Shadows of Destiny

149 Battle And Fate

~Leo~

The time had finally come, and I was very nervous. Sylvester tried to boost our

morale by giving us a heartfelt speech, but I could not take my mind off that we

might be outmatched tonight.

All my life fighting, I had never gone to battle with fear of being beaten. This was

indeed the first, and I hoped we would survive it.

“Leo, You are taking command,” Sylvester said while we headed out.

I nodded and felt like the pressure of the world was on my shoulders. Commanding seven hundred

troops would take a lot of work.

“Don’t worry, Leo, you have us,” Alexei linked me.

“You must return home to Amelia,” Clay said to me.

I was grateful for their consideration, but it did not alleviate my fear.

They had control of two hundred and fifty out of the seven hundred and still had

to wait for my orders, but the best part was we all had each other’s backs. Even

though Alexei, Clay and Andrew had just joined our group, I knew they would

not betray us. We were fighting the same cause.

We headed out and did not move as a group. We were scattered, and I made

sure our men were hidden. I did not want to alert the Stepanovs watching, and I

did not want a confrontation immediately. A sneak attack to begin before the

entire assault will serve us better.

“Darts!” I linked all the men so those possessing the darts would know to use

them now.

We hid from view and watched the Stepanovs guarding the place mysteriously drop to the ground.

Those guarding the entrance to the theatre were the first to fall. I do not know

what they put in the dart, but Amelia had told me it was lethal. The goal was to

reduce them as much as possible so we would not fight too many people, which

seemed to work.

We remained unseen and waited for our men to shoot all the Stepanovs on the

street. I knew there were three buildings in the vicinity the Stepanovs occupied,

and I expected they would come out once they saw their comrades dropping

like flies.

They all fell, and soon the streets were empty, and our men stopped shooting

abruptly.

Satisfied with the performance, I linked everyone to advance towards the

theatre. I planned to position our men nearby and take control of the place.

This way, the Stepanovs in the Theater will be trapped, and the ones in the

other buildings won’t be able to attack confidently because we will have those in

the theatre as hostages. We all wanted Yuri but were prepared to kill as many of them as possible to

get the desired result.

We secretly advanced towards the theatre with me leading. Our men that shot

the darts did not join, and I wondered why. Was the Agk32 affecting our

communication too?

We still advanced but weren’t together, so it would look like something other

than an attack formation.

Everyone was waiting for me to raise my hand and clench my fist to prompt us

to band together and take xo.com our positions in the rehearsed battle formation.

Alexei was yet to inform his men to advance.

We did not want them to know we would be attacking the theatre. We plan to

use them as backup fighters. The Agk32 would have to help for now.

The street was eerie and very quiet.

I looked around, waiting for people to come out of the surrounding buildings, but

no one did. I knew three buildings in the vicinity had Stepanovs in them; it made

us wonder why they had not come out to defend their comrade and protect the

theatre.

“Something is wrong,” I linked to everyone, telling them not to relinquish their

positions.

“What do you think is the matter?” Alexei linked me. I could tell that he could

feel the oddity of the situation.

I also felt a blockage between me and some of the men we had positioned in

the vicinity. What was going on?

“I think they know,” Clay linked me. I was trying to hope otherwise, but it was

beginning to seem like it. Had we walked into a trap?

I was still thinking about it when people exited the theatre, ready for battle.

It was as if they were waiting to see what we would do.

How could they have willingly sacrificed their people just to deceive us?

I stood in front with Sylvester beside me while the others were behind. None of

our men were in sight, and I chose to keep it that way until I was sure what they

were doing. I felt my connection to the men break, and I was worried.

Something terrible had happened, and we might lose our entire fighting force.

The fair-haired white-eyed men and women came out of the theatre ready for

battle. They spread from one end of the building to another, soon forming a

triangular formation with the point facing us.

I was silent and afraid.

They looked intimidating.

These were not the same people we saw going into the theatre. Was there a back door or blindsight?

Or did they arrive in disguise to keep us guessing? I did

not know, but this did not seem promising. We would be in big trouble if they

already knew of our plans.

Their triangular formation opened in the middle, creating a clear view of the

entrance to the theatre. I watched a man walk through slowly with a smile on his

face.

His hair was white, almost bleached, and his eyes looked utterly blind, but his

focus let me know he could see clearly. He had a brown expensive trench coat

on and looked composed and relaxed. I did not need anyone to tell me who he

was.

“Yuri,” Andrew linked me, and I figured it out.

“What an honour,” He finally said, stopping in front.

“Darts,” I linked my men again, trying and hoping at least one or two of them

were still safe and could help us take out Yuri from a distance because I wasn’t planning to fight fair,

but none was shot.

“Shoot him and his people now,” I linked the men, but there was silence. What was going on? I became

worried.

“Alpha, the Northern soldiers have been captured, and we do not have darts,”

an eastern warrior linked me, and I realised what had happened. More than half of our force was gone

if the northern warriors had been made.

I could not include the Stepanov warriors from the ten families because I did not

know if they would fight on our side or double-cross us.

“Volkovs, along with the treacherous Stepanovs, decided to join the party,” Yuri

said with a big grin. His voice snapped me out of my deep thoughts.

“What is happening, Leo, have them shoot them down with darts,” Sylvester

linked me. I could feel his nervousness too. We were all afraid.

I linked everyone to inform them about our captured northern warriors, and I

could feel their apprehension. The Agk32 heightened senses; this was a terrible time to feel everyone’s

anxiety.

I could understand why it was better if it doused the Alpha abilities.

Unfortunately, my genes were immune.

“You all saved me the trouble of attacking you at the estate, well, not really, as

some of my men are on their way there. I am sure your wives won’t be a

problem. Unlike Dimitri, I won’t be sloppy and let some of them escape,” He said and started laughing.

I tensed up a bit but tried to hide it. We had expected it, and I knew his men

would meet a brutal force at the Estate.

Yuri walked forward slowly with a big smile I hoped to wipe off his face.

“I knew Ighor was with you, and he was being monitored,” he said, laughing.

“He was meant to go to Grizlo, not Cains. He was meant to meet Ilya there so they could head to

Greenville to prepare for my coronation, but when he called me with Cain’s number, I knew he had

been caught.

He did not need to say anything, you all made it easy, so I decided to use him to lure you all here,

making you all believe you have the surprise element,” He said, laughing.

“I doubt that, Yuri; look at the dead men on the floor,” Sylvester said, sounding calm, and Yuri laughed.

“You think I would waste my bloodline like this?” he asked and went to one of the corpses on the floor.

There was

Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm

a dart stuck to his neck. His eyes were blue, and I knew what had happened before Yuri spoke.

We could see their hair colour from afar but not their eye colour, and even if we saw it at close range,

we would believe it was contact lenses. I dreaded what he would say, but I already knew it.

NO

“These aren’t Stepanovs. Just people from families, your father and grandfather offended. Honestly,

your father gave me more members than anticipated when he decided to forcefully claim the West. A

lot of the noble families came for help. Some were fugitives from the north,” He said, turning the corpse

face down with his leg.

“May their souls rest in peace they had served their purpose,” He said, and I had nothing to say. The

man was genuinely heartless. To think he had set the poor people up as decoys was disheartening.

“Also, do not bother linking your men. We caught the ones with the darts,” he said; I already knew that.

I wondered if they were dead or if they had surrendered. I could feel some of them, meaning they were

still alive.

“Do you not fight your captors,” I linked them, hoping to get through. The AgK32 might help them, but I

did not

know the extent of their condition. I felt like a failure.

As much as we wanted to win this, every life mattered.

“Don’t you have anything to say, Volkov?” Yuri asked Sylvester, and Sylvester was silent. We did not

come with

the mindset that Yuri would outsmart us.

“We all know how this will go, so any last words?” Yuri asked, and I could not believe this bastard.

As much as I thought of my promises to come home to Amelia, I could not live with myself if I knew we

did not try. We still had some men around. About a hundred and fifty without darts and, hopefully,

Alexei’s men too.

We had a chance.

Looking at the formation in front of the theatre, there were almost a hundred people, but I knew there

were Stepanovs in other buildings, hiding about the place and maybe the theatre too. We were

outnumbered and maybe outmatched, but I was still hopeful.

“We can’t head to the north now to save our mates; we just have to hope they survive. We need to do

whatever it takes to end this bastard, or we will lose everything,” Sylvester linked us.

His link was weak, but it carried to those of us close to him. I could feel the difficulty in the connection.

The Agk32 had affected him in that department. Realising the weight of the coordination fell on me, I

braced myself.

“We will be going in, and we will be unapologetic about it,” I finally linked everyone, including the

warriors, and I could feel all our resolves. I prayed to the goddess that we survive today and conquer

this bastard, or this will be our last stand together.

“Alexei, have your men advance to this area; there will be a blood bath. Hopefully, they are on our side,

or we will have created more enemies to put down,” I linked Alexei, and he agreed with me. I let him do

his thing while I

focused on Yuri.

The man had a broad grin on his face. I expected them to pump silver into the air, but they didn’t-

instead he took off his clothes in front of us and shifted partially to a white wolf. He growled at us, and

the others copied him.