Chapter 174 Only One

Chapter 174 Only One
\[Osiris’ POV\]
I stare at my stepmother as she smiles at me. It is clear from the gleam in her eyes that she thinks that she has me, but I won’t give her the satisfaction.
This was a decisive battle that we were beginning and only one of us would be left standing. I would damned if the one to fall was me.
“Well?” She asks, her smug expression growing. “What are you waiting for? You came here to save your mate and kill me, right? I suggest that you complete your task quickly otherwise…” She trails off, her gaze shifting to the door just beside her. “Well, I’m afraid that your mate might not make it.”
Raelyn?
I’m instantly alert, my senses extending and when I feel Raelyn’s presence and the struggle that she is feeling I try to move again. However, just like the first time, I find myself slamming into that damned shield.
“Look at you,” my stepmother laughs. “Look how pathetic you are? You can’t even come any further, yet everyone worships you as some great alpha.”
As she speaks, her expression shifts from triumphant to one of dissatisfaction and even jealousy.
“What makes you any different from my Ray?”
Many things, I think, trying to find a way past the shield that is holding me back.
Unlike him, I worked my way to where I am.
I put in the hours. I suffered the sleepless nights. I endured the ridicule that came from everyone around me. And in the end, I rose above it.
But what about Ray?
Well, that was pretty fucking simple.
He got to where he was because of his mother’s dirty tricks and if I wasn’t able to take her out now he would end up permanently in my position.
I won’t let that happen.
‘We won’t,’ Sterling adds.
Right. We wouldn’t let her get away with this trick she was trying to pull and we wouldn’t let her have her way with our mate.
Find the mage.
That was the only plausible explanation.
Find the mage and take them out so that I could take out my stepmother and save Raelyn, but where was the mage hiding?
Slowly, I let my senses expand even more, searching for the location of the mage, but when I come up empty, I realize that there is a good chance that the one I’m searching for is intentionally hiding their essence from me.
Dammit.
Where the hell was this mage…
I don’t get to finish my thought as a commotion erupts from the room just beside my stepmother and then Jean and a woman who looks similar to her comes crashing out.
“That’s enough!” Jean yells, pinning the woman to the ground. “You can’t keep protecting her!”
As she speaks, my stepmother turns her gaze in her direction and I take the opening, rushing forward, and slamming into her.
Instantly, we go toppling and while I fight to gain the advantage she claws at me.
“You!” She hisses once I’ve got her pinned. “You will…”
Will what?” I wonder, fighting the urge to just rip her fucking heart out right here and now. What the hell do you intend to do?
Behind me, I can still hear Jean and the woman fighting, but that wasn’t any of my business. Instead, my only target right now was the woman beneath me.
You’re finished. I think, pressing a paw against her throat. This is where your tyranny will end.
Determination growing, I push my paw harder against her skin, just enough to cut off her airway, but not enough to break anything and as I do, she fights me, desperately trying to break free, but coming up empty.
“I won’t,” she gasps, digging her nails into my skin. “I won’t…”
But you will, I think, watching as her face turns redder and her eyes start bulging and when those eyes start to slowly close, I know that this fight is finally over.
At least, that was supposed to be how it went, but before my stepmother can actually close her eyes, I feel magic slam into me, sending me crashing to the side.
Cursing inwardly, I jump up and look to find the woman that Jean was fighting facing me, hand out, look of determination on her face.
‘Why?’ Sterling asks, eyeing her. ‘Why is she helping that bitch?’
By this point it was clear that the woman had some relation to Jean. The resemblance was just too uncanny, so it didn’t make sense that she was helping my stepmother, unless…
Once again my suspicion of Jean appears, but when I look to the woman in question and find her unconscious and bleeding I know that there is no way that she was putting on an act.
‘What should we do?’ Sterling asks as we watch my stepmother rise to her feet. ‘Do we try to take out the mage?’
‘If we want to win this that is our only choice.’ I respond. ‘But getting close to her will be difficult.’
As long as the woman was conscious she would be able to use her powers and as long as she used her powers we wouldn’t be able to get near her.
So, what were our options?
One was to attempt to trick her into thinking that we were going to do something else. Another was to face her head on and hope for the best.
As I debate these options, I keep my gaze locked on the two women in front of me and when I settle on trying to fool her, I prepare to move. However, I never get the chance to initiate my plan as a large wolf erupts from the room that Jean and the mage came from.
‘Mate!’ Sterling gasps while the wolf slams into the mage. ‘That’s our mate!’
Raelyn. I call silently, watching as she attacks the woman and pins her to the ground. You’re okay.
Instantly, I feel a wave of relief slam into me as I watch my mate fight with the mage, her mouth open, her claws extended, and determination clear in her eyes.
From where I stand I can easily tell that she is determined to eliminate the woman and even though that is what I would do myself, I know that in the end she would regret it.
'We need to stop her before she kills that woman.' I murmur, beginning to move. 'Otherwise…'
"Where do you think you're going?"
My stepmother's voice rings out as she begins to shift and when she finishes she places her body between me and my target.