Chapter 66
So be it
I find my gaze drawn to my alphas again, needing to make sure they are fine, alive, still where I last saw them.
My thoughts are scattered, frantic, fluttering like birds.
In an ocean of black robes, they stand out, but it doesn’t calm me the way I hope it will.
They’re too far away; the enemy army stands between us.
“Mordecai,” I whine.
Mordecai looks at me, his eyes shuttered, his lips twisted in what looks like pain. He raises his hand to his chest and bows. My heart thumps in my chest. This isn’t the plan. No! This is not the plan.
“What are you doing?” I whisper. He can’t hear me, no one can.
But he mouths something that takes me a moment to understand. “I remember what I have to do.”
I glance towards Jarek and see him moving through the betas. Shoving them aside, slowly getting closer.
Mordecai swings a massive fist and kills a beta. The sudden display of aggression triggers a panic. A wave of alarm goes through them, and they turn, surging towards him, leaving Jarek.
“What is this?” the goddess shouts. “How dare you!”
The beta behind me shoves me to my knees and pulls his sword, holding it ready to attack me and the people coming towards the stage.
They surge back and forth as the fight spreads.
Mordecai moves through the crowd, ignoring the betas who shove him back. Jarek’s moving like a blur, getting closer and closer to the stage. But the black robes are thick around Mordecai.
“RESIST!” Mordecai bellows, joining the chant, his voice roaring as he glares at the Beta Goddess, almost daring her to do something.
I gasp, staring at him as he seems to grow bigger, he oozes power and aggression. He’s magnificent and captivating. The god I remember meeting. They can’t take away what we are, not in our souls. It doesn’t matter how many human lives we’ve lived.
“RESIST!” he roars.
“RESIST!” they echo back at him.
A roar goes up from all around us. Someone throws Mordecai a sword, which he snatches out of the air and attacks with a skill I haven’t seen him use.
He’s incredible.
Deadly.
Even exhausted, this alpha is so much more than he thinks. He makes me want to drop to my knees. How is he mine?
The fights that had broken out get deadly. There are so many more of the Resistance than I ever dreamed. I don’t know who will win, but it looks like Bear decided this is all or nothing.
Robes are pulled off, and the Resistance reveal themselves, and they are dressed to go to war. A whole lot of them are wearing dark war paint on their faces that were hidden behind masks. I find myself leaning forward, urging them on.
The shove of betas against the Resistance is fierce, but the pledges don’t have the skill they have, though they have the numbers.
Where is Jarek?
His red hair catches the light, and I see him fighting beside a group of fighters. They are closer to the stairs, maybe within a few feet. He might be able to make it, but he’s pushed back. He shouts and surges forward, and the beta in front of him dies, but two more replace him.
He looks incredible, dangerous, wild, untamed. I want to be with him so badly right now. To fight at his side, to just stare at the mastery of his face and just bathe in the sparkling aura that is my alpha. This god who gave up everything in a second to be with me.
I clench my hands, frustrated with all the distance between us.
I take a step, but the sword point comes back to me.
“Take one step, I dare you,” the beta hisses, his mouth twisted in rage. The sword point trembles with how much he wants to put it through me. Our eyes meet, and all I see is hate. “You should die,” he hisses at me, his lips trembling.
A cry sounds out behind me. I turn my head carefully to see Legion being torn from Walker. The alpha fights and kills seven betas in mere seconds, his sword a blur, but he’s not a match for their numbers either, but they don’t get the omega from his alpha.
They overwhelm him, and within seconds, he’s standing with sword points pressed against him. He glares at the goddess, never taking his eyes from her, as he stands in front of Legion.
The beta sighs like she’s annoyed.
“Take the omega from him.”
Walker kills two more.
“Are you going to make me do this?” she asks, and her lips crack, blood running down her chin.
Walker glares at her.
“Kneel, Dog.”
Walker fights so hard his tendons pop out in his neck, but he kneels.
“Leave him alone!” I shout.
Legion is dragged away from him, a knife held to his throat. Legion’s eyes are soft, but there’s a smile on his lips.
“Why are you smiling?” the goddess snaps.
“He loves me,” Legion says simply.
She looks between them in disgust.
“Should we kill them?” A guard asks.
The Beta Goddess slashes out with a knife. “Have I said to kill them?”
The beta looks at his missing hand, staring at the stump in horror.
“Do not do anything. We’re just going to watch for a while,” she says and jerks her way towards the edge of the stage, glaring at the fighting.
The beta whimpers, turning, his wrist pumping out blood.
“You should put something on that,” I suggest blandly.
He blinks at me and passes out.
“Or not.”
I follow the goddess’ gaze. People are dying, so many of them, but neither side is giving in. They are fighting for the fate of the world, though many will never realise it.
I glance at the goddess; she stares at the death with a hunger that is sick. Her bones crack, and the body stumbles to the left before she catches it with a grumbled curse.
Mordecai has cleared a massive swath of people. There is a pile of bodies in front of him, but he’s working his way towards us, his expression grim but focused.
Yes! I glance back at Cadel. His eyes are dull. I feel a flicker of fear like I’ve missed something I should understand.
“They’re coming,” I say to him, trying to get something out of him. “It will be okay!”
He doesn’t respond or even acknowledge that I’ve spoken. He just closes his eyes, and that scares me more than anything.
“Andrew! Get down there!” The Beta hisses with the first signs of unease. Her blond hair falls out in chunks, but she doesn’t look away from Mordecai. “Bring me the head of that alpha.”
My pulse races. I surge forward, but the sword holds me back.
The High King pulls twin sabers and whirls them in his hands. The flash of gold is blinding, but worse is the speed and sharpness of the blades.
He’s going to kill Mordecai.
No!
I surge forward and kick the beta with the sword who is holding me captive.
He screams as he falls back into the fighters.
I hear a shrill scream, but I don’t care.
Seconds, I only have seconds, but I rush to intercept the High King, ready to use whatever means possible to stop him.
I’m caught up short; a beta grabs my hair and swings me to my knees with a knife pressed against my throat.
“I’m getting tired of you all pressing knives to my throat,” I hiss in a warning that is ignored.
I kneel there, staring intently as the High King makes his way through his people. They part for him. Fear fills my chest, pushing out until I’m frozen, watching as he heads in the direction of my mate.
He cuts down alphas every time he finds one. Sending those spinning blades into his people with no consideration for beta or alpha. His skill is incredible, and I finally understand why she keeps him around. He is her last line of defense, her protection. She doesn’t think he will lose.
I look at Legion and find him staring at me. His face is white, leached of colour and hope. There is something that he knows that I don’t, and I can see it on his face.
“If you move, she dies!” the goddess snarls at Walker, who has climbed to his feet. I forget about Legion until she points at him. “Then he dies.”
Walker, Legion, anyone and everyone, she’ll sacrifice us in a heartbeat. Everyone is expendable to her.
Bear rears up, bigger and stronger than everyone around him. He’s not far from Jarek, who is struggling with his own group of betas. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in minutes, but he’s covered in blood, most of it not his. He growls as he cuts into them.
Mordecai roars, and I look back just in time to see him and the High King slam into each other. Their swords scream as they clash against each other, then break away. The world slows down as they collide again. The earth shakes, and the fighting around them turns to white noise.
The Goddess paces, watching intently.
“Familiar,” she murmurs. “He is so familiar. Kill him!” she shouts!
Mordecai!
I see a flash of gold out of the corner of my eye. I turn too slowly.
I feel a horrible pain in my chest. Like something is ripping me apart, like I’m burning up from the inside out. The bonds shred inside me, burning up and leaving me with a gaping wound.
I’ve felt this way before.
I search for the red colour I should never have taken my eyes off.
I find him instantly on the stage just feet from me.
The newly appointed Beta’s Fang is standing with his gold mask, his sword raised, ready to bring it down on me.
I didn’t even see him. Jarek spins him back and tears out his throat with his blade.
The world slows down, going almost silent.
Jarek stands there panting, but there’s something wrong with his face, with his body, with our bonds.
When the beta falls, I see the pledge in the black mask, smiling in triumph behind Jarek. I look down, trying to figure out what I’m seeing. A sword? Plunged through his chest, pointed at me?
A shrill, squealing noise fills my mind. Every moment we’ve shared plays over. Every touch, every kiss, every word.
“JAREK!”
I struggle, reaching for him.
We’re so close, just a few feet. I strain, ignoring the way they pull out my hair, ignoring the blade cutting my skin. Our fingers almost touch.
We’re so close.
My alpha.
My mate.
I scream, the sound tearing from me. Panic. Denial. Agony.
“JAREK!”
Hot blood runs down my neck as I writhe, fighting to get free.