~~

Reece

~~

  I stood there, having just watched my mate unleash a barrage of flying arrows, decimating those monsters in no time at all. I was in awe of her power and ability. This was not how I thought my life was going to be like last year when I was told I had to find a mate. I never expected this much excitement in my life that's for sure, but I would not trade the woman who was chosen to be mine, not for anything.

But, no matter how powerful she was, no matter how strong and capable she was, she was still mine to protect. And I planned to do my duty by her. I had allowed her to be hurt earlier, but I would not fail again. Too many times since she became mine she was targeted, I needed to stop the threats from coming at her ever again.

I gave the orders for the formation. Noah and I were going first because we could block attacks. All the guards that my Little Bunny always had, the members of the new Goddess Guard, and about forty various warlocks, Sentinelle, and warriors from the pack followed. My Little Bunny was nestled in the middle of the group.

I know I should have tried to stop her, but she would have forced her way into the group no matter what. So I figure it was better to just let her go. At least this way I could keep an eye on her.

The rest of the group was to surround the house and stop anyone who tried to escape. I would not let anyone who willingly followed that evil bastard to get away with what they had done.

We marched down the stairs, the most we could proceed down was by two at a time, any more per row and it would have been a little uncomfortable.

As soon as we were at the bottom of the stairs we were attacked by the two warlocks at the end of the hall. It was just as she had predicted it would be. I put a shield up immediately and ran toward them in an instant.

With a snarl I had leapt past my shield, leaving it intact so it would still help those behind it. I ran down the hall at breakneck speed, out pacing Noah considerably as I was most definitely faster than he was. When I reached the first warlock I grabbed him by the neck, cutting him off mid scream, and threw him to the ground.

No sooner had the man hit the ground did my headstrong, danger magnet of a mate appear in the middle of the hallway. She appeared in the middle of a miniature tornado that showed up out of nowhere. A rush of wind, a swirl of leaves that hadn't been there before, then suddenly my Little Bunny was just standing there looking around like she was in shock. Well, I guess I know what the tornado symbol on her shoulder means now. Thanks Thoth, one more way that she can defy me and put herself into danger.

"Trinity, why are you up here?" I growled. 

"I'm here to do my job. You fight them, I will get the kids." She seemed so sure of herself.

"Dammit." I snarled at her. "You should have stayed back there."

"Yell about it later Chopper, we got work to do."

"Even in a situation like this." I couldn't help but laugh as she called me another dog character. Suddenly the man I had thrown to the floor was running toward me, having regained his footing. I quickly lunged at him and grabbed him by his throat again, cutting off his air supply.

"Just do your job." Noah yelled.

My Little Bunny, the ever loved queen that she was becoming, took her group of guards and warriors into the room she had seen the kids in before. Just as she stepped inside that room the doors at the end of the hall burst open and a horde of monsters started to flood out of them

At the same time that the horde flooded into the hall, the two doors we had already passed exploded and three dozen warlocks and witches came rushing out. This was twice as many as we were hoping for. But it made sense that she didn't know the total, she had only seen inside two of the six doors.

"Let no one escape." I yelled to those present. That was all it took for the battle to begin. Almost every wolf in our group shifted instantly and the warlocks said a small prayer to Thoth for increased strength which caused the marks on their collar bones to glow blood red like the mark on the parchment had. The fight was immediately intense.

Having shifted into my wolf myself I started to take care of the horde of monsters before anything else. I knew that the warlocks would be a danger as well, but there were so many of those beasts that I had to stop them from getting into the room with the kids and my mate.

The blood that came from these beasts was horrid. When I bit into their throats and ripped the flesh out with a quick jerk of my head the blood that rushed into my mouth made me want to gag. Whatever Edmond did to these shifters to cause this grotesque change also changed everything else about them.

It saddened me to destroy these people, people that had probably been taken by surprise just because they were not as strong as others. These were my people, even before I was the Alpha King, these were shifters, part of my world, the hidden community of supernaturals that walked unseen among the humans.

I would never let my people suffer like this again. I would never abandon them to this fate. Every shifter, every warlock, every one out there, they would be safe under my rule.

With this conviction on my mind I did what I had to do now. These were no longer people, I couldn't save their minds or bodies, but I could release their souls. 

Beast after beast, monster and monster, I destroyed them, my heart aching with every kill. But there was no end in sight for the monsters. They had even made their way toward the door to the room my Little Bunny was in, I had to stop them, or at least slow them until she could get the kids out.

I focused my attack on the creatures closest to the door. Doing all I could to slow the flow into the room. I had managed to stop many of them, but a few still made it past me.

I was so busy with my fight that I hadn't been paying attention to the others so I didn't know what anyone around me was doing. My main goal was to stop these creatures and protect my wife. But I needed to protect my people too. So I made a conscious effort to pay attention to the room as a whole.

It hadn't even been ten minutes since the battle started. The wave of beasts was still coming, but it seemed like the warlocks that had stormed out were no match for us, especially the warlocks with the runic circle. At least that was an upside to the situation.

I watched as Shane, still in human form, sliced through a monstrosity then turned to slice through a warlock that was about to cast a spell at an unsuspecting Crawford who was fighting another two warlocks at the same time. Shane was now a lot stronger in his human form than he was in his wolf form, but he would have to find a way to wield that lightning in his other body if he was going to be truly effective.

Just then, I heard my mate's voice as she ordered some of the others back into the room so they could protect the kids. She was planning to fight out here where the true danger was.

'Trinity, no!' I tried to yell through the mental link so I could stop her but she ignored me as she shifted into her wolf right before my eyes.

I watched as the clothes ripped and tore from her changing body. The scraps quickly fell into a pile at her four feet. Her wolf had changed along with her human body. I could see the silver chains along with the symbols in blue, red, and purple. When I looked around the room, I saw that the symbols on the Noah and Carter were also glowing. These marks that she had given us glowed with the same celestial power that radiated from her.

As I watched, momentarily dazed by her beauty, I saw her use her arrows of both wind and ice, sending them flying around the room to hit all enemies possible. While the arrows swirled around four different marks lit up on her body, the two with the arrows along with the archer symbol and the precision mark, when she used an ability it would shine on her wolf's body to indicate it.

As I watched the symbol with the eye lit up and she came running toward me, tackling me to the ground. Just as we skidded to a halt a monstrosity barreled right into the spot I was just standing.

'I know I'm beautiful Reece, but pay attention.' She reprimanded me.

'You mesmerized me.' I admitted to her. 'Plus I've never seen you fight like this, so I was in awe.'

'Yeah well, snap out of Fido, I don't want you getting hurt.'

'Yes, Little Bunny Queen.'

'I'll show you a bunny one of these days.' She snapped at me. And with her words the mark on her back with the lock lit up, and she instantly turned into a rabbit right before my eyes.

'What the fuck just happened?' I screamed mentally.

'Shit, what the hell is this?' She was just as surprised. 'Great, now I'm informed.' She snapped.

'What?' I asked her as I picked her up by the scruff of her neck and moved to the side of the hall, out of the way.

'Apparently I have a shifter unlock mark.'

'What's that mean?'

'It means that I am not limited to one animal form anymore.' She growled, which was funny to think of it coming from a little bunny. That really made me want to laugh.

'So you can really be my Little Bunny now?' I purred at her suggestively.

'Can you at least stop thinking about sex during a fight Dino.'

'Haha, fine, fine. Whatever you say Thumper.' I joked right back with a rabbit name.

'Yeah, you think this is funny, check this out.' She spoke defensively and just as she finished the words, she shifted from the little rabbit into the form of a large grizzly bear but white instead of brown, and the marks still visible. 'This form should be better for fighting right? Or-.' She shifted again, this time into a white tiger, the stripes sapphire blue and the marks once again where they should have been.

'This form feels powerful.' I could hear the excitement in her voice.

'Then let's fight.' I nodded my head to her. There was nothing she couldn't do, and even though I was going to continue to be protective, I would still admit her strength at times like this.

Together the two of us attacked the beasts. She still had her arrows present and would send them flying at the monsters as well as the enemy warlocks. The battle, that had seemed endless but winnable, was now easier with her there. Those arrows were very effective, as were the lethally long and sharp tiger claws.

We heard the sounds of shock from everyone in the room when they saw her running around as a tiger instead of a wolf, but the sounds were of awe coming from our allies and fear from our enemies.

The last of the warlocks were cowering in fear and the monsters finally stopped pouring out of the doors. None of the servant types had been present among the ones out here so we were able to take care of them as we wanted to, and these last five would be no exception. But things never go according to plan, do they?

The last door, the one directly across from the one leading to the children, blew off its hinges from the powerful blast aimed at it from the other side. In the ruins of the door stood three people, two men and one woman.

'The man in the middle is Phillip.' My Little Bunny, or should I say tigress, told me mentally as she stopped to look at the newcomers. I could feel the magical aura coming off of these three, they were indeed powerful, close to the level that Edmond was.

"Guess it's time for a boss fight." I heard Shane joke when he stopped to look at the three powerhouses standing there.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.