CHAPTER FORTY

Bastion's POV

The plan was simple. We would plant Aria in the oasis and wait for Lawson to find her. I would be stationed a half mile to the northeast, and Rory would be a half mile to the northwest. She would battle the Alpha one on one, defeat him, and the war would end.

The plan was simple. The plan was also bullshit.

Why Rory suggested it was beyond me. There were so many holes, so many variables that weren't accounted for. What if the Alpha brought the entire council with him to the fight? I mean, fuck. She couldn't stand the day before, and we were sending her to fight the strongest man in the pack by herself? Sure, we would be nearby. But what if she couldn't call to us? The only hope I had in ensuring her safety was to keep our mate channel open. If she did endure great pain, at least I would feel it. I just prayed it wouldn't come to that.

Even though we had just discovered her pregnancy the day before, I was already completely obsessed with those babies. I hadn't ever realized how badly I wanted children until I had them dangled in front of me. I imagined them running into our chambers as toddlers, jumping on our bed to wake us up and wrestling with me for the covers. It was sappy and a teeny bit insane, but I didn't care. I liked thinking up random scenarios like that. It lifted my spirits, especially with war on the horizon.

I had only participated in two wars since joining the military at Crimson Moon, and those were small scale. I'm talking like less than a hundred combatants total. This would be six times the size with far more at stake. I didn't know what I would do if something actually did happen to Aria.

I didn't know how the whole destiny thing worked in the first place. Was it set in stone, or could it be altered? If she were to die, the prophecy would be forfeit. So she had to live, right? Yet again, I was forced to trust the gods.

Aria, Rory, and I walked to the oasis together right after dinner. She didn't eat much, which I wasn't a fan of. She said she was too nauseous but wouldn't listen when I tried to use that as leverage to get her to drop out of the fight. Great. My pregnant and sick mate was going to throw down with the most powerful wolf in the world. What could go wrong?

She could sense my hesitation and pulled me aside after Rory went to join his men. "Bas, I'll be fine. I promise." Her emerald eyes pierced mine, and I melted into her simple contact.

"You can't promise that, baby. You know you can't. I couldn't live without you. It would kill me." I cradled her velvety soft face in my hands, pulling her to my lips. After a slow and delicate kiss, she pulled away.

"I have faith. War is no walk in the park, but we can do this. I know it."

No matter how much I wanted to believe it, I couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding just beneath the surface. I didn't like it. I ran the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip, eyeing it, memorizing it before I had to leave.

"Don't leave me," I begged, pouting like a child.

"I won't." She promised again, giving me her most reassuring smile before breaking my grasp and stepping just out of reach, her hands crossed behind her back. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, Bastion. Fight well. I'm counting on you."

I gave her one last nod and was on my way, refusing to turn back because if I saw her again, I knew I wouldn't leave.

I arrived right on our scheduled time. I had thirty men under my charge. We kept Rory's and my groups small so we could sneak away if our Queen needed us. They would need to push through the rest of our army to make it to us, so our opponents were not expected to be great in number.

It was a quarter after seven when I first smelled them. Twenty-seven wolves. All shifted. I announced the information to the group, and the wolves removed their clothes to shift themselves. We would be easy for the vampires to distinguish, since friends of the crown didn't have the natural repulsion anymore. We no longer had the 'wet dog smell' that Rory had described to me. We lined up in our fighting stances as the sprinting wolves peeked out over the horizon. The war had begun.

Aria's POV

I sat on a moss-covered boulder as I waited for my opponent to arrive. I could hear the distant battle cries from beyond the heavy foliage, and I prayed that my people were okay. I didn't want anyone to die. I was so tired of death.

I honestly hoped that after defeating Lawson, all of his subjects would convert and fall in line with our philosophies. Maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part, though. Hate was a tough thing to change in people. It would take a divine act to sway the remaining pack members.

The vague smell of blood in the breeze made my stomach churn. I really should have eaten more. I just couldn't. My little beans had completely shot my appetite. I couldn't even stomach the bacon Bastion tried to force-feed down my throat.

"You two really aren't making it easy on me, are you?" I whispered, placing my hands on my stomach and smiling like a fool. I knew they couldn't understand me, but it made me feel better to talk to them. It felt like I was less alone.

Shit. I wasn't alone.

A low growl through the trees made me jump to my feet, immediately assuming my combat stance.

"My, my, if it isn't the Queen." Lawson's sickening voice followed him in the shadows, and he met me with an arrogant smirk. Three wolves accompanied him, remaining outside of the barrier.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I supposed to bow?" He gave me an exaggerated sweep of his arm, followed by a minuscule tilt of his head.

"Cut the shit, Lawson. You don't have to die here if you just follow me."

He cackled, making me scowl. "Oh, I won't be dying tonight. You will."

As quick as he shifted into his massive brown wolf, he lunged at me. I hissed, my fangs extending as I dodged him.

"You are going to lose this battle. I know you know that." The glint of his wolf's canines flashed with his growl.

"Stand down," I commanded again, to no avail. He would need to die. I knew that, but I really didn't want to kill anyone.

I moved in fast to strike, but he countered with his hind legs, cutting a gash into my knees. I cried out in pain, but quickly centered myself. Which direction will he choose? As soon as my hearing zeroed in on his paws, he tilted his head back to howl.

Shit. I cut off my heightened hearing just in time, taking advantage of his position and distraction to deliver a swift and powerful kick to his ribcage. The force of my attack knocked him into one of the trees with a whimper, and I could smell the other three men entering the wood.

Quick kills. I appeared behind one, snapping his neck with one easy jerk of my hands, and he crumpled to the floor, lifeless. I tried to ignore the bile climbing my throat at the sound and sight and moved onto the next. I extended my claws for him. He managed to get one nip at my wrist before I drove my hand through his throat, rendering him lifeless as well. I gagged at the sight of blood sputtering from his wound.

One more. I flashed to the final remaining wolf, going in with my claws bared, but he managed to dodge in time. I swiped at him again, but this time, he retreated into the trees. What? He was running? No. He was a distraction.

Suddenly I heard a voice shout from behind me. "Queen, turn around!"

I obeyed the voice, but I really wished I hadn't. Standing five feet from me was James, the man behind the warning, with a full set of claws pierced through his chest from behind. No. No!

My eyes widened, and I could no longer fight the urge to throw up. I gagged and gagged, but nothing but acid came up. Sella was whimpering and howling in my mind, but I couldn't speak to her just yet. I had no words of comfort to offer her. James. The only father we had ever known. The only man in our lives for twenty-one years.

The hand unsheathed itself from his chest cavity, and he landed on the floor with a thud, his blood pooling on the grass. He was beyond my healing abilities. He was really dead. Tears were flowing down my cheeks, muddling and distorting my view.

Alpha Lawson, clad in a spare pair of shorts from our wicker basket, stalked towards me, his eyes darkened with his hatred. "You did this. You had to play Queen. It's your fault your mate is orphaned."

No. Gods, no. Bastion, I'm so sorry. Both of his parents died because of me. My heart was crushed, and I was frozen in place. This wasn't supposed to happen. James was not a warrior wolf. He was supposed to remain in the mansion.

Lawson gave me an evil grin, but it didn't invoke the fear he'd hoped it would. Rage surfaced, quickly overwhelming my sorrow and despair. I saw red. Lawson would die. My eyes glowed a brighter crimson than ever before as I stepped towards the bastard, and he stepped back.

"Rot in hell, you fucker!" I growled, pouncing on the now trembling man in an instant, restraining him to the ground with my vampiric strength. I would give him the same fate as James. I lengthened my claws, raising them in the air in order to propel them deeper into his chest, when—

"Please, don't!"

I turned my head towards the frantic voice. Brett?

A swift kick from the front sent me flying into the tree behind me, cracking my skull open on impact. I could feel the warm blood seeping between the strands of my hair and dripping onto my neck. No, this can't behappening. I tried my best to correct the double vision the hard trunk induced, but I couldn't shake it. I stumbled to my feet, rocking slightly as I tried to get my footing.

"Dad, no," I heard Brett whisper through tears. Our traitor. Brett. Why him? I blinked a few more times to get a better view of the one who kicked me. It was the same wolf that retreated earlier. Damnit. I could hear Bastion trying to contact me, but it was no use. I could only concentrate on one thing at a time, and right now, it was finishing my fight.

The wolf in question leapt between his Alpha and me, snapping its large jaws in my direction. When it charged, so did I. We collided at equal speed, but my strength was much greater than his. I gripped onto his fur, swinging myself onto his back and snapping his neck with relative ease. As his large frame collapsed, I felt hands grip my ankles. That's when I learned that my pounce had broken Lawson's legs. He crawled to me, and in a sick way I admired that he was so determined to protect his title. Unfortunately for him, my duty extended far past a position.

I allowed him to take my feet from under me, sheathing my claws into his back as I fell atop him. He breathed his last beneath me.

I rolled off of him, my back pressed against the moss-covered ground as I stared up at the canopies and starry sky above. It hurt like hell to breathe, and I knew my lung was punctured. My blood trickled into the soil from my head, and I pondered if what Lawson said was true. Was this all my fault? Was I just playing Queen? My vision distorted even more, gradually threatening to close in on me. I was blacking out. I was going to die. We were going to die.