23. Battlefield

Miliano’s POV

“Be ready!” Kian shouts, and we all prepare for defense.

You may wonder why we alphas stand at the front with our warriors when we’re the most valuable in the pack, and the answer is simple; a true alpha always fights side by side with his subjects. We’re prepared to die for our families to survive.

“Now!” I scream, and we all throw ourselves at the creatures.

I tear a rogue to pieces right away and keep killing every single one who dares to come here to try to take over our community. A vampire hisses behind me, and I see in the corner of my eye when Blake throws himself over the ripper. He breaks the vampire’s neck, and I give him a nod of respect that he returns. Suddenly, creatures surround both Blake and me. We stand back to back and fight for our survival as weapon brothers. Every now and then, we use the iron powder to damage the demons that are slowly starting to get fewer the more powder we use. Kian takes a heavy blow to his temple and falls to the ground. I make my way through the crowd to get to him, and Henry stands on the other side to protect. Killian hurries forward and takes over my position so I can see how my brother is. I check for his pulse and feel it strongly; therefore, I choose to slap him loosely on the cheeks to regain consciousness. When that doesn’t work, I hit him with a loud slap, and he wakes up right away.

“Damn, I always have to use violence for you to react,” I laugh and help him up. “Come on; we have a war to win!”

He laughs with me, and we both return to our previous tasks. Every time one of our members dies, it hurts me that it would’ve to go this far from the beginning. Suddenly everything stops; every werewolf that belongs to us is petrified, and the enemies stop. They prepare the way for whomever it is that’s walking towards us, and when I hear the laughter, it feels like there’s ice in my veins instead of blood. The witch finally comes forward and stands before us. She wipes the tears that fall from the laughter before talking.

“Well, look at that, every werewolf in the entire region is at my disposal, just as I said would happen,” she laughs. “Are you ready to submit to my will now?”

“Fuck you!” Nathan growls and gets a slap in the face.

“Don’t you dare raise your voice to your superior!” she roars back before turning to Kian and me. “The Vidovic brothers, as I’ve been waiting for you.”

“What do you want from us!?” I exclaim, desperate to find out the truth about why all this is happening from the beginning.

“Because you’re my mates, of course,” she replies as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“We already have a mate. Aleida!” I continue.

“Which we also have puppies with!” Kian growls.

“Those puppies are mine; I’m their mother and your mate!” the witch growls.

“We would never choose you even if you were the last woman on Earth!” Kian roars. “Our mate belongs to the powers of light; she protects her own and doesn’t hurt them for strength like you!”

“She’ll come back to us, and you’ll have to pay for what you’ve done!” Jason growls.

“Well, she’s not here now, is she?” the witch laughs and then thunders the loudest roar I’ve heard in my life.

I turn the way the sound comes from and see the giant proud hybrid that I love. Behind her stand about a hundred wolves, ready to attack. However, the witch only laughs at the sight and doesn’t seem worried in the slightest, which amazes me.

“Oh, look! Your queen who lost her mind is finally here!” the witch laughs.

“Holly!” Luis exclaims, eased when he sees the young woman stepping off Aleida’s back.

“Mate,” Jason whispers, and Holly stops when their eyes meet.

“Oh, what do you know! Holly has finally met her mate; too bad she won’t get to experience life with him,” the witch laughs and walks up to Jason with a silver knife to his throat.

“Drop. My. Brother,” Aleida growls, and I get confused when I see her in human form.

“Well, well, well, you’ve finally come up with the truth, haven’t you?” the witch asks with a significant smirk on her lips. “You know what you and I share.”

“Aleida, what does she mean?” I ask confusedly, and Aleida looks sad.

“Oh, let me show you!” the witch laughs and reads a spell.

What I see confuses me on every possible plan that exists. Where the witch previously stood now stands an exact copy of my mate, Aleida. I look back at Aleida and realize that they might as well be twins. We all wonder what’s going on.

“Well, why do we look the same, Aleida? Tell your people,” the witch laughs, and a tear falls from my mate’s eye.

“Baby girl, who is she?” I ask.

“She’s me, my dark counterpart,” she replies.

“How is that possible?” Nathan asks.

“Every thousand years a doppelganger similar to the light is born, she’ll wipe out the darkness around her and rise stronger than everyone else. If she fails, she takes over the place of evil in hell to forever relive her counterpart’s torments,” the witch laughs again, and I honestly begin to get annoyed at the laughter she makes. “Pity only that you didn’t succeed!”

They throw themselves at each other just after that, and it’s difficult to determine who’s who because they look the same. I think my mate shows up behind the witch and, with her bicep and arm on the sides of the witch’s neck, strangles the supply of blood to her head, which causes the witch to have more difficulty concentrating. If she doesn’t submit, she may become temporarily unconscious if she chooses not to give up. Instead, Aleida-two uses their powers to throw Aleida-one backward. Yes, I call them one and two to make it easier to understand. Aleida-one, however, is quickly up on her feet again and ready to continue. She throws down Aleida-two on the ground, isolates Aleida-two’s one arm with her legs over her body, and with a firm grip on her arm, uses her body to lean back to put pressure on the joint in the elbow and shoulder. Aleida-two isn’t as good a fighter as my mate, and you can see it clearly. But my beloved can’t fight the witch’s powers; she can’t fight against something that isn’t visible. Aleida-two uses her powers once again to throw my queen up in the air this time. Aleida lands with a thud on the ground, and it becomes a mark after where she lands. She coughs soundly, and it’s clear that she lost her breath. My mate transforms into Elisa, and Ryan howls in my head to see his counterpart. For him, it feels like the first time all over again. Elisa growls soundly and shows her sharp teeth. The witch backs away, but I’m not sure it’s because of fear, but it might as well be about her being aware that fighting a vigorous mad hybrid is quite another thing compared to an angry Aleida in her human form.

“In tenebris, out vos voco, ascendit contra eam vivere rursus eius opprimere omnium malorum eam!” the witch shouts, and Elisa howls loudly. “Frange cum ea, in tenebras, et tormentis comprehensos tuam mendacium. Sanctificate super eam bellum!”

I have no idea what the witch is saying, but it hurts my beloved mate, whatever it is she does. Elisa continues to howl, and the rest of us werewolves that are still alive in the city respond to her wailing. Our hybrid’s body falls to its knees on the ground, and an electric cage surrounds her.

“How do you feel, Aleida? How does it feel to betray every single one you’ve ever met, once again?” the witch laughs.

“Why are you doing this?” Aleida whispers in a sad tone as she shifts back, and the witch turns to her, livid.

“You took everything from me!” she roars.

“I don’t even know your name!” Aleida exclaims.

“Alida, and you know exactly what you did! The moon goddess gave you all the power she promised me!” Alida growls.

“I can’t bear responsibility for what the goddess chooses to do!” Aleida roars back. “All my life, others have blamed their misfortunes and failures on me. And for what!? I’m innocent and can’t be held responsible for anything I’m not involved in at all.”

“A seer told me about my future; I would meet my mates, twin brothers, and have seven puppies. My life would be fine, and I would gain more power than anyone else in the world,” Alida quietly says, looking almost sad, before her facial expressions change to disgust. “Until the moon goddess visited me and said that I wasn’t worthy enough; that I’m not good enough! How do you think it felt to me, huh!? All my life, I was looking forward to living a simple life with my mates, even though we would be of different races. But the moment you were born, everything changed, and you got my mates. And therefore, my future. Unfortunately, I was misinformed, and when I killed your parents, you were already four years old.”

Aleida gasps, and tears fall on her cheeks. I know that she and many others sought answers about what really happened that day fourteen years ago. Now we have our solutions, and Aleida’s tears aren’t only because of the pain but also out of anger.

“Why would you kill my parents!?” she exclaims.

“If your parents died before you were born, my future would be secure, and no one would be able to stand in my way. I wanted revenge on the moon goddess because she betrayed me, but at the time, I didn’t know that she created a reincarnation of herself; you. But oh, as your dad screamed when his luna fell dead next to him,” Alida says, walking closer to Aleida to whisper in her ear; however, we all hear what she’s saying. “And your mother, I enjoyed cutting her throat only to see her bleed to death slowly.”

That’s the last straw for Aleida, who bends the cage open she’s stuck in and throws herself roaring at Alida. They’re both thrown into the air at an abnormal speed. The second the witch leaves the ground, the rest of us can move, prepared to continue the war if the creatures attack. But none of them move; instead, all demons disappear one by one while both the werewolves and vampires stand still, looking confused, waiting for what will happen. The thunder rumbles above us, and the lightning is no joke. The witch comes laughing down again, but Aleida is gone. What the hell is going on!? She whistles and Michael comes walking towards her. He stands beside her, and we all growl soundly at him. Once I had respect for him, but not anymore!

“Michael, you traitor!” Nathan roars, and the witch makes a tsk tsk tsk noise.

“There, there, don’t be mad at him. Michael just does what any mate would do for his mate,” Alida grins. “He’s my most important possession and means so much to me.”

“How can you want a traitor!?” I exclaim.

“Because he’s my power source,” she replies, laughing soundly again.

Suddenly a large light brown paw penetrates Michael’s upper body, and he gurgles blood that’s flowing out of his mouth. He falls on his knees, and I hear the witch gasp. Since Michael is a werewolf, he can probably heal himself, but not in time to survive.

“Impossible,” Alida whispers, looking at the creature behind her.

We all stop to look at the magnificent and beautiful animal. Before us stands a winged lion without a mane; therefore, it’s a female. But why does this animal come to help us? The lion takes a step towards the witch, who backs away, crying with a trembling voice.

“Please, I-,” she begins.

The lion doesn’t stop to listen but attacks Alida, who screams as the big and sharp teeth penetrate her carotid arteries. Alida lies on the ground motionless, with open, lifeless eyes, tears trailing down her pale cheeks. Then something happens I never thought I’d see in my life.

“Oh, holy goddess above,” Kian mumbles, and I can do nothing but agree with my brother.