Page 3 of Her Eternal Mate

The battle was getting fiercer in the distance. A new swarm of vampires had just landed on the back of the field and were now joining their brethren, outnumbering the wolves. From afar, I could see that Griswold was no longer subdued. Now, he was gaining an advantage over Will with his reinforcements. It was clear that the vampires were not fighting fair.

But war was never fair.

I rejoined the fight after shifting into my wolf form once again. I knew where I had to go. To Will’s side. Once I traversed the sea of wolves and vampires and reached the other side to where Will was, I stood by his side, snarling at Griswold.

He is relentless, Will said.I have been attacking him nonstop, but he seems to have an affinity for pain. He welcomes it instead of reeling from it.

Then let’s give him some more of that pain that he loves so much,I said, and without warning, leaped on top of Griswold, digging my claws into his skull. To my surprise, his skull was thicker than the vampires that I’d beaten in battle earlier. My claws barely penetrated his skin before he grabbed me by the throat and threw me to the ground.

Griswold roared as he thrashed his fists to his chest and broke into a run toward me. Will intercepted him midway and caused him to trip over his feet. Once again, Will overpowered Griswold by pinning him to the ground.

I recovered back to my feet and defended Will by driving away the vampires who had gathered around us. They clawed from afar, never daring to come nearer. There were too many of them to take on by myself. I counted at least twenty.

Suddenly, there was a fierce howl behind me, and I saw Vince, with a couple of werewolves, coming to our aid.

Together, Vince and the werewolves lunged at the vampires surrounding Will and me and evened the odds on the battlefield.

Chapter 2

Will

This battle was pushing me to my limits. I had never come across such a foe as Griswold in my entire life. He seemed to have an unending penchant for violence. The more I inflicted injuries on him, the more he endured them. They seemed to be giving him some sort of maniacal strength. Even now, as I had pinned him to the ground, he seemed to be going berserk with every strike I inflicted upon his body. It was only a matter of time before he’d get back up, spit out some blood, and resume the fight as if nothing had happened.

As if all my blows meant nothing.

Just as I had suspected, he got back up on his feet, roaring like a lion, and grabbed me by the fur. I bit into his hand, my teeth touching his bone, drawing blood. It was as if Griswold had no nerves sending pain signals into his body. He didn’t even flinch or wince as I bit down on his hand. Instead, he grabbed me harder and threw me in the air.

But he had overestimated his throw. I was in my feral form, and I was just as heavy as Griswold, if not heavier. Instead of being thrown into the air, I stood my ground, causing Griswold to lose his balance and fall yet again.

I knew better than to engage him in battle once again. He was deranged, and there was no use fighting someone as deranged as him. But I could not leave him alone. I had a fighting chance against him, but what about the other wolves? He’d kill them with just one blow.

Around me, Vince, Alexis, and the wolves were taking down the vampires who had gathered around us, leaving a clearing where Griswold and I stood circling each other, our eyes glaring into one another’s, our bodies readying for the next bout of the fight.

“You fight like a much younger man, Will,” Griswold said, spitting more blood from his mouth. “I’d have never assumed you were some old relic who had survived decades in a gloomy prison.”

It didn’t matter that he knew all these things about me. All that mattered was that I couldn’t let him or his vampires win because doing so would mean surrendering the commune to him and allowing him to brutalize all those who lived there. From there, he’d make his way to the town and kill innocent civilians.

As if I could allow that to happen.

There had to be another way. Right now, the vampires were too close to the commune. If the wolves showed even the slightest weakness, the vampires would take the chance and attack the commune, and from there, they’d go down to the town.

We have to get them into the forest,I said to Alexis.

Why the forest?She asked.

Because that would break their strength, right now, they have strength in numbers. In the forest, they would not be able to swarm or see around them. They’d be isolated and easier to take on. The wolves will be better able to fight there,I said.

But how can we drive them to the forest?

You leave that to me,I said.

I growled at Griswold, knowing he’d take it as a challenge yet again. He mimicked my growl and pounded his foot on the ground, preparing to tackle me. There was one disadvantage to his lumbering size. It was hard for him to stop once he started moving.

Now that I had baited him, he ran in my direction. It just so happened that I was standing in front of the forest. I was faster than him. He trampled the ground as he raced after me, heading deep into the forest. I quickly lunged to the side once the first of the trees came into view and watched as Griswold bumped against the tree and fell on his knees, his head spinning, his movement disconcerted.

The vampires came after their leader in droves, filling in the empty spaces of the forest surrounding us all. But this is exactly what I had intended. Now that they were no longer in the open, it was easier for us to overwhelm them, confound them, and take them apart one by one.

It was as if the wolves already knew what they had to do. All around me, the vampires began disappearing into the groves one by one as wolves picked them up and assassinated them.