Chapter 27

DANTE

The woman who stood before me was no longer my wife but the queen of this kingdom. The woman who will break the curse that lurk upon us for centuries, the woman in the prophecy

I watched her eyes slowly turn a shade of mixed red and blue but my heart still feared. I haven’t seen Victor since I got here and that was worrisome, his army is unlike anytime I’ve ever seen, and I wanted to believe that Victor was still not alive, that bastard couldn’t be alive but could feel his presence

“Leah?” I got no response, but her lips moved fast, she was whispering something I couldn’t hear and when I listened closely it was complete gibberish I still couldn’t understand

The ground beneath me began to shake and the surrounding air began to pick, everything and everyone came to a pause and bodies began to fall like trees, it all seemed unreal, impossible and the colors drained from my face as I saw a figure lurk within the bodies and his cape was pulled off

Chills ran through my bones as recognition sank into the pit of my belle. There he was in the middle of the crowd with a red scar against his right eyes, his dark hair settled upon his shoulders, but his eyes glimmered in joy and nothing but evil as he stared directly at her, not realizing my presence

I couldn’t let this happen but in the blink of an eye, he wasn’t there anymore. No, my eyes scanned the place, but he wasn’t there anymore, I moved unconsciously towards Leah in a hurry but the force of power brought me to my knees, and he was suddenly in front of me looking down at me with such vengeance

"Hello cousin” irritation filled me as I looked at the slimy smile on his face, he was nothing like the last time I remembered him, but I didn’t next intelligence to know it was him, I made sure I left a visible scar

“Seems like you still bear the brand I gave you” I taunt, but his face remains cool.

After he left the Lycan population reduced drastically I knew he had planned revenge upon me but coming for my wife was a straw I wouldn’t let him pull, no matter what

Leah was fully in her element and I didn’t know what interruption will cause, hell I couldn’t even step into her radial to warn her

“I have absolutely no business with you” his voice sent chills through me and I stood up towering over him

“Touch my wife and I would drive eight feet below”

“We both know how that will end, didn’t the last time teach you anything?” crossing my arm I looked at him carefully

“Last time I made a mistake, don’t be foolish enough to think ill repeat the same thing” he frowned deeply while glaring at me,

I needed to buy her more time, I couldn’t let her be thrown into the arms of this bastard. I blinked, and I’m suddenly pushed to the ground by a gravitational force, but I knew it was Victor and without thinking I grabbed his hand and drove my fist through his jaw

He laughed like the manic he was and you saw that crazy look on his face. My surviving warriors surround Leah like I instructed them to and another battle begins. Victor moved like the wind and I followed every step of his trying not to give an entrance

He attacked me with a brutal force, but my feet remained planted on the floor and I flipped him upside down, but I feel the weight of him gone all of a sudden and my head whipped towards Leah, but he wasn’t there

The scent of blood reached me before I saw him.

I stepped out of the shadow, my chest tight, heart thudding like war drums in my ears. The wind was cold, but my blood boiled. Behind me, Leah’s heartbeat fluttered, terrified, fragile. She was behind me chanting things I still couldn’t hear, I trembled. I couldn't let him get to her. I wouldn't.

A low growl rumbled in my chest as Victor stepped into the clearing, massive in his Lycan form. His fur glistened black as tar, silver eyes soulless, lips pulled back in a vicious snarl. There was blood on his claws. Fresh. I had gotten when I flipped him

“Move, Dante,” he growled, voice thick with madness. “Or I’ll tear through you to get to her.” A dangerous laughter left my lips

I took a step forward, claws flexed, every instinct screaming at me to protect.

“You’ll die first.” I glanced immensely

He growled and came at me like a damn hurricane, claws outstretched, fangs bared. I braced myself and met him head-on, our bodies crashing together with bone-snapping force. Pain lit through my shoulder as his claws sliced across my chest, but I ignored it.

I slammed my fist into his jaw again and kneed his face so hard, causing him to stagger back with full force

I drove a knee into his gut before he got his stands back, wrapped an arm around his neck, and threw him hard, straight into a tree. The trunk cracked down the middle, bark exploding like ash.

“I would rather die with you than let you be near her!” I roared.

Victor rose, shaking the blow off like it was nothing. His laughter grated against my ears. “But I will have her. And you? You’ll be nothing but bones.” He lunged again.

This time, he ducked low and knocked my legs out. I hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of me. He was on top of me in seconds, snarling, fists raining down. I tasted blood and I knew immediately that it was mine

Get up. Move. I screamed at myself and moved before his left fist came in contact with my jaw

I caught his right wrist mid-strike and snapped it back. A sickening crack. Victor howled. I rammed my forehead into his snout, over and over, until blood ran down his face.

I flipped him off me and went in for the kill. My claws tore into his abdomen, skin, and muscle shredding under my grip. The bastard screamed, but I didn’t stop.

He had come here to take her away from me, every one of them had come to take her away from me. He deserved worse, no one had the right to even breathe wrongly towards her direction, and they dared to want to take her away from me

“Still think you can take her?” I growled, standing over him, and he tried to move, but he couldn’t, my entire weight was on him and I couldn’t bring myself to stop hurting the bastard

I suddenly felt a wave of power and I was pushed off him, he pushed himself up, bleeding, limping, yet grinning like a lunatic. “She’s mine, Dante. She’s always been mine; her power is mine”

I saw red.

He charged again, fangs gleaming. I stepped aside, grabbed his head mid-lunge, and slammed it into the nearest boulder. Once. Twice. The third hit split the stone. He dropped, panting, I stood over him. My ribs ached. My side burned. But Leah… Leah was safe.

“Stay. Down,” I growled, voice hoarse.

He coughed, blood gurgling in his throat, and still, he smiled

“Next time, she’ll watch me rip you apart.”

I grabbed a jagged rock and jammed it into his thigh. His scream was music, but he still fought, was this bastard ever going to die

We rolled again, claws and fists and teeth tearing into each other. I felt his talons sink into my side, deep, but I clamped my jaws around his throat, crushing down until he stopped thrashing.

I wanted to kill him, I wanted him to die so badly, it was more like a need than a want, goddess, I needed to kill him, but I couldn’t. He didn’t die

He shoved me off, retreating into the woods, body limping, throat mangled.

Coward.

I stayed on my knees for a moment, breathing hard, every limb screaming in agony. Blood dripped down my arms, soaked my fur, my vision blurred, but I didn’t care.

She was safe, but I didn’t know what in the world she was doing. She was still… she wasn’t there. Panic laced my veins as I looked around, but I didn’t see her

“I had seen her before” my body jumped as I turned to see a young woman and I immediately recognized her as Leah’s friend

“What do you mean? Did you see where she went?” the girl looked mortified, and I kept looking to see if there was any sign of her

“When I was younger, there was a woman who acted exactly like that. She killed my parents and Leah…”

“Leah is not killing anyone!”

“She is… you must hurry, she went west” I bolt through the woods so fast that I could barely see the trees I pass throw, and my legs took a sharp turn as I saw her standing next to someone reaching for the person’s neck and I immediately pulled her away

“Leah” I breathed out and looked back at the terrified young boy and to my wife “… Leah” my voice was calm but terrified, I recognized the kid from the pack “… why did you want to kill him?” she blinked and looked at me

“Kill who? What the hell is going on?”