End this
Nikolai’s POV
‘Nikolai?’
My heart skipped a beat when Anna’s voice filled my head in a mindlink. I stopped in my tracks, my breath caught in my throat, praying silently that she was about to deliver good news.
‘I can hear you Anna, what’s up? Did you…’ I paused, not knowing what exactly to ask. My insides churned as I waited for her response.
‘We’ve found Liyah, she’s alright.’
I felt my heart muscles loosen at the sound of those words, my clenched fists relaxed and I heaved a sigh of relief. Thank the goddess. Liyah was alive. She was safe. Everything would be alright now.
‘Okay. That’s very good.’ I breathed
‘Drew says our soldiers have already rounded more than half of the Monhowl pack, a lot are dead and the few who are wounded are surrendering.’ She sounded in my ears.
I scoffed. So these were the best fighters of Monhowl. Pathetic.
‘Okay. I’ll need you to help him gather all the prisoners, maybe into their dungeon or something then wait for my command.’ I said and broke the mindlink. It was time to settle old scores, once and for all.
I was tempted to think that Jonas had gone into hiding but I killed the thought immediately. He was much too egotistical to run away. If there was one thing I knew about Jonas, it was that he would rather die than give you the satisfaction of thinking you had won. And that was exactly why he was going to die today.
I had searched the entire mansion stealthily and there was still no sign of him. There was only one place left; the garden.
Cautiously, I took long strides, moving past the halls and toward the garden as I watched for any traps. This was beginning to get too easy, and it was a bit unsettling. I still couldn’t believe we had taken over nearly half of the mansion. I knew the ambush gave us an advantage. But still, something seemed off.
And then I saw him.
Jonas Verbeck, sitting on the garden bench and drinking tea so peacefully, like his entire pack wasn’t under siege, like all his betas hadn’t just been killed, like he had no idea what was going on.
What the hell was happening?
But when he turned to look at me with an amused expression, I knew something was definitely up. I extracted my claws, anger brewing inside me at the sight of him.
“Ah, we meet again. For a moment there I thought you had ditched me. Care for some tea?” He asked, motioning to the jug. “It’s cold now and the leaves are extremely difficult to pick but very refreshing. What do you say?” He asked, smirking while lifting the teacup by his side.
“VERBECK!” I growled, shaking with fury. He had the balls to joke? I would make sure his death was slow and painful.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
He faked a frown.
“I’ll take that as a no then. Oh well, I tried didn’t I?” He smiled and adjusted on the garden chair. “You look good by the way, Slade. After our last meeting at the office, I thought your big head would have blown off your shoulders by now. So well done. Although I still think registering for anger management class would do you some good, don’t you?” He said brushing a piece of leaf from his hair.
I gave a thin smile. “Staying alone out here was a big mistake, Jonas. You’re going to regret it.”
He laughed loudly.
“Oh Nikky. Nikolai Slade, still playing hero, even after all these years. How history repeats itself.” He smirked again.
My head boiled hot and my heart clenched in agony. “Nothing is repeating itself you fucking bastard!” I growled furiously.
“What did you say?” He asked, dropping the tea cup. The pretentious smile had disappeared. “So you think that just because you brought a group of midgets here with you, that you’ll walk out of this place alive?” He gave a cold high pitched laugh. “Then you must be more stupid than I give you credit for, Slade.” He spat, getting to his feet.
“Play time’s over, Verbeck.” I breathed through gritted teeth. My eyes flew to his feet as I watched for any sudden movements. By now I already knew what a cunning bastard he was.
His eyes flashed.
“Don’t worry, Slade, I won’t kill you just yet. I’ll make you beg for the mercy of death. I will make you watch while I take your lover’s life. You’ll see her suffer just like the woman before her. You’ll watch her take her last breath and who knows? I might even get some of the boys to recreate Elle’s death, if you know what I mean,” He winked at me, his lips curling into a smile.
That was the height of it all. The sound of my wolf growling filled my ears. I felt my clothes rip as I transformed but it was different this time, my arms were much bigger, my fangs and claws were longer and sharper than normal and I felt much more stronger than I usually would feel after shifting. Even though I couldn’t see myself I could tell that I was now about two times the size of Jonas. And he was a giant. I had never transformed into this beast before but I was too furious to think.
As I dived in his direction, I figured I was even faster now. I closed my jaw over the side of this stomach, my fangs digging into flesh and blood, spitting out the flesh from my mouth which was dripping with his blood.
He staggered back with one hand applying pressure on the wound now gushing with blood. It was was not healing. With a look of shock and pain in his face, he roared as his eyes changed into that of his wolf- bright red. His ears stretched out and his fangs appeared, he let out a loud angry growl, extended his claws and charged at me.
He made the first move. Using his now smaller size to his advantage, he landed a powerful scratch on my back.
I let out a groan and staggered back but quickly regained my balance. I couldn’t lose focus. No.
He charged again but this time I was ready. We were locked in a wrestle, both of us breathing hard refusing to break eye contact, then I scratched him on the stomach, in the same spot.
He groaned and retaliated, scratching the side of my face. I lost balance and fell and Jonas pounced. Jumping on me and looking to land another blow.
But as he raised his claws to scratch, he let out a loud groan and fell over and a hand pulled me to my feet. I wiped the blood from my eyes to look at my helper. But instead of Drew’s short, black hair, I saw the long light-brown hair of a man that seemed so familiar. I searched his eyes for any sign of recognition and when he smiled at me, it clicked.
It was him. The same man who had saved my life when I was stabbed by Jonas’ traffickers with silver. The same man who had disappeared when I tried to thank him. I had almost forgotten about him. But what on earth was he doing here?
“You..?” I breathed still staring at him in surprise.
“You’re welcome,” He replied. “Let’s end this.” He said as we both faced Jonas who was struggling to get to his feet. He staggered back in shock when his eyes fell on the man by my side.
“Gabriel?” Jonas asked, his voice hoarse. “What the fuck are you doing here?! I thought I told those bastards to kill you.” His chest heaved as he and the man stared each other down while I stood confused.
“Do I really have to do everything myself?” Jonas said coldly. “Oh you’ll just have to die again then!” He growled.
Gabriel scoffed but said nothing.
“What are you waiting for you fuckers?! Come on!” Jonas yelled.
Gabriel growled as he transformed and extended his claws as we both charged. I was a big black beast and Gabriel was smaller, about the size of Jonas but his mane was light brown and huge.
We both pounced, landing blows at the same time, both of us catching each side of Jonas’ face. The impact sent him reeling as he roared painfully, landing heavily on the grass. I could see the blood oozing from the gash in his head as I approached him.
It was time to end this.
It all happened too quickly for me to grasp. One second I was bending over Jonas ready to strike, the next he had somehow picked up the garden bench and dived towards me. I was caught off guard as he struck a defeaning blow to my back before I could block it. My whole body numbed from the pain as the bench was crushed into pieces on my back.
I fell to the floor, blood oozing from my mouth as I tried to crawl to my feet. The last thing I felt was my body shifting back to my human form, and then everything went black.