Chapter 145 145
Denzel’s POV
It happened without warning.
We were asleep when Tyrell jolted me awake with a sharp alert we were under attack.
My stomach twisted violently. The moment had arrived. The battle Venessa had foreseen was no longer a distant nightmare; it was here. This was the fight for survival. For freedom.
If we lost tonight, our kind would cease to exist.
And yet her vision still showed a total wipeout.
Fear coiled tightly in my chest, but there was no escaping it now. They had come prepared, just as we had. The war had found us.
I intended to survive for Venessa. I wanted whatever time she had left to be peaceful, filled with moments that weren’t soaked in blood and sacrifice. But if my life had to be the price, then I would make sure it counted. As general of this war, victory was my responsibility.
Venessa was already awake.
I could see it in her eyes she knew. No words passed between us because none were needed. This was the moment we had been dreading.
She leaned in and kissed me once quick, desperate and reached for her ultraviolet blade. Her light was powerful, but it came at a cost. We both knew it drained her life force. It had to be her final option. Her last stand.
I watched her dress swiftly, her movements steady despite the storm raging around us. I strapped on my weapons holstering the gun loaded with silver bullets and gripping the one filled with ultraviolet rounds.
Then we stepped out of the tent.
Chaos had already consumed the camp.
The attackers moved like feral beasts, rabid and relentless. Our warriors met them head-on steel clashing, gunfire tearing through the air. The battle erupted in every direction at once.
“Stay close, Venessa,” I ordered as I maneuvered us toward the center, where our formation would be strongest.
But something felt wrong.
Deeply wrong.
“Betrayal,” Venessa said sharply.
She moved with fury, driving her blade into an attacker only this one wasn’t corrupted. They were one of ours.
My blood ran cold.
I fired instinctively, sinking a silver bullet into a werebear who should have been fighting beside us. As he fell, I finally saw it clearly.
Some of our own had turned.
“We’ve been compromised,” Tyrell linked me, slipping into the beta role without even realizing it.
“Rayon. Tyrell. Devon. Jalisa,” I ordered quickly. “Close in. We fight from the center outward.”
“Understood, Alpha,” they responded one by one.
Venessa and I pushed deeper toward the core of the formation.
“There are traitors among us,” King Jamar announced grimly, his voice carrying through the link.
I tightened my grip on both guns silver in one hand, ultraviolet in the other and began firing with precision. The hardest part wasn’t the killing it was knowing who deserved it.
Every hesitation could mean death.
As the sun rose, the battle only intensified. The corrupted ones grew harder to take down, and some of the ultraviolet blades began to fail as their batteries depleted. The truth settled in with brutal clarity.
Winning was slipping out of reach.
“Do not communicate your orders openly,” Venessa linked though I recognized Nyla’s presence behind the words. “Each alpha leads their own.”
I searched desperately for Nyla, but I couldn’t see her. The fighting had scattered us, waves of attacks forcing separation after separation.
It was exactly as she had predicted.
A slaughter.
I let my claws extend and lunged at an oncoming bear. The moment I struck, I realized where he was from the bear kingdom.
King Donovan’s forces had been compromised.
I didn’t warn him. I followed orders.
One silver bullet ended the threat. The body collapsed, shifting back into human form.
“What is happening?” King Jamar demanded through the link. Only he and Venessa could still communicate with everyone.
“Stick to your strategy,” I sent to my father-in-law. “Do not share your movements. We’ve been betrayed. Some warriors are fighting for them. I’ve already taken down three from King Donovan’s ranks. Be careful.”
Silence followed.
I didn’t dwell on it. There was no time.
I fought relentlessly claws, bullets, instinct guiding every move. My focus narrowed to one purpose only: end this war and live long enough to hold Venessa again.
I refused to die.
Around me, I saw Tyrell and Jalisa standing back-to-back, unwavering. Rayon and Devon fought in perfect sync nearby.
Then I saw him.
A man who looked like a younger version of King Jamar massive, bronze-skinned, his body gleaming like forged metal. His eyes were black as a moonless night, and he wore a smile that didn’t belong on a battlefield.
A sword gleamed in his hand.
I watched him cut through my men with ease. I tried to push toward him, but attackers swarmed me from all sides.
“You won’t reach me, General,” a deep, venomous voice echoed inside my mind.
I knew exactly who it was.
My heart seized when I saw where he was heading.
“Tyrell look out!” I linked urgently. “Tremaine is coming for you.”
Tyrell turned just in time to face him.
I cut down the enemies in my path with growing impatience, forced to wait for them to come at me because I could no longer tell ally from traitor.
The war had turned into a game of survival
and betrayal was its deadliest weapon.