Sold by my Alpha, bought by my Mate Chapter 50: The wrong direction

Jeremiah

If there was ever a time to disobey, this was it. The forest felt strange, Miss Mildred was trapped next to Alpha Randall, who seemed somewhere between bewitched and wounded, Asher prowled the corridors near his mate like a caged tiger.

Even King Maximus was concerned. Yes... none of this was a good sign. I took advantage of the soldiers checking the perimeter and sprang into action.

Everyone in the castle was under siege, following orders and trying to figure out where the hell Randall was when this happened.

"Across the river?" I asked.

"No, sir... his trail is lost right here, a few miles from the garden," the warrior said.

"Impossible..." I said, and I feared Randall had help.

Those creatures? Other wolves? His pack? No, his pack wasn't that powerful. It was him... there was something strange about him.

"Follow the trail across the river... I'll see the other border," I told them.

"There was never movement there sir... these are his majesty's sacred trees..." one warrior said. She was right.

"No one would dare touch them. But still... we don't know how risky our enemies are."

"True... but it's better to find out anyway."

"Yes, sir."

Instead, I went in a straight line to where Randall's trail got lost. The Royal Guard warriors had passed this way, but all in all I saw a lot of destruction and some remnants of Randall's trail in the trees. Almost imperceptible.

"He leaned here and passed here... but .... how come there is so little of his scent left?" and the thought hit me hard.

There was something here that had nothing to do with wolves, maybe vampires or witches. Even worse.

The idea displeased me more and more. I walked slowly, almost at a human pace, as I heard the animals and creatures of the night running away. They knew that there was no worse predator than me in this forest right now.

"It ends here..." I said quietly, and nearby I saw dead plants, withered trees, dried out as if the life had been torn out of them by the roots. An old tree almost ruined. Maximus loved these trees... he must be furious.

"What the hell is that?" what I touched crumbled, and there was the smell of sulfur.

"Demons..." I said now without hesitation.

But there was also blood, Randall's dry blood, a faint smell of vampires, and I started to evaluate theories. Randall must have been here at a meeting with demons and vampires. But... how did he even get out of the castle?

I looked back to the path I came from; several hours had passed in my meticulous search... but to return now would be a mistake.

All night long, I walked deeper into the forest, following trails of ash and sulfur, until I reached a completely gray wasteland.

"Goddess..." I said, looking at the ground, the dead plants, and trees.

There were no insects or animals... everything was... lifeless. A spell? A ritual one?

I was miles away from the castle... on the other side of where I went with the king and we attacked.

They moved into the forest where His Majesty did not have enough warriors.

I followed them for several days at a human pace, fully aware that the king and my friends would wonder where I was and that I had left without explaining my whereabouts.

I found myself closer to a lake when I quickly saw a bullet coming at me and dodged it, then another, and another from all sides. I began to hear the screams.

"Get him!"

"Kill him! He can't get out of here alive!"

They were rogues, accompanied by vampires, some not so young, a lousy combination.

Dodging more silver bullets, I grabbed a wooden branch and began to pierce their hearts. The rogues tried to bite me; I could see their fangs gleaming in the moonlight as I ended their lives.

I snapped necks, bit wolves, poisoning them with my bite, pushed and kicked as they came to bite my ankles; there was blood everywhere and cries of despair.

"It's him! The king's former vampire advisor!" I heard another alarm.

A few wolves fled in terror as the vampires finished them off in retaliation. I kept up my pace, finishing them all off, throwing branches as if they were stakes, hanging the wolves with my bare hands. But the further I went... the more enemies came out.

I grabbed one wolf by the neck and cast a spell on him.

"Attack your companions," I instructed, and the wolf caused havoc and disaster while the rogues had no idea what was going on. I cast a spell on a few more to finish the job.

Finally, I killed them when the last vampires were finished. I was exhausted, but when I saw a wolf limping, I knew it was my last chance. I didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

The wolf shook its head, and I think it would rather kill itself than fall into my hands, but it had no choice.

"Show me your base..." I said, and limping, it led me to a clearing far beyond, almost at the end of His Majesty's territories.

Beyond it was a small valley where, not long ago, I had seen an army. It had moved... who knows how many times it had moved. And from the tracks and the space they had left, I could tell that it was quite a large army.

Much bigger than we had imagined.

The confrontation I had on the outskirts in which the king participated, my inspections of the territory, had been in the other area where an attack was to come.

The forest was complicated and it was also known to be sacred to the king.... we thought the attack would never come from that side.

They had led us astray, guiding us with breadcrumbs to point us in the wrong direction. If it wasn't for Randall... we wouldn't have ended up here.

I killed the wolf that had led me and started to run back, following the raiding party. They were ahead of me, and I knew I would encounter several on the way, knowing I was in an unfavorable position.

I ran with all my strength and my parallel power to the army.

"A vampire!

The king's friend!" they shouted, and I knew they had spotted me. The enemy clearly knew who we were... while we were blind and lost.

I dodged silver bullets and a rain of wooden stakes, but I ran even faster.

I had to get to the castle first.

I had to tell them that the attack was coming.... and it might come from within.