Chapter 112: Alpha Quirin
~ RONAN ~
After pressing one quick, chaste kiss to Roselle’s lips, I reluctantly pull away and head for the door. The moment I open it, I find Beau and Garrett already positioned outside, both men standing alert with their weapons ready.
"Neither of you leaves her for any reason," I order, looking between them. "I don’t care what happens outside this pack house. Your only responsibility is Roselle. If anything feels wrong, even slightly, you mind-link me immediately."
"Yes, Alpha," they respond in unison.
I give them a firm nod before reaching out to Nikolai through the mind-link as I hurry down the hallway. "Stay in position for now. Get Quinton, the northern border chief, to move everyone closest to the attack to safety, then inform the western border patrol to reinforce their defenses. I’m heading to the northwestern border now, and the moment you’re done, join me there."
"Understood, Alpha," Nikolai responds immediately.
As I make my way outside, I open the pack-wide mind-link and send an urgent command through it. Everyone is to remain inside their homes until I give the all-clear. Lock your doors, keep your children close, and do not step outside under any circumstances.
Then I reach out specifically to my warriors, allowing my voice to thunder through the connection. Blackshadow warriors, hold your positions and fight with everything you fucking have. Remember what stands behind you. Your homes. Your families. Your mates and your children. Nobody gets through that border.
By the time I reach the northwestern border, the sound of battle is fucking deafening.
My sword is out of its sheath before I even reach the front line. I charge straight into the chaos, driving the blade through the first enemy that comes at me before spinning toward another. Everywhere I look, my warriors are locked in combat with Lycans, their snarls and growls mixing with the clash of weapons and the thunderous pounding of feet against the earth.
There are far more Lycans than I expected.
Clearly, they’re nowhere near as extinct as we’d been led to believe.
I barely have time to process that realization before something beyond the fighting catches my attention. Through the chaos, I spot another formation standing farther behind the Lycans, and the insignia carried by several of the soldiers makes my blood fucking boil.
Alpha Quirin’s army. That fucking bastard.
He’s actually brought his warriors into my territory alongside the Lycans.
I don’t know what Quirin hopes to gain from this attack or what kind of agreement he’s made with them, but right now, I don’t fucking care. If he’s stupid enough to march an army against Blackshadow, then by the time this battle is over, I intend to personally introduce my sword to his fucking neck.
A Lycan lunges toward me, forcing my attention back to the fight. I swing my blade and shove forward with my warriors, but even as the battle rages around me, something else catches my eye near the rear of Quirin’s forces.
A cloaked figure stands strangely still amid the chaos.
My brows pull together as I focus on her. She’s holding something in one hand.
A wand. Her other arm slowly rises toward the sky as her lips move rapidly, chanting words I can’t hear over the roar of battle. The air around her seems to shift, and a sickening realization settles into my gut.
A fucking witch. My grip tightens around the hilt of my sword as I stare at her before shifting my gaze toward Quirin’s army and the Lycans fighting alongside them.
Lycans. Quirin’s warriors. And now a fucking witch. What the hell has that bastard gotten himself involved in?
I might have fucking underestimated Quirin.
The thought irritates me more than I care to admit, especially after the way I’d confronted him during the Blood Moon Ceremony when I discovered he’d been keeping Roselle in custody. Back then, I’d walked into his territory ready to tear the place apart if that was what it took to get her back, and nothing about him had struck me as a threat I couldn’t handle.
Apparently, the bastard had more cards hidden up his sleeve than I’d given him credit for.
My attention shifts back to the cloaked witch standing behind Quirin’s forces. Her wand remains raised as her lips move continuously, and with every passing second, I notice something changing among my warriors.
They’re getting weaker.
Wolves that should be tearing through their opponents are suddenly stumbling. Their movements are becoming sluggish, their attacks less coordinated, and even from where I’m standing, I can feel an unnatural heaviness pressing against my own body.
Whatever the witch is doing, she’s tipping this battle in Quirin’s favor.
"Alpha, what’s going on?" Nikolai’s voice suddenly cuts through the mind-link.
I drive my sword into an approaching Lycan before stepping backward and surveying the battlefield again. "They have a witch, the Lycans, and Quirin’s fucking pack fighting alongside them. We’re at a disadvantage, so we’re changing strategy."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Tell Quinton to pull our warriors back from the front line and tighten the defensive formation," I order. "Have every wolf shift back into human form immediately. Whatever magic she’s using seems to be affecting our wolves more strongly while they’re shifted."
There’s a brief pause before Nikolai responds. "And then?"
My eyes lock onto the witch again.
"Shields up. Nobody charges blindly into their formation. We hold the line until we figure out how to break whatever the fuck she’s doing."
I tighten my grip around my sword as another wave of that strange energy sweeps across the battlefield. My knees threaten to buckle for half a second, but I force myself upright.
"If we can get to the witch and take her out of the fight, whatever she’s doing to our warriors should stop," I tell Nikolai. But nobody goes after her alone. Quirin positioned her behind his forces for a reason, and I’m not sending my men straight into a fucking trap.
"Understood."
I cut the connection before raising my sword and signaling the warriors closest to me to retreat into formation. Across the battlefield, commands begin spreading rapidly as wolves shift back into their human forms and shields rise in front of them.
The battle isn’t fucking over. We’re simply changing the way we’re fighting it.
My gaze finds Quirin through the chaos, and even from this distance, I can see the smug satisfaction written across his face.
Enjoy it while it lasts, bastard. Because the moment I get through your army and reach that witch, I’m coming for you next.