Moonlit Futures

Chris POV

Lighting the match, I quickly ran to my position with everyone else. Watching as the flames started moving I looked at Shane.

"You got this?"

"I won't let the forest burn Alpha Chris. We have everything set up to help us." Shane told me before going over to check the equipment himself. Glancing at the newest member in our party I watched him like a hawk.

"You're sure this will work?"

"Yes. There is no protocol for fire. Greg never thought it would happen so he didn't plan for it. He won't have the numbers since we already got most everybody out of there."

"James, I swear if you are leading us into a trap I will personally be the one to kill you." Leveling his gaze I was surprised to see a shining determination behind the eyes.

"I've had to doctor that poor girl up for weeks now. She swore up and down that her and Greg weren't mates, and he has changed his story so many times but hers stay the same. This last form of punishment was the last straw for me. A mate could never stand to see theirs suffer. I was a fool to think differently. It will work because I want her to have a life outside of this hell." Nodding I watched as the flames licked higher, I signaled to Xavier to meet me several feet away. 

"I say we let this get a little bigger and then we go in, they should be noticing it soon."

"I agree. Dillon is in place and ready to get her from the post. From what the doctor says she should at least be there by now. He collected her at 7:30 for the past couple of days so no reason to think this is different."

Breathing out  a breath I just nodded.

"You going to be ok?"

"Yeah. I'm just worried about her."

"We'll get her out safe and sound. Dillon is an expert at sneaking in and the few men he has left will be distracted."

"I know but you know what it's like. That's my mate. I won't relax until she is ok."

"Or until you take that first swipe at Greg." Xavier said with an evil smile. Matching his,we both turned to watch the fire. A minute later we heard shouts coming from the village below. Nodding to Xavier and the men we emerged from our positions to surround the wolves left. Leading my wolves and Xavier's into a circle to trap Greg I caught his startled expression before he let out a vicious snarl.

"What are you doing here pup?" Snarling I heard several of my wolves shift and their growls were menacing. Watching as Greg's wolves stepped back and took in the situation I couldn't help but smirk. Turning my attention back to Greg I felt Xavier and Matt come up behind me.

"Oh look at that. The precious Alpha and his friends. How touching. Do you think you can save her, pup? I broke her spirit. You'll be lucky if she lasts through the night." Hearing myself snarl I watched as he smiled before I smiled right back at him.

"She'll last through the night. She's made of tougher stuff than that." Laughing as surprise flicked across his face I began to take my wolves and advance on him. Slowly taking steps forward I watched as his wolves shifted one by one and bared their teeth to defend themselves. Stepping one last step towards Greg, I lunged and shifted mid air. Hearing Matt and Xavier doing the same, we cornered Greg and ripped him apart as his other wolves were slowly taken down by our men. Grabbing Greg's throat I bit down harshly to feel the blood gush between my teeth. Shaking my head I felt his body go limp as the blood poured out of the wounds. Stepping back, I howled, around me wolves started to howl until we had built up a thunderous roar. Smelling the smoke I looked to see Shane and his wolves working to put out the fire. Before long the flames were diminished and a section of the forest was left black and smoldering. Trotting off to the tree line I grabbed a pair of shorts to slip on before walking out to rejoin my men. Nodding as they went to grab shorts I walked back to our campsite to sit for minute. Hearing the footsteps approach I saw Matt come up in front of me.

"You going to be ok?"

"Yeah. It's kind of surreal that the guy who killed my mom and took Lexi captive twice is now gone. We could live happily ever after."

"You will." He told me confidently. Shrugging slightly I turned to look at the rushing footsteps. Seeing Xavier stop short I stood up rapidly.

"What happened? Did they get her?"

"Dillon got her. She's beat up all to hell though. He says that Rachel is working on her now and says that she should be fine. She passed out after they got back to the tent but Rachel has her doped up  on pain meds." Letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding I sank to the chair before letting out a wild whoop. Smiling up at the two guys in front of me I laughed and relaxed for the first time in weeks. Glancing at his watch I saw Matt smile.

"You know that was probably the quickest battle in history. A whole 30 minutes." Laughing I stood up and hugged each of them quickly before setting off to find James. Seeing him sitting there with his head in his hands I dropped to the ground and placed my hand on his shoulder. Feeling him jump I smirked at him a bit.

"Sorry, I just needed a minute." He told me apologetically. 

"For what?"

"It's a big change. I no longer have an alpha. Technically I and the others from the village are rogues again. I just needed a minute to collect my thoughts and start figuring out where to go from here. I'm sure the others will be doing the same." Mulling over his statement I realized we had never thought about the other people in the village, the innocent ones. Catching Xavier's eye I watched as he walked up to me and crouched next to James and I.

"Do you have room for new wolves to be accepted into you pack?" Watching as his eyes glanced over at James I could see his thoughts as he jumped from thought to thought only to reach my conclusion with a smile.

"Sure do. I could probably take on as many as two hundred new wolves. It might be tight for the first couple of months but we'd build a new house or houses." He said lightly shrugging. Watching as James glanced between the two of us with hope in his eyes I kept the conversation light.

"I could probably take in that many too. We did just build that new pack house after all." I told him with a smug smile. Watching as he narrowed his eyes at me we both glanced at James as he began to stutter out some words.

"W-w-w-e only have a little more than a hundred to a hundred and twenty five people left." Smiling at him I clapped him on the back.

"I know James. We will let you guys pick who you want to go with and then we can work out the details from there." Watching as the happiness filled his face I couldn't help but smile and a quick glance showed that Xavier was doing the same.