"WHERE ARE you going?" That sentence was the last that ever graced Irlan's ears before his sight turns black. The torture is finally taking its share of him. The little bit of consciousness in him screamed with warning.

Stumbling back and forth while trying to get a full scope of what could happen drains his energy. His injury is not small to begin with.


'Adarmus should be here to help his son.' Irlan debated calling Mathilda. The madame would panic. He rarely calls her, and when it happens, it means that he can no longer have control over the situation and he wants her to help.

The amount of people barricading the gates makes him wince. He's not going to take them head on.

He doesn't know if Horan will follow him this time or not. That guy can't be trusted. He announced his animosity to him and his friends earlier. Irlan won't take that lightly. Horan is capable even though he's incredibly stupid.


Blue light shot up from his palm to the sky.

He swallowed the thick lump in his throat. The light attracted the everyone's attention. They all now knew that an emergency signal was sent to the heavens.


Irlan officially started a war.

He struggled to get up and inhaled deeply. Gathering the courage inside him, he closed his eyes and chanted for a brief spell.

This spell belongs to the newly made ones crafted by his madame. Irlan tried this before but he can only manage to hold for three hours.

'Open.'

The earth opened up and swallowed him whole.

Thick vines wrapped on his wrists and ankles. Air left his lungs entirely, to imitate a dead person. He can feel his temperature dropped drastically.

The only thing that can do right now is to close his body entirely and just let his senses out. He can communicate to Lance by telepathy and he can order his sense of sight to get the view from the highest position possible.

Other than that, when a dangerous situation arises, his body would be prohibited from moving.

Six feet under the earth, with only the will to help. Irlan never felt so useless before.

This type of spell has a ridiculously high requirement. The caster must be a few sighs to death. This means that only those mages in the verge of dying can benefit from it.

Irlan can hide his body from the wolves and he can give information to Lance.

'Lance...' That is... if the man stayed conscious.

'THAT BLUE light...' Lance smiled wanly. 'There's no use in calling Adarmus. I can't contact him.' It was like their link has never existed. He can't find the thread that leads his thought to Adarmus'. 'Is he in danger?'

Lance doesn't know where could he possibly go at times like this. He could only hope that he won't be that late.

"Pen, watch out!" Lance's eyes widened when a series of flaming arrows landed near Penelope's feet. They decided to rest for a moment and wait for Irlan's signal when loud howls from left and right made them involuntarily advance. "They're targeting you."

"Looks like Beatrix can't wait to have me dead." Penelope pushed her hand to the back of her jeans. She handed Joaquin a dagger. "Don't let them near you. Their claws could be laced with poison."

'The arrows are with poison too...' Irlan's voice echoed inside Lance's head. 'Move to the right. Half of the pack members are waiting by the end of the river. Change your route now.'

Lance was relieved to know that he's still safe. "Irlan, where are you? Joaquin, let's go to the right."

Joaquin nodded without any question. Penelope glanced at him with tearful eyes before heading to the same direction as her mate.

'Horan will call his father. This won't help us. My body is now taking a rest. I won't be able to help you, even when it becomes dangerous.'

Lance let the information flew past his head. "That's fine. As long as you're safe at the moment. Be careful. Where did you hide your body?"

'At Beatrix' home. The place she would least suspect.'

"You..." Leaves rustled with their heavy footsteps. "How are you going to go home?"

'Don't mind me. I called madame for help. They will take a great while before reaching this place. Hold out.'

"Yes." Lance sensed a person rushing from his back. He paused and readied himself. "They got us."

He delivered a swift kick to the unknown person. A grunt entered his ears. He didn't wait for another second and rammed a second kick in his vital parts.

"Lance!"

"Go!" He gestured Joaquin. "Protect your mate. I'm going to distract them!"

"BASTY, one of our men was taken down by Samael's mate. How do I respond?" Samael can hear the laughter in Belial's words.

He scowled. The man can still afford to make fun of him under this unfortunate circumstances. "Introduce yourselves. That's what smart men does. You're scaring him!"

"Calm down, bud. My brother's not used to seeing you problematic about someone so... let him have his time now. You can get back at him once he found his own mate."

Sebastian didn't hesitate answering Samael's call yesterday. He offered help without a huff. He knew that Samael is worried for Lance. Basty felt this way before when he met his mate, Gene.

"My friend, looks like your mate can really dig his own grave."

"He's just doing his job."

Belial grumbled. "You're aware that he's doing this because it's his job. When he throw himself to the flames in order to save his boss, you cannot blame him. It's his job."

Samael swallowed. The air was harsh and eerily cold despite the warmth of his neck. "I won't say anything. I won't hate him. I can't even possibly blame the guy, yeah?"

Basty frowned at him. The gun in his hand shines under the moonlight. "Well..."

"I'll just prevent that situation to happen. He doesn't need to put himself in danger when there's no threat around, right? All I have to do is eliminate his enemies and he won't need to jump. That's all I can do."

"Then... I'll order the men to be discreet. They can't resist an alpha's call for long. We're rogues. Despite our training, it's hard to fight our own nature to submit on a presence of an alpha." Basty heaved a breath and started to walk in the opposite direction. "We'll meet each other after three hours. Kill as many as you can. It's either we get killed or we severe these wolves. You know what to pick."

"Their lives are not even an option for me," Belial whispered.