Chapter 61
Kane's POV
Blaze and Seraphina were entangled in combat again, and all I could do was fight with everything I had just to stay alive.
In terms of absolute strength, Blaze was no match for Seraphina. This was the brutal reality. Her size was three times mine. I could only rely on speed, constantly dodging and maneuvering, using fireballs to harass her.
Dark purple fireballs traced arcs through the air, but Seraphina merely flicked her tail contemptuously to swat them away.
She began her counterattack.
Purple fireballs spewed from Seraphina's mouth one after another. I desperately dodged. One grazed my hind leg, and searing pain struck instantly—that temperature, that pure destructive power.
Deep down, I knew clearly that even being grazed by those fireballs would mean death.
"Hold on," Blaze said in the depths of my consciousness. "Her stamina is depleting faster than ours."
But I knew this was just consolation.
Every one of Seraphina's attacks came with ease, while I was already starting to pant.
Just then, Stella's crazed voice came through the mental link.
"You fool!" Her voice was sharp and piercing. "My daughter has been so good to you! She gave you everything! And you—you betrayed her for a slave!"
I didn't rush to respond, focusing on dodging Seraphina's next round of attacks. A fireball nearly grazed my spine as it flew past.
"I'm only doing this for the Silver Moon Pack!" I responded through the mental link.
Stella let out a harsh laugh. "Silver Moon Pack? Stop deceiving yourself!" Her voice was full of malice. "You don't care about any Silver Moon Pack at all. All you care about is that damned Omega! Have you forgotten how your mother died? Have you forgotten the humiliation you suffered as a hostage in Blood River? For a slave, you can even abandon all of this?"
My movements paused for a moment.
In that instant of hesitation, Seraphina pounced, her claws leaving three deep bloody gashes on my ribs. I staggered backward, blood flowing down my black fur. The pain blurred my vision.
"I haven't forgotten," I said through the mental link, my voice hoarse. "Not for a single moment. But I believe I can rebuild Silver Moon, lead it toward strength—rather than betray it and destroy it."
As soon as the words left me, a powerful force struck from the side, sending me flying.
I crashed heavily to the ground, my body uncontrollably shifting back to human form. My ribs felt like they were tearing apart. I struggled to lift my head and saw Victoria standing not far away.
She had also returned to human form.
I stared at her face—that expression was exactly the same as Ella's after losing her child—hollow, despairing, lifeless.
There was no anger in her eyes, no hatred, only a complete and utter death-like stillness.
"Why?" Her voice was soft but reached my ears clearly. "Why did you betray me?"
I opened my mouth but found I couldn't speak.
"I gave you everything," Victoria continued, her voice beginning to tremble. "I betrayed my people, I helped you obtain the dark flame, I carried your child—and you, for her, you threw all of this away."
Silence. Long, drawn-out silence.
I didn't know what to say. I knew everything she said was true, but I also knew I had never loved her. Not from the very beginning.
"Our union," I finally spoke, my voice low, "from the very start was only because I needed your family's military support. There was never love."
Victoria suddenly began to laugh.
The laughter grew louder and more crazed, as if it would tear her chest apart. She laughed until tears streamed down her face, her whole body trembling, barely able to stand.
"No love?" She repeated those words. "No love..."
Then her hand suddenly rose, nails digging into her own neck. Blood flowed down her fingers, winding across her snow-white skin. She didn't stop—instead she dug in harder, creating a massive wound on the side of her neck.
That was the location of the werewolf mark.
"What you gave me," her voice was distorted by pain, "I'm returning to you now."
"What is she trying to do?" I asked Blaze through the mental link, an ominous premonition rising in my heart.
Blaze's voice was full of bitterness. "This girl who dares to love and hate has quite some courage. She wants to scrape off your mark."
"What will happen to me then?"
"We will also suffer tremendous pain."
Almost simultaneously, I heard Aurora and Blaze let out screams at the same time.
That pain was indescribable—like someone using a blunt knife to cut flesh from my soul. I collapsed to my knees, hands braced against the snow, nails digging deep into the ice layer, blood seeping from my fingertips.
Victoria cruelly tore away that piece of flesh bearing the mark, holding it bloodily in her hand. Her face was deathly pale, her body swaying, about to collapse.
I could feel Blaze's weakness inside me. That sensation was like having half my life force drained away—even breathing became difficult.
Stella rushed forward to support her daughter.
Victoria leaned against her mother's embrace, saying weakly, "I've finally severed all ties with him, Mother. Do it."
Stella settled Victoria, then turned and walked toward me.
I saw a squad of warriors trying to block in front of me to protect me, but Stella merely raised her hand, and the dark flame burned them to ashes.
I didn't even hear their screams—I only saw human forms instantly turn to nothing in the purple flames, not even bone ash remaining.
Stella grabbed my throat with one hand, lifting my entire body up.
"The power you borrowed from me," she said coldly, "it's time to return it now."
She opened her mouth. I saw her fangs and the purple flames surging in the depths of her throat.
Then she began to draw it out—not air, but the dark flame within my body.
That sensation was more painful than any torture. It was like countless needles swimming through my blood vessels, draining my life force bit by bit. I could feel the dark flame leaving my body. Blaze desperately resisted, but it was useless.
The dark flame had been power given by Stella to begin with. If she wanted to take it back, I had no power to stop her at all.
"No..." I forced out a sound with difficulty.
But I wasn't begging for myself.
I used my last shred of strength to issue a command through the mental link to the surviving soldiers: "Go back... hold the line... don't come out..."
I felt their confusion and unwillingness. Some warriors even wanted to rush forward to save me, but I ordered again: "This is a command!"
They ultimately obeyed.
"At least... hold out one more day..." I added through the link, my voice growing weaker and weaker. "Wait for your Alpha..."
Then consciousness began to blur. Vision gradually darkened. Stella's face also became indistinct.
Before falling into darkness, the last thought that surfaced in my mind was—
Julian, can you bring her back?