Chapter 214 Defeated war

Chapter 214 Defeated war
Chapter 214: Defeated war

Selene pov

his sword hissed as it left its sheath. He was fast… faster than Kael would ever be. His blade came at my throat in a strike meant to decapitate.

I deflected it, feeling the impact jar through my arm. He was strong too. Enhanced, probably. The Queen's favorite soldiers always were.

You traitorous bitch! Two years!" he snarled, pressing his attack. His sword became a blur of steel, each strike designed to kill. "Five years I stood beside you! Trained with you! Bled with you! And you were planning this the entire time?"

I gave ground, letting him drive me back toward the center of the courtyard. Around us, soldiers fought and died. The clang of steel on steel mixed with screams and curses.

"Not the entire time," I admitted, parrying a thrust aimed at my heart. "Just the last three years. The first two, I was genuinely loyal." I twisted, using his momentum against him, and scored a shallow cut across his ribs. "Then I learned what the Queen really was. What she really wanted. What she was building."

"She wants order!" The Messenger's next strike nearly took my head off. I felt it whistle past my ear. "She wants to unite all wolves under one banner! No more petty pack wars! No more weak Alphas”

"She wants slaves." I caught his blade in a lock, our faces were inches apart now. "She wants broken wolves she can control. She wants to erase everything that makes us who we are… our bonds, our instincts, our freedom… and replace it with her vision of perfection."

"Better her vision than chaos!" He surprisingly broke the lock and spun around, his elbow catching me in the jaw. Stars immediately exploded across my vision. "Better one strong ruler than a thousand weak ones!"

I tasted blood."I used to think that too. Then I saw what she did to the failures. The wolves who did not survive her experiments…" I spat out the blood. My next strike was pure fury, driving him back three steps. "I buried sixty-three bodies in those maintenance tunnels. Sixty-three wolves who trusted her. Who believed in her vision. Who died screaming in agony because their bodies rejected her enhancements."

"Sacrifices for the greater good!" But his voice wavered. Just slightly.

"Tell that to their families." I pressed my advantage, my blade moving in patterns I had perfected over years of killing in the Queen's name.

Around us, the battle was turning against them. The Queen's soldiers were fleeing, many abandoning their weapons and vehicles. The Silent Dancers pursued them efficiently, cutting down as much as possible.

The Messenger saw it too. Saw his Queen's plans crumbling.

He screamed… raw and primal… and launched himself at me with everything he had. No technique now. No strategy. Just desperate fury and the need to make me pay.

I smiled, using his moment of weakness to my advantage.

My blade found the gap between his chest plate and his shoulder armor. I felt it slide between his ribs, pierce his lung, straight to his heart.

His eyes went wide as if he couldn't believe it. His sword clattered to the stones.

"You were a good soldier," I told him quietly. "Loyal. Brave. Dedicated." I twisted the blade, making sure. "But you served the wrong master."

Blood bubbled from his lips. "The Queen... will kill you... for this..."

"She can try."

I pulled my blade free and let him fall.

Silence crashed over the courtyard. The remaining Queen's soldiers, those who had not joined me or died fighting, stood frozen. Weapons lowered. Faces pale.

The battle was officially over with his death.

"Your commander is dead," I announced, my voice carrying across the sudden quiet. "Your second commander is dead. Your alliance with the unrighteous packs is broken. You have no leadership, no direction, and no hope of victory." I raised my voice. "But I am not without mercy. Leave now. Abandon your vehicles, your weapons, your mission. Run back to the Queen and tell her that her perfect commander has become her perfect enemy. Tell her that when she sent me to kill my brother, she made the greatest mistake of her life."

For three heartbeats, no one moved.

Then one soldier broke. He turned and ran. All hell broke loose.

Within moments, the Queen's army scattered like headless chickens, abandoning their sophisticated war trucks and weapons as they fled like rabbits before wolves. I watched them go with grim satisfaction. Let them go and report back to their Queen.

A throat cleared behind me.

I turned to find Alpha Chen stepping forward from the alliance packs. He was trying to look brave, puffing out his chest and meeting my eyes with what he probably thought was confidence.

I saw right through it. His hands were shaking. There was sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool morning air. The battle he had just witnessed had terrified him.

"What about us?" he asked, and his voice only trembled slightly. "Are we prisoners now?"

"That depends." I walked toward him slowly, deliberately, my blade still wet with the Messenger's blood. He flinched with each step but held his ground. Points for courage, at least. "You came here to destroy my brother. To claim his territory. To murder his mate and steal his child." My blade rose to point directly at his heart. "Give me one reason I should not kill you where you stand."

"We were following the Queen's orders!" Chen blurted. "She promised us power, territory, freedom from the old pack laws…"

"Lies she whispered to your ambition," I interrupted. "Tell me, Alpha Chen, what do you value more? Your pride or your life?"

He swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on my blade still dripping with blood. "My life."

"Good answer." I lowered my blade slightly. "Then here is your choice. You can swear allegiance to my brother, to his mate, to his unborn heir. You can fight with us against the Queen and help us rescue Milo. In return, when this is over, you keep your territory and your life." I paused, letting that sink in. "Or you can refuse, and I will kill you and every Alpha who stands with you. Then I will claim your territories anyway and give them to wolves who deserve them."

"That is not much of a choice," alpha theron muttered from where he still knelt.

"No," I agreed. "It is not. But it is more mercy than the Queen would have shown you. More mercy than you showed when you agreed to attack an omega carrying a child." My eyes swept across all the alliance Alphas. "Decide. Now."

Chen looked at his fellow Alphas. At the Silent Dancers surrounding them, still breathing hard from battle. At Kael's headless corpse and the Messenger's body leaking blood onto the stones. At the dozens of dead soldiers scattered across the courtyard. At the abandoned Queen's army vehicles and weapons.

The message was clear. I had just destroyed the Queen's army from within. What chance did they have?

"We swear allegiance," he said finally. "To Alpha Damon. To his mate Milo. To his heir."

One by one, the other alliance Alphas repeated the oath. Some looked relieved. Others looked furious but knew better than to object. But they all knelt down.

I felt something shift inside my chest. For years I have been driven by nothing but revenge and vengeance, but looking at the alphas kneeling, and willing to fight against the Queen. I felt a different kind of feeling. I couldn't explain, crawl up my chest.

Now, finally, I am free.

"James," I called to my brother's beta. "Get Damon inside and find a healer. The curse is killing him faster than I expected." I glanced at the alliance Alphas. "The rest of you, secure the perimeter and help clear the bodies. The Queen will retaliate, and when she does, I want to be ready."

As soldiers and Alphas scattered to follow my orders, I knelt beside Damon's unconscious form one more time.

"I am still angry with you, little brother," I whispered. "For all the times you stood by while Father hurt me. For not protecting Joshua. For being too weak to stand up to him." I brushed a strand of bloody hair from his face. Blood… mine, the Messenger's, Kael's… stained my hands. "But you were a child. We both were. And you were right… that baby is innocent. So I will help you save your mate and your son. Not for you. For them. And maybe..." I paused, feeling tears prick my eyes. "Maybe for the brother I remember from before Father twisted us both into monsters."

I stood and turned to face my Silent Dancers. They were bloodied but unbroken, watching me with absolute loyalty.

"Prepare for war," I told them simply. "The Queen will not take this betrayal lightly."

They nodded grimly, their hard faces showing no emotion whatsoever. They already know that there is no going back once we have exposed ourselves.

Vera, my second in command, stepped forward. "What are your orders, Commander?"

"We fortify this position. We tend the wounded and we plan." I looked toward the horizon where the Queen's fortress lay. "And then we march on that bitch and make her pay for everything she has taken from us."

Vera smiled, showing teeth. "With pleasure, Commander."