C76 The Jeep

Zion's P.O.V.

After about an hour of shopping and so many bags later, Rain looks at me and says she's got enough clothes. I nod, and we start walking to the Jeep while She explains to Mathew and Eithan why she's excited to be back in the Blur River Pack. Ryker jumps up in my mind on high alert, and the smell of rogues reaches me as we hear a loud growl. I pull Rain behind me as Eithan does the same with Morgan, and Mathew does the same with Mia. Though he's not her mate, I appreciate his willingness to protect her.

"What's going on, Ryker?" I ask my wolf.

"It's the rogues. They're ambushing us. I can feel at least fifteen, but there could be more waiting in the woods." He answers, and I grow angry that they would choose to attack while my mate is pregnant.

"Fuck! I should have brought guards with us. We're severely outnumbered, and there's no way I'm comfortable with our pregnant mate shifting to fight them off." I tell him.

"You might not be comfortable with it, but we can't stop her from doing it." He retorts but then adds. "Plus, I don't think we have to worry about that."

"What do you mean?" I ask before feeling the heat coming from behind me. I turn around to see my amazing mate glowing red. When I turned back around to face the rogues, they separated to make way for the leader of their group.

"Max!" Ryker growls in my head as Max starts antagonizing my mate, and my blood begins to boil. "Who the hell does he think he is to talk to her like that?"

When she asks what Douglas wants with her, he tells her he wants her power but that they have to get rid of me and our pups that she's carrying. She loses her composure and starts hurling fireballs at him as the rogues begin their descent on us. I tell Morgan and Mia to shift and protect Rain, and we all shift to our wolves as Mathew, Eithan, and I run to head them off before they can make it too close to her. Everything seems to go by in a blur as we fight the rogues.

At some point, I look over to see Rain continuing her attack on Max. He's full of himself, thinking he's superior for dodging her attacks, but I can tell she's barely missing him on purpose. She's targeting his feet to keep him moving, wearing him down slowly.

"He's a fool!" Ryker says, and I agree. While observing our mate, we're caught off guard by three rogues who took the opening as their advantage to attack at once.

I took one of the rogues down, breaking his neck in one quick movement while having another one pinned under me. I can feel teeth latching onto my neck. I shake him off, but he comes back and bites down on my side as the one beneath me claws at my chest. I'm losing a lot of blood and need to end this now. I move quickly to kill the one beneath me before crushing the neck of the one on my side. Everything goes silent as I try to make my way to my mate as the fighting ends, but I collapse before I can make it to her.

I feel myself being lifted and placed into the Jeep and can tell we're moving quickly. I'm in and out of consciousness as I lose more blood. I try to reach out to Ryker but quickly realize that I must have been poisoned with wolfsbane when I can't feel him. Suddenly, Rain is by my side, and I can feel the tingles of the mate bond from her touch. I place my hand on her growing belly and ask if she and the pups are okay, but I black out before I hear her response.

When I wake up, I'm in a room I don't recognize, and everything comes back in a blur. I can feel Ryker pacing in my mind and look over to find Rain asleep in the bed beside me. I gently run my hand over her belly before reaching up to caress her cheek. I get up, walking out of the room, and find Mia sitting by the door. Her eyes open wide, and she jumps out of her chair in excitement.

"I'm so glad you're awake, my King." She says with a smile.

"How long was I out?" I ask her, and she looks at me confused.

"We arrived last night." She answers, and I'm shocked. Usually, in cases where wolfsbane is used to poison someone, it takes longer to get out of your system. "Let me go get the doctor and the others."

I nod and sit in the chair Mia had been sitting in a few minutes before while I wait for her to return with everyone. I try remembering everything that happened yesterday. I'm confused by how they found us unless they've been watching us. That also means we have a mole in the kingdom. After a few minutes, Orian and Jess come walking down the hall.

"It's good to see you up," Orian says with a smile. "I figured you would be out for at least two or three days."

"Is Rain awake?" Jessica asks me quickly, her face full of worry. I shake my head. "I'll go sit with her so she won't be alone if she wakes up while y'all are talking."

"Thank you, Jessica," I say as she goes to enter the room. When she closes the door, I look at Orian. "What do we know about the attack?"

"Not much. We found a tracker under the Jeep. We sent it off to a tech company a few towns over to see if they're able to track where the signal is going. Eithan and Mathew both agree that you seemed to be the target from what they told me. They said the rogues were more worried about taking you out than anyone else." He says, and I nod.

"I felt the same way during the fight. I could tell that every time I took out one rogue. There was another right behind them, ready to take its place." I tell him. "It makes sense. If they take me out, they can get to Rain easier."

"That's what we were thinking, too." He says as Mia returns with the doctor, Eithan, Morgan, Mathew, Christian, and Nick. The ladies walk into the room with Jessica and Rain while I talk to the doctor and the guys.

"How are Rain and the twins?" I ask, not worried about my condition at all. "She used quite a bit of magic."

"Her body suffered a lot of stress, but with some rest, she will be just fine. And the pups are growing faster than I've ever seen." The doctor says. "And your wounds have all healed nicely, thanks to your mate. She did most of the work before you even arrived, and your wolf burned out the wolfsbane quickly."

"That sounds like her. She worries about others more than herself." I say with a smile. Thankful that she and the pups are okay after using so much magic during the ambush.

"I'll go check on the Queen and let you know if there are any updates." He says, and I nod in agreement. Once he's in the room with Rain, it's time for us to get to business.

"So, what have I missed?" I ask them.

"Well, I think you need to look at your Jeep before we say anything else," Mathew says. I look at him with confusion written all over my face.

"I've already got a new one that will arrive tomorrow, and I also have someone picking up replacements for the items the Queen bought," Orian says, and I begin to worry as we make our way outside. When we reached the door of the pack house, the door opened, and my jaw dropped at the site of my Jeep.

"What the hell happened to my Jeep?" I all but yell. It looks like it hit a tree. The front is all dented in, and the windshield is busted to hell and back.

"The Queen... She hit Max when he stood in the way of us and the exit. So she hit him. Watching it was quite fun, but you should probably stick to driving from now on." Mathew says as he lets out a small laugh. I run my hands down my face and let out a groan of aggravation at the site. I get amusement out of the thought of Max rolling over the hood of my Jeep, but the damage I'm seeing hurts my soul. It's just a vehicle, a material thing, but it was definitely my favorite out of my collection. "I don't think she's ever driven before with how she was shaking when she finally pulled over and climbed into the back seat with you, but that could have been from all the blood you were losing."

"You've got to give our mate driving lessons," Ryker says with a laugh as I roll my eyes at him.