Tangled Hearts - The Alpha's Baby Mama-Chapter 245: Two Selene’s

Lucius POV

I gritted with teeth, trying to fight the urge to whip around and shout at her. This was one of the reasons why I didn’t bother about getting married. Women will test you.

"Emilia, I know you think this is easy... what we’re doing but it is not. We’re going into a dangerous and uncharted terrain without any idea of what the enemy looks like or what he has prepared. So, do us all a favour and sit this one out,".

"Really?" her eyes glinted with amusement "I don’t see you making these explanations to the other soldiers you picked. Or is there any reason you don’t want me to go with you?" she came closer, her hands splayed gently on my chest. I sucked in my breath, trying to maintain her gaze "Maybe you’re scared that I might get hurt... Do you love me?"

I cringed, removing her hands from my body. "Okay, that’s enough," I took a step backwards, studying her for a moment, weighing the potential risks and benefits of her presence. Maybe I wanted her to stay back because I wanted to protect her but on second thoughts, she is not more important than the other soldiers fighting with me, so... fuck it.

Finally, I nodded. "Your tracking skill could be useful but you have to promise to follow my orders without question, understood?"

She nodded eagerly, flashing me one of her beautiful smiles. "Thank you, Lucius. I won’t let you down," She squealed and skipped past me.

I shook my head fighting off the smile that settled on my face. As the team piled into waiting vehicles, my mind raced through possible scenarios again. I knew that rescuing Selene wasn’t going to be easy, especially if Jared was expecting us. But failure was not an option – not when so much was at stake.

Also, there was one thing I could easily do that no one knew... it was our little secret me and Selene’s’ and that was the only way I was going to track her. Once I got close enough to where she was being held hostage, I’d be able to find her in less than a few seconds.

"Remember!" I stood in front of the soldier "The only thing we’re bringing back for this mission is our Luna... any other thing is none of our business, none of our concern. All I want from you all is to have my back while I go in for her. As soon as I have her, everyone should leave whoever or whatever they’re fighting and retreat, is that understood!"

"Yes sir!" they all chorused.

Kurtis had his team ready too. After giving them brief instructions, we took one final look at Noah who was staring at us, with a blank expression. I knew so much was going on in his head but this was not the time to show emotions.

The journey to the Warehouse point was complex and tense. Kurtis and his group split at some point and it was just on the lonely road. The vehicles were filled with hushed conversations and last-minute banter between the soldiers. Most of them were young and had not much field experience but I knew people like them would have a lot of adrenaline during a fight or flight experience – they would save themselves first. That was one of the reasons I had gone for younger people. They didn’t care about honor or decorations and that was perfect was my plan. I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone.

As we neared our destination, I ordered radio silence, communicating only through hand signals and mind links for those who could.

The abandoned warehouses loomed before us. It was a maze of rusted metal and broken windows. Instead of driving straight to it, we parked our vehicles at least 100 miles away from it and took another route that would lead us directly to the part that opened to the cave in-between and we would be going there by foot.

After hiding our transport in the bush, I divided the group of 100 into three teams – one to secure the perimeter, another to search the outer buildings of the warehouse without being detected. At least to make sure that Selene was not trapped there and the last group, was a small, elite unit that would penetrate the heart of the cave as soon as I gave orders.

They would hold off Jared and his men while I grabbed Selene and then there was my shadow and Emilia. After giving instructions to my shadows, I was left with only Emilia. I indicated that she come with me.

In the darkness, we crept through the shadows, moving as stealthily as we could while relying on our night vision. Suddenly, Emilia froze, her nostrils flaring. She caught my eyes in the dark, pointing to a nondescript passage at the centre of the part. I nodded, understanding her silent message – she had caught Selene’s scent and so did I.

But what was strange was her scent was everywhere and there were several mini-paths on the main pathway. Emilia stared at me with surprise on her face and I managed a smile. If this was what I was thinking, we had walked directly into Jared’s trap. Somehow, he must have known that we were coming and that we knew where he was.

Everything was foolproof, he knew were going to figure out his exact location by the way but I couldn’t tell Emilia that, it’d only make the rest of the soldiers panic. Beckoning to one of my shadows, I whispered instructions to him to the other soldiers and waited for him to leave and go carry them out before we resumed moving.

We continued down the path until we got to what seemed like the last mini-path. Here, Selene’s scent was stronger. We followed the path, approaching cautiously, every sense on high alert. Just as we reached the entrance, a piercing howl spilt the air. I cursed under my breath – our presence had been detected.

"Go!" I shouted, abandoning stealth for speed. If we remained in the dark, it’d be easier for them to hunt us down. Without being told, I knew these were the water wolves. They were tinier than a normal werewolf but had the skill and grit to fight in the dark. They were usually fast and no matter how fast you are, it’ll be difficult to repel them in the dark.

I and Emilia ran through the path until we burst into the building, immediately we were met by a group of snarling werewolves. They had us on every corner and the room had only a faint light shining through. My eyes scanned the walls desperately, looking for signs of a light switch or anything that would introduce light into the room. My eyes fell on a window, from where I stood, the hinges were rusty and old. One push and it’ll come apart. I and Emilia had our backs to each other now.

"Listen," I said quietly, "Do not change into your wolf form. It’ll be easier for them to defeat us with our wolves. We have a lot of advantages fighting in our human form. Pretend like we’re bent on fighting and then on my signal, I want you to race to the windows and push them as hard as you can. The goal is to get in as much light as possible, okay?"

"Okay!" she replied without a flinch.

I counted three before we charged at the wolves. We fought, fighting as much as we could We managed to trap most of them in one corner. I looked at Emilia and nodded indicating it was time. With the speed of light, she ran over to the wall and then before anyone could know what was happening, changed into her wolf form and with both hind and fore legs, knocked at five windows at once.

The impact of her push had the windows flying out with speed. Sunlight filtered through the open windows and the water wolves hissed and started retreating into the darkness. But Emilia didn’t relent, she continued to push at the window until she had every one of them down. Changing back to her human form, she came back to stand beside me.

I was painfully aware that her clothes were in tatters – just enough to cover the sensitive part of her body but I felt my wolf begging to catch a glimpse. Shaking my head, I tried to focus on the whimpering wolves in front of me. The hotness of the sun had weakened them considerably as everywhere was flooded with light.

I and Emilia fought and soon we had a lot of them sprawled lifelessly on the ground. As we fought our way deeper into the building, I caught a familiar scent – Selene. My wolf howled with rage and determination, lending me renewed strength. They had her scent masked with some mulberry and beetroot but I could feel her wolf.

As I fought, I closed my eyes and tried to connect with her scent... soon, I could see the direction her scent was coming from. Following it gently, it led me to the room they had her trapped in, in my mind’s eyes. When I opened my eyes, I charged forward, leaving the team that had now joined us to deal with the rest of the water wolves.

Jared had deceived us into thinking that he wasn’t in the warehouse when he was there and had all his men together in one place.

I found myself in a large, open area that might once have been a loading dock. At the far end, I saw her – Selene, bound to a chair, her clothes were stained with blood and her eyes were wide with fear and hope. And standing next to her, a cruel smile twisting his features, was Alpha Jared.

Just a short distance from him also stood Princess Jade with Selene sitting on a chair, sobbing profusely and shaking in her chair.

I froze... there were two Selenes’.