Page 98 of Mating at Midnight: Book 1

“Willa,” Alpha Lightfeather is the first to say aloud, awestruck that his mate stands before him.

“Momma,” Nyah and Kenia gasp at seeing their mother. Kenia grasps Nyah’s hand as they become overwhelmed with tears. With weak legs, they advance towards her, but Alpha Lightfeather stops them by holding out his arm to block them.He then looks at his mate saying, “If we can see the two of you, then this war has become far bigger than we anticipated.”

“It has,” Willa gently replied.

Odin takes a step forward, unsheathing the daggers from his side.

Alpha Lightfeather lowers his head along with the rest of us. “Lord”

“It’s time to end this once and for all,” Odin says.

Alpha Lightfeather opens his mouth to speak but his words are cut, replaced with Ezekiel commanding his soldiers, “Kill them all!”

Willa lets out a maiden cry as she and Odin bolt to join the fight that has reconvened. Screams and bellows come from our Pack and Fenrir’s followers as it has now become a life or death.

A wolf jumps on my back, clamping down on my skin with his teeth while clawing at my back like a bitch. Somehow immune to the pain, I reach back and dig my metal claws into him. His jaws slacken and so did his movements giving me the opportunity to viciously throw his body against one of the thick pine trees. He lays awkwardly on the ground after having his spine snap. He’s not going to live long, so I move on to my next prey.

I easily take down the next by severing his head with my claws. Given a few moments to look around, I see Nyah holding up a large man with her arm through his body. She wiggles her fingers on the other side of his back as blood cascades from his mouth.That’s right, mate. Showing them that we only become the animals that we are when it comes to protecting what is ours, runs through my head.

Odin, Alpha Lightfeather, Willa are even cutting down men and women as if they’re weeds infiltrating our delicate garden and in some way, they were. I can only imagine this was the way they fought in the first war. Making a triangular shape so that each one had the other’s back.

Father, James, Levi, and Kenia work as a team taking on our enemies and tossing their lifeless bodies to the side like discarded chicken bones.

Next, I find Ballian, who is demolishing the human slash shifter wall Ezekiel is hiding behind to protect himself. From the looks of it, the wall won’t last long because the only thing on Ballian’s mind is getting a taste of Ezekiel’s blood. Every one of the lives Ballian takes is only an appetizer to him until he reaches his main meal.

I go in the direction to help my mate but a semi-shifted female steps in my path. One thing about being a shifter, especially a female shifter, they can be beautiful in human form but sometimes will choose to partially shift like this one. I don’t like to talk badly about others, but her face is one that only a mother can love.

I lunge back as she swings at my throat with her claws and catches her wrists. Bones snap as I aggressively twist them to her back. She spouts out profanities.

My fury cannot be contained as I continued to disfigure her arms by ripping them from her body. Gratified from my actions, I wrap my hand around her neck, bringing her face closer to mine, then pause. Her semi shifted face becomes familiar. The grasp I have around her neck slightly slackens as I try to remember how I know this woman. Suddenly, it hits me like a ton of bricks. This Roberta, the last nannie I had as a child.

Roberta sees the recognition on my face. “I remember the boy who would come crying to me when he scuffed his knees from falling off his bike. Or the time you rammed your four-wheeler into your parents’ new car. It was I who always took up for you.”

I recollect the many times Roberta saved my ass on numerous occasions from getting chewed out with my parents.

“Yeah, I see how a trip down memory lane is hitting you,” Roberta sneers, flashing her needle point teeth. “It’s not too late, Braxton. All you have to do is pledge your allegiance with Fenrir. You can still have your mate and once you bow down to Fenrir, the others will follow. No more blood has to shed from either side. You trusted me back then, and you can still trust me now. You know that is what your mother would have wanted.” An endearing smile graces her face.

“Never,” I growl, beginning to tighten my hold again.

Roberta’s smile quickly turns into a ghastly grin. “If it wasn’t for your father interfering, your mother and I could have easily brought you over to our side to serve Fenrir,” she boasts.

The caring memories I once had of Roberta are replaced with the sight of her body trembling as she struggles for air. Just to know she was in cahoots with my mother back then, only infuriates me more. Thank Odin, my father kept me close to his side.

Before she took her last breath, Roberta laughed in my face while calling out for Fenrir to save her.

“Keep calling out to your nonexistent God,” I snarled. “Look around you, where is your God that you are willing to die for?”

Roberta’s smile fades as she speaks her last words. “He’ll be here sooner than you know.” Her eyes grow dim as her life force leaves her.

I have no remorse in me as Ramona’s body goes limp. In my eyes, she already chose her death sentence by siding with my incubator.

Chapter 54

Braxton

I shake off the tiny part of me that attempts to eat at my conscience regarding Roberta. She clearly had chosen her side a long time ago along with my mother. It’s unfortunate she had to die by my hands, but she left me with no other choice.

Taking deep breaths to let my mind erase what happened, I momentarily closed my eyes only to open them just in time to duck down from being decapitated. The sword wielding man’s arm is caught between my mate’s ruthless jaws. He punches Nylah in the face with his free hand. She takes the shit as if it was a love tap. The color drains from the man’s face as Nyah tilts her head to the side with a wicked gaze in her eyes and she displays a sinister grin. I know she can feel my presence swiftly approaching them from the side, knocking down mother fuckers like a defensive tackle player.

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