Chapter 20: The Final Battle!

E M B E R

Neither we nor those monsters waste time baptizing the land with blood, and the bitter, acidic odour of corpses emanates from it. The dewy grass flickers like a diamond flame as blood-curdling howls rent the air, bones shatter and crack, and hearts rip out of chests.

It feels unreal and nauseating that we're at war.

Luckily we haven't been outnumbered, thanks to other Alphas who pitch their warriors to fight against those bloodsuckers with us. In fact, Dexter manages to bring most of our warriors from the Crimson Shadow territory as well.

The effluvium of death is all around us, a jet of blood surges into the air, and it tastes ungodly, so tangy and coppery, which makes it too real not to believe that we are indeed at war and that too many people are dying.

As much as I feel gratitude, I feel guilty and responsible for all this.

I stop after ripping a heart out with my teeth and looking into the dead eyes of a vampire before the body withers away. This battle is heart-thumping, and the wind whips at my face, cooling down my blood-soaked white fur when I glance at the carrion-black sky with splashes of poppy red, reflecting on the huge full moon reminiscent of the night six years ago.

It is carnage.

That's when a swarm of opponents sneer and stalk me.

"Let's kill this bitch!"

I blink back and look at them as a hybrid breaks away and rushes at me.

Next, a vampire growls and lunges at me.

I battle against both of them.

They might be fast because of their abilities, but their venom isn't lethal as my bite. So, I tire them back and forth before I pin down the hybrid under my claw and bite down, only to hear the man holler in pain and fear when I am tugged back with so much force that I fly back against the ground and land with a loud thud.

"Get away from him, you mutt."

I briefly wobble and stand to face the vampire, who hurtfully looks at her (likely) dying mate and then glowers at me. "I'm going to kill you."

I howl.

Bring it on!

Right, when the vampire lunges at me, Ivory steps in and, in the blink of an eye, takes care of the woman by biting into her neck and ripping her throat out.

She then looks over at me.

Why are you wasting your time here?

Excuse me?

She moves on to another one and continues to chat in the mind link.

We are bestowed with enough support here, so you go to Sebastian and kill that hybrid bastard. Get your sweet revenge, Ember!

Unconvinced, I stare at her, watching as she rips his heart out and looks up with a deadpan expression before she notices me and sighs.

Go now!

I nod in agreement and turn around as I run deeper into the woods to the cottage where I was held captive. My body hurts, and blood taints my fur. It doesn't matter. Nothing mattered to me except my revenge but now, not with that. The only thing that matters now is him.

I run faster but halt right before the cottage when I see Graham heating an iron poker in a makeshift fireplace.

"Ugh!" a tired groan escapes, and I look to find Sebastian chained down to a chair as he struggles to get out.

Graham looks at him and chuckles, "Have patience, brother!"

Sebastian throws a glare as he struggles and thrusts the chair backwards, falling onto the ground.

Graham huffs and walks over to him. "What?!"

And with that, he sticks the iron poker into Sebastian's chest and laughs to hear him scream.

"You have no idea how much hurting you makes me feel good, brother."

Sebastian coughs up blood and painfully scoffs, "Ha, yeah! I get that you were always an insecure little bitch, you sick psycho!"

Pissed, Graham growls before he pulls Sebastian by his neck and looks at his wound. "Oh, no! You are still healing quickly. It's not good."

He tilts his head and beams, "I guess I'll have just keep applying pain." With that, he grabs Sebastian and pulls him back up with the chair. He walks back over to heat up the poker again.

"So, do you think Ember will come here? Or did she abandon you already?"

I clench my jaw and seethe in silence.

"What? Do you really have nothing to say about your sweet angelic fighter mate who turns out to be an Alpha? You must have felt betrayed by her, mustn't you?" Graham taunts.

Sebastian spits on the ground but says nothing.

As much as I want to rip that smug head off, I also want to know what Sebastian thinks. I know hurting him isn't the exact way to know that when Graham clicks his tongue, "Ha, not responding to your older brother, but you must know that I have all day—" With that, he thrusts the hot poker into Sebastian's stomach.

Sebastian grits his teeth and screams.

I wince in his pain and whimpers.

Graham continues to heat the poker before he takes out a plant from his pocket.

My eyes widen as that asshole hybrid struts his way to a semi-conscious Sebastian and brushes the end of the wolfsbane across his cheek.

I watch in horror as if I feel it burn instead of Sebastian, who screams and struggles in his chair.

"Now, where is she?" Graham clicks his tongue and straightens up, looking around.

"She is not coming. Get over it." Sebastian snaps.

"Aww, and why do you say that? Sure, she will be here to save her little bitch from the big bad hybrid, right?" Graham teases and yanks Sebastian's head back, only to shove the plant into his mouth.

I narrow my eyes and take a step closer when Graham exclaims, "Isn't it yummy?" laughing at Sebastian's expense, who grunts and groans in pain before spitting up the wolfsbane and coughing.

A beat of silence passes as Graham groans, "Ugh, this is getting boring!" he clicks his tongue, "I bet I can get something else from the cottage to torture you more. That would be fun—" He turns around and walks inside with a sly grin. I wait a while, and my heart aches to see my mate in pain before I rush to him.

His eyes widen at the sight of a big white wolf tainted with red as he frowns and painfully blurts out, "Ember, what are you doing?"

I grunt and move back to rip the chains apart.

They rattle as I drop them on the ground and turn back to face Sebastian. He looks into my eyes, and the first thing he says to me as he breaks the silence between us is, "Is that blood?"

I gape at him and shrug.

Don't worry. It's not mine.

He rolls his eyes and painfully chuckles, "That's supposed to reassure me?"

I howl and lean closer to lick his face.

Dammit!

Sorry!

He caresses my fur, which feels good, and I want to close my eyes and rest. "Why?"

I didn't come early.

He stops and leans back to give me a proper look as he sighs, "But why did you even come?"

I roll my eyes.

Of course, why won't I?

He narrows his eyes and grunts under his breath. "You need to go, Ember."

I growl.

"I'm serious. This is between Graham and me. I don't want you to get caught in it."

No! It's not only between you two. I am already in this mess because I created it. I was looking for the guy who murdered my parents. I wanted to take revenge. I can't let that bastard torture you like that.

I loudly huff, and silence settles between us when Sebastian places a hand on my face and leans over, "It's sad that our date didn't end properly."

I tilt my head.

Is that what you are thinking right now — during your torture session?

He shrugs and earnestly locks eyes with me as he murmurs, "That's the only thing keeping me going." If the circumstances had been different, I would have kissed him. He resumes caressing my fur and smiles, "All this blood looks good on you." huh? He nods, "It really brings out your eyes."

"I was hurt back then when Dexter announced your true identity."

Sebastian...

"You see, I never wanted a mate. Even if I did, I wanted someone I could take use to further my cause in the supernatural community. But then you came. Of course, I denied it, but I came to terms with it because I had started liking you and didn't care who you were. Then I saw you in your wolf form. Even then, nothing changed."

Sebastian, I didn't mean to hide anything from you. I was going to tell you after I finish the mission because you know how much important it was for me to find that man responsible for my parents—

He sighs, "Yes, I knew that. And that's why I decided to be mature about it instead of lashing out and throwing tantrums. We only met a few weeks ago. We had little idea of who we were. It wasn't right for me to be angry even if your lie betrayed me."

I whimper.

"Actually, it wasn't even a lie. You just omitted a part of your life, and that's all, and if time were right, you would have told me everything because misunderstandings are cleared, and connections are made through talking things out, right? Nothing, and no one can make me let you go. Remember, we are stuck together forever." His faint hurting smile makes my heart ache, but it is a beautiful pang.

Sebastian.

It's such a sweet moment that I don't want to end when a thunderous clapping interrupts as Graham exclaims, "Woah, that was quite mature and emotional." He grins at me, "Hey, Ember! You are an absolutely stunning, murderous little creature."

Aware of his presence, I spring and turn to face him as I step up and growl.

"Leave her be, Graham!" Sebastian mutters sternly.

Graham steps forward and scoffs, "You don't get to order me anything, you piece of shit." I almost pounce on that smug guy when he looks back at me, and all playfulness disappears as he states, "I had fun watching this scene, and I hope it's the last one because you have made your choice."

I growl.

I am not going anywhere and not doing anything except ripping that heart out of your chest. And I promise to be extra merciless.

"That's my girl!" Sebastian whispers to me, and I proudly glance at him before glaring back at that doofus.

Graham straightens up, paces around before he looks at us, and clicks his tongue, "Well, if that's the case, you have no other choice —" I frown when there is a distinct whoosh, vacuum-like sound past me, and I immediately turn around as he quips, "— then I must make this easy for you. You will watch him die just like you watched your mother die in front of your eyes. What do you say?"

"Let her go, you bastard!" Sebastian grits but lets out a painful groan when Graham tears and plunges a hand inside his chest. I stare into his eyes with hatred and anger, and my growl rings through the clearing.

Mock amusement dances in his eyes as he taunts me with a grin, "Ooo, I can feel his heart beating in my hand."

Okay, that's it!

My control finally snaps.

Furious, I lunge toward and pounce at Graham, who forcefully shoves a familiar plant in Sebastian's mouth and pushes him off the chair before he whooshes away.

I move to help my mate, but he coughs and waves a hand at me. "Go! It's your fight."

I don't want to. I don't want to leave you.

Sebastian looks up, and his expression softens as he smiles, "Neither do I, but we need this."

Beats of silence pass between us before he tiredly sighs and exclaims, "Promise me that when this is over, we will go on a proper date."

I don't answer him, and we stare into each other's eyes awhile before I hesitantly tear my eyes off him and turn to run where that bastard went.

I don't care about me. If I die, I will die with honour. I don't want to die having my last words calling out for help. I'm going to die fighting to protect the ones I love, just like my parents did for me, to fight till my last breath, or I'm not going to die at all. I stop running after a distance as I walk and look around.

Where are you? Come and face me, you fucking coward!

I feel his presence, but I feel a sharp pain on my backside before I can react. I turn to find Graham grinning and waving a syringe in the air. The side effects already kick in as I wobble, but I know what that syringe had.

Wolfsbane.

I give him a hostile glare.

Graham waits for the poison to take its full effect inside my body after he injects another syringe into my neck this time.

I struggle to keep myself standing, no matter how hard I try.

You... are a fucking coward.

He shrugs and grits, "I am not. You are just stronger than normal werewolves. I can't risk my life on that." watching me drop to my knees in satisfaction. I force myself to stand back to prove him wrong, but he notices and kicks me on my shin. My knees tremble and hit the ground once again.

The amount of wolfsbane feels like burning my entire system, and I hiss in pain. Then, without warning, Graham launches himself forward and kicks me in my head, causing blood to trickle down my face due to the impact. In fact, he doesn't stop there and continues to kick me violently each time I try to get up.

"Just die, bitch!" he bursts out laughing as he stops to breathe.

"That's fucking pathetic, asshole!" Sebastian roars, and Graham confusingly exclaims, "What the heck—" but he stumbles when he gets punched right in the face.

Without warning, just like what Graham did to me, Sebastian keeps punching him until he briefly locks eyes with me, and I realize his scheme.

Sebastian distracted Graham to give me time to recuperate.

That's right.

I can't lose to him.

Graham is a cowardly loser, and I can't let him win.

All of this would be for nothing. Those fighting right now and those who died, their lives would be for nothing if I gave up now. Sebastian letting me go would be for nothing. With that, I muster my strength and get up as I startle him by turning him around and digging my claws deep into his chest.

Graham gasps.

His eyes widen with brief fear as he looks at me, but I see red and nothing else. I rip out his heart instantly, and his body drops to the ground with a loud thud.

It's over.

Everyone is finally dead, and spare no one in this war.

"Coward." I spit and glare at him when all of a sudden, I begin to cough out blood.

Oh, my god.

I can't breathe.

I can't see.

I can't ... my body is in too much pain, and so is Rayne, who is badly hurt and barely conscious, and I want to rest now.

I shift back to my human form and slump to the ground, only for Sebastian to rush and hold me in his arms. I cough up more blood and sigh, leaning my head against his shoulder. Fading in and out of consciousness, I notice his smile and reach out my hand to touch it when his hand slips through mine.

"You did it."

Huh?

My eyes feel so droopy.

I really want to rest.

Sebastian softly squeezes me and whispers, "It's finally over. Graham is dead, and his army of vampires is defeated. We have nothing to worry about, and it's all because of my braveheart, my love."

He leans in and presses his lips on my forehead as I close my eyelids to feel his warmth. Even in this state, that word, that raspier voice, and this moment right here makes me tingle and fluttery.

I feel lucky.

Relieved.

Now I can live peacefully and spend the rest of my life loving Sebastian.

Right?

Taking a peek at him one last time, I breathe, "I like you." I pass out into the darkness.