Chapter 46
Jade
The explosions had stopped, thankfully, and we were able to leave the basement. It took Damian no time to walk through the woods. He had only a few people posted behind him but I knew more were waiting for his signal.
“Hello, brother!” Damian grinned like he was revealing something we didn’t already know.
Rafe took a step forward. “Took you long enough, though I wouldn’t call us brothers yet.”
Damian rolled his eyes. “I know who my father is.”
“Just like you killed him,” Rafe didn’t miss a beat.
Damian looked stunned. “Someone has been doing their homework, I see.”
Rafe shrugged. “What can I say? I was always an overachiever.”
Damian ignored the comment and took the moment to look me over. His eyes snagged on the scarring on both of my arms. “I see you are growing comfortable with the gifts I bestowed upon you.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t know if I would say comfortable but they show me how much stronger I am now.”
“You’re welcome,” Damian chuckled. He had two men and a woman standing behind him. The men wore ski masks like they had when I was captured. But it was the woman that caught my interest. She had long blonde hair like my own, but her roots were starting to grow out brown. Her build was similar to mine and her eyes were green. It was odd, to say the least.
He chose her because she looks like you. She even smells like you.Hints of vanilla tickled my nose. Nalia was ready for a fight.
“Damian, I appreciate you coming all this way here, but there are things you need to know.” Rafe took a step forward. “We aren’t brothers. Your mother wasn’t faithful to my father.”
Damian rolled his eyes. “You think we can play nice now that you think you have discovered something?”
Rafe clenched his jaw. “I don’t want war with you, Cousin.”
“Now we are cousins?” He smirked.
Rafe shook his head. “If you hadn’t touched my mate andyouhadn’t killed so many we could have moved past this. You could have walked away and we would have been fine, but you have tormented too many for too long. You also touched what belongs to me and my wolf doesn’t like that very much.” Rafe’s canines elongated and poked into his bottom lip. The moon was high and full above us. How strange that Damian had chosen a full moon to have this fight. It was when we were at our strongest or did he not know that?
“She doesn’t belong to you, I hate to say.” Damian shook his head while he smiled. “She could belong to whomever she chooses, unfortunately, that would leave you for dead, wouldn’t it? Of course, you would try to possess her with those odds against you.”
Knox cracked his neck. “Do we really have to do this? If he doesn’t want to read what your father wrote then there is nothing we can do. We have to remove him from the lands he has trespassed on.”
Damian rolled his eyes. “I don’t care about what your father wrote. I always assumed my real father was Jared, it was why I had him killed too.”
The blood drained from Rafe’s face and his claws ripped from the tips of his fingers. The whites of his eyes filled completely to black. His voice turned rogue and wolfish. “There is one thing you don’t know about an Alpha, Damian and that’s when you come onto their lands, their power is stronger than anything you can bring. I fought for my place here as Alpha and as such, the magic works with me. The magic in this land runs through my blood.” My mate inhaled deeply. “You have made a grave mistake here.”
Damian took a step forward and raised his hands. Thunder rolled in the distance and rain fell from the heavens. “I don’t care if you have power from your lands. All I wish is to take away what you have. I will die trying to destroy you.”
It must have been Damian’s code word because his army of wolves and witches exploded from the trees. Rafe nodded to me and my nails extended into claws. The Guardians standing with us immediately became wolfish. Their legs remained human but the top half of their body was wolf. I had never seen anything more horrible in my entire life. Damian had picked the wrong pack. The woman that had been standing beside Damian rushed toward me with a gleam in her eye.
“He has wanted me for months because I remind him of you, I am tired of being second. I want to be the one he seeks for this face. Not you.” Her magic slapped me in the chest and I went down on my knees. Nalia let a low growl out and we surged forward. Nalia did something to absorb the pain of the magic. I didn’t have time to ask as I caught each of the witch’s blows. Her hands swung for my face and I was ready. I grabbed her wrist and snapped it. She screamed as she crumpled to the ground. Her hand was limp as I ran to the next person headed my way. I swiped my hand up and gutted the man on the spot.
