Chapter 42
Lumi
Three men I care about are gone in the blink of an eye. And I can’t get to them because of a horde of witches in my way.
Veltheris was smart enough to gather his vampires and leave the second the blood trail hit its victim. It must have been holding everyone in place before then.
He’s survived hundreds of years by leaving when things get dangerous. And he smartly did just that tonight.
But Isolde refuses to budge. My magic isn’t enough to fight her. It’s not enough—yet.
I have to get to them. I have to know they are okay.
“Ambrose! Nyx!” I scream into Ambrose’s mind, but my words fall off a cliff. They don’t land in his mind.
My subconscious says it’s because they are both gone. The gods took them.
No, the gods want this game over. They won’t take two of the contestants like that.
The fucking gods. Ugh, I’m going to have to deal with what they said later.
The blood starts moving again, and it gives me an idea.
“The blood will keep going. It will keep going after victims until it’s consumed everyone here without a mark,” I say.
“You’re lying,” Isolde says.
“Why would I lie about that?” I’m definitely lying.
“Sylara, Kael—get the packs out of here.”
Riven protests. “I have to stay, to save them.”
And I have to sell the lie. “If you stay, you die. Go.”
Riven hesitates, but then follows the others.
“Are you really going to condemn your entire coven to death?” I ask.
“I’m going to make you break the curse. And then I’m going to kill you.”
I make the blood start moving again, controlling it like it’s mine, inching it toward Isolde.
And in a blink, the witches are gone.
“Nyx! Ambrose!” I scream, transporting myself to them in the blink of an eye with my magic.
They can’t be dead. The gods wouldn’t allow it. They can’t be dead.
I get to Ambrose first. Still not believing what I saw him do. He tried to protect Nyx when he could have saved…
My heart swells, aching for him in a way I can’t describe.
I put my hands on Ambrose’s chest, preparing to use my magic to help him heal, but before I do anything, I can feel him breathing.
“Thank gods,” I say.
Ambrose opens his eyes with tears staining them.
And suddenly, I’m not strong. My own tears mirror his.
I jump to Nyx, placing my hands on his chest. I feel nothing.
“No!” I scream, pouring my magic into him. But he’s so cold, and I have no idea how to use my magic to heal.
Ambrose moves behind me for one second, and then he’s on Nyx. Pouring his magic into him.
“You don’t get to fucking die. Not now. Not after everything,” Ambrose yells at Nyx as his magic pushes through him.
“Please, please, please,” I pray to the gods. Whether he’s my mate or not, he has to live. They both do.
We get to live, whether it’s a happily ever after or not. We all live. Forever. I demand of them.
Time passes. Forever and a day.
“He’s dead,” I whisper.
Ambrose leans back on his heels, and then Nyx’s chest rises.
No, it’s my imagination.
“No, Nyx isn’t dead. He’s not the sacrifice—Emeric is,” Ambrose says.
I bite my lower lip just to feel something. Anything but the ache in my heart.
And then Ambrose screams. A guttural yell, roar of an alpha wolf, like nothing I’ve ever heard before. A sound of mourning for a friend who will never come back.
I focus on Nyx’s timid breathing, begging him to come back fully, but he stays unconscious. Like he knows that Ambrose and I need a moment first before he returns to me.
“You saved him. You saved Nyx,” I say.
“When I could have tried to save Emeric,” Ambrose says.
More tears well in my eyes. I cared about Emeric. He was a good man who didn’t deserve to die. But I’m thankful to Ambrose for saving Nyx, despite everything.
“You couldn’t have saved Emeric. No one could. He was who the gods chose.”
“And who did the gods choose for you?” Ambrose asks.
I swallow hard, unsure of how to answer that. How to explain everything I learned, or when it will even feel important.
“He doesn’t love her, you know,” Ambrose says suddenly.
“What? Who?”
“Nyx doesn’t love Amora. It was all a lie. I remember now. I remember what he erased from my mind. It must have come back after he died—or almost died.”
I’m frozen, processing what he’s saying. “He never…”
“He never fucked Amora. He kissed her. He tricked you into believing it was more, so you’d let him go. So that you’d mark with me, and this would all be over. He tried to protect you. Just like he tried to protect Emeric. He’s the ultimate martyr.”
“Speak for yourself,” I say.
He sighs. “We are all martyrs then.”
Another tear drops as I sit between Nyx and Emeric.
One dead, one almost dead.
Ambrose is sitting across from me. And I know the price that I’m going to have to pay.
“Tomorrow’s the full moon,” Ambrose says.
I nod, not ready to tell him.
“Kiss me,” I say.
He blinks in shock. For a moment, I think he’s going to deny me. He’s going to ask why in this moment, surrounded by death and uncertainty, that I want to—
His lips land on mine, and it’s like everything that’s been missing between us locks into place.
A shared camaraderie, misery, and thankfulness for one another.
Something so pure and perfect passes between us as his lips lock with mine.
There is no holding back. Nothing but love as he kisses me like I’ve always been his.
I gasp into his kiss, unable to control myself.
I want to stay like this, kissing him forever.
When suddenly, he speaks against my lips, “Mark with me tomorrow. We’re mates.
I don’t care that Nyx loves you and you love him.
And I care about him. Complete the marking ceremony with me.
Let’s break a goddamn curse. Help Nyx to break the rest, and then we can all live together, mates, not mates, it doesn’t matter. ”
“I love you,” I say suddenly, and I know the words are true.
I love Ambrose.
I love Nyx.
But it doesn’t mean that either of them is my mate.
“We can’t.”
“Why not?”
I look at Emeric. “Because of what the gods said. I have a lot to explain, but at the core, there is a strong possibility that we aren’t mates.”
“Fuck them.”
I nod. “But I can get answers. There is a way to get the truth.”
I grip Nyx’s lifeless cool hand, where his steady pulse races for assurance. My other hand is holding onto Ambrose’s hand. And I look at Emeric’s lifeless body, knowing the truth isn’t fair.
I won’t let your death be in vain, I promise Emeric.
“It means summoning the gods again.”
Ambrose frowns.
“It means more sacrifices.”
“No, we can’t sacrifice anyone else. You make your choice. Me or him. Only one of the three of us dies. No one else. That’s how it’s always been,” he says.
A new, fresh tear falls. One reserved for him. For my heart that breaks for this man—for this new love. Because I know what’s coming. What we thought was impossible is about to happen.
I shake my head. “We have to.”
“No, you mean you have to! You’re willing to let another person die so the gods can keep fucking with us.”
“It’s the only way.”
“You’re a coward.” He pulls away, stands abruptly, like he cannot stand to be within the same space as me.
I know it’s his grief. It’s what we’ve been through. It’s not listening to the whole story that is doing this. I know he’ll soften toward me soon enough. But for now, I need to push him because he’s so close; this has to happen. Emeric’s death can’t be in vain.
“Emeric dying sucks, but his death means nothing in comparison to you or Nyx possibly dying,” I say, putting the final nail in the coffin.
I see it in Ambrose’s eyes—the love he has for me shatters. He doesn’t have to speak a word. I feel it as the magic sweeps through me, his witch’s curse unraveling.
I love him.
And he hates me.
We did it.
Without speaking, Ambrose lifts Emeric’s limp body in his arms and vanishes with him.
Only then do I fall apart, into uncontrollable sobs.
Cool hands pull me into a hug—Nyx.
“You’re alive,” I whisper.
He nods. “You did the right thing.”
“He’s going to hate me forever.”
He shakes his head. “You’re impossible to hate forever.”
“I shouldn’t have said that. Emeric means the—”
“Shh, you don’t have to explain yourself to me, love.”
“I haven’t forgiven you for what you did either.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“It would be easier if what you did were true. If you cheated. If you loved her. Fucked her. Hated me.”
“I tried to make it true.”
I shake my head, the pain swelling inside me.
He lifts my chin. “Forgive yourself.”
I frown, not ready to forgive myself.
“Was it necessary what you did?”
I nod.
“Then he’ll understand once he hears everything.”
I lean my head onto his shoulder. “I talked to a god. No, I talked to gods.”
He strokes my hair. “Were they as horrible as we think they are?”
“Worse. I’m afraid we are all doomed. We are nothing but a twisted game to them. One we will all definitely lose.”
He smiles, shaking his head.
“What are you smiling about?”
“The gods don’t know who they are fucking with. There has never been a fiercer, more determined woman before, or two males more determined to keep her alive. Together we’ll end them all.”
Thank you for reading Owned by Moonfire!