Chapter 503: Battle by dawn

Viola’s heart lurched at the sound of the explosion ringing out through the air, the bright orange light illuminating the chilly night for a moment before it dimmed away, and she clutched tightly to the coat Sebastian had wrapped around her, back when they’d split up into different cars in Silver to keep her warm from the night cold.

They had journeyed for hours in the cars since they couldn’t use their wolf forms, and by the time they got there, it was 2:20 a.m. The weather had grown chilly, and everything had remained silent as everyone waited for the signal. Then came the sound.

"What was that?" Tess asked worriedly, as their group all stood outside the car that had brought them, tucked between bushes where they could just make out the pack grounds ahead of them.

"Explosion," Gilbert remarked, sniffing at the air, where the smoke began to reach them under the trees. "I can smell burnt flesh. I think he’s gotten Matt’s group."

Viola gripped her gun tighter at the smell, her stomach turning, nausea rising in her throat, but she held it back and reached out to her husband through the mind link, who answered immediately.

"Yes, honey."

"Is Matt all right?" She asked, burying her nose against her forearm to block out the smoke thickening in the air, the explosion clearly having been a large one to reach them here.

"He’s fine. It was the first car that caught fire, not his. We’ve lost four men. He really thought we were coming from the front and set the explosion on the path. I have to go, amor. We’ve found an opening. Stay alert out there," he told her, and Viola felt reassured, relieved that it hadn’t reached his Beta. She cut the connection so she wouldn’t distract him any further.

"They’re fine," she assured the rest of the group, her breath visible in cold little clouds as she spoke, winter clearly settling in faster on this land than it did in Silver. "They’ve gotten inside. We need to keep watch." She pulled the coat tighter around herself.

"How about you step inside the car, Luna? It’s freezing out here." Gilbert suggested, peering through his binoculars to keep an eye on the distance, since they were all wearing wolf masks to hide their scent, which left them more exposed to the cold than usual.

Viola gave him a small smile. "I’m fine here, and—" her words were cut short as the sharp crack of gunshots echoed from the distance.

"Is it starting already?" Tess asked, raising her gun and tucking away the phone she’d been using to pass the time with a game.

Laila, sprawled face-down on top of the car with a sniper rifle, looked through the scope to try to place where the gunshots had come from, but found the grounds of the new pack still eerily calm. "Everything’s clear over here, that wasn’t one of our people’s guns. They’re still creeping in." She told the rest, cold fog escaping her lips as she added,

"I can’t believe we werewolves are reduced to fighting like humans. Nick, the motherfucker, fights dirty, we should be facing off in our wolf forms and biting heads off, the way it’s meant to be." She clicked her tongue, then turned to look at Gilbert, who was chuckling at her words. "What’s so funny, Rodrigo? I’ve noticed you’ve been laughing a little too much tonight, care to let the rest of us in on the joke?" She glared at him from where he stood at the side of the car, binoculars still hanging around his neck, which he was supposed to keep watch with but had dropped to laugh.

Gilbert glanced up at her on top of the car. "I just find it funny how much you love a fight, especially in your wolf form. Only, if we fought in our wolf forms out here, we’d be at a serious disadvantage against all those specialized weapons Nick’s got." He told her, watching her rub her hands together to generate a little warmth in her palms. He was tempted to offer his own hands to warm hers, but he wasn’t quite ready to get shot with that rifle of hers for the trouble.

"Can you do me a favor, Rodrigo?" Laila asked, turning to look at him with a smile. When he nodded, flashing that same charming grin that melted every she-wolf’s panties and made her own stomach dip, she felt the sudden urge to slap it right off his face. She wasn’t immune to him, especially since he was her mate, but she held it in and said instead,

"Go stand somewhere else, next to the Luna. Help her relax, because she looks like she’s about to faint from worrying over those gunshots." She pointed toward Viola, who was still peering through her own rifle scope, scanning the distance.

"I’m fine," Viola told the she-wolf sprawled on the car. "It’s only natural to worry, when you have family out there in the middle of a battle." She turned back to her night-vision scope and soon caught sight of their men moving in, taking down targets silently in the grounds.

"We’re definitely going to win this," Tess remarked, watching closely as well. "They’re picking people off silently, and with their scent masked, no one can even see them coming. Guys, I just had an idea." Tess said, watching her mate use his other ability, mind control, on a few of Nick’s men and she felt proud of him being the leader of the group because of his ability.

"What?" Laila asked, wiping away dew that had dripped down from the leaves above onto her face. It was damn freezing and the dew kept dropping on her! But she would rather be soak wet with it than stand with Gilbert.

"Ken and I are planning a trip to America for a Christmas concert next month. I’d like to invite you all along, if you’re interested. Werewolves don’t usually celebrate Christmas, but we do back home, and I’d love for you all to experience it. We’ve got a vacation home out there, so it would be fun to go as a group. What do you think?"

She turned to Viola, who lowered her gun slightly, a thoughtful look crossing her face.

America, Christmas celebration. She’d never been there before nor had she been where Christmas was celebrated, and Sebastian had asked her, once, to pick any country she wanted for a vacation. She also knew Zoe had always dreamed of exploring the human world and being a part of Christmas celebration, seeing their cities and lands firsthand. A group trip didn’t sound bad at all, especially given how this battle was going, they were already winning, and Nick would likely be dealt with soon enough.

Viola had a lot of unwinding left to do, to put her parents fully behind her, stop feeling guilty for not having been able to bring them back, and focus solely on motherhood now, while keeping some distance from anything the sea witch had once put a spell on until the mermaids found another way to deal with her.

Going to America didn’t sound like a bad idea at all.

Viola began to part her lips to answer when a series of gunshots erupted through the dawn air, and she quickly raised her gun, looking through the scope, just as Laila had already started firing as well.

"Shit, they’re closing in on our people all of a sudden!" Laila cursed, firing on the men she could see weren’t theirs.

"Oh, no, I think the silence was a trap as well. Oh, he is fucking smart!" Tess remarked as Nick’s men began to come out from every direction, both men and women joining the fight.

Very soon, the battle became real, with danger closing in on their men across the grounds, growls and howls echoing through the air around them.