Chapter 232

Chapter 232
Stella's POV

From the swirling mist, more Silver Rot soldiers emerge, their numbers far greater than we'd anticipated. Kaya doesn't hesitate. With a battle cry, she lunges at the nearest soldier.

"Go!" Marla screams, reaching into her satchel and pulling out a vial filled with a glowing green liquid. "I'll hold them off!" She hurls the vial at the approaching soldiers, and it explodes in a cloud of acidic mist, causing several of them to stumble and dissolve. But it's a momentary distraction. More soldiers rush forward, their rifles aimed at us.

Kaya was instantly pinned down by two soldiers, her cry of warning sharp. 'Take him!' she yelled, tossing the bundled cub towards me. I caught him just as the first shot rang out.

I turn to run, but a searing pain shoots through my back as a bullet finds its mark. I fall to my knees, the cub still tightly cradled in my arms. Kaya, seeing me fall, abandons her fight and races towards me. Another bullet hits her shoulder, and she grunts in pain but doesn't stop.

"Stella, you have to get out of here," she says through gritted teeth. But before we can move, a group of soldiers surrounds us, their weapons trained on every possible escape route. Kaya stands in front of me, shielding me and the cub with her body.

"Take one more step, and I'll tear you all apart," she growls, her voice filled with a ferocity that makes even the Silver Rot soldiers hesitate for a moment. But their hesitation is short-lived.

In a coordinated attack, they charge forward. Kaya swings her knife, but she's outnumbered. A soldier's blade pierces her side, and she falls to the ice, blood pooling around her.

Marla tries to help, throwing more vials, but it's useless. She's quickly overpowered..

I'm left alone, surrounded, the cub wailing in my arms. That's when the Silver Rot lieutenant steps forward, his silver eyes fixed on the child in my grasp.

The Silver Rot lieutenant's voice scrapes against my eardrums, a rusted blade of sound. "Give us the child, Luna," he says, silver eyes fixed on the fur bundle in my arms. "Damon promises you'll live."

The cub stirs, tiny fingers poking from the wraps. I take a step back, ice cracking beneath my boot. Behind me, Kaya lies motionless, blood pooling around her shoulder.

"Over my dead body," I snarl, channeling storm blood into my palms. Green tendrils curl from my fingers, but they're thin, wavering like smoke. The lieutenant cocks his head, as if amused by a cub's tantrum. Behind him, six soldiers raise their rifles, barrels glowing blue.

"As you wish," he says, and nods.

The first shot grazes my arm, searing through fur and flesh. I bite back a cry, spinning to shield the cub. The next blast hits my shoulder, knocking me to my knees. The ice is cold against my skin, but the cub is warm, his tiny heart thudding against my chest. I summon a wall of ice, but it shatters instantly, shards embedding in my thigh.

"Stella!" Kaya's voice is a weak croak. She tries to rise, only to fall back, blood frothing at her lips.

The soldiers close in, their armor hissing as nanites repair dents. I scramble backward, clutching the cub. My wedding armor is breached in three places.

"Come on," I growl, flinging a wave of green fire. It incinerates a soldier's arm, but the nanites rebuild it in seconds, liquid metal dripping like wax. Another rifle shot hits my calf, and I collapse, the cub slipping from my grasp.

No!

I lunge for him, but a boot pins my wrist to the ice. The lieutenant looms over me, his face a mask of silver. "Damon will be pleased," he says, reaching for the cub.

The cub starts to cry, a wail that pierces the din of battle. It's the same angry howl from his birth, but now laced with fear. I strain against the boot, nails scratching the ice, but I'm too weak. The lieutenant's fingers brush the fur wrap—

A blur of bloodied fur and steel crashes into the soldiers. Kai's sword decapitates the lieutenant, silver blood spraying the ice. He's covered in burns and gashes, his left eye swollen shut, but his right eye burns with a feral light.

"Stella!" He kicks a soldier in the chest, then swings his sword in a wide arc, decimating two more. "Take the cub and run!"

I snatch the baby from the ice, hugging him close. Kai fights like a man possessed, each swing of his sword accompanied by a roar. He's bought us a window—narrow, but enough. I struggle to my feet, ignoring the pain in my leg.

"Kai, come on!" I yell, backing toward the Rimefang.

He turns, grinning through a split lip. "I'm right behind—"

A silver tendril shoots from the flames, wrapping around his throat. Damon steps out of the inferno, his armor reborn as a living mass of nanites, rippling like a mercury sea. He yanks Kai backward, sword clattering to the ice.

"Kai!" I scream, trying to run to him, but my legs give out.

Damon laughs, a sound like metal scraping metal. He presses a hand to Kai's chest, and veins explode across my mate's skin. Kai thrashes, eyes rolling back, but Damon holds him fast.

"I told you I'd return, Luna," Damon says, his voice echoing from every nanite. "Did you think a little swim would kill me? The Council's technology is my god now—stronger, more obedient than any Goddess."

He drags Kai toward the center of the lake, where the ice groans ominously. The cub is screaming now, his tiny fists pounding my chest. I crawl forward, blood leaving a trail on the ice.

Damon stops, turning to face me. He raises Kai like a trophy, silver tendrils pulsing in Kai's neck. "Your mate will make a fine first sacrifice," he says, smiling with too many teeth. "But it's your child I really want. His storm blood, mixed with my nanites... he'll be the key to true divinity."

He looks down at Kai, then back at me, his eyes burning with mad light. "I'll use him to build my godhood, Stella. Your son will be the first step on my path to divinity."

The ice beneath Damon cracks, but he doesn't flinch. "And you? You'll watch, Luna. You'll watch as I turn your mate into a mindless drone, as I mold your child into a god, and as I burn this pathetic federation to the ground."

I stare at him, at Kai's limp body, at the cub in my arms. The world is fire and ice, pain and rage, but something inside me shifts. The storm blood that had waned roars back to life, fueled by a mother's fury. I push to my feet, ignoring the agony, and meet Damon's gaze.

"You'll have to kill me first," I say, my voice steady.

Damon laughs again, louder this time. "Oh, I intend to. But not before you watch your world burn."

He raises his free hand, and the nanites on his armor surge, forming a spear of liquid metal. The cub's wails echo across the lake, mixing with the groan of breaking ice and the distant howls of approaching wolves.

I hold the cub tighter, feeling storm blood surge to my fingertips. If this is how it ends, I'll go down fighting. For Kai, for my child, for every wolf who dreamed of peace.

Damon raises the spear, aiming for Kai's heart. "Behold," he says, grinning, "the beginning of my ascension."