Chapter 30

Their feet made nearly no sound as the first wave jumped over the fence once they got the all clear from Oliver after they used a secret tunnel to get in. The mansion’s security system was down. It seemed the info Ashley’s vampires gave them was useful, because disabling it didn’t set off the alarms that were installed for such sabotages.

Tommy jumped off from a tree and landed on the back of a surprised hunter, but he couldn’t make a noise as he quickly broke his neck. The dogs were a bit funny. They growled and tried to bark, but Adam only had to growl back at them and flash his wolf eyes with a little doze of his Alpha power and they submitted to him beautifully before running off. The same happened on the other side of the mansion where Zane was leading the attack.

As the first wave was trying to quietly take out the outside guards, the second made sure to drag the bodies out of sight just in case, although all the windows of the mansion were covered by shutters because of the sunlight.

They successfully reached the entrance without real obstacles. To Tommy (and Adam) it nearly felt too easy, though. At a time of war they would expect a stronger defense. The blond really hoped they weren’t walking into a trap.

While this thought ran through his mind, they infiltrated the building. This time they had guns loaded with bullets that had a wooden core, some were carrying crossbows with wooden arrows and others sharp wooden stakes just in case. Not to mention that they had their speed and claws if they had no other options.

It was eerily silent in the dark mansion as they quietly spread out, communicating through signs, the pack bonds and the leaders had earpieces too to connect and coordinate the packs’ movements.

‘Smells like a trap…’ Tommy sent to Adam through their mind-link. His Mate agreed, but they continued swiping the rooms.

‘Gonna head to the basement with my team,’ Terrance told them and Adam agreed. The other Beta had the biggest group because they knew from the allies that most vampires preferred to sleep in the basement during daylight hours.

The first floor was empty aside from a few hunters they took out. They were about to head to the second floor where Ashley’s and the higher-ranking vampires had their rooms, when two things happened at once.

First they heard yelling and the sounds of battle from the direction of the basement then there was an explosion too, shaking the building and its shockwave could be felt on the first floor too. The second thing was that suddenly the stairs were flooded by hissing vampires and hunters attacking from upstairs.

The Mated pair found themselves in the middle of a vicious and loud fight. There were more vampires awake than they expected, which in itself was suspicious. Not to mention that explosion.

“Jeremy, Zane, take your teams and check out the basement. Terrance needs backup!” Adam shouted through the battle noise as his clawed hand ripped out the heart of a female vampire.

“Roger that!” the Oxnard Alpha snarled and nodded to the other wolf to follow him with his men and women.

“We have to find Ashley and Julien,” Tommy told Adam after slicing the neck of a hunter with his sharp claws.

“Yes. There are too many of them to finish off all,” his Mate growled and took the lead with a group of their people to push upwards, others protecting their six.

It took them some time to get to the upstairs corridor and they got some injuries along the way, but they were finally near the room the vampires seemed to protect in the highest number. Someone got the idea to break out a window along with the shades behind them so at least more vampires couldn’t sneak up on them for a while.

“It’s over, Julien. Give up. There’s no way out of here!” That was Adam snarling at the smug vampire who was standing in the other end of the room. Not surprisingly surrounded by his bodyguards and holding the back of the neck of a tied up Ashley who looked furious and… beaten up? How was that possible? Vampires were supposed to heal quickly. Unless they were tortured with special equipment.

From his friend’s state Tommy saw red but he had to be clever about this. He had to wait for the right opportunity to take Ashley to safety. The wolves – some of them growling warningly in their animal form – slowly spread out in the room.

“Are you so sure about that?” Julien grinned like someone who still had a few tricks up his sleeve. “You should keep your wolves better in line. Some might stray too far from the pack…” he said on a smooth and very annoying voice.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Adam frowned.

“He’s bluffing. He wants to mess with your head,” Tommy whispered to his Mate to stay in focus. They were so close to succeeding with their plan.

‘On three we attack,’ Adam informed the wolves with them who got ready. A standoff wouldn’t lead to anywhere. They had to take the risk of getting injured.

And they did take it. Suddenly the room got filled with the loud noises of guns going off, but this time it wasn’t just the vamps using them. Blood and ashes were splattering and floating in the air and in the midst of the chaos Tommy managed to get closer to Ashley and Julien. While Adam went for the latter, claws ready to tear him apart, Tommy grabbed the Queen and dragged her away, not caring about the silver bullet that grazed is arm, or the one that hit his left thigh, making him hiss and stumble a bit after loosening her magical restrains a bit.

To Julien’s credit, this time he didn’t try to hide behind his bodyguards, he was fighting the LA pack’s Alpha with everything he got. Tommy just hoped that he could take Ashley to safety before he would injure Adam too severely.

“Everyone stop!!!” they suddenly heard Terrance’s voice and out of nowhere Tommy felt the cold end of a barrel pressing against the back of his head, rendering him motionless.

The silence in the room that followed was deafening. The shock clear on every wolf”s and even Ashley’s face.

“Let Julien and Ashley go or I’ll shoot Tommy,” Terrance said on a cold tone, cocking the gun. “It has silver in it.”

“Terrance?! What the fucking hell are you doing?!” Tommy snarled, but when he tried to move, the barrel pressed harder against his nape and he froze again. He could smell it on the other Beta that he was meaning it.

The pain that filled him was coming mostly from Adam, because the blond Beta was still in shock, adrenaline pumping through his partially transformed body. He was very close to death, he realized.

“Terrance…” that was Adam, his hold on Julien’s neck loosening enough so that the vampire could free himself and back away. The Alpha looked devastated.

“Surprise!” Julien chuckled, adjusting his clothes.

“It was both of them…” Ashley whispered.

“Yes! We’ve been working together! Isn’t it wonderful? An unusual alliance happened even before you could do that with these filthy mutts you call friends…” Julien continued.

“Why?” Adam cut him off, looking straight into Terrance eyes, and there was so much pain and disappointment radiating from him that it chocked up Tommy and the other wolves, who called the traitor their brother up until this point.

Terrance snarled and grimaced, a bitter laugh bursting out of him, but his hand stayed steady on the gun to keep Tommy cornered. He knew well that Adam would never do anything to endanger the life of his Mate.

Before he could say anything, a panting Sutan appeared in the door, followed by Zane, who was holding the side of his bleeding head. “He wants to take over the LA pack,” the shaman spit with rage in his eyes, which was uncommon when it came to the peaceful Beta.

“Why?” Adam repeated, swallowing hard. “I always treated you like family. You’re like my brother, Terrance. I thought…”

“You think too much, Adam,” Terrance cut him off with another grimace. “You are too damn generous and helpful for your own good! You can’t see past your fucking big heart. You live in a dream world. There’s never going to be real peace between our species. I know that. I will show that to the pack once I’m gonna be the Alpha.”

“How can you do this to him?” Tommy asked, shaking with anger and barely holding his wolf back that could feel how much pain their Mate was in.

“If you shift, you die!” Terrance warned him so Tommy held back as much as he could. “Actually, you’ll probably die anyways.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you, man?” he huffed, his confusion rolling off him in waves.

“I’m fed up with you two. It’s my time to lead the pack,” he spit. “And Julien will make it possible for me.”

“You’re insane. He’s gonna use and kill you and the whole pack!”

“Not true,” the vampire chimed in. “We’ll go on our separate ways once the power-relations settle. I’m not interested in eliminating the wolves,” he shrugged. “Terrance proved to be a good ally so far. He even managed to deceive the all powerful Alpha pair. And all he wants in return is power. Something I’ll gain for myself too. Now be good puppies and let Ashley come back here. As soon as the sun sets, we’ll leave.”

“Not happening!” Tommy growled, eyes a bright amber of his wolf.

“I don’t think you have a choice in this question. Or are you so eager to throw your life away?” Julien raised a brow. “I think it’s finally time, Terrance, to have your moment to shine,” he chuckled and everyone’s attention turned to said wolf.

“Right. I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen now,” he looked at Adam over Tommy’s head.

The Alpha bit back a snarl, but didn’t say anything. Although he had a bad feeling about what’s gonna come out of Terrance’s mouth next.

“To save the pack, you’ll have to make a difficult decision, Alpha,” he stressed the last word mockingly.

“I’m listening,” Adam spit, obviously making a lot of effort to hold his emotions back. His whole body was shaking with it.

A twisted smile appeared on Terrance’s face as he was enjoying the moment he’s been waiting to happen for years. He let himself savor it to the fullest, the tension in the other wolves growing. “You have to choose between your and Tommy’s life.”

Outrage.

That’s what swiped through the present wolves, not just because of putting their Alpha into such a position, but because they all knew that there was no use to choose. With such a strong Mate bond like Adam and Tommy had, it was more than likely that either way they both would die. The chance of one’s survival without the other was very slim. Most likely if one survived, it would last only for a short while before withering away from the pain and loss of the Mate.

Tommy’s mind froze for a moment then it started racing as hell. Swallowing hard he came to a conclusion.

“I can’t. You know that, Terrance…” Adam whispered devastated by the depths of his betrayal.

“Oh this is the look I was longing for to see. The despair on your fucking face…” the Beta chuckled.

“Let him live. Kill me,” Tommy said on a calm and cold voice, his eyes meeting Adam’s wounded ones.

“No, Tommy.”

“Yes. He has to kill me. If there’s a chance that you survive, we have to take it. The pack will need you. I’m just a Beta. You’re the Alpha. They’ll never follow someone like Terrance. You have to survive and win. It’s clear as day,” he said on a softer tone.

Adam pressed his lips into a thin line, his anger and helplessness bubbling up in him, hitting Tommy in huge waves that nearly made his knees buckle. His Alpha was suffering. He wanted to make it better, but he couldn’t. Adam had to live. For everyone’s sake. Even if his soul and heart would never recover from the loss of his Mate.

“Baby…” Adam started to say, but his voice failed him.

“Marvelous! It’s decided then! Let’s move this along. The darkness is nearly upon us,” Julien chimed in again, obviously getting bored of the situation. He wanted to take the next step in his plan and this little werewolf drama was taking too long. He nodded to Terrance to get over with it.

He grunted in agreement and put his finger on the trigger. “Very well. Good night, sweet prince!” he whispered to Tommy.

‘I’ll always love you, Adam. See you in the next life. I’ll be waiting for you,’ he sent it to his Mate through their mind-link then after burning Adam’s face into his mind one last time, Tommy closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable death.

“No… Please… You can’t do this!” Adam tossed all his Alpha-status aside and whined in pain, his heart breaking and bleeding already. “Tommy!”

“But I can and I will!” Terrance snarled, completely turning out of himself – or rather showing his true colors to the fullest.

The blond Beta refused to look up and bent his head in defeat. He wanted to get over with it now that his decision was made. So he waited as he made peace with his fate.

The bang was deafening in the room.

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