150- Guts and Vows
POV Lunara Grimwald:
“Come near her again, you bastard, and you’ll see what it’s like to be torn apart alive!” he roared.
Alpha Eclipse got to his feet, dragging the leg with the open wound. He braced himself against the cave’s stones to stay upright.
“She’s going to die anyway.” He laughed, sweat shining on his forehead from the sheer pain he felt. “She lost a lot of blood before you got here. She’s weak and debilitated.”
Edric stared at me, and something like fear glinted in his golden eyes.
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple shifting; his muscles tensed.
Something in him changed—hatred turned into fear, and rage into vengeance.
Alessio took advantage of his second of hesitation, lunging at him. Edric was faster, kicking him into the wall a second time. Dust exhaled into the air, dancing in spirals of golden ash as stones broke loose from the wall.
My mate didn’t wait for him to get up. In the blink of an eye, he was on Alpha Eclipse, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him off the ground. Alessio raked his claws along Edric’s forearm, but he didn’t even seem to notice the wound or the pain, too focused on his fury to perceive it.
“You came into my territory, killed my best friend, a pup, and you still kidnapped my female,” he growled, staring him down up close. He yanked him away from the wall only to smash him into the stones again.
“As an answer, I wiped out your pack and took the leader’s position from your father by eating his heart. But you’re so despicable you won’t even give me that pleasure, since your father was still the pack’s alpha.”
Alessio smiled, his teeth stained with blood.
“My pleasure was killing your little friend Anton.” His gaze slid to me. “If you could’ve seen Lunara’s suffering—how sad she felt over his death.” He cackled. Edric tightened his grip on his throat a little more, making him choke. “If I were you, I’d look into it. My father got cheated on and didn’t even know it. Lunara reacted like a widow.”
“You would never understand what true friendship is, since it’s beyond you to nurture real feelings,” I panted.
He pressed his lips together, pretending to consider it.
“You’re right, my love.”
A warning growl rumbled through Edric.
I coughed, feeling strength abandon my body, as if every breath were a colossal effort. My limbs felt like they weighed tons, while my mind sank into a murky fog of exhaustion.
My heart beat weakly and steadily; each pulse was like a painful reminder of my frailty. I fought to stay conscious, but it was getting harder and harder.
Andrei felt it. He noticed my muscles go slack in his arms. He lowered his head, eyes sweeping over me, before lifting his face to the battle unfolding before us.
“Edric!” he shouted, a warning, a plea—his tone pure desperation. “She’s weak.”
The leader of Eldoria looked at me, and all the blood seemed to drain from his face.
He felt it. He noticed, through our bond, my weakness—life slowly slipping away from me. I would die, and he would follow me.
No! That couldn’t happen.
He had an entire pack to command and... I wouldn’t be able to die in peace if I knew I would drag him with me.
When he turned back to Alessio, Edric seemed even more overtaken by savagery.
“I had so many plans for you—so many I can’t even lay them out right now.” The grooves of his fingers around the male’s throat blanched white. “But you hurt my mate, so much—enough to risk her life. And no one touches my female. No one.”
With his free hand, he drew his arm back, nails lengthened, then shot it forward, plunging his claws into the Eclipse male’s abdomen. Alessio shuddered and spat blood, which ran from his lips, smearing his chin.
The smell of metal saturated the air once again, thick and forceful.
Edric twisted the hand inside him, gripping some vital organ. Then he yanked it out, dragging his intestines through his fingers—pinkish and spongy in appearance.
I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to vomit.
The stench was sharp and sour, mixed with notes of rot and decomposition.
He held the intestines—soft and pliant—smearing his fingers with blood, intestinal mucus, and remnants of undigested food, and wrapped them twice around Alessio’s neck. Alessio trembled and spat blood.
He removed the hand that had been on his throat and then pulled on the guts tied around him, hanging him. He collapsed to the ground, unable to hold up his own weight.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned my head to the side and tried to vomit, but nothing came—my stomach was empty. I retched anyway, contorting involuntarily and feeling pain in my abdomen. I sagged in Andrei’s arms, breathing through my mouth so I wouldn’t take in the smell.
Alessio choked on his own blood. Desperate, he tried to claw at the intestines wound around his neck, searching for air. Edric stepped on his belly and watched him from above, studying every fleeting reaction on his twisted face as life drained out of his body.
He let out one last peaceful breath. His pupils dilated, and his eyes lost their shine.
Dead. The alpha of the Eclipse pack was, at last, dead.
For the first time in months, I let out a moan of relief. I felt free after so long. Truly free. Free of his constant presence and the shadow that had pursued me.
Edric let go of the putrid intestines. He crouched over the body and wiped his hands on Alessio’s pants. He looked at him one last time, as if he needed to make sure.
There was no possibility of Alpha Eclipse surviving after all the injuries he’d suffered; not even his wolf genes could cope with them.
Edric stood, and a blink later he was in front of me, looking me up and down, his expression marked by concern.
“You’re weak.” It wasn’t a question—it was an obvious fact, something he could feel through our bond.
A ragged sigh parted our lips at the same time.
“I need... I need you to hand me the bowl of blood on top of the table.”
He frowned.
“Why?”
I lifted my hand and touched his face, sliding my fingertips over his soft skin, memorizing his features, carving them into my mind.
“It’s the blood of an innocent—the missing piece to complete the ritual. I’m dying, Edric. I can’t and I won’t drag you with me. Eldoria needs you. They need their leader.”
He shook his head, and tears lit his blue eyes.
“Never, Lunara! Never.” I nodded, silently begging.
“Please, complete the ritual. Live, Edric.” He couldn’t—he didn’t have to—die. So many people depended on him, counted on him. “I’m sorry,” I sighed, tears slipping from the corners of my eyes.
I wouldn’t tell him about our bond, or about the pup. Edric had been hurt too much by Catalina’s death; he didn’t need to live the rest of his days blaming himself for mine as well.
He pulled me from Andrei’s lap and cradled me in his arms.
“Listen carefully, little she-wolf. There is no possibility whatsoever of forcing me to perform any ritual at all!” he barked, his tone firm. “If you die, I will die too. Do you understand?”
I sobbed, crying even harder.