Shock filled me.
He was here… but he was at the mercy of that cold-hearted bitch!
No one ever tells you what it feels like to watch the person you love to be tormented. To be held captive and forced into the will of another. No one tells you how much your heart can shatter from just one look.
He was out there… at their mercy, and here I was behind cold walls.
It wasn’t fair to think he was going through this alone out there, and I was stuck here. For weeks I had been worried about it. Wondering where he was and if he was okay.
Shit, if he was even alive.
He even was forced to miss the birth of his children because of them.
As if a damn broke, I lost all clarity for a moment. Priscilla’s mumbled words went unheard as I slowly turned to them and held out a sleeping Castor, who was still in my arms. “Take her.”
Priscilla didn’t hesitate to take the child, and as she did, she nodded at me in understanding. She knew already what I was going to do, and she also knew there was no stopping me.
I had promised to tear them apart if they hurt Damian, and that offer still stood. Killing Allison, though… well, was going to be for pure pleasure.
I couldn’t wait to watch her blood run from my lips as I tore out her throat.
I could feel the purring satisfaction of the darkness under my skin as I thought of the various ways to make that woman suffer. To make her blood run upon the pack’s ground as a river with no end.
I would kill anyone who hurt my mates, and there would be no way to stop me.
“Ivy, what are you doing?” Mother cried with a panicked look in her eyes as she watched me step closer to the door.
I didn’t bother to answer her, though.
There was no point when she already told me what she thought.
With my children taken care of, I glanced towards the cameras once more to see Kara taking care of another set of wolves who had surrounded her. They wouldn’t get off easy. None of them would.
Pushing the button on the wall, the door opened, and a panicked cry from my mother escaped her lips. “Ivy! What are you doing?! Get back in here. Have you lost your mind?”
“I’m going to do what I was created for.”
“You can’t do anything!”
“You would do well to remember who I am,” I said with a snarl as I glanced briefly over my shoulder at her. “You will stay with Priscilla to protect the children. Do you understand?”
She stared at me in shock as I turned to face her. There was nothing else to say, and deciding not to give her a chance to find a reason to argue, I hit the trigger outside the panic room and watched the door close with my children and mother inside.
They would be safe, and that was what was important. Even if the wolves found out they were inside, there was no way to get into the room. Priscilla knew what was at stake, and she would lock the door from the other side to ensure that no one could open in from where I stood.
My heart ached to know that anything could happen, and this might be the last time I saw them, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. My people needed me, my mates needed me, and there was no way that I was going to let them down.
There was no way I would allow my children to grow up in a world where they were subjected to punishment by a council who sought to control us all. We deserved to be free, and we would be when I was done with them.
With a heavy breath, I put my feelings aside and walked towards my bedroom door and out into the hallway. The only thing on my mind now was my mates.
And Damian, to be more specific.
It was the only thought on my mind as I moved down the hallway in my pajamas, my feet hitting the top of the stairs as I stared at the scene below me. The wolves were massive. More massive than I had ever remembered them being, and as Kara fought with them, her eyes met mine.
“What are you doing?!” she yelled as she tossed a wolf over her shoulder and thrust her sword within it. “Get back now!”
“No,” I replied firmly. “I’m needed out there, and I will not sit idly by. The children are safe.”
She didn’t have time to argue with me, and as one wolf slipped by her and bounded right for me, she seemed concerned. However, that concern was slowly drained away when she watched me grab the wolf by its head, prying its jaws apart as I slowly ripped him into two pieces. His blood sprayed over me and the surrounding walls.
It didn’t bother me, though; from the look in her eyes, she could see that.
Kara had misjudged me and my capabilities.
“Protect my children,” I told her sternly. “Don’t worry about me… I can handle myself.”
She didn’t seem to know what to do, but with the wolves dead at her feet, she simply nodded her head and allowed me to pass. Nothing was up for discussion.
I would get back what belonged to me, even if it meant everyone died.
My mind seemed on overdrive as I moved from the front door out onto the yard in the front of the house. I wasn’t quite sure what I had expected, but it definitely wasn’t this.
Blood ran upon the grass, and mixed within it was fur. But that wasn’t the most shocking thing. The most shocking thing was the dead wolves that littered the area shredded into pieces. Kara had taken her blade to them. She had ruthlessly executed anyone who tried to get near the home.
Those who were weak had gone first; from the connection, I could tell we hadn’t lost many. I was glad to have Kara. I knew, without a doubt, that she would keep my mother, Priscilla, and the children safe. She would ensure they would never be harmed while I ventured out into the war to protect what belonged to me.
Stepping over the mess, I made my way towards the top of the hill to see the war beneath me, and the sight I got wasn’t one I expected. Our wolves were fighting for everything they had, but off in the distance was Alokaye, and most importantly, there was Allison at his side.
The devil stood on the rock overlooking chaos, and every now and again, she would reach down to stroke Damian’s hair. Seeing her make such an intimate gesture towards my mate disgusted me.
He was mine… not hers. Yet, she still seemed to think she could win this.
She still thought she had a chance to come out on top.
With every step that I took, I found myself moving closer and closer to him, as if a shield was around my body, protecting me. The wolves diverted their attention to other means of the area, tearing apart each other as fur, blood, and howls of pain echoed and scattered around me. Like leaves blowing through the wind.
Alokaye had no idea what he had done coming here. He had no idea who he was honestly facing, but after everything they had done, I was happy to show him. I was happy to give a demonstration.
I would simply need a volunteer… like Allison.
They may have had numbers, but the wolves of my pack had my energy, my essence running through their veins and, with it, a power that could not be matched.
Talon and Hale’s voices sounded off in the distance, but I did not pay them mind as I looked straight ahead, walking closer and closer to what it is I wanted. I knew what they would do if they got to me.
They would try to protect me. Try to save me… but that wasn’t what I needed.
I needed to end this war, and doing so meant dealing with two people in front of me who had no reason to live after everything they had done to my family.
“Enough!” I bellowed, like a tidal wave of sound echoing far across the battlefield. Wolves near me whimpered, bowing their heads, looking at each other with confusion as I stared up at Alokaye. “You will leave my home now.”
“You came,” Alokaye said as he stared at me with a Cheshire smile that spoke of nothing evil running through his veins. He was excited to see me. This is exactly what they wanted. For me to be brought out into the open so they could try to kill me.
A sinister fit of laughter inside my mind echoed through the blackened abyss as I stared at Alokaye, shaking my head. “What is it you want?”
His brows lifted as he rubbed his hand over his chin with a smile. “You’re so impatient. Do you not enjoy the gift that I brought for you? A little favor to show you how pleased I am with everything that you’ve been doing.”
He had to be joking if he thought I would buy that. I didn’t think for a second he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me and then kill everybody else just to see some type of satisfaction.
I wouldn’t be a fool, though. I wouldn’t allow him to use me.
I wouldn’t allow him to provoke me in the way he wanted. My eyes cast towards Damian, who refused to look at me. He was but a broken version of his former self, and while the beast inside me wanted to run to him. Wanted to kill them all—I couldn’t.
Not yet, at least.
“It isn’t that I’m impatient, but I have better things to do with my time.” My reply made Allison scowl, but once again, Alokaye showed nothing but a smile.
“Time is an interesting thing, isn’t it?” he chuckled. “I remember having all the time I needed once upon a time, but then things changed. You… caused a lot of change.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but Allison looked up at the sky and grabbed Alokaye’s arm before I could. “It’s happening.”
I wasn’t sure what was happening, but panic started to set in as Alokaye shifted, pulling a blade from beneath his attire, and walked towards Damian. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. His movements, my movements.
I couldn’t process the scene before me, but when Damian’s eyes met mine, it all suddenly rushed in. “I love you, Ivy,” he mouthed as Alokaye brought the blade across Damian’s throat, a rush of blood spraying out as something inside me completely broke.
I wasn’t sure what was louder at that moment. The screams ripped from my throat watching him, or the roars of three terrifying monsters ripped from their wolf forms at the brother that was just taken from them.
