"Let the party begin."
Everyone was silent after Max said those words. The smoke was still rising from the barrel of the pistol in Leon's hands as his hateful eyes still remained on Clysmic. Lorcan's sobs sure did get his attention but that only made a smile appear on his face. The man revelled in the pain, anxiety, fear and agony radiating from the wolves. The anger that suffocated the field only seemed to amuse him more.
Some were looking at him with disgust and hatred while the others didn't even spare him a glance. But most of the wolves stared down at their feet in shame. Everyone knew how much Lorcan had given to their pack over the years. It pained them immensely, the fact that they just stood and watched as his mate was killed right in front of his eyes.
His sobs were louder than ever heard before. They sent a chill down the alpha's spine as he watched his own mate who was still unconscious.
The sound of the sobs was so loud that Evelyn and Jayce started moving. The movement caught the eyes of the wolves in the front. Aiden and Connor gasped silently and Xavier closed his eyes and thanked the Goddess.
Four hunters instantly went up to them and held them tightly in their arms, not letting them move. Their mates took steps forward but a stern "Uh-uh" from Max as he waved the gun towards an unconscious Selena had them stop dead in their tracks.
Xavier didn't say a word. He couldn't feel Selena, neither could Zion feel Izzy. It was his worst nightmare coming true and he didn't think he was ready to acknowledge that yet. So he focussed on channelling all his emotions, turning them into rage as he stared at the two brothers.
"Clys?" Lorcan whispered as he slightly shook her body, as if to wake her up, "Hey," he continued, "Be careful, you hear me?"
He pushed back the few strands of hair from her forehead and looked at the blank eyes which were once so full of warmth. He placed a kiss on her forehead, his eyes roughly closed as another stream of tear slid past his eyes. Pulling back and blinking the tears away, he took a deep ragged breath.
"Find peace, my love," he breathed out and closed her eyes with his shaking hands.
Lorcan closed his eyes and the body of Clysmic levitated for a second. The burst of flame came all of a sudden and it completely engulfed the body like flash paper. Within seconds, Clysmic was gone, the body completely vanished, leaving behind only a little dust in the air.
The witch had his head down, he was still kneeling, when he looked up at Leon, his eyes a bright, glowing violet.
"Aw look he is angry," Leon said in a baby voice with a taunting pout.
Lorcan stood up slowly, his glowing eyes still on Leon. His hands were stiff by his side, there was no body movement, no lip movement, nothing to show that he was doing something. No one expected it either, that was until they heard the choking sound and their eyes moved from the witch to Leon.
Leon's eyes were opened wide, the panic clear in them as his hands clutched at his throat, trying to get rid of the thing choking him. However, he couldn't, there was nothing physically there. He coughed and choked, a wheezing sound escaping from his thought as he tried to take deep breathes but failed.
Max panicked when he noticed this and his eyes focused on his brother frighteningly, "What the hell..." Max muttered as he tried to figure it out before he noticed Leon's eyes focused on his baby brother.
Max instantly turned towards Leon and pointed his gun where Selena was laying, "Let him go or she dies!" he exclaimed, "I swear, I am not kidding. I will shoot her and you know that!"
After a long few seconds, only when Lorcan disengaged the safety, Lorcan relaxed his hands and his eyes returned to their normal colour. Leon choked on the air that suddenly returned to his lungs and coughed hard as he fell on the ground. Every hunter around them, who were also holding their breath, relaxed as well.
"You do realize the number of people you are pissing off today?" Xavier spoke up, his eyes bright silver. His siblings were all down in one way or another, his best friends were down, his mate... he didn't even know how bad her condition was. Zion was on the verge of taking over, "You are signing your own death warrant."
Lorcan looked away silently, his eyes went to Selena.
"The witch is smart, alpha. I think he noticed how you don't have a chance here."
Just at this moment, a groaning sound came from Selena. She moved her head slightly and instantly Leon stood back up with a final groan and walked to her. He took her by her hair again, making her whimper in pain as her hands went over his. Xavier took a step forward to stop him but Max's gun pointed towards him now stopped him.
"What...?" Selena mumbled as she opened her eyes, she hadn't noticed when she had lost consciousness. Now that she opened her eyes, the first ones in her line of sight were her brother and Aiden.
"Shush, pretty face," Leon cooed, making her scrunch her face up in disgust. Leon let go of her hair and brought her hands to her side before wrapping his arm around her so that she couldn't move her hands. His other arm held the gun on her temple.
'Tell me it isn't time yet,' Inara snarled in her mind. Selena remained quiet, her eyes assessing the scene.
The moment she looked at Lorcan, she knew something was terribly wrong, the man looked like he just saw a ghost.
"You know I can rip you to shred before you even see it coming," Xavier growled, his voice heavy showing how very close to the surface Zion was. Selena heard her mate but she couldn't look away from Lorcan, there was so much pain in the eyes that were always filled with joy and mischief. It was a haunting look that Selena couldn't look away from.
"Why haven't you?" Max tilted his head to the side with a fake thoughtful look on his face, then his eyes widened, "Oh I know! Because you know we have the upper hand... isn't it?" He smiled.
"You absolute fucking demented assholes," a new voice came, making Xavier look behind Max.
A levitating girl came forward, her eyes still on Lorcan who was once again staring at the place where his mate was.
"You didn't..." She whispered before she turned to Max and then Leon who looked dishevelled, "Tell me you didn't."
"Oh I did," he grinned maniacally.
"Asteria..." Xavier whispered, making her eyes snap to him.
Asteria looked back at Max instantly. He looked too much like someone she knew and if she was to destroy this pack, that was too hard of a discovery to deal with.
"Kneel down," Leon said suddenly, his eyes on Xavier. Selena's eyes turned to Xavier too. She could see him gritting his teeth, his eyes already on her, "Down on your knees, dog! Don't make me ask again, didn't you get proper training?" Leon chuckled, the wild look now back in his eyes.
Xavier's hands turned into fists, his eyes glowed brightly again, but what other option did he have? He listened to Leon. He fell on the floor, on his knees, hard, his eyes still on Selena, as if begging her to not give up.
Selena couldn't believe what she was seeing. To see this proud man, the strongest alpha she has ever known, to be on his knees, for her, for the people that he loves... she couldn't help but wonder how deeply he loved the ones around him. Her eyes turned moist when she heard his voice in her head.
'Just hold on, Sel. I will bring us out of this situation.'
She closed her eyes as a drop of tear slid down her cheeks unnoticed by the people around her.
"Good doggy," he laughed and looked around with his gleeful eyes. "What are you all waiting for?!" Leon shouted at the rest of the pack, the rest of the hunters pointed their guns at the wolves now, "Kneel down, mutts! It is time for you to meet your maker."
Leon's manic laughter echoed through the forest. A few of the warriors closed their eyes, too scared to look at death in the eye.
"Jared?" Max called out as one of the hunters came out.
"She is on her way, sir. Naomi is with her." A black-haired man stepped forward.
"I am here," a very familiar voice said. Leon made Selena kneel in front of him too and held his gun right on top of her skull.
All eyes turned to Stacy, as she came to the front from the hunter's side with Naomi, and stood beside Jared.
"Hey, what's the news?" Jared asked excitedly.
"I..." Stacy stuttered, "I don't know," I couldn't find out anything."
"What?!" Jared asked with a disgusted frown, "Nothing?"
Stacy shook her head.
"Well, she is useless," Max muttered, "You know what to do, Jared."
Stacy's eyes widened as Jared took out his own gun. She took a hurried step towards him.
"Mate, please, I love you, don't..."
But Jared didn't let her finish, he pushed her back, making her fall on her butt. Every werewolf in the area could hear her heartbeat. She wasn't just scared, she was heartbroken.
Xavier, Ryan, Evelyn, Selena, Connor, Aiden, they all looked at Stacy, her betrayal made so much sense now. She might have been jealous in the beginning, but in the end, she just turned out to be plainly disloyal and stupid. Everybody knew what happened to the fifteen werewolves who had made the same mistake before Stacy. Each one of them was killed off by their mates. However, they felt pity too, she was mated to a werewolf hunter, and she did everything in her power to please him.
Too bad they didn't give a damn about her after everything she put them through. The little bit of pity was not enough to make them forgive her. She dug her own grave by betraying her own people. Now she gotta lay in it.
"I hate you," Jared spat, making her visibly recoil, "You are disgusting."
She shook her head as if to say no and tried to jump to her mate again but Jared was fast as he pulled the trigger.
Several more gasps were heard, including Selena's. She saw the scene with wide eyes as Stacy stilled half while reaching out to her mate. Jared pulled his gun down as Stacy's body fell backwards, he looked away and stood in attention again.
Stacy fell on the floor, her eyes wide open, one hand on her stomach and the other on her side. Selena saw the big red hole right in the middle of her chest. She looked away, as did Xavier.
Selena wanted herself to have killed Stacy for all the pain and betrayal, but she got the fate crueller than most, being shot down like a rabid dog by her own soul mate.
"Now that that's over," Max nodded and returned his eyes on the alpha, "do your voodoo, witch."
Asteria looked towards where Jayce and Evelyn were held by the hunters. Her eyes glowed purple, just like Selena's and Jayce and Evelyn were raised off the ground.
"Stop! Please don't!" Aiden screamed as Jayce started groaning. Connor growled and took a step forward too, only to be held back by Roy.
His mumbled groans grew louder as he held his head and started screaming and thrashing in the air.
Seth had to physically hold Aiden back as he continued screaming and crying. His voice broke but he never stopped screaming for her to stop. The sheer terror in his voice gave chills to everyone around there.
"Asteria, please..." Selena spoke up for the first time after reaching the pack grounds. Leon pushed the gun harshly against her head signalling her to stop, but she didn't care. She knew if she didn't speak up now it might be too late.
Asteria's eyes were still glowing, she turned to look at Xavier with her and in the next second, the alpha's eyes widened as he too groaned while holding his head.
"No, please, Asteria stop it! We can help you!"
Selena screamed and thrashed making Leon hit her with the back of his gun to calm her down. She fell forward on the floor and tried to crawl before Leon pulled her back by her hair.
Asteria turned to look at Selena when she realised something was wrong. Xavier was pulling himself together again and Jayce was not screaming anymore, only breathing heavily. He removed his hands and looked at her confused before he started looking around him.
Selena hadn't seen this. She had closed her eyes as her head exploded with a pain she couldn't explain. However, with so much going on, it went unnoticed.
"What...?" She whispered and looked around confused, trying to figure out why she suddenly felt so restless.
"What have you become?" A whispered voice floated to her ears and she stilled.
She turned to her left to be greeted by the face she never thought she'd get to see again.
"Saanjh..." she whispered as her eyes started tearing up, "Oh lord."
"What have you become, Asteria?" Saanjh asked again, too bewildered after witnessing her torturing the innocent wolves. Saanjh's eyes had a reminiscent of glowing emerald, making her realize that Saanjh saved these wolves from her attack.
"What in the world!" Max exclaimed as he looked at them.
"Dad, Mom..." Xavier whispered when he saw Damien, Adriana, the one who appeared to have brought Saanjh, and two more men with them.
"I hope we aren't too late son," Adriana smiled at him with love, making him chuckled in relief.
"Selena Nigelia Genevieve Wilson."
Asteria snapped her eyes away from Saanjh and stared at Lorcan, "What?"
"That is her name," Lorcan replied, as he nodded his head towards Selena who was still kneeling on the floor with her head down and eyes closed.
Asteria looked at Selena, her face, the similarities, her eyes, it all made so much sense now, and yet, it proved so hard to believe.
"No way. It can't be," she whispered.
"Daughter of Marcella Lysandra Genevieve Wilson and Robert Lycus Wilson."
"No," Asteria's voice broke and a single tear rolled down her eyes.
"It is a shame that you couldn't recognize her, I was sure you will." Lorcan shook his head, "This girl, fighting through hell, going through things half of us cannot even imagine, and still enduring it all with hope and courage in her heart is your niece," he turned to look at Asteria with hard eyes, "The next in line for the Royal Coven of the witches."
She turned to look at Lorcan with her still wide, teary eyes, as Lorcan finished his sentence, "Your future queen."
Max too stared at Lorcan dumbfounded and Leon tilted his head with curiosity.
"No way," Max said, "that cannot be possible."
"Good to be finally let out," Selena said, the voice very much different from her own. A sudden wave came from her which pushed Leon back with surprising strength, making him crash against a tree a few feet away.
Selena opened her eyes which were now a glowing purple, a sign of royalty in the witches. She stood up cracked her neck and looked around her with a smirk that even scared Max.
With a single glance all around the field, she embraced her full merge with the new entity within her. Izzy sat back and enjoyed the show as Inara and Selena became a single mind.
She smiled, the kind of smile very rarely seen on her face, "Let the party begin."
Andthen, all hell broke loose.