Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
ASHER
I race around the castle, avoiding the main roads in search of my father. With my wolf’s nose to the ground and the connection I have to all members of my pack—including Gideon—I know we need to head west, away from home, away from our mate.
Every step becomes heavier until the energy thrumming within our body overtakes even the thoughts of Isla. As much as I know I love her, I can’t consider her right now.
I just need to stop this nightmare.
We run, mile after mile, the earth churning beneath our paws with each forceful, lengthening stride. The air, warm against our fur, carries a silence so profound that it seems even the forest creatures sense the shadow of death looming near.
Leaping over the river just before the falls, we pick up Gideon’s scent. Though it’s changed, become tainted. I might have been able to find him as his Alpha King, but he’s barely the man I once knew. This shifter is doused in darkness and backed into a corner.
My wolf surges forward with unwavering resolve, our shared courage unshaken by the dark fate we are about to confront. We race toward Aklo Falls, where the roar of the water does little to mask the sinister presence lurking behind its veil.
My father hides like the coward I now know him to be. He’s been the architect behind centuries of problems, yet he’s never dirtied his own hands. He used Estee and Declan and who knows who else to harm the people I care about.
This ends today.
My wolf runs forward and leaps through the waterfall at the mountain’s base. There’s a wall of jagged rocks that we narrowly miss slamming into, but beside that, there’s a path leading farther into the mountain.
Before we continue, I demand my wolf to release control. I need my father to know that it’s me, his son, who takes his life. Not the animal that lives inside me, not anyone other than his own flesh and blood.
My shift back is seamless, even though I can still sense my restless wolf. He remains close, a vigilant shadow ready to spring forth but respecting my need to do this.
I follow the path and not too much farther forward, I know Gideon isn’t alone. My mother is with him.
Gods, if she’s known about what he did…
Killing her won’t be as easy, but I know there’s no stopping with him if so. I can’t leave my mate at risk. I can’t and won’t do that to her.
I continue forward, my gait even and every step sure of my destination. When I come around the next bend, a sense of peace fills me.
He’s here.
Gideon has his back against the side of the mountain and holds a knife to my mother’s neck. Yet her expression reveals no fear, only a fierce resolve mirroring my own fury. Something that adds to my relief.
“Son,” Gideon says, tightening his arm around my mother’s waist.
“You ceased being my father the day you chose to tear my world apart,” I reply, my voice steady with cold resolve.
He grinds his teeth together as his head shakes. “You stupid boy. Why can’t you see that everything I’ve done has been to make you a better king?”
A bitter laugh escapes me. “A better king? You broke me when you took Isla away!”
He sneers, his disdain palpable. “I tried everything to make you a son I could be proud of. I thought I’d succeeded, I thought that you’d finally become the alpha I made you to be, but you haven’t changed one bit. You’re still the weak and pathetic boy who could only think of a woman instead of what he was meant to be.”
“You never gave him a chance before,” my mother says with a snarl. “He was a boy. A boy in love who should have had centuries to prepare to be king, but you stole that from him, just like you stole his mate. I should have known there was nothing?—”
The blade against her neck cuts into her skin, drawing a line of blood that disappears beneath the collar of her dress .
An inky smoke forms around the weapon as he roars, “You shut your fucking mouth, woman.”
She barely winces from the wound. “I’d rather die than keep your secrets.”
“What is it?” I try reaching her through our mental link, but it’s as if she were nowhere to be found, even though she’s right in front of me.
Gideon must be blocking my ability with one of the dark objects, but that doesn’t matter.
“Let her go,” I demand, my alpha command amplifying more than normal, likely thanks to Aurora.
He tenses, defiance etched across his aging features. “No. It’s too late. I’m not letting her go until you open the portal and let me off this world.”
“Not a fucking chance in hell.” I growl, taking another step forward.
He just shakes his head at me. “Look at you trying to be the worthy wolf now. It’s too late, Son. We both failed and now, you’ll either let me go or lose both the women in your life.”
“Do you still have Isla?” I ask Grayson, needing to know she’s safe.
“Yes, but she’s not staying patient and I won’t hold her back for long.”
At least I know she’s not at risk, regardless of what he says. For now, anyway.
“Don’t listen to him, Son,” my mother says, a tear falling down her cheek. “I failed you for so many years. Don’t worry about me any longer.”
Easier said than done.
My glare falls on my father again. “I’ve grown this kingdom into more than it’s ever been, even under your rule. Why couldn’t you have left things alone?”
“The moment she returned, you were lost,” he spats. “You reverted to the boy who couldn’t even go a week without getting his dick wet and I couldn’t let that stand. I won’t watch our kingdom fall because you’re too weak to put the crown above your heart.”
“Of course I was distracted recently,” I snarl, my lip curling. “My mate was gone for five hundred fucking years. I think that taking some time to be with her is more than acceptable. And before, you never even gave me a chance to grow up, to be the man you expected. Something I could have done with Isla by my side. Instead, you stole that from me, set me decades behind, put our home at risk. For what? To prove a fucking point? Well, you lost, Dad. You’re the one who failed and now, you’re going to lose everything.”
He reaches behind his back. “I’d rather lose everything than live with you as a son.”
“That’s enough!” Isla’s voice booms as she joins us.
“I thought you said you had her?” I snarl at Grayson, not removing my stare from Gideon. I don’t trust him not to pull some bullshit and try to hurt Isla at the last minute.
“I do. Just not where you assumed,” he answers a second after I sense his presence.
Fucking stubborn Blackwoods. I’m sure Estee is somewhere around here as well, but I can’t worry about that now.
Gideon chuckles as he grips my mother’s hair and tosses her into the side of the mountain. “You’re of no use to me any longer.”
Her eyes flutter closed and there’s a cut on her head from landing on one of the protruding rocks, but I can still see her chest moving.
“I should have gotten rid of her years ago,” he says with disgust, glaring down at her prone form.
My rage increases on my mother’s behalf. This has to be the dark objects making him act this way. There’s no other possible explanation as to why he would throw her aside as if she means nothing to him, not with them being bonded mates. Still, this is the path he chose and there’s no going back. He has to pay for the choices he’s made.
“Seems you were too weak to do that yourself, just like you have been with everything else.” My chest heaves even as Isla presses her palm to my back.
“Let me help you,” she whispers with unrestrained love filtering through our bond.
I start to shake my head, but Gideon speaks before I can move into action.
“Just as I predicted.” He holds a shadowy orb within his hands, the dagger now sheathed at his hip. “Your mate is here to finish what you can’t. She always outshone you, making you even more pathetic. I couldn’t stand to watch that happen. No son of mine would be less than his woman.”
Isla steps to stand at my side and takes my hand, the power from Aurora pulsing off her just as I feel it within me, somehow. “That’s where you’re wrong,” Isla says, her voice sure and calm. “You’ve somehow failed to see your son’s worth. Not who he was within your shadow and not as the king, but as the man I know him to be.” She lets out a strangled huff. “Even worse, there’s probably a part of you that’s always known Asher is better than you. You didn’t hurt him because he wasn’t good enough. You saw his ability to love and be a strong leader at the same time and that terrified you. It was never me that outshone your son. It’s your son that outshone you.”
His face turns red, darkening with every word my mate has spoken. “You stupid little bitch. I’m going to shut you up for the last time.”
He throws the orb toward her and as the sphere travels through the air, the glass encasing the black energy starts to shatter.
“It’s a bomb!” Grayson shouts from behind us.
I grab Isla, covering her with my body, knowing that there’s no escaping what’s about to happen, but I can at least do my best to shield her.
Pinpricks of agony jab into my skin, slicing into me like tiny blades. Tightening my grip on my mate, I draw on every bit of power I hold within me as the Alpha King.
Only that’s not all I am right now.
Aurora .
The goddess’s energy expands within my chest, spreading through the rest of me until it seeps out of my skin, creating a sort of shield around me. One that extends beyond my body and also shields Isla.
I lift my head, searching for Grayson and Estee, but I don’t see them.
“How the…?” Shock colors my father’s voice.
I rise once more, standing tall and helping my mate up as well. There’s a soft, lavender glow around both of us, somehow absorbing whatever was intent on killing us from that orb.
When I turn around, Gideon is standing there, shrouded in dark energy. His skin is ghostly pale and he trembles with the weight of the power he’s chosen over his family.
“You won’t win with those,” I tell him calmly, a sense of right filling my mind.
His head thrashes back and forth as he reaches for the dagger at his side, one now pulsing the same inky power as the orb. “You’re wrong, just as you’ve always been.”
No, he’s wrong, but more than that, he’s no longer anything to me. The man standing before me is a shell of what was once a great king, but at some point, he chose power over love.
It’s time to put him out of his misery.
“We’re done.” The words leave me as I charge forward, intent on ripping his heart from his chest.
Determination and strength ignite deep within me as I leap toward him, claws extended. Except as I swipe out, Isla begins to scream.
Distracted with fear for my mate, I miss my chance to take out Gideon and he dodges me. Before I can register what’s happening, he’s racing toward Isla, who’s on the ground, no longer protected by the goddess’s energy.
All it takes is picturing my wolf and his presence takes over, shifting with renewed intensity. We go after Gideon before he can reach our mate, but even with Aurora’s power pulsing through our veins, we’re going to be too late.
With his blade poised to kill, Gideon aims for Isla, who seems to be overcome with the dark magic and unable to protect herself.
“No!” I shout within my own mind, feeling as though my entire being might explode with the force of the gods.
Time feels as if it starts to slow as I watch Grayson leap in front of his daughter, protecting her from the poisoned blade and taking the hit himself.
“Do as you were always meant to,” he says weakly through our pack link. “Protect my daughter and love her more than your own life.”
“Damn it, Grayson!” My connection to him fades as the veins along his neck turn black. Fuck!
Turning my focus back to Gideon, I notice he’s not done yet. He’s reaching for something in his boot, but I act before he can find whatever he’s looking for.
I shift back to my human form and grab the dagger from Grayson’s shoulder, doing my best to ignore how Isla is still unmoving on the ground. I can at least still sense her through our bond and that will have to be enough for the moment.
The hilt burns into my palm as I go to Gideon. I grab him by the neck, lifting him from the ground. Black blood trickles from the corner of his mouth and his once-blue eyes are like charcoal as he sneers at me.
“Killing me won’t change the fact that you’re still pathetic,” he says, his voice garbled thanks to the tight hold I have on him.
Instead of wasting my breath, I arch my wrist to carve his heart out, but before I can finish this, I’m distracted with how the dark energy still swarming around us begins to come toward me. My body tenses, waiting for the hit, but it never comes.
The lavender glow still clinging to me expands and it’s almost as if the energy from Aurora is drawing the black magic in. I can feel its weight pressing in around me just before the power starts to move down my arm and toward the dagger I still hold .
I can hear Estee’s shouts behind me. She must not have been able to come any closer after the orb exploded. She cries for both her father and sister, but I can’t do anything for them yet.
Looking into Gideon’s dark eyes, I realize the man before me hasn’t been my father in centuries. He might have even been lost before I was born, pretending to be a sage king, fooling even his own mate, but it’s over now. I don’t know why he chose this path and I don’t need to, but there is something I need to tell him before I end this nightmare.
“I forgive you, Dad. Whatever brought you to this point, whatever allowed this darkness to take hold of you, I hope you find peace with that, but for taking my mate, there’s a price to be paid.”
A crease forms between his furrowed brows, and I know he’s heard me. That’s enough.
With the power of Aurora and the dark energy now pulsing through the dagger, I don’t wait for his response. I drive the tip through his chest, straight into his heart.
As the blade burrows deeper, the dark cloud of black magic moves from me to him, consuming his body with a finality that I know he won’t come back from.
“Be at peace,” are my final words to him and I truly mean them.
As furious as I was before, hearing how bitter and power-driven he was changed everything for me. I don’t want to hold on to this hatred. I just want to be with my mate, like I always should have been.
He turns to ash right in front of me and the moment he’s gone, so is Aurora’s energy along with the dagger. While I’m thankful for what it did just now, I hope to never feel her essence within me again.
I turn around and my chest constricts at the sight of Grayson’s lifeless form lying next to Isla. Estee sits between them, holding on to the only family she has left in this world.
My mate begins to stir and I’m at her side in the next second. She blinks rapidly, her eyes wide with fear. “What happened?” Estee sobs louder, answering the question before I can.
Isla’s gaze finds her father’s lifeless body. Her shoulders go rigid and when I reach to hold her, she shakes me off. “No.”
“I’m sorry, love. I’m so fucking sorry,” I tell her through the bond as I helplessly watch her shake Grayson’s body, begging for him to wake.
Even with Gideon’s death, there’s no victory here.
“Dad!” Isla cries louder, holding his limp form to her chest.
Estee clings to her as they weep together. I wrap my arms around both of them, attempting to hold all the pieces together, even though I know it’s impossible.
Movement catches my attention a moment later and I blink away my own tears until I see my mother beginning to sit up. With everything else, I forgot she’d been tossed aside, but Gideon doing that might have unknowingly saved her life.
She covers the lower half of her face as our stares meet and she sobs along with us.