Chapter 77

Chapter 77
Victoria looked utterly shocked, her jaw dropping open. I spared a glance at the witches who provided her with the spells, and they looked shaken.

“Be honest, BJ. It’s a death spell, isn’t it?” I asked. “I plant death spells in my backyard.”

She turned to flee, spooked, but I grabbed her hair and yanked her back.

“Where do you think you’re going, Victoria?” I asked. “Don’t leave me. I get lonely here.”

She swung her claws at me just as I lashed out to grab her throat. I clamped my hand around it and lifted her into the air. I turned to grin at Jason, since I was proud of being fucking strong, but Jason didn’t seem to be impressed. He snarled in rage because BJ’s claws had left a trail of blood on my forearm.

That was a small price to pay. I sent him a hard, warning stare in case he tried to intervene before returning my attention to dear BJ.

“This is my once-in-a-lifetime showdown with BJ,” I murmured softly to myself. “I need to say goodbye. So sad I have to let her go.”

BJ struggled, but my death power had grabbed her, pinning her like a fish on the scorched land. It sipped her energy with glee, draining her life essence. BJ was growing weaker, the stench of fear pouring out of her, worse than anything I’d ever smelled. 

“I’m the freak you dreamed of being but never can be.” I laughed darkly. “I’m not just Phia. I’m the nightmare Ollivara from the legend, and I’ve returned. Today, this nightmare will make you pay for taking the life of a dear friend from me and my pack.”

BJ gagged in terror, completely trapped, and I enjoyed making her feel helpless and powerless as she’d made so many others feel. Pain poured out of her pores as wrinkles appeared on her face one by one. Her eyes begged, but I had no mercy as I let her age in front of everyone at a supernatural speed.

“You feel it, don’t you, the cold rain in your brain, Princess Victoria?” I asked softly. “Horrible, isn’t it? It’s the last stage. You reap what you sow.”

The French shifters let out a bellow and surged toward us, and the vampires came to meet them.

“Back off, shifters!” the Alpha King roared, and the French shifters froze in place, unable to resist his alpha power. The fucker had grown more powerful in such a brief time; even I could feel the potency of his command from here.

Had my former mating bond to him given him that much juice? I’d torn out the bond and shattered it, so he shouldn’t have gotten more perks from me.

The Alpha King didn’t stop me from punishing and killing his girlfriend. He also held the shifters back from interfering. That was super cold. But then he wanted to see my display of power while trying to appease me and offer me this kill.

I wondered if BJ was still in love with him.

Black veins appeared on her neck and spread across the rest of her body.

“Sharon, I avenged you today!” I roared. “Your murderer suffered ten times more than you. The dark witches will die soon too.” I dropped BJ, dragging her hair back to make her look at the new Alpha King.

“Look, your lover is here,” I said. “But he doesn’t ask or beg for your life. He’s never cared about you at all, even though you were his fiancée. The heartless male doesn’t think that you have a lot to offer him anymore. You’re just one piece of shit falling for another piece of shit.”

The Alpha King glared at me, yet it didn’t diminish the possessive lust in his dark blue eyes. I’d just called him a piece of shit in front of his army, and he still coveted my power, though his look promised punishment and rape if he could get his hands on me.

Jason snarled in fury. In an instant, he stood by my side. Our elite vampire warriors moved with him, and no one showed an ounce of fear at facing a larger army.

By the time the black veins covered BJ’s entire body, she looked seventy years old, but she was still alive. I made sure of it.

Oldy looked shell shocked at my new power, but he planted his feet firmly, not allowing himself to freak out. The rest of the shifters and the witches stared at me as if I were an abomination, fear and disgust vibrating off them.

Yet the Alpha King didn’t seem surprised at all, as if he knew something that I didn’t. He even smiled eerily. I wondered when he’d turned into such a creep.

Power-hungry men were bad news to the world.

I tossed BJ’s withered body at him. Oldy and another officer leapt out and caught her before she slammed into their king. Then two French shifters took the old French princess from Oldy’s hands and carted her away from the frontlines of the army.

How considerate.

I was the focus of their army.

“I returned your old love to you, Alpha King,” I announced clearly. “I offered her head to my boyfriend, but King Nollan didn’t approve, saying it was a terrible gift.”

I turned to gaze up sweetly at Jason. He held my gaze, heat in his eyes. “You can give me a better gift. You know what I want.”

I knew what he wanted, and a flush spread across my face. I returned my gaze to my enemies. The Alpha King’s face had reddened in jealous anger, like I gave a fuck anymore.

“You can have whatever’s left of your princess,” I said, holding his alpha stare effortlessly. “Sorry that your lover doesn’t look too hot now since she exhausted herself trying and failing to kill me again. Have you seen the collapsed building in smoke and flames behind us? It’s serious vandalism, and you’ll get a big bill because of her. Some of my vampire warriors died inside that building, pinned down by the missile your fiancée sent to murder me.”

“Phiagirl, you’re way out of line!” Oldy growled. “You’re acting completely out of character!”

“What do know about my fucking character, Oldy?” I snorted. “You shot hundreds of darts at a lone girl and then dragged her to be locked up by the asshole Alpha King to be his broodmare. When she refused to be his whore, would you call that acting out of character? What kind of man are you? Have you ever asked yourself that? Perhaps you can’t stand looking at yourself in the mirror if you still have an ounce of conscience?” Oldy’s face turned purple in rage, but shame flickered in his hard eyes.

I thrust my pinkie toward him and told Jason, “My king, that’s Oldy. I told you about him. He’s gained more gray hair. Perhaps he was kissing the Alpha King’s ass too hard. I have no idea why he hasn’t retired.”

“Return to your own kind now, Phiagirl,” Oldy ordered, ignoring my taunting. He’d gotten used to it when I was at the Shifters Uni. “You’re out of control, but we understand that you’re under the vampires’ thrall. Cross the line and come to us, like the shifter soldier you are, and your slight will be forgiven.”

I laughed.

The Alpha King hadn’t issued his command yet, but I knew it was coming. Rage seethed in him as he regarded how I wrapped an arm around Jason’s waist. I’d never been that way with him. He’d never displayed any public affection toward me, and neither had I.

He trained his alpha stare on me, which was more potent than before. While I felt its weight, I brushed it off. He had no authority over me. Not then. Not now.

When he turned his alpha stare on Jason, the Vampire King snorted. He didn’t even bother to sneer.

“Come back to us, Phia, to your pack,” the Alpha King ordered, but he softened his tone as if he was calling for a lost kitty. “I’m willing to let the past go and start anew with you. I understand why you’re angry, and I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. But I’ve come for you to take you back and correct the mistake.”

He settled his alpha stare on me again, and this time, with a slow smile tugging at the corner of my lips, I returned it with my own. I was more of an alpha than him. I was more powerful than him. I’d started to accept that I might be Deathroh’s daughter, who probably also carried Phoenix fire.

He blinked in surprise, and I held his gaze until he looked away uneasily before turning to stare at me again. The shifter warriors around him had noticed the exchange between their new alpha and me, and a few of them appeared shocked. Yet no one uttered a word.

“I’ve realized that I didn’t give you enough attention before, and that was a mistake on my side,” he continued. “I admit it now as the Alpha King of North America. A leader must have the strength to admit his errors. I acknowledge that every girl wants to be chosen. So I choose you, Phia, now and always. You’re my fated mate.”