Chapter 33

“I’ll let you in on a little secret about our random pop-in: By the time we’re finished here, Silver moon pack will also be burned down to the ground,” Skylar spoke buoyantly as if she had already won. The others then realized she had no idea they were already onto her, in fact, they had been waiting for her.

“Careful when you play with fire, dear,” Tallulah said, stepping forward, she is the leader after all.

“How about you introduce me to your true leader? I’m sure you’re just a pawn in his or her game,” Roman asked Skylar though he could tell by the way the male stood by her that he seemed to be the one.

“She’s nothing like that,” The raven-haired vampire stepped forward.

“You’re her mate?” Tallulah raised a brow at him, he sure screamed vampire. The pale skin, dark eyes, and hair. Straight out of a novel.

“Pietro Steinburg and I sure am, sweetie, what’s wrong?” The vampire introduced himself, smirking as he looked at the queen. They were both young and leading a war, both tried to be as fierce as they could.

“Not much, but enough with the bullshit. You and your people need to back off,” Tallulah gave them yet another chance, another chance to avoid bloodshed.

“Or what? You’ll kill us?” He asked rhetorically, his people around him laughing. Clearly, they too seem to think they’ve already won the war.

“That tends to happen when you win a war,” Tallulah shrugged, being a little too cocky.

“We are not backing off, we’ve dealt with enough already over the years and we’re past discussing or compromising,” Pietro and his people took a step closer to them. Roman looked over his shoulder and saw Tessa, he frowned. Last he had checked she was supposed to return to the silver moon pack, now it was too late to even confront her about it.

“So there’s nothing to stop this war?” The queen asked, wanting to confirm there was no other option other than war. Her father and grandfather had taught her to always try to see if compromising to her liking was possible before indulging in a war.

“No, by the end of this fight you and all your people will be poisoned, this kingdom will be ours and little by little all of your wolf grounds will belong to us,” Skylar pulled out her sword from the holster, she could barely hold the sword with all its weight.

“What are you waiting for then? Go on, Pietro,” The queen motioned for her people to get in position.

Without another word being said the vampires took the first shot, they made use of their super speed. The vampires had planned on going through them all and injecting them with the poison but what they did not know was that there was already a cure and vaccine for it. Though their plans solely depended on the poison they sure had a backup plan. It was no secret werewolves were deadly allergic to silver, some of the vampires had swords and daggers made from pure silver while others preferred silver bullets.

Some wolves had already shifted while others wielded their own weapon of choice. Grandpa Snyders had shifted into his wolf and had his mindset on who seemed to be Pietro’s right hand, Rick. Rick saw the wolf coming at him and smirked, shifting into a bat not knowing the wolf would jump up and shred him to pieces with his sharp teeth.

Pietro saw what had happened, his best friend died within seconds of the battle. His mouth hung open; the realization of war just hit him. This was supposed to be a swoop in a situation where they’d win. He then noticed the poison wasn’t working immediately. There had been so many prototypes he then assumed it would set in in just a few moments. He became in denial and wanted to win; his pride would never allow him to surrender.

“You’re mine to take down,” Skylar said, her blue eyes focused on Tali’s brown ones. She lifted her sword and Tali mimicked what she did. Tallulah had a feeling she was trained better than Skylar, she could tell by the way she held the sword, but she did not want to underestimate her.

“All this over one stupid broken heart? So pathetic, don’t you think?” Tallulah swung her sword around, managing to touch Skylar’s skin with the silver blade, it burned through her clothes onto her skin making her yell in pain. Skylar glared at Tali, she managed to take out the small syringe and stabbed the queen with it, however, the poison had no effect on her.

“How could this be?” Skylar frowned and looked up at Tallulah in despair. “We figured out your plan, hun,” Tallulah smirked.

“Give up now and we won’t have to continue this,” She offered Skylar but alas she had her mind set on killing Tallulah. To her winning the war was a second priority. Tallulah fought her on longer till she knocked Skylar’s sword from her hand. She pushed Skylar down to her knees, holding the blade to her neck. She saw tears rolling from her blue eyes, it made her believe Skylar would give up now. She lowered her weapon only for Skylar to pull out a small dagger, Tallulah's reflexes kicked in and she swung her sword this time the sword penetrated through her skin just enough for the silver to affect the wolf. Skylar choked on air as she fell back slowly. “It didn’t have to be this way,” The queen mumbled.

Eliza Snyders watched as her husband fought with three vampires, she was trained but that was years ago when she was a queen. She couldn’t afford to just watch her husband get hurt, that was her mate. She took out the gun and aimed it at one of the vampires and shot him multiple times, this wouldn’t kill them as they were regular bullets but it sure would slow them down.

Her actions sure pissed off the vampire, he sped to her and threw her down but when she found the wooden stake on the ground she stabbed the vampire straight in his heart and kicked him from her. James was too busy to realize what had been going on. He murdered one of the two vampires and the other currently choked him, Eliza pulled her stakeout from the vampire and ran to the vampire that tried killing her mate and did the same with him as she did with the other vampire. “Leave my husband alone, bloodsucker,” She said as she pierced the stake further into his chest.

Roman and Pietro had been at it for a while now, the thing is Pietro had planned on the poison works. There was no backup plan and clearly, the poison didn’t bother Roman at all, it had no effect on the man.

“Won’t work, bud,” Roman smirked and punched him, Pietro ducked and pulled the dagger from Roman’s pocket and moved to stab him; however Roman was trained for situations like this at the lycan blood pack. He dodged getting stabbed and gripped the man's arms, pulling towards him. Pietro ended up dropping the dagger while Roman stole the one from Pietro, the silver burned his hand, but he had to get rid of this vampire. The moment Roman swung his hand, Pietro shifted to a bat and flew away.

“Coward,” Roman mumbled and went to find another vampire which became less and less of. What Roman hadn’t expected was that Pietro would go after his little sister. It wasn’t until he heard an ear-piercing sound of his name being called out he spotted his little sister in the vampire’s arms, a silver blade in his hand. This all to taunt because Roman knew that if the roles were reversed he’d get the deed done with.

Before anyone else could do something, Tallulah shot at the hand holding the knife. She missed his hand, but it did the blade causing Pietro to drop it. Tessa stomped on his leg then turned around to knee him in his abdomen and ran to Roman, she was already injured due to a previous battle with a woman.

“No worries, you’re the one I need,” Pietro said as he sped to Tallulah, wrapping his hand around her throat and applied some pressure. He took the silver blade from her, holding the handle tight as he dragged it down her jawline, a smirk on his lips

The thing with silver is: It is a known fact that it’s the way to kill a werewolf, however, it is also the perfect weapon for a vampire. Just like werewolves, it is also their weakness. A vampire should know what could happen when bringing a silver dagger into a battle with another creature. Before Pietro could do something else Tallulah took her own blade she had hidden and pierced it through his abdomen, twice. Pietro dropped his own dagger on the ground.

His eyes widened as he realized what had just happened, he looked down at his stomach, blood coming out of his mouth, he looked around him and saw his people had fallen, the worst part was he saw his mate, Skylar on the ground, a pool of blood formed under. Just then Pietro realized what had happened, regret washed over his face and Tali easily saw that.

“Sky? Baby?” Pietro called out, almost stumbling over but Tallulah caught him, she felt bad. She shouldn’t be feeling the way she did give these people came to kill them, but it still didn’t feel right.

“She’s gone, Pietro,” Tali said quietly, helping him fall down easily. She could tell by the way he looked at her just how much he loved his mate. He reached for her cold hand, lacing his fingers with hers.

“I’m deeply sorry, queen,” Pietro spit up some blood, his dark dull eyes fluttering as he looked at the queen, it was only now he realized the price of war.

“Why’d you do it? I gave you so many chances,” She asked, a saddened look on her face as she knew all of this could’ve been avoided.

“Blinded by my ego?” He mumbled, ashamed. “My people deserve more land,” He added as Tali stroked his cheek.

“I know that, and we could’ve peacefully helped you find land and settle,” She explained though it was too late now, she did win indeed but at what cost?

“You’re a good queen,” He complimented her.

“You would’ve been a good leader, Pietro,” Tali admitted, she saw a bit of herself in him. A young leader desperate to please their people, the only difference was she had proper help from her parents. He had a grandfather that didn’t care about the price needing to be paid. “Shhh, it’s okay,” Tallulah said as Pietro groaned in pain, more blood coming out his mouth. She watched as he took his last breath, his head turned to his dead mate.

Now with the war over they all looked around and saw there were way too many bodies, more than they had planned. It looked like a massacre, and they’d have to cover these deaths up to the human world but there were too many.

Roman got Tessa to the hospital where they applied an extracting ointment to help extract the silver from her body and took care of her other injuries. Whilst Roman was there he saw all of their soldiers who came in for healing, the aftermath of war. Roman saw Tristan, Ainsley, Eliza, and James in one room and decided to check in with them. Tristan and Eliza were in slightly bad shapes, with lots of scratches on their skin.

“Is everyone okay here?” Roman asked, looking at the Snyders. They didn’t seem to be in panic so he could guess things were okay.

“Tristan’s fine, just a few scrapes,” Ainsley answered, rubbing her husband’s back.

“Good thing you saved me, love,” Tristan smiled, an amorous look on his face as he looked at her.

“Guess we’re even now?” She joked and kissed the top of his head.

“Mrs. Snyders?” Roman looked over at Eliza.

“I’m good dear, I’m just happy it’s all over,” She answered, holding onto her arm that was covered in bandages.

“Can I talk to you outside?” James asked, already leading the way outside the hospital room.

“Sure,” Roman mumbled, following him. “Everything okay?”

“Can you do me a favor and check in with Tali?” He asked in a hushed tone, to make sure others didn’t hear, “She’s prepared for many things in life, but this bloodshed isn’t one of them I’m afraid.”

“How will we get rid of them? There are too many people,” Roman asked, quietly.

“I know… Leave that part for me, I have a deal to strike with a witch,” James spoke much more quietly than before, Roman could barely hear what he had said.

“Are you sure you should be doing that?” He raised a brow at the much older man who sighed at first then shrugged and said, “I’m old, if I owe her a favor it won’t be that big of a deal then when Tali or Tristan would owe her one.”

“I see… I’ll be going then,” Roman said lastly before taking off. When he got closer to the battlefield he saw all the bodies on the floor, they were lifeless, some had a very gruesome death while others had no more than a scratch but there were still pools of blood. The dirt and grass were stained red. I spotted Tallulah by the fountain, the water sprouting through had a tint of red. I took a seat next to Tallulah and looked at her.

“Good job, we won,” Roman finally spoke up, looking at his hands that were fidgeting.

“At what cost?” Tallulah scoffed. “Some of us are injured, few passed away but look at them. They all died,” She pointed to the bodies around them.

“They should’ve known the cost of war,” The blonde answered calmly.

“You can’t be serious right now,” She raised a brow at him.

“Tal—Queen, there’s nothing you could’ve done to prevent this. They had their mindset on the mission, and they weren’t willing to listen to our compromise,” He assured her, knowing this wasn’t her fault but she didn’t see it that way.

“Therefore they had to pay with their life?” She asked a slight pout on her lips.

“When you have a nation to protect and an enemy who doesn’t want to compromise? Yes, I’d like to believe that,” Roman rubbed her back to comfort her.

“Maybe you’re right,” She sighed.

“I tend to be,” Roman smirked, then removed his hand from her back.

“You know, I just got word from the silver moon pack,” Tallulah informed him, turning to look at him.

“Okay,” He answered briefly, staring at the unpleasant view in front of him.

“They won, they mostly have injured people there and it appears everyone there is dead too. The vampires were led by Niklaus Steinburg, grandfather of Pietro,” She decided to still tell him about it even when he showed little interest.

“Good for them,” Roman mumbled.

“You really don’t care about them, do you?” She frowned; this wasn’t just some act of his. He seemed to really not care.

“No, my sister’s safe and that’s all,” Roman turned to her and shrugged.

“Why are you this way?” She raised a brow at him, playing with the ripped end of her sleeve.

“What way?” He asked.

“They are your family, why are you so cold and distant towards them?” She asked, crossing one leg over the other.

“They betrayed me, had zero trusts in me. Not to forget they kicked me out unrightfully. Want to know my favorite part? They never asked for forgiveness, they demanded it for their ego to settle down,” Roman reminded her, in a slightly annoyed tone. This conversation sure irritated him a lot.

“I feel like you’re partly talking about me too,” Tallulah mumbled, kicking the dirt under her shoe.

“If the shoe fits, it fits,” Roman chuckled, looking over at the redhead. She seemed to be deep in thoughts.

“You know Roman, I really am sorry for how things turned out to be. I should’ve given you the chance to defend yourself instead I acted on my first feelings. I’m truly happy you’re well now and for everything, you did for us during this time. If there was a chance to go back to when things were perfect I would jump at it,” Tallulah confessed, carefully reaching for his hand, once again feeling the sparks she missed dearly.

“Hmm,” Roman hummed, it was all he could do after she poured her heart out. He became protective of himself, scared to get hurt by others.

“Truth is Roman, I never stopped loving you even after what you had done allegedly,” She continued in hopes something would change inside him. Even if she’d get rejected in the end at least she knew she told him the truth about her feelings.

“Thanks for that?” He mumbled, a little confused. “I just remembered: Your grandfather said he’d take care of the cleanup,” He remembered and told her as he figured it would be something she cared about.

“Oh… Wait, how?” She was confused, they hadn’t even properly discussed this.

“Something about a deal with a witch,” Roman answered, a little unsure whether he should’ve said something or not.

“Fuck,” She cursed and got up.

“He said it’s best if he did it, he’s older, and owning a witch a favor won’t be too bad for him as it would for people younger,” Roman added, giving her the full story as he assumed she must be against her grandfather’s plan.

“He can be a real stubborn man sometimes so maybe it’s best I let him do it,” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Any idea what exactly he’ll do?” Roman got up too and crossed his arms.

“I think a spell so the people can be forgotten about to the human world, so there won’t be any questions about their death,” Tali answered, they had discussed this plan in the past but had agreed it would be bad to owe a witch a favor.

“Oh, okay.” He was a little surprised.

“I should probably go and start working on a better land dividing so this won’t ever happen again,” Tallulah dusted off her clothes. She moved her hands to rest on her hips as she looked at him.

“So you will actually give them what they want?” Roman raised a brow at her.

“There are few clans, they won’t even need much, and Europe has so much unclaimed land that isn't being used. It’s unfair to them,” She answered, she already had a few plans in mind.

“Good luck then,” Roman wished her and watched as she walked away then returned to the hospital to check on Tessa again.

Just as Tallulah had said, she went ahead and made a better arrangement to ensure something like this wouldn’t happen again. James had visited the witch and made his offering to her, this time she already knew what she wanted in return. A luxury place to stay where she will be provided with food and privacy. Good thing the Snyders have a great fortune so they could easily afford that. Roman had stayed at the castle to help with getting back to normal and they honestly needed the help. Though he was needed back at his own pack he managed to score a few extra days. Goddess knows he needs that.

Isabella, daughter of Fin and Daniel had moved back from Europe and planned on staying in the states again. Roman was very excited about that, she was one of his childhood friends and their parents are good with each other, so it went without saying how often he spends time with her. He was quite sad the day she and her family had moved to Germany.

Roman had requested for her to stay at the castle for a few days, he wasn’t sure if they’d allowed it, but he just wanted to show her around town on everything she had missed. When the request came to Tallulah’s desk she instantly approved, after everything he had done for their kingdom, this was the least she could do for him. However, as time passed, she then did some digging into Isabella and soon began to wonder who exactly she was to Roman. She began to worry about her and Roman, they still had to break the bond and they planned on doing it once everything was over, but those plans were made before the war, it was made when they were in the cave. She noticed her confession did nothing and it hurt her how things were turning out to be…

It had been three days since Isabella had been at the castle. It was funny to Tallulah how these two were staying at the castle, yet she barely even saw them. In fact other than dinners and passing the hall she and Roman never shared a proper conversation. Tallulah found her father’s old letters, wrapped by a piece of straw. They seemed to be from her mother to him and vice versa, they were from when he’d be out of town, Tali found it silly as the woman could just call yet the two would still write to each other. She got up, holding them in her hand, and wanted to personally carry them to her father.

As the redhead passed through the halls she heard a loud giggle and looked to her left. She snuck there and looked into one of the living rooms where she saw Isabella. Roman seemed very happy, there was a huge grin on his face. He tucked a white flower between Isabella’s dark locks.

“Thank you for everything,” He told her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a tight hug.

“You’re welcome, Romie,” Isabella’s red lips curled into a smile as he looked up into his blue eyes, her hands around his neck. “So when will you talk to her about it?” She asked. It pained Tallulah to witness all of that. For a moment she had forgotten what she was there for. She looked down at the envelopes in her hand and realized where she was headed. She sniffled quietly and began walking again. She now realized the next conversation she and Roman would be having would be discussing how to undo the bond.

Tallulah delivered the letters to her father then excused herself to go take a bath, a long one with oils to help relax. Once she was finished she dried her skin and slowly made her way to the closet. Perhaps she’ll treat herself to dinner tonight? She picked out a blue tartan plaid skirt and paired it with sheer black stockings and a black cropped sweater.

She sat at her vanity and applied a coat of scarlet lipstick. She heard a knock on the door and got up to open the door. Behind that door stood Roman. She noticed he was dressed in black slacks and a black button-up shirt and of course he had the sleeves rolled up. His hair was combed neatly, clearly, he had plans for the night. Plans with Isabella she assumed.

“Goodnight,” Roman mumbled, his blue eyes taking in the view before they met with her amber eyes.

“Hello, Roman,” She had a brief smile on her lips that faded away. Roman motioned for her to take a step back so he could enter the room, so she did. The queen watched as he entered her room, they both hadn’t said another word and just looked at each other. Was he waiting for her to say something?

“You’re here for the rejection, right?” She finally asked, walking to her shoe rack and picking out her black heeled boots.

“What?” Roman frowned, it was safe to say he was confused about what she was talking about.

“We said we’d go back to normal once everything settled down and it appears it has,” Tallulah reminded him, sitting down on a chair and began to lace her boots.

“Right. Is that what you want?” Roman asked, crossing his leg as he watched her struggle to make a loop.

“What?” She looked over at him, watching as he stood up and walked up to her.

“The rejection ceremony? Is that what you want?” He asked again.

“You know how I feel about you; do you really think I’d want that?” She scoffed, standing up and still having to look up at him.

“Queen, I asked a simple question requiring a simple yes or no,” He traced her jawline to her chin and lifted it so their eyes could meet.

“No,” She mumbled, looking away from his hypnotizing eyes.

“Why not?” He raised a brow at her.

“Damnit Roman, I told you before. I still have feelings for you, they never went away,” She groaned, was this all for him to make fun of her?

“Good,” He smiled.

“Good? What does that even mean?” She frowned.

“I’m willing to give us one last shot. This is your last chance, if you mess this up I don’t care what prophecy comes next I’ll just let the end dawn upon us,” Roman explained, crossing his arms, his eyes never leaving her.

“Little dramatic, don't you think?” She raised a brow at him.

“I won’t be made a fool out of twice,” He said in a slightly stern tone.

“I won’t, Roman,” She assured him.

“I had this thing planned for us,” He said, opening the door for her and signaling for her to leave her room. She frowned and just followed him.

“What thing?” Tallulah wondered.

“It’s a surprise,” Roman responded, still leading the way, heading towards the castle exit.

“What—” Tallulah was about to ask when Roman cut her off, “Listen, your highness, will you go on this date with me or not?”

“Yes but call me by my name or something but not my title,” Tallulah groaned, annoyed. Finally, she was able to make this request.

“Why not?” He asked, teasingly, helping her down the steps.

“When you say it, it comes out like a mock,” She looked over at him, a slight smirk on his lips.

“Who said that’s not what I’m doing?” He chuckled.

“Asshole,” She rolled her eyes, nudging him.

“Jerk,” He replied, doing the same as her. “One more thing, if the place looks like a disaster, blame Isabella, I had asked her to do some things for me because I had an urgent meeting with Alpha Vesper,” Roman informed her. It was just then she realized what Roman thanked Isabella for before. She had read the situation completely differently.

“Is everything okay with the Lycan blood pack?” She asked. Now she began to wonder if he’d be going back. If he would, did that mean they’d have to do long distances? She was probably thinking a little too forward.

“Of course, just your usual rogue things,” He shrugged, leading the way through the forest, a familiar path.

“Oh okay,” She mumbled and looked around, “Are we going to the lake?”

“Close,” Roman shrugged, pointing out to a puddle in front of her.

“I don’t have any swimming clothes,” She pouted, climbing over the rock.

“Well, it’s not like we’re going swimming,” Roman shrugged and patted the top of her head.

As they got closer to the lake Tallulah noticed everything looked the same which confused her a little. Roman took her hand and picked her up, leading the way up the mountain.

“Where are we going, Roman?” She wrapped her arms around his neck, looking at the small details on his face she could only see when being this close to him.

“Hush, we’re almost there,” He responded.

“Where? The place you’re going to dump my body?” She raised a brow at him then looked around finally.

“Yeah, here,” He set her down on her own feet. They were at the top of a short mountain where the water flowed down, creating the waterfall. This time they were on top rather than the bottom of it. The place had little candle lights in lanterns around for lighting but the moon itself offered more than enough of that. There was a blue piece of cloth on the ground with a basket.

“Come on then,” He took her hand and led the way, he kicked his shoes off and sat down on the piece of cloth, Tali joining his side. They soon got to talking and snacking. Both enjoying their time as they did once upon a time.

The two ended up clearing the whole bottle of wine, a good thing wolves have a higher alcohol tolerance right? Tallulah looked over at Roman, his eyes focused on the night sky above them, as beautiful as it was she couldn’t help but look at him instead. Roman looked over at her and raised a brow at her. She carefully lifted her hand and stroked his cheek, Roman’s eyes dropped down to her lips as he leaned closer into his touch.

She closed her eyes and finally leaned in, their lips brushing against each other’s before they finally kissed. Roman moved his hand to the back of her neck, deepening the kiss. Tali moved her other hand to hold the other side of his face, slowly moving closer to him until he picked her up and had her straddling him. Roman moved a hand down her back and ass before slipping under her skirt and squeezing her skin causing her to moan into his lips. Tallulah trailed her hands down his shirt and began to undo the buttons. Roman only pulled away to remove the shirt, Tallulah doing the same with her sweater. He admired the view for a moment then pulled her down, kissing and sucking at her neck, slowly moving down south. She felt him undoing the clasp of the bra, his cold finger trailing down her middle causing shivers down her spine.

“Do you want to continue this?” Roman asked when he managed to pull away from her body.

“Yes, Roman,” She pushed him down and locked lips with him.