immediately put on the clothes his wolf kept tucked away. The others did the same. I waited for Enzo to shift first and put on his clothes before I hid behind him and did the same thing.
I tied my hair into a ponytail and took the dagger that Enzo had given me.
“It’s for protection,”
he said. “Your job is to shield us if anything happens.”
“We are coming in peace,”
My father announced to us. “We won’t start anything unless they start something first. But getting into a battle with witches is not something we want.”
Everybody agreed to this.
On that note, my father turned and began to walk toward the cobblestone pathway. We didn’t get much further when the stench of rogue invaded my nose.
I wasn’t the only one who noticed the smell; Enzo froze, stopping me with him.
“Rogues,”
he announced.
Everybody froze and soon, we were surrounded by rogues that were in their wolf forms.
My first thought was, “Why are they protecting the witches?”
But then I saw a familiar man who stepped around the cluster of wolves; he was in his human form and his icy blue eyes poured into me.
“Paul,”
Enzo said through his teeth. “What are you doing here?”
Paul’s attention went from me to Enzo in a heartbeat.
“I could ask you the same thing,”
Paul said, his tone dark.
“We came to speak to a witch known as Jasmine,”
my father said, his tone firm and strong.
Paul looked at my father and I saw a glimmer of humor in his eyes.
“Alpha Bastien,”
Paul said in a greeting.
“Paul,”
my father said in return. “Haven’t seen you since you were running away with the others.”
Anger flashed through Paul’s eyes.
“I was weaker then, but I’ve grown and become stronger on my journey,”
Paul said through his teeth.
“Your journey of being a rogue?”
My father asked, raising his brows. “Is that really the life you wanted for yourself?”
“You left me no other choice,”
Paul growled.
“You always had a choice. You just chose wrong.”
“Enough of this,”
Paul growled. “You are the ones who killed my men earlier; are you not?”
“So, they were your rogues that invaded my mother’s pack after all,”
Enzo said, stepping forward.
“Your mother and her kind shouldn’t exist,”
Paul seethed. “I’m finishing your father’s job. She was supposed to die long ago. As should you.”
The rogues surrounding us were lowering themselves and their slit eyes were fixed on Enzo. A nervous feeling bubbled in the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t liking this exchange, and I had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
However, my father and the others on our team, including Enzo, appeared to be so calm. They weren’t as worried as I was so that meant I needed to remain calm as well.
“You were never going to be strong enough to be an Alpha, Paul,”
Enzo said.
“Maybe not yet,”
Paul said, a sly smile spreading across his thin lips. Then, his eyes met mine. “But soon…I will be.”
Before I knew what was happening, Paul was shifting into his wolf form and lunging quickly in my direction. My father and the others began to shift as well just as the rogues went to attack them and block them from stopping Paul in whatever he was planning on doing.
By the time Enzo had shifted and lunged toward Paul, it was too late. Paul was fast and moved past him with such a quick speed I hardly saw him until he was only seconds away from diving his teeth into my flesh.
With the dagger, I did the only thing I could think of doing at that moment. I faced the blade in Paul’s direction and plunged it straight into his chest.
His teeth snapped shut before they actually reached me, and I heard the scream of his pain as he fell to the ground. All the rogues had stopped what they were doing to watch their leader fall.
“Lila!”
Enzo’s voice rang through my head as he ran in my direction.
I dropped the blood-soaked dagger on the ground and my entire body trembled as I watched life drain from Paul’s eyes.
Enzo was shifting back into his human form, and he ran to me, wrapping me in his arms. I hadn’t realized I was crying until he held my face with both his hands and looked into my eyes.
“Were you bitten?”
He asked, staring around my face and shoulders.
I shook my head.
“No…”
I said, gasping for the breath that had been taken from me. “But I almost was…”
I couldn’t believe how close I was to being bitten; I don’t know what would have happened if he had managed to get me.
“Storm the Coven House!”
My father ordered everybody else.
I realized the other rogues, the ones that survived that is, fled the scene as soon as Paul had died.
“Enzo, get her out of here,”
my father ordered.
Enzo nodded, but I grabbed his arm, stopping him from shifting.
“No, I want to stay and protect them,”
I said, proud that my voice was much stronger than I felt.