Crossing Paths With The White Wolf
Chapter 55

Gonzalo POV

I sat on the bus on our way to Nebraska, lost in my own thoughts of self-hatred. Despite all of my assurances to my friends and hate towards Kassia, I had not been able to stop myself from checking up on her through the night. I was thankful that no one caught me, because I didn't want them to see how pitiful I was. I also hadn't been able to stop myself from looking at her face while she lay unconscious on the bed like a creep. It was just as beautiful as I remembered. How many hours had I spent staring at her sleeping face after we'd made love? Too many. My favorite part had always been when her violet eyes would flutter open and the smile that would grace her lips when she saw me staring at her.

I looked at the three-quarter moon shining through the bus window. Celeste said soon. Will we replace our mate during the next full moon? I f*****g hoped so.

'Are you really OK?' Sebastian asked me. I turned and saw him staring at me. Theo is asleep on his shoulder.

'I will be...soon.' I said, thinking again about my future mate.

'I've seen the paintings,' he said, and I froze.

'Those were private,' I told him, annoyance clear in my response.

'I wasn't looking for them. I helped you move to San Diego, remember? The portfolio was unzipped and a few of the paintings fell out!'

'They don't mean anything. I made them a long time ago. I hadn't looked at them in a long time!' Liar Liar. I looked down to make sure my pants weren't on fire. There was a new one in the back of the closet that I had painted last month.

There was silence at the other end of the mind link for a while. I was about to close it after he didn't say anything when he said, 'You know we're here for you, right? Whatever you need. Friend, wingman, someone to dig a hole and carry a body...you are part of our family. You don't have to deal with it alone this time.'

I felt the stinging of the tears threatening to form behind my eyes and blinked a few times before I teased, 'You're getting soft in your old age or is that Theo's influence?' I winced at my own words after I said them, knowing I had set myself up for what was coming next.

'Theo doesn't make anything in me soft,' He f*****g purred. I groaned out loud and I could hear him chuckling behind me.

'I walked right into that one. Get some rest, old man. It will take more than an old lover to break me. I said, desperately praying it was true.

We drove in silence for a while longer when I suddenly felt someone looking down at me. I looked up to see Adrien looking down at me with a desperate look on his face. He bent down to whisper, "Can I sit with you the rest of the way? I like Richard and all but his mate Lacey just had their first pup a week ago and I've spent the last hour looking at the same cute pup sleeping in the same yet somehow different position. My ovaries both twitched and dried up while looking at them and he still hasn't gone through the whole gallery with me." My laughter surprised me. I heard a few people stir and tried to calm down.

"You're f*****g nuts," I said as I patted the seat. He smiled happily and sat down.

"That's why you love me. I'm your friendly neighborhood vampire. Spreading joy and legs is my mission." Dario laughed in the back of my head. This man was priceless.

"How did you end up as an assassin with your charming, friendly personality?" I asked him honestly while wiping the tears off my face as I struggled to laugh silently. His face suddenly lost its signature goofy grin and I recognized the faraway look of someone lost in their own memories. I bumped his shoulder with mine and it seemed to bring him back out, "You know things are going to be so much duller when this is over and you have to leave. It's been a long time since someone's flirted this much with me." "Are you switching sides, Mr. Aztec Beta?" He said seductively.

"If only! You'd be fun to have in my life." I laughed, "Maybe we can adopt you." Dario agreed wholeheartedly.

We chatted for the next little while until he dozed off on my shoulder. There was something about him that helped me relax. He always managed to get me out of my brooding episodes, though that could have something to do with the fact he never asked me if I was OK. He was always just his happy self and it was contagious. I think I really would miss him when he went back home. I dozed off for a while and woke up when Helios cleared his throat at the front of the bus.

"We're about 15 minutes from the lab. For those of you that are new to the raids, when we're about 5 minutes away from the lab, we will pull over and wait for the signal from our scouts. We will head out on foot from there when they have a change of shifts. The element of surprise is one of our greatest advantages. Each of you has trained for this. The people there are humans with a few supernaturals. The council and the vampire royals have given us the authority to kill without a trial or challenge. Aim to incapacitate if you catch them alone, but if it comes down to you, a fellow warrior or them, you go for the kill. If you're outnumbered, you go for the kill. The human government is aware of our raids and knows that fatalities will occur, but we've been asked to prevent casualties where possible. Use your judgement. I am not one to sanction death so quickly, but whether aware or not, these humans have caused harm and death to many of our people. They will not claim more tonight," Helios finished with a low growl that was met by many growls of agreement.

"I will be lagging behind a bit with the busses as I get the rescued shifter bus ready and then making my way to where they keep the rescued shifters/vampires. If you or anyone with you sustains any serious injuries, please reach out." Natalia added. She was such a big asset in these missions. Her powers had grown as her bond with her wolf and Helios grew. Healing serious wounds was no longer as draining as it once was for her.

"Gonzalo has been observing you all as you trained over the past months. He's seen you interact with our Gammas and with each other. He has divided you into groups he believes will work with efficiency and effectiveness. Please see him for your assignment." Helios finished and I got my tablet out.

"Alright, we're separating into groups of four. Make sure you stick to your team. This isn't a place for you to try to be a hero. I hear of anyone running off half c****d and you may be left behind next time. Like Helios said, they've taken enough lives. Let's not make it easier for them to take more. Zack, Isidro, Pablo and Mateo. You 4 are on the left tower and security. Jonah, Richard, Adam, Olivia. You're on the right. Once the front is taken care of, head towards the back of the property to make sure we don't have any surprises. George, Nicholas and Adrien. You three are with me. We're heading to the locker rooms first. Helios, Gillian, Theo and Elijah. You are clearing the way to the kidnaped shifters. Markus, Evergreen, Danny, Layla, and Jason. You are clearing the way to the main offices and helping gather whatever Evergreen and Alpha Markus need from the computers. The rest of you will follow Theo and Sebastian clear to the rest of the wings. The other teams will join you once our own objectives are secured. Lucas and Paul, you stay with Nat. Where she goes, you go. You three will also drive the shifter bus and this bus inside a few minutes behind the others." I sat back down as the bus began to slow.

The energy and adrenaline was beginning to fill the bus. I rid myself of all thoughts other than the task at hand. This was one of the last labs in the States. We'd so far gotten lucky that each one seemed to be unaware of the other. They were all on closed networks like the one we had rescued Helios. It was hard for the other labs to know they were being raided one by one when they weren't aware of each other.

"It's time. Stay together, be careful, watch each other's backs." Helios' voice echoed through the bus and we all stood. Helios kissed Nat and got off the bus. The rest of us followed. We approached the perimeter quietly and quickly. The two teams went to take care of the guards, while Helios and Markus jumped over the gate to open it for Nat and the buses.

They dispatched the guards there easily enough. One hit and they crumpled to the ground, telling us they were only humans. We rushed past them as they waited for their teams to catch up. Adrien used his speed to disarm the man coming out of the side building we knew would contain the locker rooms. All the labs were different, yet shared similar layouts. This was the 4th one and, so far, all had been the same. We dashed in and ran into the weapons room. We still had the element of surprise, though I could hear the sirens start, so we took care of the three that had made it inside. We had just knocked the last one out, when I heard the door open. The cavalry was here for their weapons, unaware that we had already taken them. They rushed at us, all taking a few at a time. This room was small enough that they couldn't get in all at once. I thought I heard someone yell vampire but didn't pay much attention as I kept fighting two at once.

I dodged a punch and managed to knock out one of the guards. I turned and watched someone coming inside with a goddamn crossbow trying to aim at Adrien. Instinct took over and I knew there would be no time to warn him, so I dove across and pushed him down and out of the way as I felt the arrow embed itself in my chest. Nicholas and George roared and tackled the man with the crossbow. Adrien dragged me around the weapon safe, protecting me from the rest. He turned and snarled at the one approaching us and immediately, the man's throat was spurting blood as Adrien slashed his throat quicker than I could follow. I moved to pull the arrow and Adrien grabbed my hand away at the same time as Dario screamed at me to stop.

"Don't touch it! Link Nat. Get her here," he said. He was covered in blood, his eyes red and concern in his face.

"I'll be fine. Werewolf remember? I heal fast," I told him.

"It nicked your heart. I can hear it beating wrong. Don't take that out until she's here and can heal you." He said as he grabbed another one and twisted its neck. It seemed he no longer cared to leave them alive. Not that I blamed him. I can only imagine his fear of almost being staked.

He's not wrong. Link Nat. - Dario said, then growled at the thought that passed through my head so quickly, I didn't even realize I was having it. I sighed.

'Nat, I need your help. Kind of took an arrow to the chest.' I linked her.

'Nicholas has already linked me. I'm almost to you. We are finishing the people outside the weapons room.' She said, and once I paid attention to things around me, I could hear her fighting outside the room. The sounds finally quieted and Adrien moved from where he was blocking my view from the rest. There were bodies on top of bodies littered on the small floor. Natalia made her way through and cursed when she saw me.

"What, I don't look that bad. There's not even much blood," I said defensively, looking down.

She kneeled next to me, "You look like you've lost a lot of blood, super pale, which means you're probably bleeding it all internally." She pulled me forward slightly and frowned. "The arrow didn't push through. We're going to have to do this the hard way." "That doesn't sound pleasant," I said.

"Well, we can either pull the arrow out and heal all the damage the head will do on it's way back out or we can push the arrow through so we can cut off the head and slide out a little safer. You will live through both of them, but both choices will be painful." I let my head hit the wall. Of course it will. What part of my life lately wasn't painful lately? "Do whichever you think is best." I told her. She looked at me and nodded.

"Adrien. I need you to hold him. He can't move. George, Nicholas, hold his legs," She instructed. Once they were in place, she grabbed the arrow shaft and looked at me. "I'm really sorry about this. On three." She said and I nodded, readying myself for it. "One..." She pushed her body weight on the arrow and I groaned.

"That was not three," I said through gritted teeth. I heard Adrien whimper slightly and I looked to his side and realized my claws had come out and they were digging into his arm. I immediately retracted them. "Sorry." I said apologetically. He looked at me weird, then smiled and shook his head. "What?" I asked him, confused.

"You literally saved my life and are apologizing for giving me small cuts on my arms while you're on the floor with an arrow through your torso. You're just a weird man," he said.

I shrugged and turned back to Nat. "Did it work?"

"Yes. I need you to pull forward. Adrien, hold the arrow shaft still so I can break the tip." She instructed.

"Not exactly how I thought holding a shaft coming out of Gonzalo's body would go...." He said as I pushed forward for them to work and I laughed at his words until pain shot through my body. I heard Nat murmur something about horny men as she went around my body. I groaned as I felt the arrow vibrating inside my body as she removed the tip and gritted my teeth. Dario whimpered in frustration at his inability to help me heal until the arrow was out.

"Adrien, pull the arrow from the front now. All in one go. I need to start healing him the moment the arrow is out. He's already bleeding around it. It will start gushing once it's removed." She looked a little worried, though I knew she would do all she could and that was a lot.

Adrien didn't even bother to count. He was looking at me worryingly and the moment he grabbed the arrow, he pulled it out in one fluid motion. I panted at the pain as Nat put her hand over the wound. "No, slow breaths. Slow your heart. It will go faster if you slow your heart rate." Nat told me and I started to slow my breaths. I could feel Dario healing me as well as Nat. It was quite a weird feeling. I couldn't see but I could feel the tissue mending itself with both their help. After a few minutes, she sighed and smiled at me. "You have an amazing gift. That was surreal," I told her with a bit of awe.

"Go to the bus. You're done for this one. You've clearly lost a lot of blood," She teased as she blushed. I knew she was still not used to getting praise. "You too, Adrien. You're done for the night, go make sure he's OK. Nicholas said you could tell it had nicked his heart so I trust you to replace me if something goes wrong." "Humor me, he looks shaken', she added to me via mind link. I nodded at her.

Adrien helped me up and we headed towards the bus. I instructed Nicholas and George to stick to Nat. I grabbed a water and threw another to Adrien. He looked at me weird until he saw me washing with it and then he did the same. The man looked like Carrie. We got onto the bus and sat down. We sat in silence for a while. Dario was busy finishing healing me and I knew I needed to replace a lot of blood by the light-headedness I felt even after Nat had healed me.

"You saved my life," Adrien broke the silence. I looked at him curiously. He looked lost in thought, like the idea of me saving him was perplexing to him.

"We're a team. That's what teams do? Plus, you're my friend." I said and rested my head on the seat. The truth was, in the short time that I'd known him, I'd come to think of him as family.

"No one's done that for me before. No one except Snow White." I tried not to flinch at the mention of her name. I wanted to ask how she had earned that nickname but it wasn't the time. I wasn't sure it would ever be.

I shrugged, "Well you must have had shitty people in your life until now. Friends protect each other" I said as I felt myself passing out.

"That's true," he said. I felt myself falling asleep and I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I heard him whisper as I got pulled into a deep sleep, "Dormi lupo, ti proteggerò (Italian: Sleep wolf, I'll protect you)."