Authors: Dixie Lynn Dwyer
Antoinette and Charity were there. They both stood beside Ariella.
“When you saw these men being taken, were you able to identify an exact location?” Charity asked.
“I know the area where they were taken. It’s pretty remote and there are local businesses and factories there. I don’t know what packs they belong to. All I know is that I need to help them. They are important to the attacks, to what is going on, and to us,” Ariella said.
“What do you mean to us?” Antoinette asked.
Ariella took a deep breath and released it.
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“To our families, our existence, and to me and my mates. There is some kind of evil brewing out there. Someone is gathering these men for a reason. I felt their thoughts, their fears.”
“Oh, my. I’m worried. Do you believe the source to these visions?” Charity asked.
“I do. I can help these men. This can shed light on the entire situation with all the attacks and destruction of villages and smaller packs around the world. You were right, Mother, about me maybe needing my mates. Orion and Palidor. They are a part of this. It’s their fight as Venificus.”
Charity and Antoinette nodded their heads.
“Then you must go. Be safe, and listen to your mates. They are warriors of Venificus, the next rulers of the throne,” Antoinette told her.
“And you are their mate, the next to stand beside them as leaders and royalty,” Charity stated and then hugged her. Antoinette placed her hand on her shoulder, and in an instant the three women became quiet.
Maximus and the others wondered what was happening when suddenly Antoinette and Charity gasped as Ariella’s eyes teared up.
“You are right, Ariella. They need you. Go now. Be careful,”
Charity said and they watched as Ariella, Orion, Palidor, and their main guards headed out of the house.
* * * *
Ariella sat in the SUV surrounded by her men as well as Lexi’s sons, Derry, Eamon, and Talib. They owned their own land and estate in Dallas outside of the city and thirty minutes from the Venificus estate and the Antoinette’s estate. All the men of the three families, Charity’s, Antoinette’s, and Lexi’s had been traveling and securing the family packs around the world. It seemed that this event and the circumstances of the attacks were a concern for all the families.
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“You’re looking well, Ariella,” Derry whispered to her, giving her a wink.
“She sure is. When this is all through, perhaps you like to go out to dinner, or hang out sometime?” Eamon stated, and then the low growls filled the cabin of the vehicle.
Talib shook his head. “I wouldn’t mess with our royal Alphas if I were you. Can’t you smell them on her and her on them?” he asked and then winked at Talib.
Ariella shook her head as the men chuckled.
“Now what fun would that be to not tease their needy wolves?
She’s quite the catch. Many wolves have been interested in her for quite some time,” Derry added.
Ariella felt her cheeks warm.
However, Palidor raised his voice. “I’d hate to have to hurt you, friend. You’ll see how it feels when you find a mate.”
“Not happening,” Eamon stated.
Ariella considered Derry, Eamon, and Talib family. They all had grown up together until their teenage years when the men had parted to go their ways to train or for adventure. Their three sisters were making quite the names for themselves as they submerged in the Were communities. One of their sisters was a doctor, and the other a lawyer and the third, Maya, was involved in a special program with the circle of elders.
Talib was always seeking the truth. She remembered that at a very young age he wanted to be called Kenny. He was so adamant about it that everyone called him it for a while, but soon he took his given name. He was like that. When his mind was set on something, there was no changing it.
Eamon handled a lot of the business aspects of the money flowing into the packs. He also had a serious love of fighting, and was always prepared for battle. It was as if he didn’t want to be considered just a wolf, a man of finances but as his given heritage as a warrior.
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Then there was Derry. So much like his father, Paul, he was debonair, sexy, and a total ladies’ man. There wasn’t much he wasn’t good at. She had heard lots of stories and about him being a great lover.
She smiled to herself. She wondered what kind of lovers Orion and Palidor would be. If their little actions in her bedroom and in the SUV earlier in the week were a fair judgment, she would be a very satisfied woman. The thought brought a tingling feeling to her body, but then came the uncertainty and fear. Would she be good enough for them? She was a virgin, despite her wild ways and going out to party with her friends. She held on to her virginity for the right wolf. Now things were becoming clearer.
As the SUV began to slow down, she looked ahead and saw that they were entering the city.
“Make a left at the next traffic light,” she told Palidor. When they came to the dark alleyway between three large buildings, she told them to stop.
“You stay in the SUV,” Orion told her.
“No. I’m not staying in here. You won’t be able to tell where they were taken,” she stated, feeling her anger get the better of her.
“We’re wolves, honey, we will sniff them out,” Talib whispered and then caressed her knee as him and his brothers climbed out of the SUV.
As she sat in the SUV and debated about getting out of it anyway, she thought about the men who were taken. She closed her eyes and asked the Goddesses to tell her where she could find them. But as she drifted into her thoughts, she saw the danger ahead. She saw a man dressed in black and holding his head. He was in pain, and he was trying to fight something inside of him.
Then she saw a few other men, outside of a building. They were walking into a factory or a business of some kind. Her thoughts were in flashes of images. It was all scrambled and she wasn’t sure what was happening where or if it were happening in the same place. She
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listened carefully and tried to hear voices and see faces. There was darkness and then suddenly loud roars and yelling. She saw the fire.
The explosion and the men running. There were other men with guns, they were ordering the running men to do as they were told. Again, she saw the man holding his head and then the men being herded into a truck. “Ariella? Ariella?” She heard her name and the man holding his head looked up at her. She gasped.
Draco?
She felt the warm, large hands caressing her arms and shoulder.
“Baby, please. Ariella?” She looked at Orion. He seemed so concerned. She hardly even recognized her own voice.
“The men from the first truck are gone. We need to hurry. They’re taking more men. There’s a fire, and explosion. Men have guns, they’re forcing them out.”
Just as she said the words, the explosion occurred. The SUV
seemed as if it shook, everyone looked around, shocked at the sound.
“There.” Talib pointed toward the multiple buildings at least two blocks ahead of them. Fire filled the sky.
“We must hurry,” she stated and then men get back into the SUV, the others in the three SUVs behind them headed out first.
“Are you okay?” Derry asked.
“They need us. We can’t let the evil get them,” she stated as the SUV sped to the scene.
* * * *
They were outnumbered, but Palidor knew that his men were stronger and fiercer. They all shifted. There was no choice as the cry of men dying, lying on the ground and refusing to be taken prisoner came into view. It was quick. They jumped from the truck, Ariella included, and all shifted to their wolf forms. Palidor was caught off guard at the beauty of his mate and her size. As she ran toward the injured, a wolf attacked, and she slashed out with one fierce paw
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tearing the throat of a rogue wolf. Before he could follow, more wolves came at him and the fight began.
He prayed to the Goddesses that their mate was more than capable of fighting these fierce men.
The smell of fresh blood, burnt flesh, and smoke encased the area around them. With the help of Orion and their men, they gained control of the situation. When it all seemed to calm down and the calls were made to send were firefighters and members of a cleanup team, they searched for their mate.
Ariella sat on the ground in human form and caressed the shoulder of a man bleeding heavily from his side.
“Please. Please help me. My mate, my children need me,” he whispered.
“You will be fine. You will see them again.”
“Are you certain? I feel the life leaving me.”
She placed her hand over his heart and closed her eyes. The man closed his eyes and sighed.
“Help is on the way, Ariella,” Orion told her as Talib, Eamon, and Derry stood around the five men Ariella seemed to be protecting.
“Thank you,” the man whispered and closed his eyes.
“I feel it. I feel them,” another man called out.
As they watched in awe of her healing them, consoling these men and guarding them, something magical flowed though Palidor and Orion. They felt it as they locked gazes with Ariella. She smiled and nodded her head.
“Thank you. By the gods, I thought we were going to die and that they would win,” a man stated as he tried sitting up. Ariella reached for his hand and he took it.
He hugged it to him. “I am a member of the Mahalan family.”
Orion, Palidor, Talib, Eamon, and Derry, along with their men, were shocked.
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“These individuals were trying to take myself and our small pack as prisoners. We’ve heard about the attacks throughout the country.
We thought we were taking the proper precautions.”
“How did they break through your security?” Orion asked.
“There was some kind of magic,” the man closest to Ariella whispered, and a series of agreeing comments filtered through the small crowd of men.
“Magic?” Palidor asked.
“Evil magic,” Ariella whispered, and Palidor was immediately concerned.
“Let’s get you all to safety. Our teams are arriving for cleanup.”
“We have prisoners, Palidor,” one of his Omegas stated.
“How many?” Orion asked.
“Five,” the Omega replied.
“I want to speak with them,” Ariella said as she slowly stood up.
“No. No, you can’t. They’ll try to take you. With your family heritage, your magic, and powers, they would succeed in their agenda,” said the man who stated he was from Mahalan, The Goddess of the circle’s family and pack.
“They need me, or they will die. I have to try,” Ariella told them.
As she started to walk ahead, Palidor and Orion grabbed her. “We can’t let you.”
“It will be okay. It’s why I’m here. I understand now. Their souls are being taken from them. This power makes them lose every connection they have to life, to loved ones. If I don’t help them, then they will die as the others have.”
Palidor pulled her close and inhaled her scent. He kissed her neck as Orion held her, too.
“We will be right there next to you. If they try something, or if you feel any pain, we will pull you away. Understood?” Palidor asked very seriously.
“Understood.”
They headed toward the area where the five men were being held.
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* * * *
Ariella felt the evil immediately. The men one by one stared at her with evil in their eyes. She stood before the first one. A man with blonde hair, his eyes green and red. He was big, and his wounds already healed from shifting back to his human form.
His eyes widened as he locked gazes with her. So did the other men’s eyes.
They jerked forward toward her but the security men held them tight.
“He will come for you. He knows your every move,” the first man stated and then growled.
“You don’t have to be under his control. He is not so powerful,”
Ariella stated. The man shook and tried to lunge toward her.
She felt the evil flowing through his body. She sensed the ties that bound him to the ruler, his master.
“Release him,” she whispered.
“I choose to die.” The man stated.
The red color filled his eyes and he stared right at her. “Your mates will die.”
Ariella gasped as the man screamed out in pain. He shook and convulsed on the ground, as the guards released him until he exploded into dust.
One after the next they died, refusing to allow her to help them until they came to the last man. He was crying, kneeling down begging for mercy. “I love you, Melanie. I love you.” He kept chanting.
Ariella moved toward him, feeling the strength of the bond between this man and his mate. She felt the love, the connection from afar.
As she went to touch him, Palidor pulled her back.
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“No. He’ll hurt you or worse. Look what the others chose. Death.
It’s black magic. Something powerful and evil enough to kill them on the spot. No, Ariella. No,” he begged of her.
She shook her head.
“I can save him.”
She looked at the man.
“Do you want to be free?”
“Yes. Yes, please save me.”
“Do you want to see your mate again?” she asked him, moving closer.
Palidor and Orion kept a hand on her shoulder. She looked up toward them, feeling the strength of their connection and care for her as their mate. It was growing so strong despite the fact that they hadn’t mated yet.
“Keep your hands on me.”
“Wasn’t planning on letting you go,” Orion said as he stared at the man before them.
“I feel your love for her. For Melanie. She is your mate and she needs you.”
“I didn’t choose to be this. He made me. I was forced to be his rogue and killer.”
He cried out in pain as his head fell back to his shoulders, his chest puffed out forward as if in massive pain and he yelled.