Crossing Paths With The White Wolf
Chapter 45

Helios

POV

I could feel the sparks on my torso as well as pain as I opened my eyes. Nat's face came into view. There was blood and sweat dripping from her hairline and she looked like she was about to pass out. Despite this, she smiled down when our eyes met. I sat up to look at what was going on around us and she grabbed my head in her hands and kissed me deeply. We stood up and she placed her hand on my chest.

"I have to go help the others," she said, and I furrowed my brows in worry.

"You're already exhausted amor," I told her softly as I checked her head wound. I looked closed already.

"I have to Helios. I can help." she said.

I sighed, "Only those that are close to death. Save your energy. Get them to where their natural healing will keep them alive, OK?" I said. I wanted to drag her back inside and lock her up but she was the white wolf. This was her purpose. She nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. I looked around at the fighting. It looked like we were winning.

"Enough fighting. We've come here for one reason. We don't need to destroy everyone to get what we want," Shane Doyle comes around the back of the SUVs. The bastard hadn't even bothered to join his people.

"What reason is that?" I asked, buying some time as I walked around Celeste and Markus. I knew we were winning. Why would I give him anything?

"I want the white wolf," he said, and I heard several growls, not only from my pack but Crescent Moon.

"She doesn't belong to you. She doesn't belong to anyone," I growled back, and because I needed to make it known I added, "She is my mate."

"Oh, is the b***h marked? That makes things easier. I, Shane Doyle, leader of the rogues, challenge you for your title of Alpha, your pack and Luna." I was taken off guard at that but didn't allow my face to show it. I heard Celeste's soft but terrified 'no' behind me and realized this must be triggering the night she lost her pack and family. At the very place we are standing in now.

Our story will have a different outcome. - Ezequiel's determination flowed strength through me.

"I accept. Tell what's left of your people to stop their attack or I will rip out each of their throats." This needed to end.

I was surprised and touched to hear my pack and Crescent Moon howl in support.

I pointed to the training grounds on the left. "The grounds are over there. I need two minutes to look after my people."

"Take 5 to say good bye," he said derisively.

"Helios, let me heal you more," Nat came up to me.

"I will be fine. You've healed me enough." I tentatively moved my hand from my side and inwardly sighed in relief, "See, not bleeding anymore. Go help the others." I gave her a quick kiss and patted her a*s as she went to where the wounded were gathering. Her steps were slow and heavy. I turned to Celeste and Markus. "Please make sure she doesn't over exert herself and sit with her so she has someone to help her through the fight. She can't interfere."

Markus nodded, while Celeste continued to sob in his arms. "Don't cry Celeste. You know I'm a tough cookie." I winked at her, then softly added, "It won't be like the last time. I promise, these pack grounds will not see another m******e of innocent people." She gave a final sob and then hugged me tightly.

I walked over to Gonzalo and Sebastian. "Where's Theo?"

Sebastian sighed, "He's doing something stupid and if it gets him killed, I'll kill him."

"I resent that," said Theo's voice from behind me. "I've taken care of the other rocket launcher. It's somewhere in the woods. We'll retrieve it after you kill this bastard," he said confidently.

"Be ready to grab the rogues that are still alive. They can be crammed into the dungeons for all I care. Ask Markus if we can use his if we run out of room. Anyone that doesn't surrender, kill them. We'll go through the SUVs after the fight and see if we can replace anything. I gotta go, keep an eye on Nat." They patted me on the shoulder as I passed through them to the training area. His rogues were already seated on one half, while my pack and Crescent Moon were on the other. I walked to the center of the area where Shane had removed his suit and was now wearing athletic shorts. I moved my torso tentatively to see how much mobility I had until it finished healing. Markus stepped forward as the witness to the challenge. I looked up at the half moon. Please don't make me a liar. I promised to protect her and them.

"This is a battle to the death or surrender. The challenge is for the right to lead Guardian Moon as Alpha and its Luna. Begin," he said, and sat back down. I catch a quick glimpse of Natalia approaching where he is sitting with Gonzalo, who is holding her up. 'I told you not to over do it,' I growled at her as Shane and I circled each other.

'Concentrate before I have to mate with the a*****e,' she responded and I felt the rage rise up my throat at her words and I let out a roar.

I notice a slight hesitation from Shane when he hears me and I smirk, making him charge at me. I dodged him easily, making him kick up dust as he skidded to a halt. He turned around and charged again and this time I met him head on. He swings at my head, claws extended. I ducked under his swing and punch him in the gut, sending him stumbling backwards.

I growled as I punched him while he tried to retreat from me. He stumbled backwards and falls on his a*s. I continued to stalk forward and he swept my foot when I got too close. I stumbled backwards but managed to keep my balance. He charged forward and began swinging. I managed to dodge two, but I caught the third in rib. I felt it crack and took a step back when he tried to follow it with a roundhouse kick. He didn't give me time to recover as he rushed me with another flurry of punches to my torso. I managed to trap his right arm to my body and used his own momentum to flip him over. He scurried away and stood, panting and covered in dirt.

He rushed back within striking rage and I could see him getting frustrated. We exchange blow for blow but he's losing steam. I'm landing punches that his wolf speed should be able to block. I punched him in the jaw and he spit out blood and a tooth. He rushes at me, snarlling, and we end up grappling on the ground. He is roaring in rage as I straddle him and throw punch after punch. His brow bursts open under my hands and the blood is flowing everywhere. He is only managing to catch half of my punches and his face is becoming unrecognizable. Finally, he manages to push me off him with both feet and I land on my a*s a couple feet away. He quickly launches at me, trying to reverse the roles, but I use my knees to flip and launch him away from me. I moved to stand up but I began to feel a burning in my chest. I look down and I see a small shiny metal pin in the middle of my chest, a purple substance burning under the surface.

I stumble trying to stand up as the burning spreads.

Ezequiel, what is this? - I asked.

Wolfsbane - He growls. - I can get it out of our system, but you need to buy me some time.

I tried and failed to stand again and I can see my pack and friends standing, afraid. I may not be able to die, but if I can't fight, I lose. I looked up to see Shane smirking at me. He walks slowly towards me, thinking me done. The bastard should have really done his research before he attacked. I pulled the needle tip from my chest.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you die. Then I'm going to enjoy f*****g your mate before I use her to figure out the key to immortality. I'm going to bring your pathetic pack back to my lab. They will be the first to test the formula for me," he hissed.

I chuckle, even though I'm raging inside. Ezequiel's anger is fueling his work and I can feel the effects of the wolfsbane begin to subside. My laugh causes Shane to pause. "Your great great grandfather really took that rejection from my Luna personally," I tell him and he begins to breathe heavily, full of anger.

"My family has spent generations looking for the white wolf. Researching the key to immortality for almost 300 years. She is the key. She will give us immortality. Did you know that only one white wolf can exist at a time? I was raised to know what she is, what makes her tick. She runs, replaces and f***s a mate, then leaves him to die and runs again. You are nothing to her but a few decades of f*****g and then she will run again and f**k another. My entire childhood was spent looking for the b***h, though she is easy on the eyes." He looked Natalia's way and I felt my hatred bubbling as I fisted my hands while I waited to regain my strength.

"Don't f*****g look at her," I ground out. He smirked at me and began walking towards me again.

"I will spend eternity looking at her naked body, bruised and abused. I will hit her, rape her and sell the key to immortality to the highest bidders, but not before I destroy the pack and council that shunned my father's research and took away our pack," he said as he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up.

Let's finish this - Ezequiel growled in my head as I let him come forward.

"You're not getting my mate, and you're not getting my pack. You will never touch another shifter again. In fact, you're not going to get to live past the next two minutes." Ezequiel's and my voice overlapped and Shane hesitated as he noticed my one black eye and one brown. "You should have done a little research into who you were f*****g with," I said as I grip the hand that's holding my throat and begin to remove it, "We are Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec God of Sun and War and we protect what is ours." I felt my power at the tip of my fingers and I punched him in the guts as hard as I could. I could feel the electricity flow from my hand and into his torso. He released me and flew backwards, landing with a hard thud. I could see his entire body spasming from the electric shock I'd pumped through his body.

He shifted, trying to get his body to shake off the shock during the shift, but we were ready. I let Ezequiel come forward and by the time Shane had shifted, his neck was in our muzzle and I heard the sickening rip of flesh and bone as we detached his head from his body. Ezequiel retreated back to share control again and we shifted into human form. I lifted Shane's head towards the rogues and summoned my staff. We weren't quite done just yet.

"Your leader is dead. Your lives belong to me now. Surrender in peace and face the judgement of the council or die," I said, my warriors and Crescent Moon's warriors already surrounding them. A few shifted and began to run but I jumped in front of them and let the lighting leave my staff. I usually don't aim to kill, but these people came into my home, hurt my pack and tried to take my mate from me. I had no remorse when their bodies convulsed and they fell to the ground, dead. I looked at the rest of them and saw their shocked expressions before they dropped to the ground and put their hands up. I walked through several people on my way to Natalia. They vowed their heads to show respect. Natalia was walking towards me with the help of Gonzalo. Markus was holding onto Celeste, whose eyes were rimmed red and she kept cleaning her nose.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Celeste," I said as I pulled Natalia to my side and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I heard her sigh and felt her head on my chest.

"I'm so glad you're OK. I got really worried when you couldn't stand," she said, and snuggled further into Markus' embrace.

"What was that? You were fine one minute and then you were stumbling the next," Markus asked.

"Wolfsbane. He injected me when he launched at me, but Ezequiel was able to deal with it quickly. It burnt like hell though." Markus' eyes went wide and Celeste whimpered.

"It's all OK now, Celeste. It's over," I said softly. "Thank you for coming to our help, Markus. I really can't express how much it means to us." I told him, meaning every word.

"We are family now, Helios. No thanks needed. I'm going to take Celeste home but I'll leave you a few warriors to help with the rogues. Call us or have Nat reach out if you need anything. Evergreen will be sending all of this information to the council and, hopefully, they will arrive within a few hours and deal with the rogues."

I nodded and added, "Theo should be looking through their vehicles. If we replace anything relevant we'll let you know. Have a good night." I walked towards the Packhouse and stopped to inspect the damage.

Most of it held up OK but the shutters and some windows would need to be replaced. I saw Mama Isabel walk out and she beelined for me as fast as she could. "What happened? Something shook the house and Tyler came to get me and put me in the basement. What happened to Nat?"

"She's fine, Mama Isabel. She is just tired. We had an attack from some bad people and she helped heal the injured. Everything is fine now." I was touched by the concern she showed towards Nat as she caressed her sleeping face to assure herself that she was fine. She looked around and noticed the destruction, bodies and warriors cleaning up.

"I will make some food for everyone. Go put Nat in bed. I'll make sure to check on her while you take care of your boys," she instructed, and I chuckled.

"Yes, Mama Isabel. I'm sure everyone will appreciate your food after all the work we've got ahead of us." I walked into the Packhouse as the few mates were walking out of the basement. They looked at Nat in my arms in dismay. "She is fine, just tired. Please assist Mama Isabel or help with some of the clean up. I'm glad to see all of you unharmed," I said, and continued up the stairs.

I laid Nat down and pulled the covers over her before I went into the bathroom for a cloth. That was when I noticed all the dried blood on my body. I cleaned her face and smiled as she purred but didn't wake. I went and took a quick shower and put on a pair of jeans and shirt before I went back down to help. Gonzalo and Evergreen were walking inside with a bunch of electronics, followed by Theo, who had both rocket launchers in his arms and looked like a kid with new toys. "Lock that up somewhere secure before you hurt yourself," I chuckled at him. "Where are you guys setting up?"

"Conference room. Evergreen is going to try to crack the security encryption."

"I'm glad to see you up and about, Alpha Helios. That explosion looked really bad," Evergreen said.

"You saw it?" I asked.

He nodded and looked a little awkward. "I got a notification when you pushed the lock down button. I - I'm sorry if that's overstepping. I've kind of grown fond of you guys so I looked at the cameras and told my Alpha."

"Thank you. You saved a lot of lives," I told him and his face looked relieved. I went outside and started to take a full inventory of the damage. Aside from the packhouse and gates, there was no physical damage. I walked over to Sebastian, who was giving out instructions for the cleanup.

"We're gathering all the dead rogues and humans for burning." He motioned to an area far away from the Packhouse.

"Did we lose anyone?" I asked.

"We lost Aleksandr, the puma. He was the gate guard on shift. The rest, Nat healed us all. f**k Helios. I thought I was done for; our Luna is truly a miracle worker," he said, and I could feel the emotion in his voice. I gave him a hug.

"Why don't you go look for Theo and call it a night? Nat will be sleeping for a while, so I can take over the rest of the cleanup. He nodded and left and I began helping with the body cleanup. I grabbed Shane's body and threw it unceremoniously into the pile. I grabbed his head and clothing and noticed it was heavier than it should be. I looked through the pockets and found a cell phone. It began buzzing as I held it. The contact ID said Dad.

'Gonzalo, tell Evergreen I have Shane's phone. Maybe it will help,' I said.

'I'll be right out for it,' he said. I was watching the pile of bodies burn when I felt Gonzalo at my side.

"Hell of a night, Alpha," he said.

"Yeah. Glad we kept casualties to a minimum," I said.

"You and me both." We stood there watching the fire born before he said, "I'm enjoying putting down roots. I was never one to like moving around so much," he said.

"Yeah, me either. Things should settle down a bit now. We have a lot of work to keep us busy for a while. Hopefully, Evergreen can get into their networks and finally take down the rest of their labs. Then we can just...live." I said, then smirked, "and maybe you can replace your mate soon. Nat needs some help from her Beta."

He rolled his eyes at me and took the phone, but I saw the longing in his eyes. I hadn't seen him with a partner for at least two centuries and while I tried not to pry, I could tell something was holding him back. After the cleanup, I sent a few emails out for materials and repairs to Alpha Rhett before I went back inside to see everyone sitting around while Mama Isabell was fussing over some people that still had a few injuries.

I grabbed a plate of snacks and took it up to the room. Natalia would be hungry when she woke up. I crawled in with her and pulled her to me. "You did so good tonight. You saved so many of us." I whispered to her. She cuddled further into me but didn't wake up. I gave her forehead a kiss and inhaled her scent of passion fruit and flan, letting it lull me into sleep.