Page 88 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

The shift back to my human form wasn’t as painful as the forced shift into the wolf had been. I groaned only when my bones snapped back into place, my mind still fuzzy from the threat of turning feral.

Sasha and the others ran to my side, her arms wrapping around me as she let out a sob of relief.

“Thank the gods! I wasn’t sure that killing him would work!” She cried out.

“Well, it’s a good thing it did,” I laughed, wincing at yet another pop of a joint returning to its place. “I don’t think either of us would have enjoyed giving me a flea bath. Ow!”

Sasha punched me in my shoulder, an amused smile curving her lips.

We had all let our guards down. Relieved at the thought that the battle was over. We vanquished the darkness, and we were all still here to tell the tale.

Until the scent of dark magic choked our lungs.

“You!” Minerva snarled as she stepped out of the doorway. “How dare you! Do you have any idea what you have done! Centuries of planning! Millenia of searching and dedicating my life to bring him back to his rightful place! And you four destroyed it all! He was the god of gods! The creator of the most powerful magic! You will pay!”

She rose her hand with a large orb of magic in her palm, her eyes set on Sasha as she let out a scream of anger with the magic.

I grabbed my mate and threw her behind my back, ready to take the hit and give the others time to fight back. But a large body leaped in front of us all and the orb of magic collided into his chest.

“Baer!” Aurora screamed, falling to her knees at his side as he fell to the ground.

I stared at my friend in horror. My rage turned to the witch who caused this. Ready to rip her throat out for what she had done.

Instead, I found her crumbling to the ground. Flecks of her face had turned to ash. Each piece fell and drifted in a wind that had not been here before. Her eyes turned into pure darkness, and the light inside them faded as more and more of her body transformed into gray ash carried by the wind, until nothing remained of the witch. Not even the gown she wore.

“Minerva?” another voice gasped as the vampire stepped out into the garden and watched the last of his mate drift away in the wind. “No, why?”

I braced myself for an attack. I was sure that her mate would feel that we were the cause of her demise and exact his revenge. Instead, he fell to his knees and stared up at the sky.

“Why did you do it, Minerva? You swore to me. You promised you would never sacrifice us for him.” He whispered, a tear running down his cheek.

“Baer!” Aurora screamed again. I pulled my eyes away from the vampire, certain that he was no threat, and dropped to my knees beside Sasha and she tried to pull Aurora from Baer’s still body.

“No! No! He’s not! He’s not gone. He wouldn’t leave me! No! Baer! Come back!” She cried as her fists hit his chest.

Sasha tried again to pull her back, whispering to her words of comfort that did very little to comfort the grieving woman.

I turned to look at Baer’s face, the color of skin already paling and turning cold. I shook my head in my own denial, hoping and praying that he would just open his eyes. That he would crack a smile and tell us all he couldn’t believe we all fell for his trick.

But he didn’t. His face remained still, his eyes closed and skin cold to the touch. My friend was gone.

Silent tears fell from my eyes, my hand gently tracing circles on Sasha’s back as she hugged Aurora to her chest. Our celebration of victory had come to a tragic end. The joy of the quest’s end now gone.

“Calm yourselves,” an unfamiliar voice whispered. I looked up as I recognized the voice from before. My eyes widened as I looked up at a familiar face of a woman I had not ever met myself.

“Alkmene!” I gasped as the dark witch approached us with two others at her side.

“You all did well,” she said cheerfully. “And all good deeds should come with an equal reward. Wouldn’t you agree sisters?”

The other two smiled and nodded their heads. “Of course, Sister,” the fiery-haired witch to her right said. “After all, we do owe them a great deal.”

The third of the sisters stepped forward and kneeled beside Baer, her soft brown waves drifting over her shoulder as she reached a pale hand towards him.

A green glow washed over his body as we all watched on with equal amounts of awe and confusion. Baer’s chest began to rise and fall, the color of his face returning to a glow of life as his eyes finally drifted open, and he stared up at the sky.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

Aurora collapsed over his chest and cried tears of joy as she pressed her lips to his over and over. I pulled Sasha into my own arms and smiled at the show of affection from the mate pair as the three dark witches watched on with smiles.

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