DESIDERIUM

forty one

Everything that happens afterward does so in a blur.

Rushing out of the house, Adrian and Levi shift into their wolf forms, running in the direction of the pack house, while Tristan and I run after them, not shifting into our wolves just yet. 

I can see other wolves fighting from afar, but there are also hunters hidden in the trees, and when I concentrate enough, I can smell the same poison that left a mark on my body some time ago. 

"It's the hunters," I tell Tristan, and his expression darkens, picking up the space. 

 When we arrive at the building of the pack house, there's so much stuff happening at once, I don't know where to look. 

Rogues fighting pack members, hunters shooting arrows with poison, women and children trying to get to safety in the pack house. 

I look for Adrian and Levi, praying to the moon goddess that they're gonna be fine. When I see the both of them attacking rogue wolves together, I exhale a little, knowing they're looking out for each other.

"The hunters are more dangerous with the poison," Tristan mutters, and I nod, my brain trying to come up with a solution as to how to stop them from shooting. 

But something catches my eye first, and when I realize a hunter is pointing his arrow at a child, my body reacts before I can really think about it.

"Watch out," I yell to the little boy, and his eyes widen when he sees me running toward him, but before he can react, I tackle us both to the ground, the arrow barely brushing past my arm. 

"Fuck," I hiss, clutching the boy onto my chest, but there's no sound escaping his mouth, he just clings to me, silent tears streaming down his face.

Something about it seems so achingly familiar, and I try to soothe the little kid, "hey, it's fine, I'll get you out of here." 

I look in the direction of the hunter, but he's not standing there anymore, instead there's a wolf in his position, mouth bloody and Tristan's wolf locks eyes with me, checking if I'm okay. 

I nod, and he takes off, I don't look after him, instead trying to look for a way to escape the scene. 

There's a mother with two kids not far from me, clutching her children to her chest desperately, and I can see the nasty wound on her abdomen, a bite mark. 

Heart beating loudly in my chest, I look at the kids in her arms, and the boy in mine, and then to the pack house. 

I stumble towards the woman, narrowly dodging two wolves that charge at each other, but I make it to them eventually. 

"Hey, come on, we need to get to the packhouse," I tell the woman, whose eyes are slowly draping closed and she looks at me, before looking at the children in her arms. 

"Take them, please," she tells me, her voice breaking, and I can feel my heart breaking with hers. 

"No, come on, get up," I try to pull at her arm, but she can't stand up, and I close my eyes when she pushes the two little kids towards me, who are crying their mother's name, trying to cling to her. 

"Eliott, take Rose and go with the man," she urges the older one, and he shakes his head, tears escaping his eyes, but the woman is having none of it, "you need to protect your little sister, okay? Can you do that for me?" 

Her eyes are shining with tears, but she's trying to stay strong for her son.

"I love you so much, the both of you," she whispers when the boy finally nods in understanding, and I swallow down the lump in my throat when the boy takes his sister from his mother's arms, his hand taking my outstretched one. 

"I'll come get you," I tell her, and she gives me a weak smile, that makes my heart break. Both of us know she's not going to make it. 

When I start running to the pack house, I hear a scream behind me, and when Eliott tries to turn around, recognizing his mother's voice, I don't let him, my vision clouded. 

I blink the tears away, tugging at the kids arm. 

"Come on," I mutter desperately, almost at the stairs of the building, but a loud growl sounds from my left. 

Two rogue wolves are standing only a few meters away from me, and I pull the kids behind me almost immediately. 

The little boy doesn't let go, just keeps clutching onto me, and I lock eyes with one of the two wolves.

"Please don't," I beg them,  the sheer panic and fear clear in my voice. Fear not for my own life, but for the ones that haven't even lived through a quarter of their life.  

But I know it's useless because one of them doesn't even let me finish my plea before he starts charging in my direction. 

And all I'm left to do is close my eyes, clutching the boy to my chest, and pray to the moon goddess for a fucking miracle. 

"Stop," a loud voice suddenly booms across the field, a voice I recognize even in my panicked state, and when I open my eyes almost instinctively, I can see the arrow striking the wolf that was just charging towards me in his side. 

My mouth suddenly feels dry, and I don't want to look in the direction of the voice.  

"I said stop," the man repeats himself lowly, darkly, and that's when all the rogues and hunters seem to cease fighting. 

Instead, they're retreating in the direction where the demand came from, the growls and snarls echoing around the otherwise silent field making goosebumps appear all over my body. 

I can feel the man's piercing gaze on me, and even if I really don't want to look up, I do. Adam's eyes lock with mine immediately, and a shiver runs down my spine. 

His eyes are filled with so much rage and vengeance, that cold sharp gaze of his cutting right through me, but there's something else there, in his eyes - alarm and trepidation. Visible to no one but me. 

And when my eyes land on the bow in his arm, still half lifted, I know it's him who just saved me. Me and three children.  

"Everyone listen to me very carefully," he starts, his eyes wandering across the field, the wounded wolves, people, and hunters. 

His eyes settle on someone, and when I turn my head in the same direction, it's Adrian and Levi who are slowly, threateningly making their way towards him, growling low in their throat. 

"The poison most of you ruts just got injected with, will reach your hearts in approximately one hour," his voice echoes around the field, and when the realization hits, loud cries and even more vicious growls echo around the field. 

The wolves start gathering behind their Alpha and Beta ready to bounce at the man dressed in black at any given moment. 

My mind is trying to keep up with everything, trying to make sense of the actions of the man that I once considered... safe. 

Adams doesn't even aknowledge the wolves approaching him, stays calm and collected throughout his speech, something that makes him seem all the more dangerous and menacing. 

"However, there is no reason for unrest," a dangerous smile spreads across his face, the kids behind me whimpering in fear because of it, "if you are willing to... make a small trade with me." 

His eyes swipe across the field once more, and when they land on me, everything seems to click into place. 

He wants me.

I'm not sure I did a great job at describing the "battle"