The Silver Guardian Bk. 02 Ch. 06

A huge thank you to my editor Tex for his magic touch and editing expertise!

The jet was flying over Texas on its way to Mexico City, carrying Dante and Lily and their Royal Pack retinue. Returning from the Mont Royal Pack in Montréal, they'd stopped for a few weeks at the O'Connor Compound to rest up after their recent battle against the Quebec Pack. Dante in his War God state was virtually unstoppable, but when he went there it always took a lot out of him. Also Lily's pregnancy was advancing and although she said she felt fine, Dante insisted he didn't want her to push herself too hard, and it was time for her to indulge in some relaxation. Dante also insisted that Astrid and William take a nice honeymoon. They both insisted that their proper place was with their King and Queen, but both Dante and Lily pointed out that the O'Connor Compound was one of the two safest places in the world for them (the other being at their own Order of Fenrir's headquarters, Hohenzollern Castle).

So under protest, they took the Royal Pack's jet to Cancun for two weeks. The Royals would have loved to have spent at least part of that time at their secluded and very fortified Cabin in the forest, but Astrid made them promise that with her 'being banished' for her honeymoon and therefore not present to personally oversee their day to day security, they abstain so they did, and they remained on the O'Connor Compound where it was admittedly safer. Upon their return the newly mated couple had to admit they'd had a wonderful time. But now after some time to recharge, they'd all boarded the jet early on a late April morning to make their way to Mexico City and meet with the Aztec Pack (actually la Manada Azteca) that was based there. They'd be meeting a greeting party from the Aztec Pack away from prying eyes in a private terminal at the Mexico City International Airport, and then making their way into the heart of the city and to one of the large new buildings that housed the Pack.

Even though their layover had been very helpful to her, Lily was nevertheless napping next to Dante for much of the four-hour flight, as she required more rest the further along her pregnancy advanced. Dante was discussing with William their surveillance and security for when they landed, and for when they arrived at the Aztec Pack building.

"William, I want you to sweep for surveillance devices in all the rooms when we arrive in our suites. We'll be in the heart of Viktor's drug operation down there, and we never know who might be trying to snoop on us."

William nodded. "Of course, Alpha King. I take my duties for you as seriously as my mate does, and I'll ensure we're safeguarded while we're there. And if I do find anything, I should also be able to trace where it's sending its information, so we'll know at least one location of their operations."

Dante grinned ferally at that news. "Good, it would be nice to get ahead of the game. I don't know if there'll be anything, but I'm almost hoping there will be, so we can get some tactical intel early on."

With William serving as an acting member, the Hellhounds were once again preparing for their arrival to ensure their King and Queen would be safe and secure, even out in the open. They'd be landing in a couple of hours, and Lily was having more trouble getting around since she'd become truly large; she was progressing rapidly in her gravid state, since Lycan gestation periods are only six months.

Everyone was wrapping up their preparations for arrival and would soon shut their eyes to get some much-needed rest before things would get busy again.

***

Dante and Lily were walking side by side through the terminal and into the reception area, with Astrid, Freydis and Bryn in the lead, and Hilde and William bringing up the rear. Once they entered the reception area, they saw five wolves awaiting them with a large dark-skinned hombre in the center, who was clearly in charge. They approached confidently and stopped a few yards from the party, with everyone on guard. Very little contact with this Pack had been made prior to coming here, and just like their prior visits to relatively unfamiliar packs, they exercised extreme caution until they could ascertain whether these new acquaintances would be friend or foe.

The dark large wolf in command stepped forward and bowed slightly. He stood around 6'3", was around 215 lbs. and was clearly very competent.

"Welcome, Alpha Heirs Dante and Lily. I am Chimalli, Lead Beta to our Alpha Itzli, and we welcome you to Mexico and to our Manada Azteca. We hope you'll be comfortable here and we look forward to learning the reason for your visit."

The vanguard Hellhounds stood aside as Dante stepped forward to address Chimalli.

"Thank you for your welcome, Beta Chimalli, although you're under a slight misapprehension. Lily and I are now Alphas in our own right, and we lead our own Pack. This is not something you could have known, and we'll speak further on the topic with you and your Alphas upon our arrival. If you'll allow us to gather our luggage, we'll join you and accompany you to your Pack building."

It was clear that Chimalli was shocked by that information, as were the other wolves ... there hadn't been a new Lycan Pack formed in centuries... anywhere... but he quickly regained his composure.

"Of course, Alpha Dante, my apologies for not knowing, and I look forward to learning more at the appropriate time. Please take your time to collect your things, and we can depart."

Dante and Lily and their entourage had soon gathered their luggage and were entering a private parking lot with Chimalli and his wolves where two vans awaited them. The day was bright and clear, but Dante suddenly got a bad feeling, although he couldn't place why. His palms were itching and back when he was in the Teams, that always meant trouble was about to find them.

They rounded a corner and suddenly Dante knew fear like never before. Blocking their way in a wide arc were fifty men, all with assault rifles, waiting for them to arrive!

Without warning, they opened fire and poured round after round into the Royal Pack's leaders.

Dante leapt towards Lily, screaming her name and trying to shield her.

"LILLLLLY GET DOWN!"

Pain bloomed into his left leg and arm as bullets tore into his flesh in midair and panic hit him and everyone else. But to Dante's horror, he saw Lily slammed backwards as a bullet ripped into her chest. She let out a bark of pain and fell to the pavement just before Dante could reach her.

In the mass confusion, the Hellhounds responded instantly, pulling out their own automatic rifles and providing cover fire into the mercenaries, trying to buy time as Dante dragged Lily to cover, everyone in horror at what was happening.

Lily was pale and barely breathing, as blood poured out of the wound near her heart, and blood even pooled up into her mouth as she choked and coughed. Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked up at Dante helplessly.

"Lily, stay with me baby, you're going to be alright, stay with me, baby!!"

Dante was applying pressure to the wound, attempting to stem the flow of blood, but it simply wasn't helping. The world seemed to slow down, and time nearly stopped as he saw Lily smile weakly at him before reaching up her hand to stroke his face. She coughed up some more blood and struggled to wheeze out her final words.

"I... love... you... I'm... sorry..."

With her last words, her eyes went cold, and her limp hand fell back on her chest. In that moment the world shattered, and time stood still as everything came crashing down around them. Dante looked around and saw a couple of Chimalli's wolves were either down or dead and that his Hellhounds were sorely beset. Although none of them appeared too injured... yet. But he couldn't stop his eyes from returning to his love and mate lying lifeless on the ground, taken from him forever. Their unborn cubs were lost with her, and every hope and dream he'd had for them was unforeseeably stolen and gone. Dante tried to breathe but he couldn't, and he felt rage and sadness and anguish bubbling up inside him threatening to consume him, and he couldn't stop its advance... he didn't even want to try.

Even amidst the intense fire fight, everyone became aware of the darkening of the sky as a huge, angry storm cloud gathered overhead. Suddenly a piercing howl split the twilight that had descended upon them, a howl so filled with rage and despair that it shook the very ground under their feet and speared icicles of death to pierce their hearts with its deathly cold presence. The fighting stopped momentarily, causing everyone around, friends and foes alike, to turn and look at Dante.

He was stalking away from Lily's body with his hands and shirt covered in blood as he trembled and shook with his rage and despair. He stopped to throw his head back and let out another tremendous roar just as a massive bolt of lightning like none they'd ever seen before slammed down from the sky, enveloping their Alpha King and momentarily blinding them as a deafening crack of thunder split the air.

In their horror and awe, they then saw something no mortal in history had ever witnessed before, as Dante began to shift. This was unlike any prior shift, as instead of going to his wolf, he remained upright and grew several feet in height. He also piled on hundreds of pounds as his skin split open in great gashes pouring out blood, before void-black fur enveloped his arms, torso, legs and neck. His mouth and face shifted to that of a hybridized wolf, and his hands and feet became foot-long razor-sharp claws dripping with blood. Electricity was arcing across his body and swirling about him in some angry dervish dance as the Devil himself must be manifesting before them all.

Standing over nine feet tall with a weight that was unimaginable was the very Destroyer of Worlds: the Grim Reaper himself, come to claim everyone's lives in retribution for the death of his most beloved Queen and Great Love. His eyes glowed a deep blood red with black fire jetting from them, and red steam poured from his mouth as he took great deep breaths to contain his rage for a few more moments.

He spoke in a low dark whisper that penetrated everyone around him as a black curse.

"Death has come for you mortals, although it will be vengeance that fills me with no pleasure."

The Royal entourage and all the Mexican wolves were cowering in fear of this Devil who was here to walk the Earth in retribution, and they quickly retreated as Dante strode out into the open towards the mercenaries, who were frozen in sheer terror at the midnight-colored apparition coming for them. As he bypassed his allies, they peered around from their cover to witness whatever was about to happen.

The mercenaries finally regained a sense of self-preservation and opened fire on Dante, attempting to halt his march of death towards them. But their bullets just ricocheted away from him as if he were constructed of hardened steel; some of them even melting when they encountered the electricity racing around his body before vaporizing into a metallic mist.

Dante reached out an arm and pointed at a group of five mercenaries clustered together and a pitch-black bolt of lightning erupted from his fingertip like a laser and incinerated the five men, leaving only a charred patch on the ground where they'd been.

Dante noticed several riflemen were attempting to flee in terror, and with one great leap he appeared before them, blocking their path before he swiped his claws diagonally across their torsos, cleaving them in half as fountains of blood leapt from their bodies to coat his nightmare-black fur.

His massive form moved like an agile shadow among them, grabbing each man and ripping him with his Herculean strength either clean in half, or pulling major body parts away in the most brutal display ever witnessed by anyone. The mercenaries' numbers were decreasing by the moment as this Beast mercilessly took them apart piece by piece.

Dante extended his hand again, and another lightning bolt leapt from his extended finger and zigzagged to completely pierce three more mercenaries as they literally exploded from the electrical torrent infused into them. Soon there was only one hostile left alive... the one Dante had saved for last... the one who'd fired the bullet that had taken his Great Love from him. The man was rooted to the spot and had wet himself in sheer horror at what had been unleashed upon him and his companions. Dante stood towering over him as he spoke.

"You took everything from me and ripped my soul from my body. For this, you are condemned to Hell, and I am your executioner. Go there now; I send you to rejoin your brethren."

Dante reached out with his massive clawed hand and speared his way through the man's neck, grasping his spine before he pulled it and his head clean out of his body, which fell jerking to the ground. Dante then added his other hand to crush the head in his massive grip and let it splat to the pavement.

It was nearly as black as night even though it was the middle of the day, and Dante stood in the middle of the lot with pieces of bodies strewn all about him as he dripped with blood. He threw his head back and let out another thunderous howl, his rage not even remotely quelled, and his thirst for blood endless.

The Royal entourage and their Mexican allies stared on in horror as Astrid cradled Lily's lifeless body to her own and tears poured down her face and from all her companions'. They had not only lost their Alpha Queen this day, but with her gone, there was no one alive who could summon their Alpha King back from the madness that had taken control of him. They knew he was lost to them. A monster was about to be unleashed upon a great and ancient city, and there was nobody and no force in existence that could temper his destruction. A silence had enveloped the area as everyone within sight who was still living watched Dante trembling with rage and despair.

But then something rapturous happened. A bright ray of silver light, as intense as the recent lightning strikes but serene, descended upon Dante like focused moonlight, illuminating him and the area immediately around him.

Dante looked up towards the Heavens and saw the most beautiful ephemeral being. She was cloaked in silver, and She was descending towards him with Her arms outstretched. Her long flowing silver hair and pale features gazed upon him with such grief that it penetrated to his core, and his rage began to leave him.

When She had descended sufficiently to look at him eye to eye, it became apparent that She was clad in flowing silver and white cloth; it was wrapped around Her, but also wafting as if it were caught in some light breeze. She reached out and soothingly cupped his massive face in Her hands before speaking.

She spoke in an otherworldly voice that was inhumanly light and lyrical, yet contained unimaginable power as it penetrated the surroundings so that everyone could hear Her words in perfect clarity.

"My Champion, you have lost something today more precious than anything else known on Earth or in Heaven. You have thus been conquered by your rage and your madness. But now is not the time to lose hope, nor is it the time for you to unleash upon this world the devastation only you have the power to wreak. Your duty to Me and to your kind is not yet completed, nor yet completed is your Great Love's duty. Therefore I require you to be restored to sanity, and to be restored to your normal likeness."

With that, She kissed the top of his head and Dante began to transform, returning to his human form. His clothes were shredded to the extent that it was obvious he'd endured the most brutal of battles, but he was back. However, although his rage was gone, he was still suffering unbearably. He inhaled a massive breath and began to weep as he dared to hug his Goddess Luna to his chest. It was graciously allowed. He remained thus, shuddering in agony and emitting great gut-wrenching sobs, clinging helplessly to his Goddess as She soothed him and ran Her fingers through his rich black hair, black save for an unfamiliar streak near his right temple that looked like silver moonlight: a new sign of the blessing of his Goddess.

Luna took his hand to lead him as She remained in midair and glided towards the assembled wolves and specifically towards Astrid, who still cradled Lily's lifeless body in her arms. She hovered in place and Dante ceased walking. She looked around as if to confirm that everyone was weeping, which was as it should be. She touched down and gestured to Astrid, who gently lay Lily's corpse upon the pavement.

Although the storm clouds had now stilled, they remained as thick and dark as ever, and the ambient light remained as if it were late twilight. Therefore, when Luna reached out Her luminous hand and laid it upon the mortal wound on Lily's chest, the silver moonlight pouring out of Her and into Lily was clearly visible to all, as the wound closed and Lily's lifeless body became whole.

Luna cradled Lily to her breast and again spoke softly but with great power.

"My beautiful wolf, your time has not yet come to join Me among the stars; your race and your world require your strength and guidance. Your mate and King likewise cannot endure without your love and support, and your children will need their mother. I command you to return to us and walk this land once again, side by side with your mate and King."

With that, Luna bent down and placed a kiss upon Lily's temple and Lily's hair turned to silver where Luna had kissed her. Lily opened her eyes and took a deep breath of life.

Dante fell to his knees and tears of liquid silver rained down from his eyes as Luna lifted Lily and entrusted her to his arms. He embraced her with complete love and tenderness as he held her to him tightly, afraid ever to let go. His emotions, not his intellect, controlled him at this point. He knew Lily's living presence had been returned to him and although he was still intensely shaken, he was also filled with gratitude, not thought. Therefore, he had no flowery words to offer as he spoke from the heart.

"Lily baby, you died, and I couldn't take it. I lost myself to madness when I lost you and our children. I lost all hope! But you've come back to me thanks to our Goddess, and She's brought us back together again. I love you so much my Lily; I beg you, don't ever leave me again!"

Returning to her senses, Lily's first living thought was of her mate's suffering, and she soothingly stroked his hair and face before pulling him down to her and gently kissing him.

"I'm so sorry, my Dante. I'll never leave you again; and I love you too, my mate and King."

They remained communing and embracing each other for several minutes with Luna watching over them, before they helped each other up to stand together and face their Goddess.

Luna placed her hand upon Lily's stomach. A silver light enveloped the area around her womb and she gasped in ecstasy. The Goddess Luna smiled at them before She spoke.

"My beloved Alpha Queen, you and your children, and My Champion, have my blessing and divine protection. Your children are well and have been blessed by the Moon; they will live to be healthy and strong. Fear not for their welfare, for they are still very much with you and are content."

Luna turned to the gathered wolves and spoke further.

"My children, it is time for Me to leave. Please know that I am always watching over My children, and that your King and Queen carry My divine protection so they may lead your kind and cleanse this world of the darkness that has spread throughout it. I charge you to obey them, to support them, to love them and to counsel them as they lead My children into a new era. They are all you have on this plane, but they will lead you well."