There were about three students who looked just as shocked to see Audie as he was to see them, they all stood staring at each other, seeming to be at an impasse.

"I thought you said that the campsite was fucking empty?" The one in front leaned over his shoulder to angrily whisper to one of the Alphas behind him.

The one addressed shrugged, "I was told they were all accounted for, maybe they missed one."

Audie’s hackles rose as he listened in on their conversation, had they been stalking them all this while? At first, he had thought that it was just a nearby camping group that had wandered a little too far and ended up in their own campsite. Although the glinting swords they were all sporting begged to differ, he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

He strode over with purpose, if he had understood what they said right, they had been gunning for Henri so his first move was to put himself between them and Henri’s tent where the Omega was fast asleep.

"Lost?" Audie cocked a brow, swinging his branch around.

He was terribly outnumbered, and it didn’t help that he didn’t even have a weapon. This was about to turn really ugly.

They all looked to be students of the academy, judging by the fact that they were wearing matching cotton shirts and pants like everyone else. Audie couldn’t recognize any of them though, were they first years perhaps? Or transfer students?

They all had their swords out in an offensive posture, the one in front seemed to be the leader, he was also the one that spoke up. "You don’t want to get caught in this, just walk off and I might decide to spare you."

All of the amusement in Audie’s expression drained away, there was no mistaking it, they were here to assassinate Henri. He didn’t wait another moment, immediately attacking. His odds would improve if he managed to knock a sword out of one of their hands.

The one in front was clearly skilled because he jumped backward easily although there had been no warning about Audie’s attack. The Alpha to his right didn’t have impressive reflexes so the thick branch caught him on the side of his face, the branch snapped in half on impact but it knocked him out and gave Audie a sword in return. It was a far better scenario than he had been expecting.

The other two were stunned by this but not for long as they both came gunning for him, he should have known that they wouldn’t fight fair. It was difficult enough keeping up with the leader, adding another Alpha to the mix greatly severed his chances of changing the tides of the fight.

He was forced to be on the defense, barely parrying off their attacks, having to jump backward often to avoid being cut open by their dangerously sharp swords. He was also worried about the ruckus waking Henri up, the last thing he needed was for their target to come right at them.

Audie winced when his sword slashed open the arm of the second Alpha, wincing even more at his loud howling. He dropped to the ground, clutching his bleeding arm.

The leader only bestowed a brief glance at him before rushing at Audie once more, "Fucking twat." He gritted out, swinging powerfully.

Although they were now in a one-on-one fight, Audie still found himself disadvantaged, still finding himself on the defensive. He was decent with a sword but the Alpha he was going up again was also really good and also pissed off - not a great combination.

A loud clang sent both their swords ricocheting away, both weapons falling to the ground some distance away, and before Audie could react, he was tackled to the ground.

Fuck...

He was really not that great at fistfighting, and it was evident from the muscles bulging through the attacking Alpha’s cotton shirt that he was about to get his ass handed to him. He barely blocked off the first punch, his arms taking the brunt of the hit.

Audie knew he wouldn’t be able to keep that up for long, he needed to gain the upper hand and fast or he would be knocked out and then Henri would be in danger. Before he could come up with a plan, the Alpha knocked his arms to the side and wrapped his hands around his neck.

Fuck...

Dying like this would be really embarrassing, no one would let him live it down, especially Jacques and his older sisters. His breathing returned when the Alpha was dragged off him, making Audie roll over to his side, clutching his neck and gasping for air.

"Audie!!" Valentin’s voice came from a distance and it made Audie frown, who then had dragged the Alpha off him?

He lifted his head up just as Valentin skidded over, glancing to the side to find Jacques bloodying his fists on the attacking Alpha’s face. Well, that was a sight that was sure to give him nightmares.

"Hey, hey, are you alright?" Valentin asked in a rush, looking him over.

Audie grinned and tried to respond but his throat wasn’t working with him, he could only cough and choke, making Valentin even more panicked.

"You’re going to kill him," Alexander said calmly, placing an arm on Jacques’ shoulder. There was no judgment in his tone as he said it like he really couldn’t care less if Jacques did go ahead and murdered the Alpha but he just felt like he should say something.

Jacques reluctantly rose to his feet, wiping his bloody hands on the cotton shirt of the unconscious Alpha before doing so.

Claude had also shown up but instead of interfering, the first thing he did was to check up on Henri, only coming back out when he made sure that he was still fast asleep.

He walked straight to the injured but conscious Alpha that had been doing a shit job of hiding it, placing his foot right over his heart. "Who the fuck are you?"