Chapter 198

ALPHA PARTHE.

Rorden had seen it, too, because the smugness on his face slipped. His head snapped towards the gates, his eyes narrowing as he took in the approaching army.

For the first time since this bloodbath started, panic flickered across his features.

Good.

Because he hadn't seen this coming either. And if Urik was also here to betray me, I sure as hell knew that he'd be attacking Rorden's warriors, too.

A battle horn sounded from the gates, and Urik raised his sword high and muttered, "Finish them all!"

And his warriors crashed into the enemy like a hurricane.

These weren't just any soldiers.

They knew exactly where to strike. How to strike.

And their weapons—they were designed to kill Rorden's men.

How?

I barely had time to process it before Urik reached me. His horse skidded to a halt, kicking up dust and blood-soaked dirt.

I waited and braced myself for the betraying words he would drop to my face, but to my surprise, he jumped down and hurried in my direction with his sword by his side.

"You're bleeding, Alpha," he said, his eyes raking over my body and taking in my battered state.

A chuckle left my mouth, "Have you also come to betray me, Urik?" I rasped weakly.

His jaw tightened, "May the gods forbid!" He rushed his words, "We have to get back to the battlefield. We'll win this. I promise you."

My gaze flickered past him to the warriors he had brought. They wielded weapons that cut through Rorden's forces like they were made of rotting flesh.

"Where did they come from?" I ground out, my body swaying despite my best efforts to remain upright. "And those weapons... why the fuck do they have weapons that can actually kill his men?"

Because I knew what Rorden had done. I felt it the moment I clashed with his warriors.

He had fortified his army with his blood, just as I had done with mine.

But the difference here was that his men came with a different kind of weapons which cut down my warriors easily, while we only had just the usual swords which I had fortified lightly, not one to fight off such an army... Speaking of preparing for a fight. Rorden actually did prepare for this.

Even the claws of their wolves were poisonous against my warriors' wolves.

But the warriors Urik had brought came with just about the right weapons.

"These are Alpha Colleen's and Alpha Modred's warriors. I had a little help from him and Luna Rashina. She made sure we had the right weapons." He said, and my heart quaked. "You weren't listening to anyone. I had to act ahead of you, Parthe. I knew it was Rorden. I got to know just yesterday. That's why we are well prepared."

I didn't even have the time to react or reply when he left me and charged into the field, heading straight for Tervan.

More of Rorden's warriors distracted Urik, and he stopped to take them down, still maintaining the path that led to where Tervan fought.

Rorden came before me, his lips curling into a smirk that made my blood boil. The moment he did, the warriors I was already fighting retreated and left me alone with him.

"I see you got a little help, brother," he drawled, his voice like oil on water.

I forced my body to stay upright, ignoring the pain searing through my limbs. My grip tightened around my sword. "Scared?" I bit out.

He chuckled. "Yes. I am scared."

The confession made my eyes narrow, but before I could react, he stepped closer.

"But not for me, Parthe," his gaze flicked to the dark corner where Luxuria still lay unconscious, "For her... And your pups."

My breath screeched to a halt.

My pups?

What was he talking about?

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked, my hands trembling around the hilt of my sword.

"Your beloved mate is pregnant, brother. And you may have just killed her and your twins." My world tilted violently on its axis, and my blood turned to ice.

My sword slipped an inch in my trembling grasp. My body locked up, paralyzed by his words.

The sky, the blood-soaked earth, the bodies strewn around us—it all blurred into nothingness.

My breath refused to come, my lungs burning as if I'd been impaled.

This must be a mind game. I tried to convince myself. But my body was already moving, even though my legs threatened to give out beneath me.

She wasn't moving.

Goddess, she wasn't moving.

I fell to my knees beside her, hands trembling as I hovered over her body.

"Luxuria..." I whispered her name, taking in her unmoving form through the blur in my eyes. She was half naked as she had returned to her human form. The beast was long gone. Her sleek, beautiful hair was drenched in sweat and blood. My heart ached at the sight of her. "Please, talk to me. Don't die on me," I sat beside her, lifting her by her shoulders and pulling her into myself.

My tears fell freely. I couldn't lose her. I couldn't lose our pups. I had promised to make her carry my pups, and here they were, on the verge of slipping away from me.

No.

I swallowed hard and pulled her off my chest with one hand still holding her back and keeping her in place while the other brushed damp strands of hair from her face. Her skin was too pale, her lips dry and cracked.

My fingers ghosted over her throat, checking for the pulse beneath her jaw. And fuck. I found a pulse. It was so faint, but it was there.

Relief barely had time to settle before I saw a dark pool of blood staining the ground beneath her. A fresh, glistening trail seeped from between her thighs.

I stopped breathing.

No.

No. It can't be.

A raw, animalistic growl ripped from my throat. It was so loud, so devastating, that it shook the very earth beneath us.

The battlefield froze.

Swords halted mid-swing. Warriors reeled back, clutching their heads, their knees buckling beneath them.

Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

Even the sky felt it.

Fuck. Every man, every beast, every living thing—they all felt it.

The wrath of a monster who was just on the verge of losing everything he ever wanted.