Chapter 1
Rage blazed in her eyes like a furious river as she stared at them. Her anger knew no bounds as she inhaled the air, tainted with the horrid stench of betrayal. Their eyes held no remorse for their treachery; they gazed at her with mocking glares that felt as though they could peel the skin from her body with scorching lava.
Her wolf growled fiercely, her pure white eyes gleaming brighter in the darkness. She dared them to come closer, knowing they wouldn't, for they understood the consequences. Diana, though soft and gentle, wouldn't hesitate to tear anyone apart, especially when they threatened her mate.
"Don't," he whispered softly into her ears the moment she felt her first bone break. She was about to shift, but he halted her, holding her firmly and embracing her from behind to soothe her frayed nerves and anger.
Armed with wooden stakes, they stood ready to eliminate the one chosen by the Moon Goddess to be her soulmate. Hundreds of them, trapped in their fears, hesitated, for they dreaded her wrath and the consequences. She would annihilate them, tearing them apart limb by limb, as her crazed expression suggested. They would pay for daring to use her to lure him into their trap. She would ensure they all tasted her unrelenting fury, but he restrained her with his melodic voice, though it no longer had the same effect on her.
They had lured him to the plains using her as bait so they could kill him without her knowledge, but she would die before they succeeded.
"Don't tell me you want to fight us because of him?" Her brother, a word she now despised, spoke through the mind link with equal disgust in his tone, especially in his last words.
"This vile creature?" He yelled, further fueling her rage as the tension thickened, suffocating the pack warriors who were already fearful. He feared her and her wolf's capabilities but loathed the man standing behind her enough to betray his own sister and sacrifice her happiness to rid the world of him.
"My, my, dear brother. How about I show you what happens to traitors?" She proudly flaunted her ability to converse with others in her wolf form.
"You may be powerful, but I am still your Alpha," he shouted, glaring at his pack members who were already terrified by the unfolding situation. This situation was not part of their plan; she was not supposed to be there. However, they had underestimated her abilities, and now they faced a powerful Vampire king who would tear them apart if they harmed a hair on her head, and she would do the same for him.
He watched in silence, not because he was weak or lacked power, but because his little one's rage had no bounds. If he didn't stop her before it was too late, she would annihilate the entire werewolf race that night.
He observed as she drew a line in the dirt with her paw, daring the entire enemy battalion to take a step forward and face the consequences.
"Attack!" The Alpha commanded, and a rain of silver arrows descended upon them. With their extraordinary speed, they evaded each arrow unscathed, even sharing a brief kiss while dodging the projectiles.
The wolf army charged at them with great force, but it felt like child's play to both of them as they fought side by side, slashing through their foes. Diana fought fiercely in her wolf form, killing with a single swipe of her claws or a bite to the jugular before moving on to the next victim. She pleaded with him through her eyes to find a way to escape, but he wouldn't leave her side.
"Darryl, please, I will take care of them. Just go," she mind-linked him, but he remained resolute on the battlefield.
"They have stakes, my love. I beg of you, just go."
"I won't leave this plain without you," he replied as he dispatched a rogue wolf with his claws.
The Alpha seethed as his sister continued to slay his pack members alongside her mate. He shifted immediately, and the wolves parted, allowing him to rush to the front, ready to face her alone.
"Finally! I was starting to think you'd keep being a coward," she said, even in her wolf form, as she lunged at him. He evaded her using his smaller wolf form to his advantage.
"I am never a coward!" he barked through the mind link. He attempted to claw her abdomen, but she was quicker. He knew his attacks would be futile against her, which was why he had another plan in case she thwarted their scheme to assassinate the vampire king.
"Well, you started acting like one when you brought an entire army against one man," she said, catching his forelimb with her teeth and biting down hard before tossing him away. He howled in pain, fearing she might release her toxic venom through her bite. Other wolves shifted back, hoping to retreat to the pack house with their heads intact.
"How about we invite the vampires too? At least that would bring some balance to the battlefield," she roared, seizing him again, but he rolled away before she could land on him. He rose to his feet, limping on his injured limb as they circled each other. He struck first, but she evaded his attack, swatting him away as if he were a mere fly.
"So disrespectful," Darryl smirked, baring his sharp fangs.
She crouched low, preparing to pounce, but the cunning Alpha shifted and grabbed a silver spear, stabbing her in the abdomen the moment she landed on him. She howled in agony as the silver seared her from within, but it was the sadistic gleam in her brother's eyes that pained her the most. She shifted back and removed the weapon from her body, but the silver had taken its toll. Despite her silver immunity, her body couldn't withstand such concentrated silver. A normal werewolf would have perished instantly, but she managed to slice her brother's eyes with her partially shifted claws.
Darryl was instantly at her side, cradling her as she slumped to the ground. He hadn't expected that, and he felt as though his heart had been torn from his chest, though he didn't possess one. He carried her, disregarding the Alpha's cries of agony as a result of the poison-laden claws.
Some brave wolves attempted to corner them, but he dispatched them while holding his wounded mate, fighting through the sea of wolves to reach safety. Some were successful in stabbing him with stakes but never came close to his heart. Hell! He would choose a stake to his heart that seeing his mate wounded severely. With his heightened speed, he departed the plains, leaving a trail of both lifeless bodies and living ones in search of them.
"Diana! Please, look at me!" he implored as he gently laid her on the bark of a tree upon entering the woods.
"You didn't call me 'little one,'" she smiled weakly, her strength fading. His cheeks flushed with red as tears stained his face.
"Little one," he said, kissing her forehead.
"Go. Leave me alone. It's just silver; I'll survive. Decanal won't recognize you once the silver reacts with the sealed poison in my body," she murmured, her skin growing paler as she touched his face with her cold hands. Her poison was taking over, ready to release the one she had sealed to prevent harm or bloodlust. Once unleashed, the legendary black Wolf would awaken and show no mercy.
"No. I will find a witch; we'll seal the poison again, and Decanal will never take control," he whispered, feeling her body weaken in his arms.
"It's too late, my love. I'll live. Just go; they know what to do," she cried, summoning her remaining strength to kiss him.
"No, little one," he said after the kiss, but she pushed him away.
"Promise you'll visit my dreams?" she asked, and he shook his head in refusal. Both of them tensed as they sensed the wolves entering the forest, closing in on them.
“ Let me seal the malevolent part of decanal again. I can...” she cut him off. “ And lose half of your lifespan again? No” She said.
"Go, Darryl. We'll meet again," she said for the last time, kissing him before using her last strength to blast him away from her. He landed on a tree forcefully far away from where she was or where the werewolves could find him, his shoulder caught on one of the branch painfully as he watch that man, Howard carry his unconscious mate away from his sight.
He removed his arm from the tree branch with a painful before he sped out of the forest in the opposite direction. He felt the mate bond weakening as he fought back the urge to scream. His mate would survive!
