Chapter 265 What a madman gets

Chapter 265 What a madman gets
Aria's pov
The scream below finally stops prompting I and Draven to halt the fire.

Lux flies down and I shift back. My body aches terribly, bruised and thoroughly exhausted, still shuddering from the residual, electric aftershocks of the lightning strikes we barely avoided. 

Across the clearing, Professor Claude lowers his protective shield, as everyone stares in stunned disbelief at the total destruction in front of us. 

Is this the end? 

Can I finally have the life I had hoped for with my mate by my side? 

I limp over to Ghost, who meets me halfway and I put my arms as far around him as I can and close my eyes. 

We are okay. 

We had done it.

When I let go, Ghost shifts and the man I love takes his place. Kael engulfs me in his embrace, lifting me off my feet before he crashes his lips into mine. I can feel his relief and hope. 

We’re free.

Setting me back down, he wraps his arm around my waist as we both turn to survey the aftermath of the battle. 

The thick, unnatural dark clouds clears, the wind stops blowing through my hair and the sunlight shines through. The fire had consumed the front of the administration building, the drive way and car park and there were holes all over the administration building and the ground from where lighting had struck and smoke rose from everything.

I hear the forest creature behind us and turn to look at them. Dark smoke rises up from the dead ones before they all burst into flames until they become ash and their ashes rise and disappear. I had been terrified of them but now I can see they were all Mr Benson's victims too. 

Students, parents, husbands, wives, people he used for his own gains.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper towards the fading beasts, my chest aching for their stolen lives.

A few of the remaining creatures let out soft, mournful whines, faintly wagging their hairless tails before they erupt into flames too, their ashes rising to the sky.

I watch the ashes rise and disappear into the gentle breeze. Will all of them disappear like this? Will this be freedom for everyone and not just this campus? 

Kael kisses my head and tightens his arms around me and we turn back to the others. 

Professor Claude looks shell shocked looking at the wreck in front of him. My father approaches with his shirt held out and I take it. After everything that happened, modesty is the last thing on my mind.

Pulling the fabric over my head, I collapses into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably against his chest.

"You did it, baby girl," Alpha Roderick says, rubbing my back to soothe me. "Don't start crying now, you were incredible."

"No... we did it together," I sob back, pulling back slightly to look into his eyes.

"No, Aria, it was you,” Professor Claude says. “If you hadn't come here and found your true mate, Kael would have eventually left to take his place as Alpha, and I would have remained trapped here.”

"It still took every single one of us to pull this off," I reply, looking over his shoulder toward the edge of the courtyard.

A short distance away, Alpha Thalric stands silently over the charred, unmoving remains of Mr. Benson, while Councilor Silena—now partially healed— sits on the ground beside him. I can feel their grief. Nerezza had told us Mr benson imprisoned their loved ones and now I have taken away their only means of getting them back. I’m sorry for doing that but it’s the only way.

I sense a large group of people approaching and I see them. My friends, students and faculty. Alpha Michael and the werebears leads the charge, completely unclothed and unbothered, his eyes wide as he takes in the smoldering landscape. I quickly keep my eyes locked upward on his face to avoid staring.

"Is it over, brother?" Michael asks Kael.

"It's completely over," Kael answers.

Micheal move forward and shakes Kael’s hand before he turn to me. 

"Thank you, Aria," he says. 

I offer him a small smile in return.

Dante and Jaxon reached us next. Dante still had Isla with him like he promised and she wears an oversized shirt to cover herself. Kael let go of me to embrace his packmates, while I pull Isla into a tight hug. She is safe and whole, and while we will eventually need to figure out why the dark forest failed to claim her, but for now it means one less person that died because of me.

Then I’m hit with surprise when Jaxon pulls me into a hug. I sense no fear even though Lux is now far more dangerous than before. Dante joins in the hug and I know they have finally completely accepted me. 

They have accepted Lux. 

Something settles in my chest as I hold the two of them. 

"I honestly thought we were going to die out there," Jaxon say.  "Thank you, Luna."

I’m an Alpha Lux's voices her complaint in my head.

I let out a chuckle as I releases my friends, wiping a tear from my eye. That is definitely a debate for another day.