I will be back
30. I'll always be there

Aleida’s POV

I thought he’d pounce on me and start fighting right away. Unfortunately, he does the exact opposite, waiting for me to strike the first blow. It doesn’t matter to me; I manage to make a roundhouse kick that makes him land with a thud and a groan of pain. He’s fast as lightning and kicks me in the fold of my knee, making me fall headfirst. My eyes are foggy for a moment, and it beeps in my ears. Something is flowing down my forehead, which I can only assume is my blood. My mates yell at me, but I can’t hear them over the tinnitus-like sound that blasts in my ear canals. Slowly I manage to get up again and put myself in my imprinted fighting position. King laughs mockingly at me, but I disconnect it and focus solely on his movements. I’m getting ready to give him an uppercut when he suddenly shifts to his massive hybrid body. Wow... He. Is. Big. I hear how wolves in the audience gasp at the colossal beast before them. This creature is something I’ve never seen or experienced before. He roars and releases his razor-edged canines. I shift in a second, and Lisa growls furiously at the man who destroyed everything for her human. King is stopping to look at Lisa’s big and beautiful body. She has fur as white as snow and eyes like the most evident springs. Lisa is a natural beauty, and everyone knows it. Well, everyone except King and his men, apparently. It’s not only King who’s staring. Blake and the others are doing that too. I take a step back and let Lisa take control. She jumps on him and bites down on his shoulder. He howls in pain but throws her off as fast as Lisa climbs up his body. She’s not going to give up, and neither is he. He’s eyeing her mates, and that’s the last straw for her. She bites down on his arm and rips it off his torso. With an ear-piercing growl, he bites back at her flank, which makes us whimper loudly. He bit us profoundly, and the blood spreads quickly in the white fur. I quickly look back and see what was once white now is dark red. My eyes are flaming when I look at King. He grins like so many times before and seems to think this is entertaining. Suddenly, Lisa gives back control, and I see how she lays down to rest a little in our shared mind. I jump at him again, and one of my big claws comes into contact with his eye. The blood gushes, and it looks like I ripped it out. He howls from the pain and holds his paw over the now empty eye socket. However, his pain seems temporary because shortly after that, he bites my one front leg. I try to keep inside all the sounds I want to make because of the pain. None of my people will have to hear me suffer. It’s getting harder and harder to do. Both King and I throw ourselves at each other simultaneously, resulting in us landing in one pile each. He’s breathing hard, and so am I. We’re incredibly exhausted, and if this weren’t a “life or death” situation, I would probably be unconscious by now. But today, I don’t fight for my survival; I fight for my people and their families. I have to admit, though, that this son of a bitch can fight quite clearly. When I have to fight this hybrid, the downside is that he can stand on two legs when he fights, which I can’t do without losing my balance. It gives him an advantage because he can cover a larger area at the same time and protect himself. I have to thank the moon goddess that my speed still is in my favor. He’s more significant than me, and therefore more clumsy in his movements; it takes longer for him to do the damage. But his largeness is also an advantage because he weighs more and can also do more significant harm. Lisa is tired, and it makes me shift back against my will. If I thought my wolf form looked terrible, then we shouldn’t talk about my human form. I look like I just escaped from a press but failed. King also shifts and grunts in pain.

“Just give up, Aleida. You’re never going to win this!” he growls.

“Over my dead body!” I growl and jump at him.

My surprise attack works to my advantage when my fist makes contact with his chin and the blood splatters from his mouth. He jumps right back into the fight and slams me down so hard that the ground vibrates. I lose my breath from the force and gasp for air.

“Aleida, get up!” Jason screams.

He’s standing just outside the circle and watches us closely. His eyes gaze over my body, and what he sees obviously frightens him, anyway, if one is to judge from the fear in his eyes. I smile at him and turn my gaze back to the deformed hybrid who’s standing before me. I hurl my fists at random and connects with his body at record speed. This time I’m too fast for him when he tries to attack, and I successfully sidestep him. I jab his ribs a few times and smirk at his pained expression. Then he does something inexplicably. He bites himself and forces his blood in my mouth. I try to spit it out without succeeding. The others are trying to yell something at me, but I don’t understand it. Before I have time to focus on what they’re saying, the circle becomes a globe, and all other noises die out.

“Now, it’s just me and you, beautiful,” King says with a deadly smirk.

Lisa is back from her speed rest and shifts. King also shifts and doesn’t hesitate to attack first this time. Though this time, it feels different, and I can’t understand why at first. Then I feel it. I’m lying on the ground, and his fangs are piercing into my carotid artery. My mates are screaming with tears in their eyes on the outside of the globe. I feel how my blood leaves my body while my eyes fill with salty tears—my gaze locks at them when they try to break the invisible force field to no vail. With the very last power I have left, I push King’s body off me and bite down his neck. The blood enters my mouth. He tries to fight me off, but bit by bit, his defense breaks. Finally, he goes limp. I did it; I killed him. I shift back and fall at the exact moment the force field disappears. Kian and Miliano run up to me, looking terrified. My eyelids are heavy, and I can barely keep them open. I hear someone say something about “transition,” but I don’t quite understand what they mean. I’m too exhausted to ask anyway.

“Aleida. Baby, please say something!” Miliano exclaims.

“I love you, forever and always. You know that, right?” I ask and smile weakly at them.

“You are going to fight this. We need you. The boys need you!” Kian exclaims hysterically.

I want to comfort them both, but we all know that I’m not going to survive this. My injuries are far too significant for me to stay alive until we get to the nearest packhouse. I have a few minutes left, nothing more. My hands caress my loves’ faces.

“I will always be with you, no matter what. I’ll always watch over you, no matter what happens.”

“Stop saying that! Why are you saying such things!?” Miliano yells.

“Because we all know it. I’m not going to survive, my love. I fulfilled my purpose, which was to protect you all and make sure that hell stays down there. Now it will.”

“But, it isn’t worth it if we’re going to lose you!” Kian cries.

“Yes, it is. If it means that our boys can run around the forests free without fear, then it’s worth it. This was predetermined, and nothing could have changed anything. When I made the deal, this was the best possible odds I had. It was between dying or maybe dying. I chose the latter because I didn’t want to give up on you. The prophecy is fulfilled. I have thus also achieved what I was appointed and born to do.”

“But, we love you...” Miliano whispers with tears streaming down his cheeks.

“There’s no love without pain. Your job is to take care of our boys; they’re the priority. Help them grow into men that I can be proud of calling my sons. We’ll see each other again, I promise you. Either it’ll be in this life, or the next doesn’t matter. Because I will always wait for you.”

Those are the last words that spill from my lips. My eyes close and remain closed. I hear screams and powerful howls of sorrow. My mates are screaming at me to wake up, but I can’t. My time is up. It’s time for me to go.

“Nathan! Give her the life source, now!” someone yells.

I feel the tingling sensation of regaining my power, but it won’t be enough—not this time. My soul is walking towards the moon goddess and her waiting hand for me to take. I take her hand in mine and look back at my mates for the last time. They’re holding me and crying. I follow the goddess into the eternal light, feeling content with the result of keeping them safe even if it cost some pain. Nothing is ever free.

Unknown POV

Everything went according to plan, and Aleida is dead. This became easier than I thought it would be. The bitch is gone, and I can take over the world to control it the way I feel fit. Now no one can stand in my way. Her mates will kneel for me in the daytime and bury themselves between my thighs at night. I hope that she’ll see it from wherever she is. The betrayal will make her reject them in the afterlife; she won’t wait for them, which means that they’ll be mine for eternity. Her pups will grow up to call me “mommy.” I will make all the pain go away. Aleida always gets everything she wants, while I had to work for every single little thing. But no more. All she owns and has will be mine. She didn’t have enough life force to make it through the transition from werewolf to hybrid. She shouldn’t have given her brother that power from the beginning. It belongs to me! She has my power, and now that bitch died with it. I’ve looked forward to having that power, and now it feels like I’m getting fooled by something that should be mine from the beginning! Ugh, when they bury her in the cold soil, I can channel the power from the dark. And everything will be as it should. Have a fun time with the moon goddess who bears the responsibility for your so-called “pain.” It must feel like a bitch, but you deserve it, you false conniving whore! Now, I’m going after your pack, then your mates and your sons. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me! Don’t fret, my loves, because I’m coming for you.