The Broken Warrior's Daughter

| can do nothing but shake my head at Grace.

“What?”

“You were sparring with that Alpha, not competing against him.”

She just shrugs it off. “He knew he couldn’t defeat me, but he was excited to spar with a Guardian. He thought it might be his only chance, so we had fun with it. Now he’ll get another chance if he brings his daughter to the mate gathering.”

“Speaking of that, do you have any idea what chaos you've just started? Every unmated male will be coming to our gathering hoping to be the mate of an Alpha female.”

“Why s

shouldn’t they? You never know where you'll find your mate and if more come, we're more

likely to find other mate matches.”

| grab her arm, stopping her and turning her toward me, before pulling her against me. “I love you. You are an amazing woman.”

She wraps her arms around my neck, stretching on her tip toes. “I love you too.” She says before kissing me deeply in front of everyone. | love when she claims me like this. It makes Louis purr in my chest.

m Sava h

“Get a room!” | hear and Angel walk up.

| chuckle, but | release Grace. “Where are Rik and Cara?”

“They went to check on the kids.” Liam looks at Grace. “Rik had your dad in the last round. He didn’t take him down gently.”

“Good.” My mate says. “He deserves what he gets.”

Since today is the last day of the competition, the leader boards are updated starting after lunch

when there are only 50 Alphas left in the competition. The six of us have moved through our battles easily. However, similar to the other days, the afternoon battles will be harder and will most likely last longer, at least for Rik, Liam and me. Our mates seem to have no problem taking

down the Alphas. The only time the battle takes longer is if they choose for it to. like with Grace and Alpha Christopher.

As the afternoon progresses, it ends up being the six of us, in the final rounds. Since we refuse to battle against our mates, they put Angel against Rik, Cara against me, and Grace against Liam. These battles last the longest. Not only do we not want to hurt the others, but our strength is increased because our mates are Guardians.

In the end, our mates defeat us. Grace had the hardest time against Liam. He is the strongest Alpha I’ve ever met, but Grace is the strongest Guardian. It was a good match up and think both

of them were happy with the outcome.

The leader boards update to show the final stats before the last rounds:

1st Place: Shadow Falls Pack 650 points

2nd Place: Canyon Ridge Pack 640 points

3rd Place: Safe Haven Pack 620 points

I'm thrilled. The final battle between the Guardians will solidify who wins, but the scores are so close that it could be considered a three-way tie. Regardless, Safe Haven has now made a name for itself. We may be new, but we are strong.

| walk over to where the judges are talking with Grace, Angel and Cara. Rik and Liem have already made their way over to them and | see them standing with their hands on their hips. As | walk up.

| understand why they look that way.

“We're not doing it.” Cara says.

“| refuse to fight my sisters.” Angel repeats.

“Why can’t we take the scores as they are now. We all agree, that’s fair. Grace adds.

The judges, werewolf elders, are shaking their heads. “That is not how the competition is run. You have to fight to the end.”

“Says who?”

“Yeah, we've already established that our three packs are, by far, the strongest. Who cares which of us is considered the strongest.”

Suddenly, | hear an explosion and the ground under us shakes. | rush up to Grace just as | hear another explosion. | turn and see that there is a fire on the other side of the battlefields. As |

watch, explosions start to go off all around us, effectively encircling the entire group of werewolves in the battlegrounds.

Grace. Cara and Angel lift their noses into the air. “HUNTERS! They shout as one. just as the bullets start flying.

Grace begins turning around in a circle. her nose still in the air as chaos breaks out around us. People are running in every direction, shifting and going after the hunters.

“Grace, what are you doing?” Cara asks her.

“There are over 1000 hunters out there. | can’t get an exact number, but we’re surrounded.”

As one, we begin running to where we left Sarah, Aolis and the babies. Hunters start coming at us, aiming guns at everyone. | jump and shift, taking down a hunter. Angel is throwing her aura out attacking individual hunters, but Grace and Cara can’t use their aura as they will take out wolves along with hunters if they aren’t careful.

Up ahead, I can see Amber is running to get to Hope. As a hunter pulls a bow back, aiming at her. Carlos jumps on him, snapping his neck.

When we get to where the babies are, | can see a shimmering glow around the group. Aolis is doing something that has created a protective barrier around them. | don’t know what it is, but it is protecting the babies and Sarah. Sarah, however, isn’t sitting by idly. She has knives and she is throwing them with deadly accuracy at the hunters.

As one, we circle our little group, protecting the pups as well as Aolis and Sarah even though they are holding their own. Angel pushes her aura around them, strengthening the barrier that was already created by Aolis. Grace and Cara shift, as arrows and bullets fly past us, bouncing off

Angel's and Aolis’ barriers.

The sounds of battle are everywhere. Smoke from the bombs fills the air with an acrid, metallic smell, burning my nose and eyes. There may only be a thousand hunters, but they have the element of surprise. They took down quite a few wolves with their bombs and the initial gunfire.

of

While it may be difficult to see and smell, the hunters are easily spotted. Even though most of the werewolves have shifted, those that haven’t stand out because they aren’t wearing gas masks. As | watch, | see that the hunters have created their own wall. All around us, the hunters are

standing shoulder to shoulder, and they are pushing their way forward. As they do, they are pushing us back until eventually, we will have no where else to run. It gives new meaning to the term ‘shooting fish in a barrel’. We'll be easy targets.

“Grace, they are surrounding us and trying to pin us down. Can you push your aura and take out a large group of them?” | mind link her.

Maia turns and sees what | see. Grace shifts back, turning to Cara. “Cara, we need to knock down that wall.” She says pointing to the hunters still pushing forward. Cara shifts.

“Take my hand, pull on my strength.” Cara tells her.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

“| don’t know how. I’ve barely practiced pulling your strength because of the pregnancies. You

pull on mine.” Grace tells her.

+15 BONOS

Cara does and | watch as she throws a punch of power at the hunters. Nearly 50 drop-to the ground, dead. Unfortunately, all it did was bring attention to us. All the hunters near us turn and

set their sights on our little group. Cooper Author The hunters are back! Updates occur daily.

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