Captured by my Mate's Pack

Chapter 24

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Ryans POV

I gasped as I saw the size of the approaching army, my father at the front of it. It was much larger than I remembered it being before I left; easily 300 or more men were quickly closing in on us. I knew from the second I saw the army that my father had been concentrating, since I'd left, on increasing his army's power. Their armour was so shiny it was like looking at mirrors and it looked very strong. The best chance we'd have would be if we aimed for the soldiers' necks or chinks in their armour. Arrows started flying from our archery team, they were taking down quite a few of the approaching army, all of their successful shots were through the head. None of the arrows even dented their armour. My father was still alive and well, a part of me was relieved, another infuriated. 

I knew he would take me down if he had to protect his kingdom, power was more important to him than me. Besides, my mother was pregnant, he'd have other heirs so he didn't need me anymore. The front lines of the armies collided, the sound of screaming and metal clashing was loud. My rage was all consuming now as I faced what my father had prepared for us. He was hell-bent on hurting my mate, I'd never let that happen! Along with all of the noise of the swords and armour being smashed against one another, the sound of guns pierced the air. Still, my Father's armour did not seem to take much damage, even from bullets. 

I turned and slashed my sword through a soldiers hand and kicked another in front of me so he lost his balance so I could kill him. My body quivered and I fought for control over my wolf, I yearned to fight as a wolf but there was already a team for that in our army. The wolves were detaching the other soldiers' armour from their bodies, biting them and ripping their limbs. 

Once many of the stronger soldiers had been killed, along with many of our own, my specialised group edged to the left away from the bulk of the battle to sneak into the castle. A second later I heard Thomas growl so I turned to help him but someone had already thrust their sword through his chest. The guard who had slapped Violet looked up at me, smiling crookedly. The hate spread through my veins like fire and our swords clashed a second later. Someone else joined his side to fight my team and we were surrounded. I panicked, but kept my ground and killed the man who murdered Thomas quickly before moving on to three other soldiers. I didn't have time to be upset right now.

Pain lanced through my cheek as someone had managed to cut it, I stumbled back and landed on the grass, this is it, I thought, this is where I die. Just because I lost my footing. I'm so sorry Violet, I thought in my head, she would be devastated. Just as the soldier swung his sword towards me, Sky appeared beside me and cut his arm right off.

I gasped and looked at her quickly, "thank you" I mouthed, before jumping up. Finally the remains of our team sprinted into the familiar castle. It was quiet inside, the sounds from the battle were still ringing out. My father was still alive and fighting. The one thing I was after right now though, was my mother.

After searching the rooms, we apprehended five guards and seven other people. Possibly relatives of the highest ranked soldiers fighting out there. Servants we'd found were released from the prison and told to wait until the battle was over before fleeing. In her quarters, as I'd expected, was my mother. She was holding a gun. "Don't move!" She screamed at us, "Son, you are a disgrace to this family and kingdom. You could have been a great ruler, maybe even better than your father, but you are just TOO soft to rule a pack."

"Please don't shoot Mother, I don't want you to get killed. You can't take us all down." I pleaded. She just smirked and tilted the gun towards my head, "you think I care whether you live, Ryan?" I flinched at her words. "You don't deserve a son like Ryan!" Sky shouted suddenly, every head turned to her. Her eyes were as hard as ice, staring my mother down, condemning her. "Drop the gun." She said loudly before walking forwards, I grabbed her arm but it was too late.. My mother squeezed the trigger and a bullet landed in Sky's armour, our armour was thin. Sky had been shot. "NO!" I boomed, I found myself running at my Mother, not caring about her anymore, she had no right to shoot my friend or aim that gun at her own son. The gun was knocked from her hand and she screamed while I held her arms. She didn't say a word as I tied her up, she just stared at Sky, hoping she'd fatally wounded her.

I then walked to Sky where she was being held by three soldiers, some blood seeped from the wound in her chest, but it did not look enough to be fatal. "Leave me here, I can't help anymore and it's not safe for you to take me anywhere," she whispered roughly,

"No, Sky. You are coming back home with everyone who survives, this wound won't kill you." I stated firmly, lifting her into my arms and passing her to a strong soldier at the back. She grabbed my hand and didn't let go.. "If I don't make it, Ryan, thank you for making my life better." Her eyes closed so I shook her shoulders and felt her pulse, she was still alive, we needed to get out of here. 

My vision was cloudy as the team stumbled down the stairs, my cheek was hurting badly now and the blood was dripping onto my armour from it. Many of us were injured in some way. The battle outside better be in our favour or we were toast.

My mother was being carried by Dean, a soldier from Sky's home pack. The surviving servants saw us coming down the stairs and rushed to us to follow. "Everyone who is injured, vulnerable or holding a prisoner, stay inside." I commanded, Thomas had died so I was in charge of the group now, there was no one else with Alpha blood in their veins. Everyone but the people not my list stayed put, and we left the side of the castle through a secret exit that I'd discovered as a child. I caught a glimpse of the fountain that Violet and I had a picnic by all that time ago, I grinned at the memory before snapping my attention back to the present.

When we peered around the corner of the castle, I could see about sixty men still fighting. Most of them were my Father's army, so this wasn't good. My father was also still alive. My first job would be to take him down. I rushed around the corner with my team in tow, the other soldiers noticed our approach and many were wide eyed on my Father's side. We were now almost equal numbers. 

Minutes later, I'd slain over five men myself, there weren't many left now, our victory was imminent. Suddenly I saw my father charging towards me, I knew he wouldn't go down without taking me down with him, even if I was his flesh and blood. I raised my shield and his sword clashed with it, he soon drew it back and aimed for my face. I ducked and cut his leg slightly before standing straight and hitting him hard with the shield. He fell down and I held the tip of my sword to his throat. "Father, I didn't want it to come to this.."

In the corner of my eye I noticed that all the rest of the opposing soldiers had surrendered and were being removed of their weapons. My triumph must have been clear on my face because my father scowled at me menacingly. "This isn't over son. I promise you it is NOT over." My Father almost screamed at me. My arm did not move from aiming the sword at his throat but a sudden pain in my leg told me that my Father had managed to strike me. I fell quickly onto the floor and gasped with the pain. I knew my leg was damaged badly, it felt like he had cut to the bone. Agony consumed me as I saw him scramble to his knees and aim the sword at me. "Surrender your army or you die."

"NEVER, I won't let you get to my mate!" I shouted back at him. I flinched as he lifted the sword to kill me but as it approached me it never reached me because something got in the way.

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A/n thanks to everyone who is STILL keeping up with this story! And thanks to my fave Swede ever - Milad - for pestering me to update :)