Chapter 58: The Awakening

The men hesitated even despite the order that they had received. And now Ria
knew that even though Roxanne was important and probably held a high rank,
she wasn’t their leader. But Castiel was.
And he wasn’t there.
“Do I have to repeat myself,” Roxy was getting visibly furious, “Castiel doesn’t
care about her. Just kill her and let’s be done with it!”
“Is this what this is about?” Riannon decided to taunt the redhead more, “I
mentioned him to you today and you couldn’t handle it?”
The men exchanged glances at her words, and she knew that she hit the goal
and made them doubt why they were there in the first place. This, whatever it
was, was not planned.
“Shut up!” Roxy growled and her eyes glowed red for a few seconds, “Don’t think
too much of yourself! He would never be interested in someone as dull as you.”
“Then you don’t have anything to worry about,” Riannon smirked, “Either way,
there is an easy way to check whether he cares or not. You can simply call him
and ask. Right?”
It was a gamble, of course. For all she knew, she could have misread Castiel’s
intentions the last two times they met, and he wanted her as dead as Roxy did.
But on the other hand, all she needed now was time for the lycans to come
closer discreetly.
The expressions of the four men were tense and when one of them got out his
phone, she knew that it was a little victory of hers. Her eyes locked with
Roxanne’s, and she could see her snarling.
“Hey, Cass,” the leader of the group managed to connect very quickly, “Sorry to
bother you. We have a situation here. We have that Luna... Well, she is actuallythe Alpha now. Yes, that’s the one. Roxy said... Oh. Okay. Understood. She is
already here... Got it.”
He switched off the phone and glared at the redhead who was standing not far
from him and clearly not happy with how everything was turning out.
“Looks like we have a change of plans,” he announced to his accomplices, “And
Alpha
Riannon will have to make a little trip with us.”
Now this was better. This she could work with. Everything was so much easier
now that they obviously had an order not to kill her. It gave her more freedom of
action.
“I am sorry,” she chuckled, “I am afraid I am busy tonight.”
“Rick,” Roxanne turned to the leader of the group, “You owe me one. I want to
collect now, and I want this woman dead!” want any trouble with Castiel, and his
orders were clear on her account. He wants us to bring her to him. So, finish off
the boy and let’s get going.”
The man looked in the direction of the tree house and Riannon just knew that this
was where they kept Dean.
“Guys! Now!” she commanded Ash and Maya via the mindlink and charged for
the house in the hope of reaching Dean first. He was of Beta blood and could
fight with her until help arrived.
One of the men tried to stop her, but she twisted a bit and forced herself to
escape his grasp. However, she lost her speed due to that manoeuvre and the
next guy managed to capture her by her waist, laughing along the way as if it
was some kind of sick game.
“Nice try!” he said, “But even if you managed that, you wouldn’t go far. You didn’t
seriously think that we would wander into the enemy’s territory with just the fourof us.”
He didn’t even finish speaking when she saw glowing eyes in the darkness of the
woods. One pair, two, three... and then dozens.
She was wrong in her calculations. How didn’t she sense any of them?!
“Ash, Maya, abort!” she tried to stop her Beta and Gamma, “There are too many
of them! Don’t come here without...”
Now it wasn’t only about saving Dean. It was also about not killing the rest of her
friends. Even with the lycans they had, it wouldn’t be a fair fight.
“We are not leaving you and Dean!” Maya growled, speeding up as she spoke.
In the meantime, the glowing eyes were getting closer and Riannon was finally
able to make out the creatures they belonged to.
Red and brown fur. Foxes... and bears.
They were slowly getting closer, taking their time because they were sure that
they already had their prey.
She swallowed, thinking hectically. Roxanne was working with them. She was
one of them.
Why didn’t she ever think about this before? They knew for a while who their
enemy was. This made so much sense now.
“Riannon!” she heard Roxy’s voice, which broke her train of thought. Their eyes
met and Ria gasped, when she saw the fake omega already standing on the little
platform of the tree escape her how beaten the boy looked. He was barely
standing.
“Release the pup at least,” she tried to sound as if it didn’t matter much to her.
Because she knew that Roxy would only kill him faster if she knew she cared.“What for?” the girl giggled menacingly and tilted her head, “He is a witness that I
no longer need. He served his purpose. And now I am done with him!”
With that, she slashed her claws across his neck, making Riannon scream in
horror. She tried to get out of the man’s grasp, but he only increased the
pressure on her. He was stronger now that she was without her wolf.
Riannon’s eyes met with Dean’s as blood was gushing out of his throat and there
was so much regret in them. It was as if he was asking for forgiveness for his
past mistakes.
Tears were burning in her eyes. Angry tears. Riannon was angry at being
powerless. She had enough of this.
She turned back in time to fix things, to save people who were dear to her. And
yet she was losing family again. Because that’s what Dean was to her – family.
“You are probably wondering why he isn’t healing?” Roxy snorted loudly, “And the
answer to this is aconite.”
This was like a cold shower for her.
Aconite. They drugged Dean with aconite so that he couldn’t heal. Just like
Roxanne did to her in her past life.
She remembered the feeling of helplessness, of how her hands and legs couldn’t
move properly and how scared she was. This wasn’t the death that she wished
for Dean. She didn’t wish for him to die at all.
At that moment, wolves jumped out from behind her, and she recognised Maya’s
loud howl. Bears and foxes charged at them, and a battle began. Growls and
snarls filled the air, and red blood splattered over the grass as each of them was
fighting for their life now..
However, she could clearly see that the powers were uneven. They were not
ready for an attack today, since Brayden took almost all of the warriors away. Thelycans were very helpful since their wolves were much bigger, but their small
group struggled with the quantity of their opponents, which seemed to only
increase every minute.
The man who was holding her, started to drag her away. Riannon was struggling
as much as she could in her position, but it was all useless. at him, knocking
them both to the ground.
Riannon recognised Ash and before she managed to say or do anything, he was
already ripping her captor to pieces.
She stood up and ran in the direction of the tree house, where Roxanne was still
holding Dean and watching the battle. As soon as she noticed her, a smirk
spread over her face, and she threw the young man at her from height.
Ria tried to catch him and fell together with him to the ground.
“Dean!” she tried to cover his neck and stop the blood flowing in a silly and
useless attempt to save his life.
“Dean!” Maya shifted next to them into her human form and her shivering hands
touched the guy, “Dean! Brother!”
Her screams filled the air around them as she clenched the dying sibling to her
chest with tears rolling down her cheek.
From the corner of her eye, Riannon noticed Roxy jumping off her hideout and
shifting rapidly into a fiery red creature. A fox. The fake omega was actually a
fox, after all!
And she tried to run away. Clenching her fists, Ria stood up and ran after her.
She wasn’t letting her go this easily. But Roxanne was faster now than she was
and soon she lost her out of sight.
However, another fox, dirty brown in colour, crossed her path. It was big and with
huge canines bared at her. Another one joined it shortly after. And then onemore. But it was when a huge brown bear arrived that she knew she was in deep
trouble. There was no way she could take them down.
Those three did not look like they were going to capture her and take her
somewhere. They looked like they were going to kill her and be done with it.
And she was too far from anyone else.
She was ready to die when a huge black wolf appeared out of nowhere and
attacked the bear, who was clearly the biggest and most dangerous target.
“Gideon!” she whispered in relief and he growled to her in response. This wasn’t
how he expected to find her and seeing her surrounded made him beyond
furious.
He killed the bear with ease, turning to the foxes, both of which charged at him at
the same time. But what was worse, another three werebears appeared, running
in his direction in
He was now outnumbered five to one and she couldn’t watch it. She hoped that
he was strong enough. He was the lycan king, after all. But what if it was too
much even for him?! She couldn’t know...
It was as if the world around her stopped. She saw her friends fighting enemies.
And she saw Maya rocking Dean’s lifeless body as another fox was getting closer
to them.
It became hard to breathe. So much was going on and she was useless... Just
like back then...
Riannon fell to her knees. Pain filled her chest. Unbearable and all-consuming.
She couldn’t let it happen again. She couldn’t lose any more people that she
loved.
Not Maya.Not Gideon... She couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She
would fight whatever it took.
Something shifted deep inside of her. Something familiar. As if a piece of a
puzzle has finally found its place.
“Onyx!” she whispered, “I need you now!” “I am here,” her wolf replied with a
growl that shattered the mountains...
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