Before I knew it, I heard Luciene release a painful scream. Whatever Freya hit him with almost made me fall, but I just kept running with him on my back.
"Luciene! Luciene! Luciene, you need to talk to me old man. Come on, we're almost out of here", I shouted at him. Luciene just kept quiet. I couldn't hear his breathing anymore.
We were almost out of the cave. I could see the light and some tree leaves getting closer. I just had to keep running.
"Not so fast, young wolf", Freya said with a snarl. She had appeared out of thin air and was blocking the exit. Just a few more steps and I would've been out of here.
"You are not going anywhere! This coven has big plans and you are the key to those plans", Freya said.
"Freya, I am getting out of here and I swear to you I'm going to make you pay for what you did!", I said with a loud roar.
She started laughing and then started chanting while pointing at me. I could see dark magic forming in her hand and I knew I needed to find a way to protect Luciene from it.
Freya was about to strike me with her magic when suddenly she got hit with a huge brick in the head. She fell down and Sebastian was standing right behind her with a shocked expression.
"Are you okay?", Sebastian said to me.
I laughed. "Sebastian, you just saved my life", I said to him.
We both ran out of the cave together.
When we got outside, I saw warriors, witches and trolls fighting each other. A lot of the warriors weren't even the ones who were in the cell with me. There were a lot more warriors out here.
I was shocked to see more of Elizabeth's colleagues. I saw Audrey and Susan. Just like Sebastian, they also seemed to be immune to the witches' magic. Heck, all these other warriors also seemed to be immune to the witches' magic.
I put Luciene down and started giving him CPR. I gave a big sigh of relief when I started hearing him breathing.
Mathew, you must find Elizabeth. She's here and she's hurt!, I heard Orion roaring in my head.
As soon as I heard Orion, I turned to find Sebastian. The moment I spotted him, I yelled out to him.
"Sebastian, I need you to take care of Luciene. I'm going to find Elizabeth", I said as I stood up.
I started following Elizabeth's scent. It was mixed with blood. When I finally found her, I saw a man holding the right side of her abdomen and trying to stop all the blood that was gushing out of there.
"Someone help! Liz is hurt!", I heard the man yell.
Before I knew it, a loud roar left my body. I ran to Elizabeth and pushed the strange man out of the way. I was trying to stop the blood gushing out of her body. I held her head in my hand and started crying. She was coughing blood now.
"Elizabeth, Elizabeth! I'm here. I'm here. Please don't die on me. Please!", I said while stroking her hair.
The strange man who was holding her came back with a couple more warriors. They were all looking at us so I drew her in closer to my body and held her tightly.
"If you come any closer, I will kill you", I said in a low growl.
"Mathew, right? I am Jonathan", one of the men said. "I am the future alpha of the Blood Claw pack. Elizabeth asked for our help to come save you and the rest of our men. I am not your enemy, Mathew. You need to let us help Elizabeth right now."
He was walking closer to me when suddenly Audrey appeared and saw Elizabeth.
"Oh my gosh, Elizabeth! Someone find Sebastian. He's a healer! Please, hurry!", she said as she ran towards Elizabeth. The warrior who was with Elizabeth a few minutes ago was holding her hand now. I didn't like seeing him hold her hand, but I just wanted to focus on helping Elizabeth right now.
"Hold on Liz, help is on the way", the strange man said while crying.
Sebastian arrived after a few seconds. The moment he saw Elizabeth, he started running to her.
"You all need to take a step back while I heal her. Otherwise, you'll absorb the healing for yourselves", Sebastian said.
Me, Audrey and the strange man all took a step from Elizabeth. Sebastian put his hands over Elizabeth's abdomen and suddenly a light started shining from his hands. The blood slowly stopped gushing from Elizabeth's body. Soon the bleeding stopped altogether and the wound was all healed. It didn't even leave a scar. Elizabeth took a huge gulp of air and her eyes popped open. She was coughing. Audrey and the strange man ran to her. Everyone else gave a relieved sigh. The strange man was hugging Elizabeth and running his hands through her thick curls. I wanted to kill him.
"Jonathan, the witches have retreated", a man announced.
"Okay, Mike I want a headcount. I want us out of here right now", the man who introduced himself as Jonathan said to the strange man.
The strange man who was hugging Elizabeth stood up and left after hearing the blonde guy's commands.
Elizabeth hadn't noticed me yet. When she turned her head, I was met with the most beautiful fiery gold eyes. The moment she saw me, she sprung up and jumped into my arms. She wrapped her arms and legs around me and I was holding both her thighs so she wouldn't fall.
"I'm so sorry, Mathew! It's all my fault. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?", she said with a shaky voice.
I just wanted to hold her closer. I couldn't let her go. I inhaled her scent and felt all my troubles wash away. I pulled back her head and looked into her fiery gold eyes. I didn't understand why her eyes were gold, but I didn't care. I was just glad that Jerry didn't manage to find her. I was glad that my best friend was safe and in my arms where she belongs.
"I missed you so much", I said as I held her head in my hand.
"I missed you too", Elizabeth said. I inched my face closer to hers until I felt her hot breath against my lips. I was finally about to kiss her.
"Uhm, uhm, uhm!", we heard someone clearing their throat. It was Audrey. Everyone was looking at us.
Elizabeth quickly unwrapped her arms and legs from my body. We were both blushing from embarrassment.
*********************************************
Elizabeth's POV
When Mathew held me in his arms, it felt like all my troubles were washing away. The world stood still and I had this aching need to be in his arms. I wanted more. Thank goodness Audrey interrupted us. Who knows what I would have done to him.
When we got back to Black Claw, we immediately went to one of the the pack's meeting halls. I guess since I burnt down Alpha Gideon's meeting room, we couldn't use that room.
We all sat down in chairs. Susan was sitting on Sebastian's lap. Mike and Mathew were sitting on my left and and right side. Audrey had an open seat next to her and Jonathan was standing on the stage about to talk to us.
"Everyone, I trust you can all tell from the smile on my face that our mission was successful", Jonathan said. Everyone cheered. Mathew was just looking at Jonathan. He looked a bit confused. I'd have to fill him in on everything later.
"I'm thrilled to report that we had zero casualties. I'm also happy to report that we rescued every single one of our men and women and also rescued Sebastian AAAND the infamous Mathew!". Everyone erupted in cheers again.
"We do have one man in the hospital", Jonathan said. "It is an old man who seems to have been imprisoned by the witches for quite some time. He's currently in the pack hospital receiving treatment." Mathew tensed up when he heard this.
"Now, before I say anything else, Dave has asked to tell us something. Dave, as you all know, was captured when the witches attacked our pack a few hours ago. Go ahead, Dave."
A tall man with brown hair and brown eyes then took the stage.
"Thank you", Dave said. Before he started speaking, Alpha Gideon walked in the room and sat down down next to Jonathan. They were hugging.
"Future alpha Jonathan, Alpha Gideon and warriors of the Blood Claw pack, we need to tell you all of the events that transpired while we were captured. We need to tell you this because we still don't believe what we saw."
"That man is not a normal wolf", Dave said while pointing at Mathew. Mathew's green eyes darkened and he gave low growl. I immediately held his hand and I could feel him calming down afterwards.
"That man was able to break silver bars that were imbued with wolfsbane. While the rest of us couldn't even feel our wolves, his wolf was able to find the way out of a cave that was nothing short of a maze. He...he and that inkling over there saved us". Dave was tearing up. "If it weren't for the two of them, I don't think I would've lived to see my little boy again." Dave was crying now and Jonathan quickly climbed the stage and helped him get off.
Jonathan took the stage again.
"Thank you for sharing such vital information with us, Dave. Mathew, I don't know if we would have reached my people in time, and I'm pretty sure that without Elizabeth we wouldn't even have found that cave. I want to thank the two of you from the bottom of my heart as the future alpha of this pack. We are indebted to you."
Everyone erupted in cheers again, but quited down when Jonathan held up his hands.
"I'd also like to thank Sebastian, Susan and my beautiful mate, Audrey for helping this pack to beat the witches not once but twice in just a few hours!" Everyone cheered again.
"It also seems that a lot more of us have grown immune to the witches' magic. Every person who went on today's mission was struck with a witch's spell, and not a damn thing happened to us!" Everyone was cheering again, but Alpha Gideon looked at Mathew and I suspiciously.
When we got back to the pack house, Jonathan gave me, Mathew, Susan and Sebastian keys to rooms on the alpha floor.
"Jonathan, can you give Liz a room on my floor?", Mike asked.
Sebastian, Susan, Audrey, Jonathan and Mathew all looked shocked, but I wasn't. Mathew growled at Mike.
"Mathew, it's okay", I said as I held his hand. "Actually, I'd appreciate being on your floor Mike."
Everyone's jaws dropped and Mathew's eyes got dark.
"Are you for real right now?", Mathew said as he growled at me.
"Don't talk to her like that!", Mike said as he pushed Mathew.
"Okay, okay, okay! We just got back from fighting literal witches. It's 3am in the morning. We're all tired and just need to rest", Jonathan said while stepping between Mathew and Mike. "I'm going to put the three of you on the beta floor BUT you all have separate rooms. I think that's fair."
Mike and I nodded.
"Put me on a different floor!", Mathew said with a low growl.
"Mathew!", I called out to him. He didn't even turn to look at me. He just took the keys Jonathan handed him and walked away.
I tried walking after him, but Audrey grabbed my arm. "It's been a long night, Elizabeth. You can talk to him tomorrow", she said.