The Beta's Second Son

21.

Deadly Assailants.

Xavier.

My eyes hurt, my body ached and I could still feel the ringing caused by the flash bomb, luckily I had werewolf healing, Marquee coughed harshly as he crawled toward me, I did the same as we dived behind the wall that separated the lounge and dining room. "Are you okay?" He asked breath heavy and heart pounding. "I'm alive, though butt naked and a little rib sore." I chortled as the smoke invaded the whole house, the front door opened as careful steps invaded the house, I had no idea what to do. "This has Silas written all over it, why would he even go to these lengths!" I whisper yelled as both Marquee and I struggled to breath and were coughing harshly.

"Jude and my mother are in the bunker underneath the house, my dad had it built after a rogue alpha tried to kidnap me, it just became handy." Marquee projects into my mind and suddenly I was relieved, they were safe but we weren't. "Search the house, they are here!" A voice called out with a growl emitted in the end, that was definitely an angry wolf. "We seriously need to get out of here but with the smoke -" I paused looking at my mate, his skin was turning red, as if it was being burnt, shit, bane vapour, I quickly covered his mouth and nose, tore the sheet I clung to near me and wrapped it around his nose and mouth, I did the same for me. "Bane vapour mixed with the smoke." I spoke in his mind and I was sure he cursed. "They are trying to flush us out." He asserted and that made complete sense, in the smoke, we could hide, so the bane vapour would have us run outside where he was most likely waiting, but I was smarter than that.

"There are four in the house, we need to attack them, grab their gear and I'm sure they have more of those smoke bombs and flash grenades, we get that and find a way to get out." Marquee was apparently also a bright bulb, then it clicked in my head, I had liquid wolfsbane in the house plus poisoned blades. "Let's try get to the kitchen, the supplies in there can help." I explained and Marquee stood up along the wall, he closed his eyes letting his wolf tell him where the intruders were. He took my hand and we silently dashed into the kitchen. "Don't move." We were face to face with a man, clad in black clothing a gun which smelled of wolfsbane, I could see the silver bullets by his belt, contrary to folklore belief, silver is just regular metal to wolves and acts like any bullet fired at a living being but others still believed otherwise.

He reached for his walkie talkie and just as his fingers pressed the button a fork was jammed into his neck, a partially shifted hand tore out his neck in a swift motion spraying me and the house in blood, the beta was angry but he had killed silently. "Horn, what's your status- Horn!" The other persons in the house I assumed were trying to contact their friend but it was all static, I opened the hidden compartment and pulled out an array of poisoned knives which shocked Marquee, he looked at me with narrowed eyes. "What, I had a paranoid phase." I retorted and he shook his head in amusement. "This is the wolfsbane liquid, its concentrated so its more lethal than normal wolfsbane, don't get any on you." I warned Marquee and he nodded just as the kitchen door was burst open and a flash grenade was thrown in, we both shielded ourselves this time, what the hell were these guys, their techniques were definitely deadlier than normal hunters, twenty first century tech was not boding well for peaceful coexistence.

"You take the left, I take the right, there are two on your side, three on mine, be quick, they have guns, we only have a short window, I throw the grenade, once its effects are induced, we act." Marquee instructed as I could register five heartbeats in my kitchen, Goddess this is not how I wanted to spend my evening, I should be eating, and getting laid, hopefully worry about how I tell my mate that I might be pregnant, not this. "You ready?" He asked and I shoved everything aside, we had to survive first, I nodded and he threw the grenade, it flashed brightly, once they were all disoriented we came out of hiding, I threw one of my knives into one of the men farthest from me, he fell just as I tackled the closest one to the ground, grabbing his gun I shot all the bullets he had in the gun into his skull, heal that bitch, next to me a body dropped, heart torn out, before I could move to my next opponent shots were fired and two hit my leg. "Marquee-ah!" My screams made him pause just for a second which was all the two opponents he was facing needed to tackle him to the ground, the man who had shot me tackled me to the ground and began raining punches on my body, I cursed myself for being weak, I wasn't weak and now Marquee was wrestling two wolves, I needed to be strong, for Jude, for my future kids, for myself and my mate.

I landed an uppercut on the wolf assaulting me, using the temporary stop to his barrage I grabbed the bottle of wolfsbane and sprayed it all over his face. "Fuck!" He screamed scrambling off me, skin red to the point whereby it was sizzling to the touch, I moved quickly and grabbed one of the wolves Marquee was fighting and snapped his neck instantly, I grabbed the knife near us on the floor and plunged it into his body, a dead wolf, was a good wolf. Marquee bit down on the large wolf who wanted to overpower him, a large chunk of his shoulder was spat out just I flung myself toward the bottle of wolfsbane and threw it to my mate who forcibly chugged it down the wolf's mouth, he wouldn't heal from that. Grabbing a blade from my mate I went over to the wolf I had first sprayed and sliced his throat open with it. "We need to move." Marquee ordered as he threw a pair of blood stained black pants toward me, I didn't protest, just wore them. "Grab the bane, I will grab the utility belts." Marquee instructed and I limped over the counter and collected what was left of the blades and liquid bane.

"Let's go quick." I exclaimed as lights flashed in the kitchen, both Marquee and I crouched down in the hallway as more footsteps made their way into the house, how in the world would we escape, had Silas bought an army of mercenaries. "Oh Xavier, I know you're in here love, come to me nicely like the good pet you'll be and I will let you live." Silas finally announced and a dark growl escaped my mate's lips, the sound of footsteps on the floor reminded me of the house's flood or hail precaution, if ever I couldn't use the back, front or kitchen door, there was a door in the basement which led to a tunnel that opened outside, all we had to do was remove a few bricks. "We need to get to the basement." I suddenly announced and Marquee looked at me skeptically but didn't protest. "We can go straight through but its blocked by a mercenary bent on killing us, plus you're hurt, I can feel your pain." Marquee replied as I was reminded of the bullets lodged in my lower leg, but there wasn't time to argue, if we could get to the basement, we could decide on a better plan whilst getting them out. "It doesn't matter my love, you can pluck them out in the basement, the door might hold for a while." I stated in his head and he nodded pulling out a flash grenade. "Once I throw it, run, they will be disoriented enough that we can knock him out and get through." Marquee explained as he nodded to me and threw the grenade, the moment it set off we were running in the smoke filled house.

"Get them!" Silas yelled just as I tackled the wolf by the stairs that went down into the basement, I groaned when we hit the ground, Marquee dragged me in just as he grabbed the black clad mercenary and had his skull smash into the wall, the sickening crunch and spatter of brain and blood making me want to hurl, never make a beta angry, he'll smash your skull, in fluid motion he closed the door placing several locks along with dragging the metallic shelves I stocked stuff and the large freezer to act as a barrier."That was reckless." He growled and I looked down in shame, it was indeed reckless, I stayed silent as he assessed my body, snapping my shoulder and leg in place silently just as the healing kicked in. "We need to get out and also we need to get those bullets out or your leg will need amputation, I suggest we start with the leg." Marquee explained our current situation as he plucked a clean knife from the pockets of the pants he was wearing. "This is going to hurt." Shit.

+++

lmj