Chapter 271 Chapter 271

Chapter 271 Chapter 271
BELLA

Draco’s betrayal had made the war much easier for us, but the aftermath is much more difficult to bear.

Ariana lays in my arms, her body heavy and cold. My heart pricks sharply and hot tears stream down both sides of my cheeks uncontrollably.

I slowly look around, desperately searching for any signs of Damien. I have no idea what I am going to tell him. How do I explain to him that his mother, who has spent years doing evil just to save him, had given up her life for the one person she’d loathed the most for decades?

Brad's neck snaps in our direction for a split second, his eyes flickering with a daunting surprise.

I don't see regret or pain in that heart. In fact, he seems almost relieved that he didn't have to be the one to do it. I can't blame him anyway, because she's owed him his revenge for all she has done.

Her blood makes her skin slippery and she falls from my arms.

Dominic, who can smell blood and the vulnerable void Ariana’s stinging death has left in my chest, suddenly charges forward.

Brad quickly steps in front of me, his broad, towering frame completely blocking off the threat headed my way. Brad rushes forward without thinking and I slowly rise to my feet, staring down at my dead sister.

She had paid the ultimate price for her evil. I haven't been able to prove that she'd murdered those omegas and had tried to kill me severally, but all of it suddenly doesn't matter anymore.

Dominic’s wolf rages, leaping high into the air, his eyes blazing with a fury that makes the sun look dark.

Brad braces himself to strike back, but all of a sudden, Dominic freezes midair.

His face suddenly twists with an ugly kind of agony, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. The golden glow of his wolf's eyes flickers for a second before he crashes to the ground violently.

Standing behind him, with a sharp, silver-coated sword, is Draco’s wolf.

His eyes glower with so much suppressed hatred and I swallow hard, wondering how he could have loved Ariana up to the point of committing such treason against Dominic.

Brad's shoulders loosen for a moment and we both exchange stunned glances.

Draco steps forward and those dark, malicious eyes peer into mine.

I see the hurt beneath the eyes of the great beast when he slowly looks down at Ariana’s dead body.

In that split moment of weakness, Dominic’s wolf, who should have died from a lethal weapon capable of killing any other wolf, springs from the ground.

He rushes at Draco, sinking his claws into Draco’s chest.

The latter's eyes bulge with shock, his lips quivering as his jaw falls open. A dark rush of blood trickles out of his mouth as he slowly drops to his knees.

Without thinking twice, Brad rushes forward, attacking Dominic in the fragile spot of his spinal cord with a crushing strike.

Dominic howls and growls into the sky, a deep voice that rumbles on the ground beneath my feet.

Brad doesn't let go, even as Dominic’s body—which Draco has already weakened—drops to his knees.

Dominic, at the verge of death, suddenly looks up, his eyes jabbing right into Brad’s. The bruises on his face keep bleeding and as blood rushes from the corners of his mouth, he suddenly bursts out in frantic, hollow laughter.

“Now, aren't you just so lucky, huh?” Dominic asks, his eyes burning with an uncanny, resplendent glow of anger and yet admiration. “Your father got lucky with mine and won that battle of the night… You just got lucky too.”

Brad smears at him, his eyes gleaming with fury. He glances at Ariana and then his gaze falls on Dominic again with disgust.

“My father would have buried you in a second. He might not be as skillful as me, but he makes up for that with a cold ruthlessness that I do not have.”

He suddenly smirks and simply nods, his teeth turning red with his own blood.

“My father lost to yours and now I have lost to you. My pack will be no more.”

His eyes dart toward me all of a sudden.

My heart clenches for a moment and I ball my hands into fists, my palms sweaty. Why is he looking at me that way?

“And too bad this will be the last time I will see the one woman who'd truly intrigued me without being naked in my bed.”

He grins and my skin instantly litters with goosebumps.

Brad's eyes go red with rage, his fists clenching, and he suddenly punches Dominic across the face.

He hits him again and this time, Dominic laughs.

My heartbeat quivers slightly with an abrupt, cold feeling of realization that Dominic isn't scared to die—in fact, he has accepted the death that's coming.

Brad strikes again and Dominic’s laughter rings even louder.

I can see the veins bulging out of Brad's temples as he keeps hitting him.

Dominic drops to his back, gurgling and groaning each time Brad strikes him—but the man my heart worries about is Brad.

With each strike, he seems to be losing a part of himself.

I take a step forward and call out to him softly.

“Brad…”

He doesn't hear me.

Somewhere in his head, he is stuck in a loop of violence and anger that he can't escape until—

He suddenly digs his claws into Dominic’s chest and with one last groan, I see the light drain out of Dominic’s eyes.

Brad doesn't stop there.

He tears a sharp claw across Dominic’s throat, cutting a fine, thin line across his skin.

The short time I had spent at Dominic’s pack flashes through my eyes.

Ariana’s death slithers behind my heart once again and finally, Brad turns and stares at me, the rage filtering from his eyes.

He sighs suddenly as he rises to his feet.

“I do not regret what I've just done, Bella. I had to do it, else you'd have never been safe.”

I nod slowly, my heart aching, and turn to the mansion.

“Their leader is down. Call off the war and Dominic’s men will retreat.”