Julia's baby, Bk 2 - Oh, Mama.

Chapter 26 - The new Alpha

It was sudden. One minute, they were fighting, teeth ripping, claws ripping, blood soaking into the stone.

Then it was over. Oliver was confused by this. He wasn't sure why most had went for the bush. He wasn't even sure where Amanda had gone. Was she running? It'd be smart. By the time he got his teeth into her neck she'd have lost all last chances to run.

Levi, who had kept darting back into the brush, came back out. Changed and human.

“Oliver.” Levi bent over, panting, looking pretty screwed. “Fight's over. Amanda's dead. You've got to change now.”

Oliver shook his body, shaking the droplets of blood and grime off him, confused. But he did trust Levi and he did what Levi said. Randy's change, which was faster than Oliver, was quick and he went straight for the cave and for Yasmine, who had been struggling to control her own bleeding. She'd changed mid-fight, when they'd managed to get the assholes out of there, but he suspected it'd gone too far for her. She'd barely been able to do much more than back into the corner of the cave as a wolf and keep them back with her teeth.

Once he was changed, he glanced back at the cave, but Levi shook his head.

“No, you've got to come. I need your help. Julia.”

Julia. Her body? Oliver followed close behind, trying to spit the horrible taste of blood out of his mouth, inhaling, nostrils still clogged with the smell of smoke and blood. Nothing about battle was nice.

Nothing was as bad as seeing Julia lying on the ground, twisted, bloody, and dying. The pain of loosing her hit him hard, like a sledgehammer to the chest, except that he was aware that she was actually dying right now. Loosing her right now. Someone was beside her, a stranger he didn't know, someone else tossing strips of clothing at him. Oliver nearly broke his neck then and there for touching her except that the man was wrapping it around her limbs.

Desert Pack. He tried to remind himself about this- that the desert Pack were on their side- but he still shook. Levi was kneeling at her head, accepting more fabric, and Oliver knelt beside him. He could do a lot of things, fight, kill, forgive, but ...somehow, he couldn't even touch her, not till Levi shoved a piece of fabric in his hand and told him to put pressure on something.

So he took his orders and he did what he was told. Ignored Amanda's corpse. Ignored the Pack as they moved the dead into the cave, hiding them, to deal with them later. He barely looked up as the helicopter came, barely thought about it, eyes fixed on Julia's chest, panic flooding him every time it took a fraction too long to rise again.

It was only when the medics had taken her, Levi's voice saying something about a dog attacking her in panic, that Oliver finally put the pieces together. Finally heard his Pack, he knew it was that again, speaking softly amongst themselves.

Amanda. Julia. Julia killed Amanda. Somehow, Oliver found this better than any other ending for Amanda, and he'd thought of quite a few endings. One of his favourites had been gutting her and leaving her dying on the beach where Julia had been raped.

No. This was much better. Much much better. The bitch should have known better than to attack his mate. Even Oliver knew to back off when Julia was pissed off. She was scary.

“Oliver. Come on.” Yasmine was taking Oliver's hand, squeezing it, and she was dressed again. Levi had something in a bag, a wolf skin that Oliver was sure had belonged to Julia's mother, and he carefully sealed it up.

Oliver got his own skin, Yasmine close behind, and the three of them got into the helicopter with Julia just seconds before it was off.

___________________________-