Back at the secluded villaAn oppressive sense of tension weighed heavy and suffocating as the once serene infirmary now felt like a fortress under siege. Meredith's lips were pressed into a thin, grim line while her brow furrowed deeply in contemplation and disbelief at the events that had just transpired. She had narrowly managed to subdue that mysterious witch, or whatever malevolent entity it was, that had tried spying on them. Meredith locked gazes with Knox. Her eyes were hard and steely yet filled with concern. Her lips tightened even further together as she took in Knox’s tense stance. Enzo standing nearby with his arms crossed over his broad chest, could practically feel the waves of misery and rage roiling off Meredith in scorching hot flashes. He had known her long enough to recognize that look - she was absolutely livid, but also unsettled in a way he had rarely witnessed in ages."What did you see?" Enzo asked gruffly. But Meredith didn't offer any answer.
~At another location~The night stretched before Seven like an impenetrable veil, concealing the high-security compound. His boots fell in near-silent steps on the rain-slicked pavement as he approached the huge gates before him. His fingers tightened around the grip of his suppressed pistol while his piercing gaze swept over the armed guards patrolling the perimeter, assessing their patterns and positioning like a seasoned predator chasing its prey. Their presence was but a minor obstacle, one he would neutralize with ruthless efficiency. Drawing a steadying breath into his lungs, he slipped into the darkness, cloaking the compound. He moved with a grace that rendered him all but invisible... like a wraith in the darkest of hours.The first guard never even saw him coming. One moment, he was standing at his post, shoulders squared with his gun at the ready, and the next, Seven's gloved hand was clamped over his mouth to stifle any chance of a warning cry. He gave the guar
Seven whipped around with speed. His gun was leveled and sighted before the rest of his body had even completed the turn, just in time for a group of armed guards to round the corner up ahead with lasers pointing at them. "Don't move!" one of the guards shouted. Seven's lips curved into an evil grin. His eyes glinted dangerously, and he felt a surge of adrenaline as the scent of gunpowder and sweat flooded his senses. "Oh, I didn't realize we were invited to a bloody party," he mused in a low, gravelly tone utterly devoid of fear or hesitation. The first rapid bursts of gunfire rang out like a thunderclap in the enclosed space. All hell broke loose in a deafening cacophony of screams and ricocheting bullets as Seven handled their opponents while Killian made the person they came for take cover behind a steel door frame. Seven had a wicked smile on his face as he dropped two guards at once with a bullet to the forehead. "This is getting us nowhere!" Killian roared o
The bright morning sunlight was filtering in through bedroom window's gauzy curtains the next time Serena opened her eyes again. Everything felt utterly perfect and at peace in the world for one blissful moment. And then the dull throbbing behind her temples and the acidic taste of liquor coating her tongue kicked in, swiftly shattering that illusion.Serena groaned pitifully as she slowly became aware of her undoubted disheveled state. She was sure to still be wearing the rumpled cocktail attire from the night before, her hair a tangled rat's nest, and her makeup leaving unsightly smudges on the pristine ivory pillowcase beneath her cheek. Clearly, Killian must have managed to get her home and into bed at some point after their raucous night of debauchery, though she had zero recollection of how she ended up here.Serena cautiously pushed herself into an upright position. Her head felt like it was trapped in a tight grip and every tiny movement sent a fresh wave of nausea r
Serena fixed Knox with an icy glare that could have frozen hell itself over. ‘He finally knows how to speak?’ "Why do you care if I'm okay or not? You certainly didn't seem to give a damn about my wellbeing when you walked out on me without so much as an explanation of your actions.” she spat through gritted teeth.Knox frowned. He opened his mouth to respond but Serena didn't give him the chance. She was on a roll now, all the hurt and anger she had been bottling up for days finally finding an outlet. "Just get out!" she hissed in a voice trembling with barely contained fury and unshed tears. "I never want to see you again as long as I live, you cheating bastard. Go back to whatever whore you've been shacking up with these past few days. I'm sure she's much more accommodating of your bullshit than I will ever tolerate."A muscle ticked along Knox's clenched jaw as her harsh words sliced into him like a barrage of daggers. Serena could see the bright flare of anger that i
Serena’s voice had risen to a near-hysterical screech as though the floodgates had just burst open. The words were tumbling out in a frenzied rush between ragged sobs. "Just because my marriage to that bastard Alex ended like a burning dumpster fire doesn't give you the right to treat me like some charity case by marrying me out of pity over a drunken one-night stand! I never asked for your pity or your last name!"Speaking of last name, Serena suddenly realized she even didn’t know what his last name was. “Is your name even Knox? Or some staged one to deceive everyone along with that damn mask on your face?”“Are you done?” Knox finally had heard enough. He crossed the short distance between them in a flash and dropped fluidly to his fists on the bed, fisting the rumpled sheets tightly as he lowered himself until their faces were mere inches apart. Serena flinched at his sudden proximity and her tirade cut off with a harsh hiccup of surprise. She could feel the heat radia
Knox's rage had finally reached its zenith when he stormed out of the bedroom.His teeth were gnashed together so tightly that the muscles beneath the taut skin of his face danced and his visage was one of pure, unrestrained ire.The veins in his neck and temples throbbed visibly with each thunderous beat of his heart, pumping anger through his system like molten lava.“Pretending to be happy with you all this time while neglecting the love of my life has been a great deal of suffering for me.”Memories of his past continued to flood Knox’s mind. The air around him seemed to crackle and distort with the sheer force of his wrath, as if the very atmosphere itself was bending and warping to the gravitational pull of his all-consuming rage. The hallway's temperature dropped rapidly, as if his rage had drawn all the heat out of it and replaced it with a bone-chilling cold that would make anyone unlucky enough to be in his path shudder.“My main intention has always been to win you
Serena curled herself into a little ball, feeling deflated and exhausted. There was a soft rap at the bedroom door before it eased open. Killian stuck his tousled head through the gap, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he took in her absolutely wrecked appearance with an amused snort."Well, well...look who finally decided to rejoin the land of the living," he drawled, sauntering into the room with a large cup of steaming coffee clutched in one hand and what appeared to be a couple of pain relievers in the other. "Got to say, you're looking pretty damn rough around the edges there, sister-in-law."Serena could only respond with a pitiful sniffle as he set his offerings down on the nightstand and settled himself on the edge of the mattress beside her. "Just kill me now and put me out of my misery," she rasped out, sounding utterly wrecked."Ah ah ah, none of that kind of talk," Killian chided. "We've got way too much fun still ahead of us for me to let you kick the bucket o
Only the monsters remained a seemingly endless horde that would continue to ravage and destroy until the entire world was little more than a barren, lifeless husk. Knox could not, would not, allow that to happen. Not after everything, not after the unfathomable sacrifices that had already been made in the pursuit of preventing such a future from coming to pass. Too much had been lost, too many lives extinguished in the fires of this onslaught. Darkness swirled around him and began coiling outwards to merge with the torrential downpour. The vortex rapidly expanded, growing in size and ferocity until it became an all-consuming maw ready to devour everything in its path. The earth itself seemed to tremble by the vortex of annihilation taking form, as if the very world were protesting the profane nature of the forces being brought to bear. The air itself seemed to warp and twist, reality buckling under the strain of the immense power being channeled. Each bolt of lightning tha
Knox simply remained there for long, excruciating moments, taking in the sight of her serene repose as if etching every line and curve into his tortured memory so he wouldn't lose even the tiniest detail.Suddenly, Serena's body was engulfed in a dazzling burst of light, with glowing tendrils extending outward to encircle Knox's form. He pulled the light within, absorbing it as if he were a hole eating the stars. It was the portion of his soul he had given Serena in both their past lives and this current one, now being reclaimed after her death. Then Knox rose to his feet with fluidity, seemingly defying the rules of gravity once the last remnants of that magnificent essence were sucked back into his form."Let us never meet again!" he intoned, his voice a discordant rasp that held no trace of anything remotely human. The words carried such weight, such profundity of power that the trembling maid instantly crumpled motionlessly to the floor. Her mind simply could not withstand the
Tears burned hot in Meredith's eyes at the brutal truth of Enzo's words. She had failed - failed utterly to protect Knox, failed to prevent this future from becoming their new reality. Deep in her soul, she could feel the ancient spirits of Queen Minerva and Princess Myra weeping bitter tears of sorrow and regret. Their sacred bloodline, their eternal legacy was now irrevocably tainted by this unraveling of fate.A choked sound somewhere between a sob and a bitter peal of laughter escaped her lips when Sahar's severed head came rolling to a stop at her feet with her dead eyes still holding a mocking glint of triumph even in death. The twisted wench had achieved her ultimate goal - to bring about the utter ruination of their legacy, the destruction of every last Cavalieri-Delgaard dynasty. All around them, the battle raged on with no end in sight, the air thick with the sights, sounds and smells of death. Killian's towering Lycan form, battered and bleeding from a thousand savage
The sight of everyone she loved fighting for their very existence against such overwhelming odds...it was a blade twisting in Meredith's heart.A searing agony lanced through her and she knew Enzo was injured. It was the effect of a mate bond whether fated or chosen. She stumbled, gasping for air as she clutched at her chest. The pain was almost beyond endurance… like a molten lance of agony that threatened to bring her to her knees. Tears burned in her eyes and her sight blurred as the true gravity of their situation hit her like a battering ram. Any wound inflicted by these abominations was fatal. Their claws, fangs, and very essence were imbued with a poison that corrupted all it touched.“Is there no way?” Her mind reeled like ashes on the wind as another spasm of anguish gripped her in its merciless talons. “Is there no way to save them all? To avert this future I've foreseen?”Her body trembled violently and her legs threatened to give out beneath her as she watched her love
Meredith drew on her newly regained powers and unleashed a torrent of energy at the beasts. The demons recoiled, shrieking in fury and anguish as magic seared their rotting flesh. The stench of burning meat filled the air, mingling with the miasma that clung to the creatures.Meredith maintained the onslaught, driving them back through the shattered doorway with relentless determination.Next, she sealed the room with an impenetrable barrier when the last of the abominations stumbled back into the hall, wailing in pain and wrath.She turned to face the trembling girl. "Stay here if you wish to live, child," Meredith instructed. "This madness needs to cease, and soon, before it swallows us all."Then she swept from the chamber and out into the chaos that had engulfed the estate's once-clean halls. The hallway ahead was a nightmare come true, with claw marks on the walls, bloody paintings, and the crushed bodies of fallen defenders strewn over the floor like discarded objects.Meredi
Meredith's heart thundered against her ribcage as she paced the length of Knox and Serena's bedroom suite. Her footfalls echoed with a hollow resonance that belied the emptiness gnawing at her very soul.The incessant rattling and banging against the thick oak door grew more insistent with each passing moment in a cacophony of destruction that served as a reminder of the hellish forces laying siege to their home. Beyond that rapidly crumbling barrier, chaos ruled in an unholy storm of violence that threatened to devour all Meredith held dear.Shrieks of unimaginable agony intermingled with roars. Each haunting wail, each guttural bellow, sent a fresh wave of anguish coursing through Meredith's immortal frame. How many had already fallen? The question burned in her mind like acid, eating away at what little composure she managed to maintain. How many brave warriors, loyal protectors of the estate had lost their lives under the claws of these abominations? The faces of those she had
"I'm the only woman alive now who can give you an heir, bear you children to carry on your bloodline..." Her words were a hushed whisper. "I am your rightful mate at long last. We were always meant to be together as one, you and I. Two halves of the same whole."She sniffled again as a fresh wave of tears spilled forth. "You should have accepted my request earlier, when I simply wanted to enjoy one night with my betrothed...to bask in the warmth of your embrace, as is my right as your—"Her words died on her lips when Knox suddenly closed the distance and wrapped his hand around her slender throat in a grip, wrenching her forward until her feet left the ground. Then he slammed her head back against the stone wall with brutal force to crack her skull. Sirona let out a pained, wheezing laugh as she stared up at him with wild, unfocused eyes. A thin trickle of crimson seeped from the corner of her mouth, tracing a macabre path down her chin."You...you wouldn't dare..." she choked out
Knox felt as if the entire world had collapsed around him, with a devastating blast of despair and despair threatening to break what little remained of his damaged psyche into a million shattered fragments. The sheer, all-consuming agony that had lanced through him was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. It that it defied description… as though every nerve ending in his immortal body had been set ablaze and doused in acid simultaneously.The air became heavy and oppressive as the full impact of what had happened started to sink in, and the cold stone of the dungeon walls seemed to close in around him.Knox simply couldn't - no, he utterly refused with every fiber of his being to accept the cruel reality that his worst fears had been realized in the most brutal and decisive way imaginable. Serena. His beautiful, precious mate...the very radiant light in his darkness...she was gone. Why? The question kept coming back to him, echoing through the vast emptiness of his head, e
The huge double doors to the dungeon at one of Knox's estates slid open, revealing his towering figure. An oppressive air accompanied him, making it feel as if the very atmosphere held its breath in his presence. Dark tendrils like mist swirled around him, and his eyes that was always cold, blazed with a fury that made them appear even icier than usual. His mind was still reeling from the hateful words Serena had hurled at him in the car earlier, and in a moment of desperation, he had teleported himself here.Knox despised himself for losing control and slapping Serena in a moment of anger. He couldn’t forgive himself, especially when the thought crossed his mind that perhaps Sirona had found a way to bypass his restraint meant to keep her in check, and had gotten into Serena’s mind. More than half of him believed the venomous words Serena had spoken weren't hers but were instead Sirona’s doing. This belief drove him to the dungeon, determined to confirm his theory.His eyes lan