CATRINA

Blood splatters all around making me duck, not wanting to get any of it on me. Letting out a breath, I open my eyes and peek through my fingers; only to find Calum smirking at me. He blows at his fingers, making the blood vanish and getting his fingers clean.

"Thank you," I whisper, shocked at his sudden appearance.

"I am sorry for being late. Had an annoying witch to deal with," he mutters and then waves at Mila to walk into the room, following her. I smile at Mila in gratitude for helping while she shyly smiles back at me.

"Were you with Fenris to raid the castle?" I ask him, once I drop down on the cot, beside Selene, ruffling the babies' heads and calming myself down. Mila also sits on the empty cot, pulling her sister, Chloe beside her.

I shift my gaze on Calum when he doesn't reply and watch him looking at Mila with a brow raised in bewilderment.

"Is she Cayden's mate?" he asks, ignoring my question and I nod my head, suddenly remembering that he can read minds.

"He's fine, pretty girl. At this moment, he has gone to search for his mother," he tells Mila and I watch as her eyes go wide and her body freezes in shock.

"He can read minds," I supply hoping to explain how he was able to answer her unspoken question. She nods her head jerkily as if unable to believe it. How well I understand her confusion!

"So?" I ask when Calum continues to ignore my question. Looking at me, he sighs as if in resignation and then shakes his head at me.

"Yes, I was there. I am sorry to say but your father's deeds were the vilest that I have ever had the misfortune to witness," he says with pity in his eyes and I suddenly feel ashamed to be the daughter of such a man. I am so engrossed in my own hurt that I don't even realise that Aurora was quietly sniffling for her mate's evil behaviour.

"Ladies," Calum's voice startles me and I look up at him standing, all ready to go somewhere.

"What?"

"Fenris has ordered all the kids and all the vulnerable people to move underground," he informs and picks up Selene swiftly without waiting for us.

"Okay."

Mila pulls her sister behind her while Aurora takes the boy, James with her and I pick up the baby in my arms. We all follow Calum who mutters something on the way and then opens the door.

He knocks on a few doors and I watch as all the females that had been rescued along with a few unknown ones, open the door and then looking at me and Aurora they wordlessly follow us to God knows where Calum is leading us.

Following him, we soon reach a set of stairs that go underground inside the infirmary itself. We all follow Calum and soon find ourselves in an underground cavern which is modernised with a lot of furniture. It's like a small apartment here. There's also a crib, big enough to hold two kids. Calum motions for me to follow him and I go, watching him as he places Selene in the crib and then proceeds to take the baby from my arms and placing her in the crib beside Selene.

He then places both his hands on the babies' heads and mutters something under his breath which I can't make out. A few minutes pass by and I watch as both the babies fall asleep. Shocked and a bit scared now, I stare at him with wide eyes.

"What did you do?" I ask, trying to not think about the negative things here but looking at the sleeping babies I can't really keep calm.

"Relax, I just put them to sleep. I don't want them to cry and be scared any more than they already were."

As soon as he says that, I feel foolish for thinking that he would harm his own goddaughter. I nod at him and receive a small smile from his in return.

"Now we wait," he whispers motioning me to settle down on the couch and taking the seat opposite to me before switching on a TV. As soon as the screen lights up, a collage sort of a thing appears on the screen showing the school and the grounds around it from different angles.

Wow! This is the live CCTV footage of the entire school. Everywhere wolves are fighting each other, splashing blood on the snow-covered grounds.

For a long time, no one says anything but I have this nagging feeling of something going wrong. My mind was quiet for some time but now it's racing with different unfortunate scenarios where images of something happening to my family flash in my mind. I try to find Cayden or Connor on the screen but I can't recognise any of them on the screen, making me panic more.

I get up suddenly, feeling the need to do something, to go and see for myself if everyone's fine. My mate, brother, mom and cousins should all be fine. I need to check for myself.

Deciding to go check up on them, I get up and start walking out of the room not bothering to see Calum following me. "You should guard the kids, not me," I whisper, knowing that he's following me to protect me.

"I've linked Alcina to take my place and you wouldn't have been able to open the door without me," he whispers and I nod while cringing at his words. The mind-link! How I yearn to have a telepathic conversation with Connor. He would've told me if he is safe at this moment or not.

As if you could've sat still at his assurance!

The thought crosses my mind, forcing me to agree that I wouldn't have listened to Connor's assurance when I have this urge to see for myself that he's fine.

I am so engrossed in my thoughts that I don't realise that I'm outside the infirmary, behind a tree, having Calum steer me to a secluded spot from where I can watch Connor and my cousin.

All around us are wolves fighting, some looking familiar while all the reddish eyed wolves looking crazed for blood.

Cayden's nowhere to be seen but I remember Calum saying that he's gone to search for mom, so I relax a little, at least try to but it's of no use when a rogue manages to hit Connor in his shoulder sending him flying over the ground to land right in between Sierra and a rogue. The distraction grants Sierra a chance to kill the rogue in front of her, but Connor's injured, taking a few breaths before standing up.

I cover my mouth, trying to muffle my cry not wanting to distract Connor, praying desperately for him to win.

"Why don't you go help him?" I ask Calum who's standing beside me. He just shrugs and looks at me, as if trying to figure me out.

"Girl, I am busy hiding our scent. I am a wizard and I can't participate in a fight willingly but only in defence," explains on a long sigh, and then looking up at the tree.

I look up in his direction and see Dominic sitting on the branch, watching the rogues fight with my family members and mate, seemingly unaffected by the war going down here.

Getting angry at their careless attitude towards their own family and friends, I stomp my foot on the ground, looking back at Calum and point upwards.

"Get him down here, now," I growl, or at least try to growl but relax when Calum nods his head and waves his hand. I watch him and then above me, just in time to see the branch on which Dominic's sitting disappear, allowing gravity to work its magic.

However, I am disappointed to see Dominic control his fall instead, allowing him to make graceful contact with the ground.

"Help my mate," I order, scowling at my godfather who laughs at my choice of words. He shakes his head at me and then flicks me on the forehead, so fast that I can't even feel his touch on my skin.

"My dear goddaughter, I am the Vampire King and I can't interfere in this war."

"But why?"

"Because it's a werewolf war," he replies in a 'duh' tone that has me bristling in anger.

"Nora's helping them," I argue, not believing his excuse.

"She's Fenris's aunt. She has a right to avenge her sister and you forget that there's a witch on Xanthos's side, too."

"So, you will wait till vampire sides with the wolf rogues to participate in the war?" I snap, my words sounding harsh even to my own ears.

Dominic stiffens in front of me, visibly turning into the live version of a statue, unable to reply to my words. When he doesn't reply and instead averts his gaze, I take that as a yes and turn back towards my mate, ignoring the males behind me, disappointed in Dominic's attitude.

Connor's back on his feet, or paws and is successfully ripping out a rogue's head when my eyes land on him. The sight immediately leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, especially when I watch Connor's wolf's teeth dripping in blood.

I am going to make him shower before going close to him.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I watch Sierra and Fenris rounding around a female, seeming to dodge from her invisible attacks. She's covered in a cloak and has long black hair flowing on her back. Looking pale as I ghost, I realise that she's a witch, Helena, the one who helped make the serum, to strengthen Xanthos.

Only now, remembering about my stepbrother, I look around for him, wondering where he is, since Xanthos and Helena are always together, at least were, whenever I saw them during my captivity.

I am so high on adrenaline that my heat has taken a backseat, it's coming back slowly, increasing in intensity but it's not as strong as before. I can endure this for some time, I think which makes me sigh in relief, but only a bit.

I watch as Sierra, standing with her legs spread out in a battle position, looks at Fenris for a split second, earning a quick nod from Fenris before she flings the dagger, that's in her hand, towards Helena.

However, at the last moment, Helena ducks around the dagger and it lands right into the wolf behind Helena, trying to sneak upon them. It's none other than Xanthos who roars at this, immediately shifting into his human form.

He roars his displeasure and then pulls out the dagger that's lodged in his upper arm even after shifting back, before roaring at Sierra and throwing the dagger in her direction.

I whip my head following the dagger's projectile motion and gasp in shock when the dagger stops midway, and then explodes into flames, small pieces of the metal bursting mid-air before falling on the snow-covered ground in a pile of black oxides.

"What happened?" I ask no one in particular but my question is answered when a figure materialises right in between the royal couple and Helena.

I silently gasp when a female, a young girl with fair complexion and platinum blond hair with a black cloak covering her body, whirls around to face Helena. Her hair shines over the black cloak giving her an otherworldly look.

From beside me, I hear a shocked gasp escape from one of my male relatives but I don't pay attention to them, for I am mesmerised by the grace of this woman. She has bruises all over her face but still, her face looks calm and somewhat clean even.

The moment Helena sees the new female's face, her own face morphs into that of anger and fear. She backs away, with her palms outstretched as if in surrender to the new female. Xanthos growls from behind Helena, reaching up behind her now, and stopping her retreating motion.

"What the hell? Finish her," he yells at Helena, pointing towards the new female and I watch as Helena starts shaking her head, making the new female smirk at her.

"Hello, cousin," she whispers, her voice scratchy as if she's in desperate need of water yet having a melodious lilt to it which has Xanthos pause in his steps towards the female.

"You..." he asks, confused now as if he's never seen her before in his life or maybe he wasn't expecting her here. Helena's shocked still in her position and now Xanthos is looking at the female with a confused yet enraged expression on his face.

Behind the new woman, Fenris and Sierra have puzzled looks on their faces as they watch the scene unfold in front of them.

At Xanthos's question, the female lets out a loud laugh, her smile so sinister that my hackles rise, watching her white teeth gleam as the sun rays catch it. As if he recognises the female from the way she laughs, I watch as his expression turns from confused to anger in a split second.

"You witch! Helena, kill her," he roars and then shifts right in front of Helena. I expect to see a wolf but this time what I see has me taking a few steps back in horror.

There standing in front of me is a half-man, half-wolf, with his face that of a wolf and the rest of his body an enlarged version of his human form, covered with a lot of fur.

In my fear and panic, I run into Calum I think when a sharp pain brings me back to my senses.

"Sorry," he whispers and I nod, knowing that it's my mistake more than his. In my fear of his grotesque form, I forgot that I am standing in the middle of a wizard and a vampire.

Turning back my focus on Xanthos's mid-shift form, I watch just in time as the new female, raises her palm, facing towards Xanthos and then draws it back, before pushing her palm forward, a huge burst of fire escaping out of her palm and landing straight on Xanthos's chest.

Xanthos lets out a huge roar, flailing his arms around as his body begins burning while he's still alive, screaming for Helena to do something but she appears to be only hyperventilating, clearly scared of the new female, who's standing in front of her, regally, looking down at Helene as if she's some lowly scum.

The female wordlessly continues to watch Xanthos who goes down on his knees, covered in flames, and then collapses on the snow-covered ground, screaming and roaring in pain, being burned alive and we all watch in horror as the one who put him in such a trauma, watches him with a serene smile on her face as if she's enjoying Xanthos's pain.

"Who is she?" I ask but my question goes unanswered as everyone's shocked at the scene in front of us. Gasping and then taking in a lungful of air, I cough as the smoke burns my throat. It's arising from Xanthos, who's no longer screaming and from the look at the motionless body, I think he's no longer alive too. The snow around Xanthos's burning body melts but still, the fire keeps burning, extinguishing only after Xanthos's body is replaced by nothing but ash.

Ashes of my step-brother's/ my kidnapper's body.

Only when the fire has extinguished, does the female look at Helena, who's trembling on her legs.

"No, I am sorry," whispers Helena, moving backwards now, raising her palms in surrender as she looks around to take flight. The new female continues watching her but just as she raises her hand towards Helena, the evil one produces a dagger from thin air and throws it in the direction of Fenris.

And after that as if in slow motion, I watch as my mate jumps in front of Fenris, letting the dagger pierce into his chest.

"NO!"

My heart skips a beat when I see the dagger plunged into Connor's chest and he falls back with the force of it. With a burst of renewed energy and no longer caring about anyone, I take off, running towards my mate who's now on his knees with Fenris roaring in rage and disappearing from my view. I reach towards Connor just in time and catch his weight as he falls forward, his eyes turning upwards before closing and he loses control of his body.

"Connor!"

~~~~

Thank you for reading!!!

Let me know what you all feel about this chapter. Will Connor be alright??? Who is the new girl??? Did you all like her entry into the story??

Please comment and vote for the chapter. 

The next update will be mostly on Monday. I'll update on Friday only if the chapter gets furnished to my liking otherwise I'll definitely upload it by Monday. Apologies :(