Wolf-less Omega Luna novel Chapter 72

Alana’s POV

It was too much to process all at once. From my peripheral,  Axel’s body turned completely taut at that last statement.

“And you sure as hell do not deserve to bring that disgrace into this world!”

It wasn’t possible. I couldn’t have been pregnant. How was it possible? It wasn’t possible. Right? The…the last time, the doctor s-said it wasn’t. She said my body was fighting against it…right?

My vision started to blur. My head was spinning and the images before me were playing tricks. 

It was as though the statement sparked something in the air because even Derek was taken aback by it.

My heartbeat accelerated and all I could hear in my ear was a buzzing noise for what could have been minutes because it felt like it. That was up until something thick and liquid-y sputtered across my face and my chest. 

Something that smelled…no… tasted metallic. Almost like — blood.

I whimpered and whipped my head around, looking for who owned it. It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t the blood of a pack member either. It was one of Derek’s men. A fight had broken out.

Slowly, the intensive buzzing died down and was replaced with clashing, slashing, and bullets firing. 

The safe house! My eyes scanned the commotion, to the spot where Derek stood before. He wasn’t there. I looked around once more till my eyes fell on Axel choking one of Derek’s men with the chain around his hands till it snapped in half.

He whipped his head to me before his body launched forward toward where I stood.

“Alana. You have to come with me.” He took in my features, probably looking for the source of the blood that was smeared on my face. 

“The safe house,” I muttered through my haze. “Derek. He…he had a detonator. We have to find him.”

“We will, Alana. You heard what your dad said. Come with me,” said Axel as he tugged on my arm, possessiveness in his eyes and voice.

“I can’t just leave! Look around!”

It was one load of a disaster around us. Bodies kept falling left, right, and around. The sounds. Goddess, the sounds. I was right back where it happened all those years ago. The screams, the groans, the shrill cries. 

The safe house wasn’t safe. That was where we needed to focus. 

Tyler and Coral were fending off attackers, backpedaling towards us. One thing Derek did was bring his men here in numbers. If we were going to win this, we had to find him.

“We have to find him,” I said to Axel through the noise. His eyes said the opposite.

“What we have to do is get you out of here. Now!”

“We lost Derek,” Coral’s furrowed brown only meant that this could not be good.

“We have to come up with a plan,” Tyler supported.

“Axel,”

Axel’s jaw ticked as he formed fists while staring at me. Defiance filled my eyes. The only way I was leaving this arena was with the detonator destroyed and Derek out of the picture.

“Coral, hold these grounds with the rest of the fighters. Tyler, get as many people out of the safe houses as possible. Alana, you’re coming with me, then I go find Derek and end this.”

“We need as many hands as we can get to help the pack members get out safely. I’m going with Tyler. You find Derek.”

“I can’t let you do that, Alana.”

“Let me handle something for once, Axel. What Jake said could have been a lie for all we know. Be it or not, trust me to be able to take care of myself and my pack. Let me.” 

“We cannot waste any more time,” Coral snapped.

Axel gave a small nod before turning to Tyler and communicating in their own way.

Before I made a beeline for the safe houses, I turned to Coral and said, “See if you can find Kennedy.”

Tyler and I broke into a run toward the safe houses at wolf speed. Just a little distance away from the entrance to the safe house, a lanky figure came out from the shadows, but this time, with a gun pressed against Kennedy’s neck. “Put it down,” Jake said and tipped his head to both Tyler’s and my weapons.

“Easy now.” Tyler crouched almost immediately, putting his weapon on the floor and backing away. Fury burnt through me as I slowly lowered my weapon.

“Let her go. I’m the one you have a problem with. Not her.”

“You,” he tipped his chin to Tyler and pulled back a handful of Kennedy’s hair. She tossed something from her hand toward Tyler which happened to be cuffs. “Put it on. Cuff yourself against the tree.”

“Screw you,” Tyler spat.

His response was a bullet to the soil between Kennedy’s legs which caused me to gasp and her to cry out. “Only a little bit to the left and little wolf here will lose the use of a limb.”

Tyler slowly did as he said.

“Toss those knives away. Slowly.”

“We can talk about this, Dad.”

He was visibly disgusted by the word. “Don’t call me that! You’re a disgrace.”

“Let Kennedy go, and you can have me.”

My sentence was half complete before he delivered a blunt force with the butt of the gun to Kennedy’s temple. Her entire body went limp before falling to the ground. I didn’t recover from the sight before the gun was pointed at me and the space between us, closed by my dad.

“Now, that’s something I can work with.”

“Why do you hate me so much?” I asked. My voice was breaking. I narrowed my eyes on Kennedy. She was still alive. Her shallow breaths reached my ears before my eyes fell on her.

“You went on to have a perfect life, while your mom deteriorated right before my eyes. From the moment you left till she drew her last breath, she was useless. You took her from me.”

“My life wasn’t perfect here. I had it rough too.”

“That doesn’t matter. Since you took her away from me, I’m going to take everything from you. Pity you won’t get to see the fireworks Derek will make of these safe houses. You’d be long dead. And so will that pup inside of you.”

“I’m not pregnant.”

“Oh, yes, you are.”

“I am your blood. And so is my child.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and threw his head back as if he was in pain. This was my chance.

I formed fists with my hands, directed all the force I could muster, and connected it with the center of his head in one quick move. That unbalanced him.

My hand caught his as I fought my way with the gun in his hands.

“Leave her alone, you monster,” Tyler screamed.

Jake swept me to the floor with his leg connected to my ankle but I didn’t let go of him. We tumbled in the dirt together till one of us happened to pull the trigger.

My ears kept ringing and my entire body went numb. Was this death? My hands disconnected from the gun, Jake’s body, or both, and instinctively cradled my stomach.

“Axel,” I muttered. “My baby,” I muttered. 

I fought to keep my eyes open but it wasn’t long before the darkness pulled me under.