Saved by the Alpha

by Jessica Snow

  "Incoming!" he yelled, vaulting the ruined table and heading towards the explosion. Already he could see bodies, at least two of the Alpha wolves were bleeding from the throats, their jugular veins sliced open in the explosion. They would not survive.

  "Kim! Kimberly!" he cried out, looking through the swirling smoke and dust for his sister. He found Kim on the ground, covered in fine shards of glass, the concussion of the blast knocking her to her knees. "Are you okay?"

  "Yes, Brother," Kim said, regaining her feet. "I seem to have warned us too late."

  "No time for that," Keith said, looking toward the direction of the incoming fire. He couldn't see anything yet, but he knew the helicopter had to be close. "Kim, I need you to go get Melanie. Keep her safe."

  "But I'm...."

  "You're the only one I can trust fully with this, Sister," Keith said, his eyes ablaze with meaning. "Keep my Mate and my son safe."

  Kim closed her eyes and nodded, dashing through the hole torn into the side of the Lockwood Estate and sprinting off into the night. Keith watched her go for just a moment before he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Keith!"

  Turning, Keith restrained his immediate desire to rip Nioclas Thornblood's head from his shoulders. He must have known his daughter was a traitor to their people. "What do you want, Sir Thornblood?"

  Thornblood swallowed deeply, before holding his hand out in a gesture of peace. "You were right. Morrigan betrayed us all. But her mind is not my mind. Let us end this rift between our Clans, and defend our people together, with honor."

  Just as Keith reached to take Thornblood's hand, the sound of machine guns could be heard coming from the direction of the road. Keith quickly clasped his arm against Thornblood's and nodded. "I think there is plenty of honor and glory to be found near the front gates, Nioclas. We shall speak of your daughter and our Clans later."

  Both Alpha Males sprinted out through the smoking hole in the wall, followed by their respective allies. As they ran, their bodies changed, flowing like water into their wolf forms, as chilling howls echoed through the night sky. Already at least a hundred men armed with heavy machine guns and night vision goggles were streaming through the front gates of the Lockwood estate, which lay in a smoking ruin, the bodies of ten Lockwood Clan members laying torn among the rubble. They quickly set up firing positions, backed by a military-style Humvee armed with a Mk 19 grenade launcher, unleashing hell against the Lockwood forces and the assembled Alphas.

  Bodies began to fall, but the brave wolves pressed their counterattack. There were gaps in their enemies abilities, they knew. Their night vision goggles paled in comparison to werewolf senses, and their automatic weapons offset by their weaker bodies and slower reactions. It was just a matter of how much advantage their surprise attack would give them, and if it was enough to tip the balance in the attacker's favor.

  Chapter 21

  Mel waited in the sitting room, her Glock in hand, dressed in jeans and a ballistic vest from the estate supplies, praying that Keith was safe. She could feel Kim coming for her, and knew that it was best if she waited where she was. In this chaos, even the psychic link could be strained to uselessness.

  The door to the master suite opened, and Kim and Valeria burst in, Kim carrying her own sidearm while Valeria stood in wolf form. She was an impressive wolf in Melanie's opinion, taller than Kim was in wolf form, the silver of age threaded through her fur adding gravitas to her frame.

  "Let's go," Kim said, as Mel rushed across the carpeted floor. "Keith wants me to get you out of here. We're going to get to the chopper."

  Even in all of the tension and danger, Mel could see the ironic smile in her Sister's face. "How many years have you been wanting to say that?" she asked, as they ran down the hallway.

  "Since about 1987," Kim replied, turning the corner and heading for the stairs. Valeria led the way, when suddenly at the top of the stairs a shot echoed through the hall, and Valeria's head seemed to expand sideways for a moment before a jet of blood and brain matter exploded from the hole, splattering against the wall as the proud former Alpha Female dropped to the floor, dead.

  "Mother!" Kim screamed, sprinting towards her fallen mother's body. She hadn't even begun to kneel when a black-garbed boot came from a hidden alcove, kicking her in the head and sending her tumbling down the staircase. Kim landed hard, striking her head twice on the steps before stopping on the landing below, unconscious.

  Melanie couldn't spare her Sister a glance as she pulled her Glock up to the firing position, squeezing off two shots in the direction of whoever had just murdered her mother in blood and attacked her Sister. Her face paled as she saw Morrigan Thornblood step out of the small alcove, a bullet hole in her arm, but otherwise unharmed.

  "Ah, if it isn't the little whore," Morrigan said, Melanie speechless as she watched her bullet wound begin to heal. "You know, you just ruined my favorite jacket."

  Melanie knew she couldn't focus on the horror in front of her. Letting her cop instincts kick in, she aimed directly at the red head's eyes.

  "Bitch, I'm going to do a lot worse before I'm out of ammo."

  Keith leapt through the air, his body a furry arrow as he tackled the first Silver Bringer soldier. Plunging his claws through the man's throat, he flexed his hand, tearing his head clean off. While Keith was bleeding, none of the wounds were too serious, and now he could even the odds. Slipping back into semi-human form, Keith picked up the M-203 machine gun and socked it to his shoulder. "To me!" he cried, squeezing off a burst towards the enemy positions.

  At his cry, a victorious howl erupted from the remaining wolves, and he could feel his blood rush as his Clan brethren tore into the enemy afresh. Soon, more positions fell, and with every loss, the Silver Bringers felt the sting of their own weapons being turned back upon them, now wielded by semi-changed wolves who could fit their hands through the trigger guards.

  Still, Keith could see wolves falling. The tide was turning in their favor for sure, but it could possibly end up a Pyrrhic victory, he thought. Clearing his mind, Keith sighted in on the Humvee with the grenade launcher when he heard the Huey helicopter swoop overhead, razing the ground with machine gun fire. Keith barely avoided the blast, rolling to the side and squeezing a short burst off at the Mk19 gunner, missing completely. Cursing, Keith bounded forward, when he felt the presence of Nioclas Thornblood on his side.

  "Hell of a fight, isn't it?" the older Alpha said, grinning madly. "Haven't had this much fun since your dad and I took on the fucking Hell's Angels back in '72."

  "You're mad, you know that?" Keith replied, feeling his own grin stretching his face. Thornblood might have been mad, but he was right. They were werewolves, and there was always going to be a part of them that yearned for battle, for bloodshed, for slaughter. While the modern world may have partially tamed them, it would never fully control their kind, and when the opportunity presented itself, the inner wolf burst forth, ready to conquer again.

  "Mad enough to kill those fuckers," Thornblood replied, pulling his scavenged M-16 up and firing a burst that almost decapitated the Humvee's gunner. "First one to the launcher gets to use it!" he cried, bounding towards the now empty Humvee.

  Keith was hot on his heels. Dodging the shots of the desperate Silver Bringer forces, Keith flew through the air, landing beside Thornblood just as the man reached the triggers, grinning at Keith in victory. "My turn," he said, blasting the few Silver Bringer soldiers left around them.

  The night dropped eerily silent, and Keith almost let loose a howl of victory when a new sound pulsed through the night air, clattering, and rumbling. Coming around the corner, 25mm chain gun ready, was a Bradley fighting vehicle. Keith looked at Thornblood, who just shrugged. "At least they didn't bring a fucking Abrams tank."

  Chapter 22

  Melanie retreated quickly, trying to keep her eyes on Morrigan as she stalked her through the hallways of the upper floor of the estate. She was down to three rounds now, and while she knew she had hit the you
ng wolf at least a few times, she was still coming, although she was limping from the bullet in her left kneecap.

  "Still coming, wench," Morrigan said, spitting blood between her teeth. "Then I get to return all this pain, with interest."

  "Not if I put a round in your head, bitch-wolf," Melanie replied, firing two of her final three rounds. She clipped Thornblood in the shoulder, spinning her around, but still she didn't fall. Melanie knew she had only one shot left. "Damn bitch, can't you just stop?"

  "Why should I?" Morrigan replied. "You and your fucking Clan has ruined me. I can't go back to my Clan, I know that. My Mother would already be looking for me if she wasn't out there fighting, and my Father will end my life. But before he does, I at least get the satisfaction of knowing your miserable existence is done, and the future of Clan Lockwood with it."

  Morrigan pounced, Melanie's final shot going wild as she was tackled, her head banging against the carpeted floor, her head spinning, the world going gray.

  * * *

  "Flank the far side!" Keith yelled as he saw the Humvee torn apart by the Bradley's 25mm chain gun. Instead of exploding in a gigantic funeral pyre, the vehicle bonged and rattled with rounds puncturing its thin aluminum sides. "Well, there's a good reason to use diesel instead of gas."

  "You're telling me," Thornblood fiercely grinned, blood running into his right eye from a shrapnel wound. "I'm just glad I got the last of those fucking grenades launched before that Bradley turned me into cheese."

  Keith nodded and turned towards the main threat. It was supported by at least another fifty troops, and he estimated that at best he had fifty or sixty wolves left still able to fight. The attack had been swift before all of his Lockwood forces could be assembled at the estate. There was only about thirty or so Lockwood wolves, the forty Alphas, and their bodyguards. Even a few of the children had joined in the fight, recognizing the level of threat. While that meant there were at least two hundred fifty werewolves, the attacks had been swift and deadly, the initial air strike taking out at least a dozen wolves, and the ground attack killing another thirty or forty more. With some wolves having to remain behind to defend against the air attack and wounds crippling others at least temporarily, their numbers were severely depleted.

  Climbing to his knees, Keith prepared to charge, when suddenly he was struck with a blinding pain in his gut. Doubling over, he checked himself carefully before focusing.

  "Oh my God," he groaned, his eyes going back towards the estate. The few men there were firing into the air, as the Huey helicopter descended towards the northern gardens.

  "What is it?" Thornblood asked, his eyes wide. "The house is empty. Let them blow up the fucking thing, you have enough money to rebuild it!"

  "Not empty," Keith said, turning. "Melanie. My son calls to me."

  Thornblood turned his gaze back and nodded. "Then go Alpha of the Lockwood Clan. I have communication with my wife, we will coordinate the attack. Save your family."

  "You have my gratitude," Keith said, bounding away from the pitched battle. Putting everything he had into his sprinting, he hurdled the bodies and wreckage on his way back to the estate house, not even noticing as the rounds from the Bradley tore up the turf and grass around him. His wife was in danger, and he had to get to her. Now.

  * * *

  Melanie could feel herself being carried, and for just a moment, she thought perhaps it had all been a dream. Valeria's death, the attack, Kimberly going tumbling down the stairs, it had to all be just a dream. Then she felt her feet sickly strike a door frame, jarring her, and she realized that it was no dream. She could hear the sounds of the battle raging outside, and nearer by, the unmistakable whup-whup-whup of a Huey helicopter, familiar from a childhood of military action movies. She struggled, only to have her arms squeezed tightly.

  "Don't fucking move, or else I'll kill you now," Morrigan Thornblood said, her face grim. "If you're lucky, the Silver Bringers might just let you live a while before killing you."

  "You realize you're a dead woman too, right?" Mel whispered, her voice barely audible. Morrigan laughed.

  "Yeah, I know. If I even get out of this shit alive, I'm going to be hunted by Silver Bringer and werewolf alike. But you see, it doesn't matter. As long as I know you're dead, I can deal with the consequences."

  "What did I ever do to deserve your hatred?" Melanie asked. "You had so much promise, so much potential. Valeria told me what she knew about you from the time of your birth. You were smart, smarter than me for sure, maybe even smarter than Kimberly. You would have made a fine Alpha Female."

  "Perhaps. But you robbed me of my one chance to help my Clan," she said. "The word quickly spread through the Clans, and I saw as soon as we arrived, Keith will never take a Second Mate. His heart and his Clan rest only in you. And no other Clan would accept me as a First Mate since I would be merely a rebound case. So, it doesn't really matter now, does it? Of course, I do have my regrets. Should I have agreed to the attack? No. I understand that, and I know that my Clan is out there dying along with yours, and many others. But, if I am to be condemned to the fires of Hell.... well, at least I'll have company."

  "No," Melanie said, her voice calm and assured. "When you die, Morrigan Thornblood, you die without honor."

  "As you wish. Here are your new.... caretakers," she said, kicking open the rear door of the estate and carrying her into the garden. The Huey's rotors still spun, ready to lift off at any time.

  "I have your target!" she screamed into the rotor wash, casually holding Melanie over her head. Melanie held very still, knowing that a fall from this height could easily kill her baby.

  "Bring her here!" a loudspeaker on the Huey boomed, and Morrigan ran, hunched over, carrying Melanie like a child towards the cargo door. Setting her inside, Melanie could barely struggle before she felt four strong hands grasp her around the shoulders and ankles.

  "Now call off the rest of the attack!" Morrigan hollered at the commander, a tall man with sunglasses covering his gaunt cheeks, even in the darkness of night. "You swore that my Clan would not be destroyed!"

  "We make no deals with evil," the man replied, pulling his .50 caliber pistol and firing it into Morrigan's chest. The recoil knocked the girl back, laid out on the lawn to gasp into the air as the Huey started to lift off. As it was clearing the ground, about forty feet in the air, Keith came sprinting towards the helicopter, his face written in a mask of rage and anger.

  "No!" he cried, leaping towards the helicopter. Even as he did, he knew he had been too late. With a chilling slowness, he saw every detail as he rose towards the chopper. He could see Melanie, her eyes awash in fear and hope, reaching out with one arm while three men struggled with holding her back. He could see the dim blue lights that controlled the radios and other equipment in the cargo area of the Huey. He could see the moon reflecting off the sunglasses of the cavernous man in the doorway. But most of all, he could see the barrel of the .50 caliber handgun pointed right at him, and the hammer rising to fire a round into his head.

  Chapter 23

  Kimberly felt hands under her shoulders, lifting her upper body gently. Squinting her eyes, she blinked, the world swimming in her vision. "Shhhh," a soft male voice said, supporting her carefully. "You've had a rough tumble, and I think your right arm may be broken, but you'll be all right."

  Kim blinked again, to see the young man with reddish black hair kneeling next to her. He looked familiar, and it took her a moment before she placed him. Kensuke Thornblood, Morrigan Thornblood's younger brother. "My mother?" she asked, as soon as she could make words.

  "The honorable Dame Lockwood is dead," Thornblood said sadly. "My sister has betrayed us all. My mother had dispatched me to stop her, but I was too late."

  Kimberly accepted his help as she got to her feet, looking back up the stairs. Just visible over the edge of the first step was the soft furred body of her Mother. Swallowing her rage and sadness, she focused on her duty as Alpha Female of Clan Lockwood. "And my Si
ster?"

  "I do not know. I just arrived, and I found you at the bottom of these steps after seeing your Mother's body."

  "Then let's get to tracking," Kimberly replied, woozily taking a step up the stairs. She must have been struck her head harder than she realized, she thought, as she was exhibiting all the classic signs of a concussion. "Damn. Can you lend me a hand?"

  "Of course," Kensuke replied, throwing her unbroken left arm over his shoulders and helping her up the stairs. Reaching the landing, he pointedly kept his body between Kim and her Mother's, sniffing the air. "That direction," he pointed, "I smell Morrigan's blood in that direction."

  Kim nodded gratefully, aware that in her current condition she couldn't really discern anything. Making their way down the hallway, Kimberly could feel her body's healing processes take effect, her right arm tingling as the bones slowly knitted. Reaching the servant's stairwell on the far end of the hallway, she could stand on her own, and led Kensuke hurriedly down the stairs.

  Distressing to Melanie was the repeated empty cartridges she saw on the carpeting as they hurried. Whatever had happened, firearms had been involved, which meant Melanie. "If your sister has even harmed Melanie, I swear....."

  "You'll have to get in line behind me," Kensuke replied, hurrying as they heard the thumping beat of the Huey landing in the northern gardens. "I give you my word, I will stay by your side until your Sister is safe."

  The two werewolves sprinted towards the back door, bursting out just as they saw Keith leap into the air after the lifting off Huey. Kim could see the look in the Silver Bringer's eyes as his pistol pointed at Keith and the lick of flame that erupted from the barrel as he fired. Her throat worked, and a primal scream ripped from her lips.