Finally!

Finally!
Ivy’s POV

I sensed her before I fully understood. Lila. My wolf flared inside me, muscles coiling, claws itching. 

When did she decide to join the party? I thought she had accepted defeat, recoiled to the corner of the earth like the scum she always was.

Her scent sliced through the battlefield like a flare and I felt the sudden rush to make her pay for all she did. I bolted, ignoring the chaos behind me, following it blindly.

“Ivy!” Leo’s growl tore through the air, sharp and raw, but before he could follow, Raul launched himself at him again, fists smashing, teeth bared. Leo was forced into combat, the distraction giving me the opening I needed.

I sprinted across the blood-soaked battlefield, Nyxara powering my every stride, ears pinned, tail streaming behind me like a comet. I skidded to a halt in front of the barrier, the magic pulsing in the air. 

Don’t get it twisted. It wasn’t keeping her out. The barrier was meant to hold Dina, not Lila. She could come in.

I would be a fool to step outside alone, knowing that Dina is right there.

Nyxara growled low, crouched like a predator daring her to step forward…but Lila didn’t even glance my way. Her attention was fixed on Dina.

Dina’s eyes burned into me. Pure scorn. Her voice hissed into my skull, venom sharp as steel. If not for you, Ivy… if not for your light, I would have had my revenge long ago. I saw that light when you were a child… that light that would save Leo Ashton. That is why I caged your wolf, why I scarred you, why I haunted you with nightmares. You ruined everything for me…but not for long. I will fix this. I will destroy everything tied to the throne… even the child in your womb.

Lila’s eyes snapped to me, deadly, envious at the mention of a child. Beside her, a man…human, familiar…stood silent. Her mate, maybe. Why bring him to a war?

Dina’s hand twitched, pointing, threatening as she hurled her curses at me. She didn’t pay attention to Lila who kept advancing towards her quietly.

Then, in a blur, Lila dashed. With an ancient wooden knife in hand, she didn’t hesitate. Dina’s attention was still on me. It was too late.

The knife drove into Dina’s throat.

I watched her mouth widen, pain and betrayal twisting her features as she saw Lila. She tried to speak, to curse, but Lila twisted the blade further, muttering words I couldn’t understand. Dark smoke poured from Dina’s mouth, drawn into Lila like a living thing. I saw it vanish, absorbed.

Dina collapsed, body aging in moments, shriveling into a withered, hollow corpse.

That’s it?

What the hell just happened? I thought, frozen. Did she just… kill Dina and absorb her magic? I remembered Shina’s warning… Dina could only die by her own magic. Was the knife enchanted? Was this her magic, or something else entirely?

Before I could think further, Lila’s gaze snapped to me. Pitch-black eyes for a moment before returning to normal, a high, cackling laugh spilling out.

“Stupid witch has lived long enough,” she spat, knife held high. “It’s time for the goddess-chosen to take over. Can you see now, Aria? I’m the better one. Now I have powers that could kill you with just a snap of my fingers!”

I wanted to answer, to shout, to tear into her…but Nyxara growled, coiling tightly. Try me, she purred, every muscle taut.

Lila advanced but the barrier stopped her and her face twisted in rage.

She slammed her one hand against the barrier. “Fucking let me in!” she screamed, banshee fury. She slammed it over and over but it was useless. She has Dina’s magic now, so she can’t get in.

“Lila, stop…”

He grabbed her shoulder, and she reacted on instinct. She slammed her hand into his chest and sent him flying.

A sickening crack followed…the broken branch didn’t wait for him to fall. It pierced straight through him.

“No! Dante!” Lila shrieked, rushing to him, trembling hands useless. “Stay with me…I’ll fix this…”

The scene was pitiful. I watched, heart hammering, as she screamed, raving, crying at the sight in front of her.

“You!” She screamed, pointing a finger at me in anger. “It is all your fault! You always ruin everything for me! You want everything to yourself! I hate you, Aria! And I’ll make you pay, be it in this life or the next. I swear by the earth and sky,” She screamed, but I only watched.

She raised her hand, as though to summon powers or magic but just then, she started foaming at the mouth, her body convulsing violently under the power she had absorbed. 

Maybe it was too much for her.

And then…she fell. Still. Motionless. As Dina had fallen.

Nyxara prowled along the length of the barrier, fangs bared, growling low, restless. 

Isn’t it funny how they ended themselves? There was no battle for me to fight here. I took one last look at Lila’s form. At the girl that was once my sister, my tormentor and the constant thorn on my flesh before looking away.

Nyxra turned back toward the courtyard as I felt Leo’s desperation surge.

He was searching. Panic seared through him, raw and unfiltered. Raul lay dead at his feet, his head hanging off his body. Our warriors rounded up the last intruders, groaning and bleeding.

“Ivy!” he screamed, voice breaking through the haze of smoke and gore as he saw me. He ran toward me as I shifted back, human form reclaiming me, body trembling from adrenaline.

He took me in his arms and covered me with a blanket. “I was fucking scared. Where were you?”

I smiled, exhaustion hitting me all at once, the battle’s end finally settling over us.

“I just watched the war end, Leo,” I whispered, closing my eyes, breathing in softly.



The courtyard was quiet now, almost eerily. Smoke curled into the night sky from smoldering fires, the echoes of screams replaced by the soft drip of blood onto shattered stone. Wolves circled the edges, growling lowly, ensuring no intruder remained, while our warriors cleaned the battlefield, dragging bodies or cradling the wounded.

Leo didn’t let go of me. His arms tightened around my waist, pressing me close as if I might disappear into the ashes of this night if he blinked. I could feel every beat of his heart, every twitch of his muscles, the tremor of exhaustion that ran through him.

“Are you hurt?” he asked as he examined me carefully, his voice rough, ragged from shouting and fighting.

I shook my head. “No,” I said, voice quiet. “I’m fine…just tired.”

Leo closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to mine. “My queen is tired?” he muttered, a short, humorless laugh escaping him. “Let me take care of you tonight.”

I leaned into him, letting my fingers trace the hard planes of his chest. “I saw it all, Leo. Dina is dead. Lila is dead, even her mate.

He exhaled slowly, as if letting go of months, maybe years, of tension. “So we finally did it,” he said, voice soft, almost breaking. “We really did it. No more threats, no more shadows clawing at our lands. It’s over…for now.”

I smiled, letting my hands linger on his chest. “For now,” I echoed, letting the words taste like promise.

He pulled back just enough to look at me, gold eyes glimmering in the firelight, and smiled…a real, quiet smile, not the one he wore for the pack or the throne, but for me. “I can’t… I can’t believe we’re here, Ivy. You…you and me, together, standing in the middle of the wreckage, and still…still holding each other.”

I reached up, brushing a streak of soot and blood from his cheek. “You’ve held us all together, Leo. Even when everything was chaos, even when I thought I might lose you, you were here. Always.”

He swallowed hard, then kissed me, slow and deep, as if sealing the night, the battle, and every stolen second of peace into that moment. I let Nyxara rest, let my wolf fold quietly into me, curling at my heart, and I kissed him back, tasting smoke, blood, and the raw relief of survival.

Around us, warriors settled, wolves lay panting in the shadows, and the first tendrils of dawn began to pale the night sky. The smell of death lingered, but it was softened by the rising sun and the heavy, comforting weight of victory.

Leo held me tighter as we began moving inside, and I closed my eyes, letting the battlefield fall away, letting the warmth of his body remind me of what we had fought for. The world could wait. Tonight, we breathe in peace.

The war had ended. The blood had been spilled. And finally, finally, there was peace…for us, for our children…and for the kingdom we’d fought to protect.