“You got everything you could have ever wanted!” Kal continued, taking no notice of the chill his confession had put in the air. “So why are you sending me to death?! Father! This isn’t fair! F-Father! Dad!” Iso closed the door behind them, but they could still hear Kal’s traumatic shrieks for his father as they departed down the hall and descended the stairs.
When the cries finally faded to silence, Callahan clapped his hands together. “Talk about a grand finale!” he said with a boisterous laugh. Nova stared in disbelief. How could he possibly be smiling after all that had transpired?
“Now, I see the looks on your faces right now. I know what you’re thinking, and I get it. Truly, I do. To learn that one of your own would commit such a heinous crime, you must be feeling just awful,” Callahan continued, feigning grief. “Please know that, amusing though it was when I did find out, there was a time previously where I was just in the dark as you! Kal has always been one for creativity. He just gets these ideas and decides to roll with them, you see. Pulling one of your wolves into the fold was a plan he’d invented all on his own.” He positively beamed at Neveah. “I have to say, when I found out the old fool was the mole, I was quite shocked at first, as I’m sure you are right now, Neveah dear. I know you’d never betray your sons that way; they’re your greatest weakness, after all. Which means that Isiah did this all on his own, hm?” Neveah’s responding glare was icy and cruel; it made Callahan laugh. “Precisely.” His gaze slid from the mother to land eagerly on Amara. “But what did you expect after you threw away all past philosophy to allow a human into your pack? If I recall correctly, you two were birds of a feather in your hatred of the human race. Even I have to ask, what changed?” He waited expectantly for a few beats of cold silence before cracking a smile. “Strong and silent, just your style, I suppose.
“But poor Isiah, am I right? He must have been feeling so alone after you betrayed your values and allowed your son to muddy the mountain bloodline.” His smile turned wicked and dark. “No wonder he jumped ship.”
“Nate. Ian,” Nemoy barked, keeping his hard gaze carefully on Callahan.
“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.
“Find Isiah Levens. Detain him with extreme prejudice. That is your number one priority.”
“Yes, sir!” they repeated and departed the office.
Callahan waved them away as the door closed behind them. “Yes, go, go. My men won’t stop you,” he assured, a cocky grin firmly on his face. He was enjoying watching them scramble to pick up the pieces of their broken pack, and it made Nova’s blood boil. “I have a feeling Nemoy and I have a few other matters to discuss after all.”
“They can be discussed at a later date, I’m sure,” Nemoy replied stonily. “For now, I have two detainees to try, so if you’ll excuse me.” He turned to exit, and motioned for the rest of them to follow.
“Very well, Mountain Alpha, but you know as well as I that this isn’t over,” Callahan warned, his large hand tracing circles over the crinkled and furrowed letter that Nemoy hadn’t bothered to retrieve. “As everyone knows by now, this letter is a fake, a lie forged by my wayward son in hopes to incite an unjust war. Any hopes that you had of reconstituting the peace treaty that our predecessors created when you thought this summons was authentic is effectively annulled.” He lifted the note delicately in his hands. Slowly, he tore piece after piece from the parchment, turning it into confetti as he spoke. “There was never going to be talks of peace like this note promised you, I’m afraid. There hasn’t been peace between our clans in quite some time.”
A shiver ran up Nemoy’s spine, the most reaction he’d shown the entire meeting. “Is there a point to your diatribe, Valley Alpha?” His voice was blank and emotionless, and Nova could discern that he was steeling himself for the worst.
Callahan’s grin was heartless and cruel, an air of madness adding a maniacal touch to his glee. “My point is that Valley wolves have been entitled to Mountain territory for over a century. Your clan stole what was rightfully ours, and my aim is to finally get it back. I’m not weak like the Alphas that came before me. No longer will we settle for peace while you reap the rewards.”
“You’re deluded, Callahan, blinded by your own false sense of purpose,” Nemoy growled. “Our lands were won in battle, not unjustly stolen.”
“Oh?” Callahan retorted, a manic edge coloring his tone. “I feel we’ve been fed very different stories, fellow Alpha. But as they say, history is often written by the victors, I suppose.” Callahan stood, instantly putting everyone on alert. “Never you worry, Mountain Alpha. If battle is how you wish to settle this fairly, then I’ll happily oblige.”
The challenge hung heavy in the air, suspense making the silence thick enough to choke on. After a few more beats, Callahan chuckled; it was harsh and pitiless, and Nova could definitely understand where Kal got his lunacy from. “Oh, but aren’t you a bit short on men these days? It’s such a shame that my recalcitrant son defiantly led those attacks on your territory.” He sighed forlornly. “No matter how much I tried to recalibrate him, he just wouldn’t listen.” He shrugged with a sickening smile. “Oh well, he’s now slated to justly atone for his crimes before the Tribunal, so all’s well that ends well, right Nemoy?”
The full weight of what Callahan was saying hit Nova all at once, nearly winding him. “You son of a bitch,” he whispered.
“Nova…” Nemoy warned, but Nova ignored him.
“This was all you. All of it, from the very beginning. You manipulated Kal into doing your dirty work, breeching borders to kill humans and Mountain wolves alike. Knowing how desperate he was for your approval, you coerced him into breaking pack law in your stead, chipping away at our numbers slowly but surely so that when the time came, you could declare war and win by a landslide.” Nova’s stomach curdled as he stared down the Alpha, mystified at how truly heartless Callahan Vann was. “You molded your own son into the perfect fall guy while you reaped all the benefits.”
Callahan placed a dramatic hand on his chest, faking offense. “Well I’d never! You know as well as I that if I had any hand in my son’s most heinous crimes, it would be a direct violation of the treaty and I’d be sentenced to trial by Clan Tribunal. I’m sorry, dear boy, but you are severely mistaken.” The blatant sarcasm in his voice told Nova all the truth he needed to know, and rage made him see red.
Nemoy stood between Nova and Callahan before Nova could do something that everyone regretted. “Do you truly believe that we’d enter your lands without being prepared for battle, Callahan?”
Callahan’s glare was cocky as he answered Nemoy. “Oh, I certainly believe you’d try to prepare. And try you did, if my information is correct. But women and children?” His gaze flitted to Amara and back. “And humans? Seriously? Surely you could have thought of something better on such short notice.” He grinned. “I also know that even despite this radical call for your pups to fight, you are still spread too thin. Only a small handful of fighters could stay behind to protect your dear wife and her precious little bun in the oven. It would be such a tragedy if anything were to happen to her while you were away on business.” Nova saw Nemoy’s skin pale at the mention of Ivanah, and Callahan bellowed a throaty joyous laugh. “Ah, that’s a look I love to see! I severely over-estimated you, Nemoy Lowery. Now you have two options. Either concede your borders willingly and without dispute or accept my declaration of war.”
He licked his lips in excitement. “Either way, the Mountain will be mine by nightfall.” There was a moment of silence following Callahan’s final pronouncement.
Suddenly, Nemoy’s eyes flashed with a fury the likes of which Nova had never seen before. A guttural growl bubbled from his throat as he roared, “I choose war!”
Chapter 16
Everything happened all at once. The door burst open and the Valley wolves from earlier charged in. Nova had a moment to see Jaden and Amara leap into action before he moved instinctively with his brother. His heart did a l
ittle flip-flop seeing his mate charge a group of angry shifters intent on killing her, but he had to trust that everything they’d been through was enough to keep her alive until he was able to protect her again.
Nemoy went straight for Callahan, but when he jabbed his partially shifted claws at where the enemy Alpha had been sitting, Callahan was already long gone. Shots rang out behind them, and Nova turned to see Callahan headed directly for Amara.
With a roar, Nova immediately changed direction, tackling Callahan to the side while he was distracted. Callahan recovered before Nova, driving a punch deep into Nova’s stomach as he tried to stand. Nova doubled over in pain, falling back to his knees as the wind was knocked from him. He saw stars and for one breath, he thought he might actually pass out.
Nemoy leaned down to see if he was okay, but he pushed his brother away. “Amara,” he gasped, still regaining his breath. Nemoy nodded his understanding and left.
Nova could just barely make out what was happening through teary eyes. One of the youngest guards lunged at Amara and she pointed the gun down at one of his knees before firing off another shot. It connected and the he howled in agony. Nemoy finished the job with a clawed hand to the boy’s stomach. He was dead before he fell into a heap on the floor.
Nova rose slowly, his torso throbbing where Callahan had connected. He didn’t have time to nurse his bruises. He saw Jaden grappling with Callahan. As he made his way to them, Callahan rose a quick fist, connecting with Jaden’s chin. Jaden fought off the blow quickly, doubling over and redirecting his momentum into a tackle. They both went crashing to the floor.
Nova made it to Jaden as both the felled wolves were recovering. He kicked Callahan back down and reached out an arm to lift Jaden to his feet.
“We need to get out of here,” Jaden gasped, wiping a bit of blood from his lower lip. Nova looked frantically to the only door. Even with one Valley wolf dead, there were still six more and Callahan to worry about. Nemoy was fending off three, protecting their mother as she stayed back out of harm’s way. Amara had three of her own, a gun in one hand, and a knife in the other. As one lunged at her, she ducked his blow and slashed him across the chest, diving away before another wolf could grab ahold of her. The sight of her ignited a glorious sense of pride within him. He allowed himself to relish in it for a second longer before turning his attention back to Callahan.
Nova raised his fist to put him down once again, but Callahan saw him coming and dodged the strike. He grabbed hold of Nova’s forearm as the blow came down and flipped him onto the floor. Within an instant, Callahan was on top of him, raining blows down that Nova could barely block before the next punch was thrown.
Suddenly Callahan launched off of him, forced to the side by Jaden’s tackle. Jaden got a few blows in, but he was considerably smaller than the Valley Alpha and got thrown off easily enough.
Another shot went off in the close quarters of the office room. Amara couldn’t have many bullets left in her small handgun. Jaden was right, they needed a way out, but they were too deep into the house to try and fight their way to the front door. Suddenly a revelation hit him. He looked to the second story office windows that faced east and made a snap decision. Before Callahan could rise to his feet, Nova ran for the nearest window.
“Nemoy,” he called, jamming his elbow through the fragile glass and wincing as it cut into his skin.
“A little busy here, Nova!” Nemoy barked back, swiping his claws aggressively at one of the guards as they tried to close in on Amara’s blind side.
“Window. Now!” Nova shouted before hearing a cry from Jaden’s side of the room.
Nova turned just in time to see Jaden collapse to the floor. It appeared that Callahan had thrown him against the nearby wall before descending upon Amara once more.
“Good idea, Nova, maybe I’ll launch your pet human out of that nice jagged hole you made!” He laughed. Nova’s heart leapt into his throat and he sprang to Amara’s rescue.
He’d nearly made it to her before one of the guys she’d been fending off broke through the barrier she and Nemoy had created, tackling Nova to the floor. For the second time since the fight began, he was winded on the floor, and he watched in utter horror as Callahan seized Amara up by the roots of her hair.
She let out a painful cry that shattered Nova’s heart and Callahan bellowed a triumphant laugh. “Yes, scream for me!”
She raised the gun but one of the men dove at her hand, knocking the weapon uselessly to the floor. Time slowed to a crawl as Nova watched his mate struggle against the powerful Valley wolf, and he knew with his entire being that she wouldn’t succeed to break free. He had to do something, anything. With a beastly roar, Nova thrashed against the man on top of him, finally freeing an arm enough to land a blow to his temple. The wolf rolled off of him with a cry.
As Nova leapt back to his feet, Callahan dragged Amara to the broken window. She kicked and fought to no avail against the strength of his grip, and the only thought that filled Nova’s mind was his absolute need to rescue her from harm. He only had eyes for her, so when another of the guard men lunged for him with clawed hands poised to kill, Nova didn’t notice him until he was too close to dodge.
A single shot echoed in the room and the lunging wolf collapsed to the floor with a spurt of blood. Stunned, Nova turned slowly to the source of the shot. There in the far corner of the office away from harm, Neveah Lowery held Amara’s smoking gun forward, pointed directly at the spot that the attacking wolf was just moments before death.
Nova could only stare. His mother, shooting a gun? She looked at him incredulously, jutting a frantic nod at Callahan. The Alpha had also been shocked immobile by Neveah’s actions, giving her son time to catch up that he was obviously wasting. Nova recovered quickly, nodding his thanks to his mother as he bolted toward his love. He caught a glimpse of Jaden in his run to the window; at some point since being thrown against the wall, he’d not only regained consciousness, but he’d also shifted to his wolf form, putting him at an advantage as he helped Nemoy fend off the remaining five Valley pack members.
Callahan snapped back to his senses before Nova closed the gap between them. He flashed a wicked grin at Nova as he made it to the window, hoisting Amara up by her hair in preparation to shove her through the serrated glass hole.
Nova’s heart began to flutter, and for the first time since they’d started preparing for war all those weeks ago, he thought that he might actually fail in his vow to protect Amara from the dangers of battle. His eyes passed forlornly over hers as her head was nearly hanging over the edge of the windowsill, afraid of the look of complete fear and hopelessness that she’d undoubtedly have on her face. What he actually saw shocked him beyond belief.
There was no fear in Amara’s hardened eyes as they met his. Callahan had her entire head out the window now, but she kept her eyes on Nova, as if alerting him to stay calm. So that’s what he did. If she had a plan, he didn’t want to miss it.
As if on cue, Callahan threw back his head in an exultant whoop of exaltation, and she chose that moment to strike. As Callahan’s head tilted skyward, she pulled a second knife from under her shirt and, one blade gripped in each hand, thrusted her arms down and backward.
One knife embedded itself in Callahan’s upper thigh, the other pierced his torso. Callahan’s hearty guffaw quickly evolved into a throaty cry, ragged and harsh with agony.
And then she twisted the blades.
Callahan released his vise on her hair all at once, and she wrenched the blades free as she fell to the floor. Her landing wasn’t graceful by any means, but even still Nova breathed a sigh a relief. She was free, that’s all he cared about.
Before Callahan could take out his pained frustrations on a still recovering Amara, Nova charged. He had to get him as far away from Amara as possible, now. That’s all that mattered. Callahan made eye contact with Nova’s feverish, frenzied eyes right before Nova tackled him in the stomach, colliding with the grisly wound Amara had
made and propelling the injured wolf through the window.
Callahan grunted in surprise as he descended, but recovered enough to flail and grab ahold of something that might stop his fall. Unfortunately, that something was Nova’s forearm. Both wolves fell through the window faster than they could recover, and Nova could hear Amara’s shocked cry as the ground rushed to meet him from two stories up.
The sound of yet another gunshot brought Nova to his senses. He was on his back, lying in a patch of dried shrubbery outside the Valley Alpha’s house. His vision was blurry and wavering, indicating that he either had passed out or he had a concussion from the fall. Maybe both. Even in his fuzzy state, he could see that Callahan was nowhere to be found.
He rose slowly from where he lay on the lawn, and still his vision swam. He lurched to the side, fearing that he might hurl up old coffee from that morning, but when he put all his weight on his left arm to stabilize, pain shot violently all the way up into his shoulder. He bit back a cry of pain and pulled back his sleeve to investigate. A large bruise was already beginning to form from the forearm to up past the elbow. He wasn’t sure if it was broken, but he knew that arm would be out of commission for the rest of the battle. He muttered a curse under his breath and pulled the sleeve back down.
Vomit long forgotten in the pain, Nova rose gingerly to his feet to continue his search for Callahan. He couldn’t have gotten far; he was a great deal more injured that Nova at this point. As he shuffled carefully around the side of the house, he heard a commotion up above. Looking to the window he’d fallen from, Nova saw one of the guards fight frantically as he was shoved out of the broken window, grabbing fearfully at anything close by, slicing his fingers open on the shards of broken glass to no avail. He screamed as he freefell downward, the wail cutting abruptly short as he landed gracelessly where Nova had laid only moments before. The crack of his neck echoed in the barren mansion yard, killing him instantly.
Mountain Wolf Protectors Complete Series: Books 1 - 4 Page 39
