Mine to Protect Chapter 91: DOWN TO ACTION

*Derek*

The next couple of days we spent getting ready for the rescue mission.

Things are a little less tense between Hazel and me, but I can’t help feeling worried about what we are going to meet there. After her stunt the other day, they will know she is coming back, maybe they are not expecting a full bunch of warriors, but I am sure they are armed and trained enough to withstand and attack.

They will try to get her, and I must avoid it at any cost, whether she likes it or not.

“If you keep frowning like that deep wrinkles will appear on your forehead, and you won’t be handsome anymore,” Hazel says with a pout, batting her lashes.

She’s cute when she tries to be charming, my devilish kitten. I can’t help a smirk.

“You’ll love me anyway, though,” I reply cockily.

She grins happily.

“Yes, I would still love you, I bet even your wrinkles will look perfect.”

Now it’s my time to grin. She always says I am perfect, but she is the one who’s perfect, inside and out. My perfect mate, the person I love the most in this world, the one I would do anything for.

“Come on, it’s time to go!” Damon yells from the door. He is not coming with us on this mission, he is not happy about it, but I needed someone to hold the fort here, with all this mess with the Court of Alphas I can’t leave the pack unprotected, and I know he would protect our home with his life.

I take Hazel’s hand, and lead her outside, where ten tinted SUVs are waiting for us. The warriors are already onboard, and we get on the first SUV of the line. Alice is sitting shotgun, while one of my most trusted warriors is at the wheel.

Damon approaches with a playful smile on his lips.

“Ready to burn some devious butts, Luna?”

“Sure, I will make sure to draw a H on each one of them!”

Damon laughs at her joke, but it doesn’t really reach his eyes. I know he is worried, this mission is dangerous, and we might all not come back. But if everything goes by plan, no matter what, Hazel will, she will survive and come back to our people.

I give Alice a significant look, and she nods imperceptibly, assuring me that she knows what she has to do.

“Be careful, Alpha. Get everyone back in one piece.”

“We will. And you be on high alert to. I know they will try to strike us, and I am willing to bet it will be sooner than later.”

“I will, Alpha.”

“And I will keep my eyes open too. I have a few spies following Jackson and Anderson, if they are up to something, we’ll know right away,” Lukas says, appearing behind Damon. His eyes are on Hazel, who’s sitting beside me, on my right. She smiles gratefully at him, and he smiles back. I know that it is just a stupid smile, but it irks me anyway, I can’t take out of my mind the idea that Lukas might have feelings for Hazel.

He even proposed to come on this mission with us, bringing his warriors too, but I refused him. I want him to keep some distance from Hazel, and it’s better if we keep the numbers to the minimum too, less chance to be discovered before we get inside the lab.

His pack we’ll be on alert as reinforcement, though, being nearer to Woodrock pack’s borders.

I nod at Lukas words, unable to keep the tension from my features; I hope I am wrong, and that with time, we can bring our friendship back to what it was in the past.

The car departs, and we leave with our hearts heavy, conscious of all the dangers that await us outside and inside the borders.

I look outside the window, watching the landscape pass by, remembering the times I would play here with Damon, the river I used to go fishing with my father, the mountain I climbed with Emma when she came on a visit. That was an incredible day, we spent the whole day climbing, not realizing we wouldn’t be able to make it down before sundown, so we made a makeshift tent, and spent the night there in wolf form, sleeping beside each other, to keep us warm. It was an amazing adventure.

Emma. I really wish she could get along with Hazel. That day, at the meeting, I saw her approaching Hazel, and talking to her, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I did get some bad vibes coming from the bond, so I guess they haven’t patched things up. I don’t get what the issue is, they are both powerful women, they could benefit so much from a friendship, instead of wasting energy being at each other’s throats.

Maybe I can try to placate things between them when we are back, organize a trip so that they have an opportunity to get to know each other better.

Hazel accepted Grace after all the bad words she throwed at her, so I don’t see why the same could not happen with Emma too.

“Who wants to listen to some music?” Hazel asks excitedly.

“Me, me, me!” Alice shouts back.

Look at these two, one would think we are going on a day trip somewhere fun.

Hazel puts on “Roar” and starts sit-dancing to the music, followed suit by Alice, becoming a mess of moving arms and waving shoulders.

I can’t help admiring my mate, gorgeous and sexy, even dressed in simple jeans and a black T-shirt. It’s her spirit, her energy that always draws me in, so pure and free, but charged and lethal when she wants to. My love.

…..

It takes four hours to get to Woodrock’s pack borders. We park our cars a couple of kilometers away from their south border, and shift into our wolves to continue on foot.

When we get to their main gate, Hazel will use an illusion to make everyone think I am Woodrock’s Beta, taking guests in, and when we are inside, we will take out the guards and let everyone else in. We hope we won’t get detected, so not to alert the facility beforehand.

Luckily being an Alpha I have access to the database of all Alphas and Betas, so we could see what he looks like beforehand, I have honestly never met him before, the Woodrock pack has always kept to themselves.

We put our plan into motion, I feel slightly nervous, not knowing if Hazel’s illusion will really manage to disguise me, and worried they will notice my voice is different, but surprisingly everything goes by manual, leaving me worrying that maybe things just went a little too smooth. Or maybe I should just stop worrying, because it is clear that is not helping with anything.

“If you keep worrying like that, I will have to start calling you Mr. Broody!” Hazel voice comes through the link.

Always the lighter one, I don’t know how she manages not to worry, she is the one with a target on her back. Maybe she is just braver than me, the idea of losing her, of losing anyone of my team, really, terrifies me.

We run undetected in the woods inside Woodrock’s pack, until we reach the fence Hazel saw in her mind trip. My warriors immediately get into action to disable the electricity running in the fence and creating a hole for us to go through. In a matter of minutes they are done, I know that we have probably already alerted the security inside, but there’s not much we can do about it, they would have seen us anyway the minute we stepped into their building.

Hazel puts on a shield, worried that they will try to shoot us while we reach the stairs’ entrance.

As soon as one of my men goes to try the door, it explodes sending him flying backwards. Fuck! I hurried to his side, pulling him back to a safe spot, just when at least thirty guards run out of the building, armed with guns and shotguns, firing at us with everything they have.