Chapter 145 I Love You - Callista's POV

Chapter 145 I Love You - Callista's POV
My gaze snapped back to the fight when I heard Riven’s groan of pain. No, he was hurt.

I almost took a step out into the challenger’s ring, but Raze’s hand shot out, blocking me.

“No,” he said, visibly shaking from exertion. “You can’t.”

“Raze, you’re going to lose it,” I mumbled, suddenly realizing how close he was.

“I’m fine. If things go wrong, I have to protect you,” he said softly. “You’re my brother’s mate. I will not lose it. I’ve made it this far without doing that and I don’t plan on caving.”

“Protect me? Did Riven ask—”

“No,” he whispered. “He didn’t specifically. It’s more of a knowing feeling that if he loses himself, I’m supposed to get you out of here.”

My gaze narrowed as I stared at his face, which was now turning crimson from holding his own demon back. “You won’t be able to protect me. Not like this.”

Alric moved quickly, drawing my attention back to the fight. His movements had changed. They were less controlled than before with slightly too much power behind each strike. The demon was coming out. 

Riven’s was just as fast, blocking each hit and getting a few of his own as his skin rippled.

"He's going to lose control," Raze breathed. “I feel it.”

“Riven is trying.” Tears flooded my eyes, streaming down his face. “He has to hold on and end this.”

"I mean Voss," Raze corrected.

I looked at him.

"If Voss loses control of his demon in the middle of this clearing," Raze said, his voice very low, "with that many tribunal observers watching—"

"They'll see it," I whispered. 

"And if they see it and they don't know what it is—"

“They’ll stop the fight,” Raze added. “It’s the only hope we have. They may have questioned Riven before, but if they see someone with more erratic behaviors and visible black eyes, it’ll end this fight early, hopefully before Riven loses it.”

“Or Riven has to end it before that, because it’ll out everything,” I said, then glanced back at the Alpha King. “Your father is here.”

“I know,” he hissed.

In the clearing, Riven moved. It was different from before, so I knew he was slowly losing it. He was too fast and had jerky movements now. His arm jerked and his fist connected with Voss’s face.

He hit the ground, breathing hard as his eyes jerked up to Riven’s. I watched his eyes flicking back and forth as he snarled. Then Riven lashed out.

He was leaning over him, one knee on the ground, both of Voss's wrists held in a grip that wasn't cruel but was absolutely final.

He said something. I couldn't hear it from here. The clearing was too wide, and he was too quiet.

But I watched Voss's expression change.

Whatever Riven had said—whatever he had chosen to say in that moment, leaning over the cousin he had never met, the person who had been carrying the paired counterpart to his own demon without knowing it—it did something to Voss's face that the fight itself hadn't done.

The flickering on his surface stopped.

The tribunal observer stepped forward and called it. The clearing exhaled.

I was moving before I had decided to move, through the boundary line and across the clearing without hesitating. Riven looked up when he heard me coming.

He released Voss and stood. The expression on his face was relief. Pure, beautiful relief. This was over.

I reached him and his arms came around me. I felt the bond surge between us, warm, whole, and considerably more settled than it had been when he walked into this clearing. The demon was quiet.

"You're alright," I said into his shoulder.

"I told you I would be," he laughed.

I felt the exhale that was almost a laugh against my hair.

Around us, the crowd was murmuring. The tribunal observers were conferring. But I kept my face against his shoulder for one more moment and felt the bond between us hum with contentment.

I pulled back enough to look at him.

"What did you say to him at the end?" I asked. "What did you say to Voss?"

He looked at me for a moment, and something in his expression shifted into the quieter, more private version of itself.

"I told him he wasn't alone in it," he said simply. "That whatever he was carrying, he didn't have to carry it the way he had been." He paused, sucking in a shaky breath. "I told him someone would find him when this was over and explain everything."

I looked at him.

"It's the truth," he mentioned. "When this is over, we’ll find his brother and we will find Alric, then we’ll explain everything." His jaw tightened slightly, ticking. "They didn't choose this any more than we did."

I held his gaze for a moment, and what moved through the bond was too large and too warm to contain neatly.

"That's why you're going to be a good Alpha King," I whispered.

He looked startled by that in the way he always looked startled when someone said something true about him that he hadn't given himself permission to believe yet. I took his hand.

"Come on," I said. "Let's go home."

Just as we turned, there was clapping. We both turned around slowly and looked back to find who was doing it, only to discover it was Ronan. My eyes landed on his face, taking in the almost feral expression spreading across it.

“This isn’t over yet. I say we have a rematch. All four of our sons.”

He looked at the crowd, his gaze landing on one particular man who favored him. 

“Are you mad?” The man asked. “The fight has been called and it’s over. Alric lost.”

“Alric and Dorian against my two sons. Let’s hear it. You want my position, don’t you?” Ronan teased. “Then have our sons fight it out since it would be theirs. You know you can’t win against me.”

Riven started to speak up, but I held him back. 

“No, this isn’t good,” I whispered. “Raze is about to—”

I turned, finding Raze a few feet from me. His eyes were entirely black. My gaze shot across the crowd, finding Dorian and Alric. Both of their eyes were the same.

“No, no, no.”

I looked at Riven, whose eyes were still red-gold. He was the only one who was still himself. I felt his arm snake around my waist, pulling me against him. 

“There is no way out of this, Callista,” he whispered. “But I want you to know this. First and foremost, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“For everything,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t the mate you deserved. I’m sorry that we aren’t going to live happily ever after, like I’m sure you dreamed about as a little girl.”

“Quit saying sorry. We still will and—”

He shook his head, and I looked up, seeing his eyes slowly flickering between red-gold and solid black.

“No, Riven. No,” I said, my voice cracking.

“The pull…is too much,” he breathed. “Let me finish. I love you, Callista Monroe. I love you with all my heart. If I come for you, kill me.”

“Riven, please,” I begged, my knees almost giving out. “Please, no.”

“Live for us both,” he whispered. “Please live for me. No matter what you have to do. End my life and move on.”

“I can’t do that. You’re my fated mate and the one the Moon Goddess chose for me. We are Moon Marked. That means we will have a happily ever after.”

Tears rolled down his cheeks. “I wish it were true, but I now understand that I was always meant to die. But you don’t have that same fate.” He paused for a minute that felt like a lifetime. “Thank you for loving me.”

I stood on my toes, pressing my lips to his and pouring all my emotions into it. All of my love pushed through the bond, making him almost falter. His arm loosened around me for only a second before tightening again.

When I pulled back, I sighed. “This isn’t goodbye. You won’t fail and you won’t let the demon control you.”

“I love you,” he breathed just as the red-gold in his eyes faded.