Beauty and The Beta (Bailey)

15

Chapter 15 Asher

I looked at the computer displaying the security cameras. This was becoming too much. How can one pack be expected to hold back so many rogues? Wolves from all directions. Rabid wolves… I was sure of it… Where were they all coming from? This random attack had come so unexpectedly, all the wolves had been called to fight. Sending our entire pack into turmoil. We trained for this, yet when it came to it, nobody seemed to remember a thing about the training.

Ash, stay back, we cannot risk you or Caleb my Dad mindlinked.

My Dad was the current Beta of the pack, and I know he was right, but it was an instinct to want to fight. To protect our pack. But I know why he was saying what he was. Caleb would be the next Alpha, they did not want him risking, and me, as the nert Beta, was viewed in much the same way. But, that did not stop me wanting to be out there. We had to protect our people!

“Dad, please. I urged him. We can help.”

‘No. Alpha’s orders. He tells me, and I look across to Caleb, already pacing the office, where we had been instructed to wait,

“Not happening, you know that, right?” Caleb told me as he looked at me, noticing the tell-tale signs of the glazing of a mindlink had faded from my eyes.

“Why do you think I am already moving toward the door?” I grinned at him as I spoke. Neither Caleb or I had ever been good at following instructions, and we had both been keen fighters. Besides, I wanted to get this situation dealt with, I had a new mate I wanted to get home to!

Literally moments before the attack was announced, I had been getting settled in my house with my new- found mate, Isla. I had only just turned 17 a matter of months ago, and I had been visiting a neighboring pack for training, when I came across my mate. A daughter of their lead Warrior. A fiery red-headed warrior queen. A true beauty. And she had blown me away. Some men wait years for their mates, yet I had been lucky enough to find mine within weeks of me shifting and gaining my wolf. And da mn, had I been blessed.

She was currently safely with the women and children within the safe rooms we have within our packlands. Yet, I was so desperate to go to her, already craving her scent and the need to be with her. This da mn rogue issue needed dealing with. It was becoming out of hand. Caleb and I ignored the orders of our fathers and headed out of the door, to join our pack members in defending our pack. We will not leave them fighting

alone.

My wolf pushed forward the moment we left the packhouse doors, my bones twisting and cracking, altering shape and position to form the large and strong shape of my Beta Wolf, Zion. He took off after the strong Alpha wolf of Caleb, Thor, toward the area we knew many of our pack were.

The breeze rustling through the thick, black fur of Zion as he ran at speed, his paws pounding on the grass. My mind was focused on the fight ahead of us. I was desperate to get back to Isla, but I needed to be focused on the fight, of that there was no denying. We need to end this…

Suddenly, a tan-coloured wolf lunged at Zion at full speed with his claws out. Zion fell, but soon steadied himself. He was more than used to fighting and getting out of unexpected tackles. Zion aggressively grabbed

this smallan-malsbe the law almmaking hirian dann hood and I would fail tha hamna na

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Chapter 15 Asher

looked around through his eyes I had lost sight of Thor. He had to have already gone and joined the others fighting.

“Go and find them.’ I told my wolf, desperate now to go and help defend my pack. The way it should be.

“Where do you think I am going?’ He responds, and with that he is running again, his movements a little more cautious this time after being attacked unexpectedly before.

The

As we came around the edge of one of the many storage buildings on the packland, I could see a flurry of wolves, some I recognized, others I did not. All attacking one another. It was a free for all by all accounts. rogue wolves we had seen on the security cameras were out to do as much damage and destruction as they could. I could see dead bodies littering the ground, and sadly many of them I recognized. Zion too recognized them, causing a small whimper to slip from him, before he began to move closer to the fighting when suddenly the most painful sound came through the mindlink. Asher!”

My name was almost a shriek of pain. So much so, I could not recognize who it was. My heart was pounding as I thought of Isla. She should be safe in the safe rooms. That is where the women and children went when our pack was compromised. So they were not in any danger. Surely she had to be okay? The rooms were

secure.

“Isla?’ I mindlink, hoping that the scream had not been hers, though I don’t like to think of anyone in that pain.

“Baby, help us! They have got in.’ She screams, and at that moment I felt like my heart had stopped. Zion turns his back on the pack fighting and speeds toward the packhouse. The speed at which he reaches is likely the fastest I have experienced him run, darting and dodging between the trees and buildings as he moves. A few short sharp kicks to the occasional wolf we pass along the way that is within our path…

Zion knows his mate needs him. He needs to be with her. He needed to save her. As we reach the doors, Zion gives me control back, but the stench of blood is overpowering and my stomach churns with nerves. Zion is still present despite giving me control, his presence rippling beneath my skin, and he is whimpering within my mind. Scared for our mate….

The state of the area around the safe room is not good. It looked anything but safe now. Where is she? I allowed my body to dislocate and shift back to my human form as quickly as possible, not caring at that moment I was naked. I needed to get to my mate, and I dashed through the underground passage to one of the safe rooms, the safe room I had sent Isla to before going to the offices to meet Caleb. A safe room that I believed would keep my girl safe…

The corridor is littered with bodies… the walls stained with blood… I feel tears filling my eyes as I begin to run, stepping over bodies as I do. Needing to find Isla. A sense of desperation filling me….

“Isla?!” I called. “Isla, where are you?!”

I entered the room, and I saw so many wounded pack members, a mixture of children, elderly, and women all trying to tend to one another. But there were many dead bodies too. The rogues had clearly done their damage and left the room, likely to find another to attack… My eyes darted

around the soul-destroying vision of a room, searching for my mate, hoping beyond all hope she was still okay. Only for my eyes to settle upon her. Her beautiful fiery red hair stained with blood, as she leans against the wall. The beautiful features of her face grimaced in pain. As I looked down to see gaping wounds to her chest and lower stomach, it made

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Chapter 15 Asher

My heart feels like it is crumbling at the sight of my injured mate, as I rush over to her, having to ignore the many pack members reaching out to me for help. “Isla!” I so b, as I drop to my knees, and gently pull her to me. her eyes are open but the look within them is so vacant I fear she is already gone.

I am sorry baby.” She mindlinks, telling me she isn’t strong enough to speak. I tried to help. But they kept coming.”

“Let me mark you again, me doing that, along with your wolf trying to heal you may help?” I suggested, seeing that her wounds did not seem to be healing. I fear they are too much for her wolf to heal.

She slowly shakes her head, just a slight movement. I don’t think it will work, Ash. The wounds are deep. It hurts.”

“Let me get the Dr’I told her.

Ash, people with stronger chances of healing need their help. I think I will struggle.’ I see her eyelids keep flickering as she mindlinks me, like she is struggling to maintain consciousness and tears are flooding down. my cheeks.

I reached for her hand, as I pulled her closer to me, gently kissing her head. ‘Isla please, we need to try.”

Ash, I am tired. I am hurting. I am sorry. She links, a lone tear trickling down her face, though her link sounds so weak, and I can feel the link fading. I cling to her as I gently stroke her hair.

“Okay beautiful, you go to sleep. You will stop hurting then. There is nothing to be sorry for. I love you.”I whispered, knowing she was already going. She was likely already going the moment she screamed my name. And the pain filling my body is the worst pain imaginable. I was her mate. I was supposed to protect her and I had failed. I had failed in my duty as her mate, and it had cost my beautiful Isla her life. I had lost my mate… my other half…when we had barely been given a chance to build our lives together. Zion is howling within my mind, as tears flow from my eyes, mixing with the blood upon the floor.

My heart is pounding within my chest as I sit up, sweating, tears dripping from my eyes as I wake up. That dream…. no…. more nightmare, again. The same one… reliving that day… over and over… it is what turned my life into a living hell. It is what makes it impossible to sleep. Fate blessed me when they gave me Isla, then cursed me by sn*tching her away. Cursed me to a life of misery and loneliness.. reliving the pain of losing her. How was a man meant to live with that? Or his wolf?