Chapter 367: Invade

Rebecca’s POV

​The witches surrounding us began chanting as their magic spread toward the Dark Fire, while Rola stepped forward and raised both hands. I watched her face tighten as she focused on the flames in front of us.

​For several seconds, nothing happened, and the black and red fire continued burning as strongly as before. Then it flickered.

​"It’s working," Rola said through clenched teeth, keeping her hands raised. "Rebecca, get ready."

​I immediately turned toward the warriors waiting behind me. Hundreds of wolves had already shifted, filling the ground around us, while others remained in human form with weapons in their hands. Melvin’s dragon stood above almost everyone, his enormous wings spreading before he pushed himself into the air with enough force to send dust flying around us.

​My attention returned to Kaden. His wolf stood among the first fighters waiting to enter, and even surrounded by so many others, I could easily pick him out. I moved toward him before looking at the warriors closest to us. "I can take twenty at once," I told the commander standing nearby.

​The commander immediately began selecting them. Within seconds, nineteen fighters gathered around me, with Kaden’s wolf among them. I reached out, making sure everyone was touching either me or someone connected to me before looking toward Rola. The Dark Fire flickered again, becoming thinner.

​"Now!" Rola shouted.

​I pictured the ground I could see beyond the weakened flames and teleported. The world disappeared for less than a second before my feet slammed against the ground on the other side. The nineteen warriors appeared around me, but the moment my feet touched the ground, something felt wrong. The Tiger shifters waiting ahead of us didn’t immediately attack. They moved backward.

​"Shields!" our commander suddenly shouted.

​A sharp sound came from somewhere above us, and I looked up just as hundreds of arrows shot from the trees and rooftops surrounding us.

​Shit.

​The witch who had come through with us reacted immediately. She threw both hands into the air, and a glowing shield appeared over our group seconds before the first arrows reached us. They struck the shield one after another, some bouncing away while others shattered against it. More arrows followed.

​"They knew where we’d enter!" one of the warriors shouted as he moved closer to the shield.

​Of course they did. The Dark Fire had protected Plant Pack for weeks, but the Tigers weren’t stupid enough to depend on it alone. They had prepared the ground behind the barrier in case we ever found a way through.

​Another round of arrows came from the trees, but this time we were ready. The witch strengthened her shield while several wolves prepared to rush forward beneath it. Kaden’s wolf was among the first to move. Then the ground in front of them suddenly collapsed.

​"Stop!" I shouted.

​Several wolves jumped backward as a large section of dirt disappeared, revealing a deep pit filled with sharpened wooden spikes. More traps. But we’d prepared for this too. Our commanders had spent weeks warning us that getting through the Dark Fire would only be the first problem. Nobody had expected the Tigers to leave the other side completely unprotected.

​"Clear the traps!" the commander ordered.

​One of the gifted warriors slammed both hands against the ground, sending a wave of power through the dirt ahead of us. Hidden pits collapsed, buried traps broke apart, and several thin wires snapped from the force. At the same time, the witch pushed her shield farther forward, protecting us from another rain of arrows.

​The Tigers had prepared for us, but we’d prepared for them too.

​The moment the path was clear, Kaden’s wolf launched forward. He hit the first Tiger that came toward us with enough force to send both of them crashing several feet away. Before the Tiger could recover, Kaden was already on him. The other wolves rushed forward behind him, and within seconds, the first line of Tiger fighters was forced backward.

​That was when I noticed something I hadn’t expected. There weren’t nearly as many of them as I’d imagined. For weeks, the Dark Fire had made the Tiger Kingdom seem almost impossible to defeat. Six territories had fallen because nobody could get through their barriers, and the Tigers had been able to hide their true numbers behind those flames. But now that I was standing inside Plant Pack and looking at the fighters waiting for us, the truth was becoming obvious.

​Their greatest weapon had never been their numbers or even their strength. It was the Dark Fire. The Tiger shifters could fight, but so could we, and they were facing warriors from several packs, gifted fighters, witches, Lycans, a Dragon King, and the Alpha King himself. Without the Dark Fire keeping our armies outside, they no longer looked untouchable. They looked outnumbered. And judging by the way some of them were already retreating toward the buildings, they knew it too.

​"Push forward!" the commander shouted.

​Our warriors charged, but I couldn’t stay to watch. There were hundreds more waiting outside, and the first group needed reinforcements before the Tigers had time to reset whatever traps we hadn’t discovered yet. I pictured the place beside Rola and teleported back.

​The pressure hit me harder this time, but I ignored it as another group gathered around me. Rola was still holding the Dark Fire down, although sweat had already appeared across her forehead.

​"Again?" Rola asked without lowering her hands.

​"Again," I answered.

​Twenty more warriors gathered around me, and seconds later, I took them inside before immediately returning for another group. Then another twenty. And another. Each trip took more energy than the one before it, and by the time I returned for another group, my breathing had become heavier. Still, there were too many warriors outside for me to stop.

​"Rebecca, don’t overdo it," Rola warned as another section of the Dark Fire flickered around her.

​"I won’t," I replied, even though we both knew that was probably a lie.

​I gathered another twenty fighters and disappeared. When I returned inside this time, I didn’t immediately teleport back because I noticed something had changed.

​The battle had spread much farther across Plant Pack, and hundreds of wolves were now fighting Tiger shifters across the ground. Above us, Melvin’s dragon swept through the sky before diving toward a group of Tigers. He struck the ground with enough force to throw several of them backward before rising into the air again.

​I searched through the chaos for Kaden, but I couldn’t find him. My eyes moved quickly across the battlefield as I tried to locate the wolf I had brought inside with the first group. Then I saw him. Except there wasn’t one. There were dozens.

​I froze as identical wolves fought everywhere I looked. One crashed into a Tiger shifter and sent him rolling across the ground before immediately attacking another. Two more fought side by side nearby, moving so quickly that the Tigers barely had time to react, while another leaped over one of our fallen warriors and slammed directly into a Tiger before he could finish attacking him.

​My eyes widened as I looked farther across the battlefield. There were more. Far more. Rola had told me thirty, but there had to be over a hundred now.

​"What the hell?" I whispered.

​I couldn’t tell which one was Kaden anymore. Every wolf looked exactly the same. Same enormous body. Same fur. Same eyes. Even their movements were almost impossible to separate. But what shocked me most wasn’t their number. It was their strength.

​I had expected the duplicates to be weaker versions of Kaden, but they weren’t behaving like weak copies. One caught a Tiger shifter in midair and threw him aside before charging straight into two more. Another was surrounded by three Tigers and still managed to knock one down while avoiding the others. Everywhere I looked, Kaden’s wolves were tearing through the enemy line.

​The Tigers couldn’t keep up. It wasn’t because they couldn’t fight. They could, and some of them were extremely skilled, but without the Dark Fire separating our forces and protecting their territory, they were being overwhelmed by numbers they simply didn’t have. And Kaden had just made that difference much worse.

​They had already been outnumbered before he multiplied. Now, with more than a hundred identical versions of his wolf attacking from different directions, the Tigers were struggling just to hold their ground. Some attacked whichever wolf was closest. Others hesitated, clearly trying to figure out which one was real, but that hesitation only made things worse for them. Every wolf they ignored attacked, and every wolf they focused on gave another one the chance to come from somewhere else.

​For the first time, I understood exactly why Kaden had planned to make himself the center of their attention. How were they supposed to kill a man when they couldn’t even find him?

​A loud growl sounded behind me, and I spun around just as one of Kaden’s wolves crashed into a Tiger who had been charging toward me. The Tiger hit the ground hard, and Kaden’s wolf immediately attacked him. I stared at the wolf. Was that him? Before I could even guess, the wolf ran back into the battle.

​"Rebecca!" Rola shouted from outside the barrier.

​I turned toward the Dark Fire and saw her through the weakened flames. Right. I still had a job. I teleported back outside and nearly stumbled when my feet touched the ground. Rola looked toward me immediately while struggling to maintain her suppression.

​"You okay?" Rola asked.

​"I’m fine," I replied, catching my breath. "There are more than a hundred of him in there."

​Despite the strain on her face, Rola’s eyes widened. "What?"

​"Kaden," I explained as another group began gathering around me. "There are more than a hundred wolves."

​Rola stared toward the barrier for half a second before shaking her head. "Then he’s pushing himself harder than he should."

​That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but I didn’t have time to think about it. Another twenty warriors were already waiting. "Let’s go," I told them as I grabbed the nearest warrior.

​I teleported again. By the time I had taken several more groups through, my entire body was beginning to feel the strain. My legs felt heavier every time I returned, and each teleport required more concentration than the last, but our numbers inside Plant Pack were growing quickly. More importantly, the Tigers were being pushed back.

​Kaden’s wolves were everywhere, and the more I saw them fight, the more frightening his ability became. They weren’t simply running around confusing the enemy. They were breaking through formations, protecting our warriors, and forcing dozens of Tigers away from the places our gifted fighters were trying to reach.

​But the cost was beginning to show. I saw one of Kaden’s wolves take a blade across its side before attacking the Tiger responsible. Another was thrown against a tree hard enough to crack the bark. Farther away, three Tigers surrounded one of the duplicates and managed to bring it down together.

​My stomach tightened as Rola’s warning from yesterday returned to me. Every injury weakened the real Kaden. And somewhere among more than a hundred identical wolves, he was fighting just as hard as the rest of them. I still had no idea which one was actually him.

​But I forced myself to look away and teleported back for another group. We had a war to win.