Chapter 72

Amanda stirred and rolled over before getting back up onto her feet again. She shivered as she turned and saw Hudson in his wolf form as Artemis.

Amanda smiled. But it fell away when she heard a low growl coming from her left side. She turned to see that Ophelia had shifted into her wolf. So much for facing each other face to face.

Ophelia continued to growl at her as the hair on her back stood up. Amanda had assumed Ophelia’s wolf would have been larger since she was the daughter of an Alpha but it was just average.

Amanda started to circle with the wolf.

Any ideas? she asked Willow.

She and Willow both knew they couldn’t shift into their wolf form. Even with magic, it would take time to shift and Ophelia would have killed them in the process.

Amanda felt Willow skirting to the surface, she could feel her eyes shift to Willow's and her claws began to grow. There was no fear in her as her wolf started to take over; she knew this time she would remember everything.

Ophelia’s tail dropped between her legs and her wolf started to whine.

Amanda just smirked as the two of them went after Ophelia.

***

Deak and Tristan were both breathing heavily. They had been beating on each other for a while both giving their all to weaken the other. Both had gashes and bruises all over their bodies. Deak’s were healing quicker, giving him the advantage, but Tristan was good. Really good.

“Had enough yet?” Tristan asked as he wiped the blood from his busted lip.

Deak chuckled. “Not even close,” He got up from where he’d been thrown slightly wavering in his step as he moved toward Tristan.

“You really think you’ll win against me?” Tristan teased.

“I’ll do everything I can to keep you away from my Vita,” Deak swore.

A frown replaced Tristan’s smirk. “She’ll never love you. Not like she loved me. When we were together, she worshiped the ground I walked on. What can you even give her?”

“I’ll love her for who she is, not what she can do with her craft. There’s more to her than just magic,” Deak proclaimed.

“Oh I agree, she’s a real hellcat if you know what I mean.”

Deak’s wolf growled menacingly. He was sick of listening to this boy talk and was ready to do some real damage. Deak charged at Tristan. He was done playing nice—this needed to end. For Vita.

Tristan threw a ball filled with magic at Deak, causing him to shake as his body endured surging jolts of electricity. Deak howled out in pain.

***

Vita heard the howl from where she was as it echoed through her. She recognized that howl. It was Deak. Vita’s heart raced as she looked at Zachary and then at Gretchen.

“I have to go, Deak’s in trouble. I have to help him!” Vita yelled out.

Zachary nodded in understanding. “You should head to the right, warriors are waiting, they can take you to him.”

Vita looked at Colson’s wolf. “Protect her at all costs,” she ordered.

Colson huffed and nodded at the command.

Vita turned and headed toward the wolves that had been keeping them protected from the other pack.

There was a larger red wolf with eyes similar to Ruby’s.

“Ruby?” Vita asked.

The wolf nodded.

Vita sighed in relief. “I need to get to Deak, can you take me to him?”

The wolf looked over at Zachary, who turned to look over at her and nodded.

Ruby’s wolf Nadia lowered herself for Vita to hop on her back. Vita climbed onto the back of the red wolf and when she felt secured she gently patted her to let the wolf know that she was ready.

Nadia took off running through the forest and passed the fighting that was happening around them. Vita wanted to keep the wolf protected and cast an invisibility spell around them. Nadia stopped once she was out of the forest and lifted her nose into the air.

Vita felt a pull in her system. She looked toward a wide field in the far distance she saw two figures. One was being electrocuted.

“There, Ruby. Hurry please,” Vita pleaded.

Ruby’s wolf Nadia took off running as fast as she could. Vita started to recite a spell to counteract the one that was hurting Deak. Vita jumped off Ruby’s wolf when they were close, she stumbled a bit but picked herself up.

“Ruby, stay back. He’ll hurt you if you get too close.”

Tristan turned to look at Vita and smiled with cruelty. “You’re too late.”

Vita rushed over to Deak and pulled him into her arms, where he fell limp. She pressed her fingers to the side of his neck, there was a pulse but it was weak. Vita casted a protection barrier around them so Tristan couldn’t cause them harm as she tried to help Deak.

Tristan hit the barrier with his fist. “You can’t help him!”

As she held Deak, she felt like there was something different about him, something missing. Vita closed her eyes as she ran her hands over Deak’s body.

Tristan started to laugh. “You can sense it, can't you? I stripped him, took what pathetic amount of magic he had inside him and now it’s gone. He’s nothing but a Lycan now.”

None of that mattered to Vita. Vita cupped Deak’s face. “Please, wake up for me,” she begged. His chest moved slowly but he still wasn’t waking up. Vita leaned forward and brushed her lips softly against his. Her body tingled as she pressed harder against his lips.

She could hear pounding on the barrier, but she didn’t pay it any attention.

“I’m going to kill him, Vita. You hear me? I’m going to kill everyone you ever loved. You’ll have no one left but me.”

Vita pulled slowly back from Deak and watched as he slowly started to wake. A rush of relief flowed through Vita as she hugged Deak.

“I’m alright, love,” he whispered in her ear.

Vita felt pain shoot through her as the protective barrier started to crack. She looked up at Tristan and her face filled with fear.

Tristan had gone crazy, his eyes were no longer his as if something had taken over him.

“Deak, you have to leave once this breaks. He’s going to kill you.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with him,” he swore as he took her hand in his and held onto it as if their lives depended on it. He pulled her into his arms to shield her from whatever was about to happen to them.

The barrier shattered leaving Deak and Vita vulnerable to Tristan’s wrath.

***

Amanda heard an ear-shattering scream from off in the distance, and her body filled with worry. Someone she cared about was in trouble. She was fed up and was ready for all this to end.

And she was just the person to finish it.