Chapter 73

Chapter 73
Talia pov

There was so much violence around me, I didn’t even have time to think, let alone actually come up with a plan. It was hectic, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Is this was true war is? Death and blood and cries of pain. I want it to stop, I want it all to stop, but I have to keep going. I have to fight, not just for myself, but for Aria.

I can’t let her go back to him, even if that means giving up everything. Even if it means giving up my own life. She comes first in my eyes and she always will.

My father is furious, ordering his men to kill us all, but the men Zade brought with him are strong. Clearly better trained than those my father had arrived with. They are cutting through his men like a knife through softened butter.

It’s great to watch. But it’s also very sad.

These men don’t deserve to die just because they chose the wrong side, but that’s how battles work. I hate to admit it to myself, but I’d rather these strangers die than someone I care about. Does that make me a bad person?

Maybe it does, but it doesn’t change a thing.

Zade jumps into the middle of the action, still in his human form and blocks the enemy from getting to me. It’s sweet, but I know how to fight. I’ve done enough of it since coming here, and I’m quite good at it.

Not as good as the men in my life, but I can hold my ground.

I’ve even killed men twice my size, I didn’t want to, but they forced my hand and I don’t regret it.

I’ll do anything to protect the life I now have, and the people who have become important to me.

Maybe I’ll go to hell, or maybe the goddess won’t judge me. Maybe she’ll she I fight from a place of love, not hate. All I want is to protect the people closest to me. Especially my sister.

She can’t protect herself, she is just a child.

A young girl who was born into the wrong family at the wrong time. My father was already cruel to me, but he was worse with Aria. He hated that she wasn’t a boy.

But he never knew Zade lived, and he certainly didn’t expect him to come back and outright reject him. It must have made him furious.

But if I know anything, I know that my father will not give up. Not now that he know Zade exists.

“Talia.” Zade says, voice sort even though his eyes are dark with hatred. “Shift back. You need to go find aria.”

I do as he commands, my entire body shaking from the strain of it. I’m only young, I haven’t had the chance to practice shifting quickly and precisely like the others here.

I only got my wolf a few moons ago.

“Where is she?” I ask, stepping closer to my brother.

“It doesn’t matter girl; you aren’t going anywhere:” one of the enemy wolves say, voice like ice. “You either surrender to us or die.”

“Women should know their place; you can’t fight us all.” Says another, his eyes a deep black shade, showing his wolf was close to the surface.

“Maybe she can’t.” Zade says, stepping closer to me and taking my hand. “But she doesn’t have to, she has me.”

“You are betraying the man who gave you life, both of you.” Black eyes growls, widening his stance. “If you come back now an surrender, he may forgive you both.”

“Never.” Zade growls back, cracking his knuckles, “no one will make me or Talia go back. We’d rather die.”

“You won’t die.” Black eyes laughs cruelly, “but your precious sisters will. Are you ready to risk their lives for your own pride?”

Zade hesitates, looking down at me.

He doesn’t want to risk my life, I see it in his eyes, but I would much rather die than go back to that godforsaken shack I grew up in.

“Don’t let them get in your head.” I whisper to my brother, squeezing his hand. “We can beat them.”

Zade watches me for several more seconds before turning to the muscular wolf. “We aren’t going anywhere with you.” He says voice hard as stone. “In fact, we are going to make sure that you are the ones to regret your choices, because we are going to kill you all.”

Black eyes laughs loudly, and so does the five others that surround us. They think they have already won this battle.

They think I’m weak just because I’m a woman, but they’re wrong, just as these types of men often are. They underestimate women because they think we don’t have any strength. But I’m strong. I’ve proven that time and time again.

The battle isn’t over, not like they think it is.

“Fight in your human form but shift your hands so that your claws grow out.” Zade tells me softly, “we can do this if we work together, ok?”

I nod, doing exactly what he said and just shifting my hands, it takes a couple of tries, but I manage to do it. Though I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold it.

I have every faith that my brother will protect me the best that he can.

Black eyes laughs again, eyes filled with hate. “Kill the girl.” He orders his men.

The men rush us whilst black eyes stays back to watch, but we are ready. We knew it was coming long before he said the words.

Zade draws three of them away, leaving two who come running towards me at such speed that it scares me. But I don’t let my fear take over me.

The first one, blonde hair and red eyes comes at me with his fists flying, but I manage to dodge almost every blow, he’s big, but he isn’t as fast as he first seemed.

And I’ll use that to my advantage.

I’ll take the fucker down.

Even if I go down with him.