Chapter 34
HANNES
Why wouldn’t she fucking look at us? It was taking everything in me not to shift into my beast, rip everyone in here into pieces, and call it a day.
Granted, we weren’t exactly on even ground, there were far more of them than there were of us but that had never stopped me before, and André was as pissed off as I was. That made us stronger.
My senses sharpened when a man walked along the darkness in the far back, pushing something into the dimly lit part of the cave, where we stood.
The moment the wheelchair came into view the Beast fought to burst out of me, and I couldn’t even fathom how Natasha wasn’t reaping them apart herself.
Knowing her as I did, it was easy to detect every twitch and tense of her muscles at the sight of Anastasia, though she remained perfectly poised on the outside.
She would die before she gave away the distress coursing through her.
The Viscountess’s head lolled when they brought her forward, caked blood covered most of her body, speaking of the horrors she’d suffered at their hands. The injuries that made her bleed were no longer visible but that didn’t mean she had already healed.
Unfortunately, it would take far more than her venom for her to recover from this, but if we got her back to her family, their love would help her.
“He tortured her,” André hissed menacingly into my mind only, his hands fisting at his sides.
My steeled gaze remained on Natasha, seeing her turn toward her mother when the man stopped with the chair across from us.
“Leave her there,” Francoys ordered, his attention shifting from our mate to André and me.
When the man offhandedly put on the brakes, parking her next to Ryker and the other two bastards, the chair rocked back and forth shaking her.
The motion was enough for Anastasia to regain consciousness. Her gaze immediately sharpened when she saw the three of us across from her, but she didn’t visibly react.
Like mother like daughter.
“Thank you.” Natasha focused on Francoys. “Can I say goodbye before they take her away?” She gestured toward us and the Beast growled inside me while André’s bat claws began to descend.
“We said we trusted her…” I practically chanted into his mind for both our sakes. My beast was about to sit his ass on the corner and rock himself from the stress she was causing us.
Having Mr. Temperamental and Mr. Impulsive in the same room right now while our mate played at who the fuck knew what, wasn’t the best scenario.
His claws receded and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Remember she will be mine before you drain her,” Ryker interjected stepping toward Natasha. “And I become Alpha of my own RavenWolf pack. We agreed.”
For a split second, I was grateful the future of my race was not dependent on him. We would go extinct in two days. The stupid bastard didn’t even know the RavenWolves had been officially destroyed—a large number of them killed by the same guy who he was just reminding of their “deal”.
There was nothing left for Ryker to go back to or rule. Not that he was surviving this.
“I said for you to remain back!” Francoys shouted, flinging his arm with the power band toward him. The invisible force threw Ryker back, slamming him against the wall.
“We had a deal!” Ryker growled, straining against the invisible restraints like he wanted to shift.
“We still have it,” Francoys snapped, his tone saying he couldn’t wait to kill Ryker and the other two. “Just. Be. Patient.”
Ryker’s gaze bored on Natasha with a mix of lust and hate, and he smirked at her like an idiot. The sick bastard was delirious if he thought André or I would let him get within a foot of our mate.
I clenched every muscle on my body when the Beast pushed to take over. My hands began transforming, fur trying to ripple over my skin, but I fought back furiously, even when my claws sliced through my own palms. I would not be the one to wreck Natasha’s plan and only chance to get her mom back.
“Fine,” Francoys answered, looking at Natasha. “But make it fast.”
“Does his stupid ass still think she is surrendering?” André sent into my mind only, and I internally snorted.
Our mate may not have told us her plan, but we knew Natasha would die before letting them have her blood.
When Natasha finally glanced back at us, the glint in her eyes told us this was it.
Overdoing her limping again so they thought she was too hurt to try anything, she took a couple of steps forward… and then jumped, using her Vampire speed to rotate above us.
As the fire-dancing wings began to come out from her back, everyone’s eyes widened in terror.
Too late motherfuckers.
Natasha thrust her wings open as she spun, firing blazing feathers in every direction.
Zooming through the air like bullets, the feathers blasted against everyone’s bodies before they could react, igniting them on contact. Her blaze rose eagerly, engulfing their forms, and consuming them in mere instants.
Expecting her daughter’s attack, Anastasia dived for the floor the instant Natasha jumped, landing behind Ryker and his sad excuse for shifters to protect herself…
I wasn’t so lucky.
A sizzling feather shot straight toward my heart. It crashed against my chest, and I braced for the agony, wishing I had let the Beast take over me. Time slowed while I watched the deathly fire flare to life along my body, creating a hungry wave that swiftly engulfed my entire form without mercy.
The pain never came.
Blue light spread over my bond tattoo, extending along my entire arm and making it pulse with protective power. The Eternal Blaze swayed on its way off me like a wave retreating from its shore.
Are you fucking kidding me?!
All this time, the bond tattoo had been meant to protect me from Natasha’s Eternal Blaze. All she had to do was activate it. The feeling of her touch before we entered the mountain returned, spreading her love through my being as the fire swept over me and left, not even trying to consume me.
Time resumed real fucking fast when Natasha landed and tumbled to the floor—unable to fully stand on her injured leg.
A roar tore free from my throat when I saw Ryker lunge for Natasha—the bastard was unharmed.
Shifting into my Beast, I rammed into him at full force, sending him flying across the cave until he slammed into the far wall—cracking it with his head.
His Hunters had shifted, but their wolves couldn’t stop the blue fire from raging over them and taking their lives.
Vampire screeches, screams, and growls reverberated all around us while several bodies thrashed on the floor or against the walls. The blaze purposedly made its way over them, and it was almost like it knew they deserved to die vengefully slow, prolonging their pain.
Someone was tossed across the room by André, his venom protecting him, and I quickly realized that although the majority of the cult-following Vampires were burning, quite a few hadn’t been touched by the attack.
“Are you okay?” I lifted Natasha to her feet, shifting back to a man.
“I’m fine. Get my mom out of here, please,” she shouted above the mayhem. “Have Bj?rn to take her home now!” Natasha urged, standing on her own while sending a stream of fire toward the woman who had checked if we were lying.
She was trying to escape the cave when the fire reached her, taking over her form.
“I got her back!” André assured me, tossing a light blade to someone else across the room.
The last thing I wanted was to leave Natasha’s side, but I rushed towards her mother.
“It’s me, Anastasia. Hannes,” I announced, crouching beside her and seeing her eyes open, focusing on my face. “Let’s go.”
She weakly reached for me, but I swept her into my arms, running past them and out of the mountain.
“Bj?rn!” I bellowed outside, noticing the battle was dwindling almost to an end.
My army wasn’t the only one there anymore. Another assembly of Dracul soldiers had come, with Countess Dariah leading them.
Dante landed next to me then, seeming exhausted. “You, did it?"
“Natasha did. I need Bj?rn.”
Glancing toward the battlefield we noticed he and the Dark One were still fighting each other. They vanished and reappeared, or blinked, in and out every few seconds in different parts of the sand dunes, making it difficult to assess how hurt our friend was or who was winning.
“Get him!” I urged Dante when Anastasia fell unconscious again.
Focusing, he followed Bj?rn’s erratic blinking movements as he chased and attacked the Dark One all over the field, suddenly vanishing into the shadows himself.
I had no idea how he did it, but Dante intercepted them, throwing shadow bands around the Dark One to deter him—if only briefly.
Bj?rn’s head snapped toward me suddenly, and he blinked to my side.
Trying to be gentle, I placed Anastasia in his arms. “Take her to my mom!”
When he blinked out of there, I turned to rush back into the cave, but my steps faltered.
The Witch’s body was strewn against the mountain’s rocky base. Her brimstone eyes were devoid of life, and the yellow magic leaked from her many wounds like blood onto the sand—worthless, no longer having a vessel to be contained.
From what I knew of Witches, only those who followed the true path, and respected the craft had the honor of joining their sisters and ancestors in spirit after they left this life. This Witch’s soul would be lost forever, her magic wasted.
The scene that greeted me when I entered the cave was the last thing I expected.
Light ropes wrapped around the length of Francoys body, who thrashed on the ground trying to get free. The slashes across his body bleed but he hadn’t been touched by the fire.
Across from him, André had Ryker seized in his grasp, and he was probably a breath away from slashing his throat open with his Vampire claws.
They had already empaled Ryker’s neck while he held him clear off the floor, Ryker’s feet dangling in the air.
The same ropes that robbed Francoys of freedom, captured his body.
A spiteful growl left Ryker, but it gurgled in his throat when André squeezed.
I knew it was taking every ounce of strength for him not to end the bastard right there and then because I wanted to rip him to pieces too.
Natasha stood before him, her right leg barely holding her weight on the tip of her foot, but she was so focused on her prisoner that I doubted she felt pain at all right now. Her hand ignited, and letting the fire flare to life, she lifted it in front of him, calling his attention toward it.
Seamlessly shifting into the Beast with each stride, I stopped beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist to offset her weight. She instinctively pressed into me.
Coming extra close to Ryker, so he could feel my breath fanning his face, I bared my sharp canines at him, releasing a nightmare-inducing growl.
His body went rigid in response, the fear giving him away, but he glanced at me sideways and growled back, pretending he wasn’t peeing himself right now.
Smirking, I leaned away just a bit, letting the growl extend and click in the back of my throat… the creepy way.
“You are the true monster,” Natasha spat at him, her burning gaze filled with anger and pain. “For so long I believed you. I followed my uncle’s every command. I did everything you wanted, and at one point I even thought I loved you!”
A disbelieving breath left her, but her intensity never left.
“You used me, lied to me, forced me to submit by making me believe that I was below you. That I was nothing. You used my insecurities to manipulate me, gaslight me into thinking I deserved everything my uncle did to me!”
She paused, reigning in her emotions so as not to give him the satisfaction of getting a single tear from her.
André and I exchanged a dejected glance while her pain blasted into us, burning our chests.
“You made me believe that I didn’t even deserve to be protected from my uncle.
That I was worthless. All because you, ReinheitWolfe wannabes lied yourselves into thinking you were Wolf Shifters, powerful, and above everyone else.
My mate is what a real, ReinheitWolfe looks like, and you have no idea how powerful they truly are. ”
Natasha looked at me with pride, and I could never love her more.
“You were never shifters, Ryker. You are just weak cowards, who feared me and who I might become.”
She stepped closer until the light of her fire reflected on Ryker’s face. He desperately tried to get away from the flame but couldn’t move a single inch. The need for justice exuded from her as she leaned into him, her eyes turning beautifully red while her fangs descended.
“You had reason to fear me…” Natasha sensually whispered, lifting her chin to look down on him. “Look at me now, Bitch.”
Pride burst from André and me. That was our mate.
Her blazing hand slammed against his balls the next second, and she gripped them forcefully, causing him to buck against the wall. Ryker’s eyes almost burst out of his head when the fire gripped him too.
Ouch!
Ear-splitting screams exploded out of the bastard while his dick disintegrated.
“What happened, Ryker?” our mate asked innocently. “I thought you dreamed about me touching you in your special place. No? Oh, well.”
“I’ll be damned. She actually burned the testicles off him.” André whistled in my mind.
I cringed, pulling her back with me several steps.
Letting go of Ryker, André stood with us. “Note to self: Do not make Natasha mad.”
“Noted.”
No one could convince me that the Eternal Blaze wasn’t fueled by Natasha’s emotions. Even now, it stirred over him like it took extra pleasure in burning his balls.
“Also, you are disgusting,” Natasha growled at him.
Locked in place against the wall, Ryker’s entire body juddered from pain, feeling every inch of him melt.
Ryker’s screams suddenly caught in his throat, choking him as the agony became all-consuming. Blood inundated his eyes, dripping from his nostrils and mouth—still open in a suppressed scream.
André wrapped his arm around her back too, and Natasha released a measured breath, relaxing between us.
We stood there, watching her painful past burn to ash, so Natasha could get the closure she deserved.