Chapter 55
**GUINEVERE**
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*'GUINEVERE! GUINEVERE!'* I could hear a man's voice desperately yelling for me in my mind, but I couldn't answer. Instead, I could only stare at what was happening in front of me. Desperately trying to understand it. One moment she was there talking to me, and the next, she wasn't.
Time seemed to slow as crimson red blood spilled on white-coated fur. The flow wasn't constant, but more like it mimicked the feeling of my beating heart as it painted the blank canvas underneath it, creating rivers and valleys. The ball of pure light magic grew stronger in my hand as Sabrina's magic flowed into me, my body absorbing it as if I still held the spirit of my succubus, yet the burning power of the magic within me couldn't pull my attention away from how the fresh blood, coated the black blade, and how the hands curled around the hilt of the blade were so bony and rigid, looking more beast than human. My eyes flitted from the black blade to the hilt of the dagger, to the hands of the beast, and then to the beast-like creature's face, which sported a smile of pure evil. A smile grew stronger as the creature watched Sabrina's blood pour from inside her.
It wasn't until the rancid smell of burning flesh hit my nostrils that I became fully aware of what was happening around me. Sabrina had ended her life, so I wouldn't have to choose. I reach up and wipe my hands across my face, pushing aside the tears that had begun to pour freely. My wolf had once again sacrificed herself for her people. I glanced toward her killer and smiled, pure joy radiating off my body as I watched him slowly disintegrate into a puddle of goo as the pureness of the magic inside the sphere ate at his darkness. If the joy I felt at watching him die made me psychotic, I didn't care. Jupiter had taken so much from me already. He couldn't take my joy from his death away from me too.
*'GUINEVERE!'*
**"GWYNN!"**
*'GUINEVERE!'*
I could hear Damien desperately calling for me both through our mind link and out loud, but I didn't know how to respond to him. How was I supposed to tell him I was okay, but Sabrina's gone? How am I supposed to tell him that our separation was my idea?
"Please, I just need to hear your voice. I just need to know that you're okay. Leo," Damien gulped, choking on his voice as he tried to hold back tears, "Leo felt something through the mind link, and I... I just need to know you're okay, Guinevere."
"Gwynn." A voice sounding similar to Vladimir's called from a distance. I could hear whoever the voice belonged to approaching closer to the barrier as the spell began to weaken, no longer being fed the magic it needed to be stabilized.
"Gwynn, please answer Damien. He's desperate," The voice pleaded with me, its owner now within eyesight.
It is Vladimir, but how is that possible. I'd watched Jupiter drain him of his soul. Then I recalled Sierra's presence leaving me, and it all made sense. She'd sacrificed herself to save Vladimir, much like Sabrina... I couldn't let myself finish that thought. Instead, I propelled myself forward, jumping over what was left of the barrier and running arms wide open to Vladimir, who caught me as I flung myself into him.
"Mi Amor," He whispered into my hair, his lips brushing against my head, "It's okay. The war is over. Jupiter is gone. We've won."
"But we've lost so many." I cry, my entire body shaking from the adrenaline pouring out of me.
"I know," Vladimir responded in his calming, soothing tone, making me want to nuzzle myself further into him. I wanted Vladimir once again to shelter me from the evils of this world; I wanted him to take away the pain like he did last time and make it all go away, but when I heard him let out a heavy sigh, I knew that that was not a possibility, and instead of letting him destroy my conceived notion of him, I unwrap myself from his body and take a step away, leaving the safety of his cocoon.
"Go to Damien, Gwynn." Vladimir responds, cupping my face with his hands, "He needs to know that you're okay. When Leo felt his connection with Sabrina break, it almost killed Damien."
"I... I can't Vlad. I don't know how to face Leo," I reply staring down at my feet, noticing how the light has already started to spill back into the forest.
"Leo doesn't blame you." Damien states his voice sending shocks of electricity straight to my heart as my eyes jump up and meet his.
He goes to step toward me and I flinch, I can see the hurt flash in his eyes, but he stays still waiting for me.
"Go to your mate." Vladimir whispers down at me, before pushing me toward Damien.
"She needs to be held." Vladimir states, this time directing his comment at my mate, before taking off.
"Gwynn." Damien whispers and he wraps his arms tightly around me, pulling me snug against him. "When you let Jupiter into your shield, and then I couldn't feel you, and when Leo felt like half of him was being ripped apart, I..."
Damien's so emotional he can't even put together a proper sentence, but he doesn't have to. I understand what he's trying to tell me. He was afraid. First he was afraid he couldn't protect me, then he was afraid when he learned he couldn't communicate with me, and then when he thought he'd lost me, his was overcome with grief. What I had put my mate through tonight wasn't fair, but it also couldn't be prevented. It had to happen this way. Any other way, and the outcome would have been different.
So, instead of providing him with a meaningless apology, I reached up and took Damien's head in my hands and guided his face down to mine, placing a kiss on his lips. A kiss that spoke in an unwritten language. A kiss that told him that I knew how he felt, and that I'd felt the same way. A kiss that was in some way, a promise, a promise for more in the future.
When we broke apart I could sense there was still more between us that needed to be discussed, but that would have to wait. Right now we needed to be the Luna Queen, and Alpha our pack needed.