Chapter 225
Irina’s POV
The monster was dead.
The loud, sickening crunch of his thick neck snapping still echoed in my ringing ears. Dark, hot blood permanently stained the pristine white snow.
I stood completely frozen for a split second. My massive white chest heaved with heavy, desperate breaths. I stared blindly at the lifeless body of the former Alpha. The man who violently ruined my childhood. The man who ruthlessly tortured my mate. He was completely motionless. He was just a pathetic pile of broken bones and dirty gray fur now.
I looked quickly at Nicholas. His massive, terrifying black wolf stood aggressively over the bloody corpse. He was panting heavily. Dark crimson blood dripped slowly from his lethal jaws.
Our eyes met. Glowing, demonic red locked onto brilliant, burning gold.
A massive tidal wave of pure, unfiltered emotion violently crashed through our sacred mate bond. It was totally overwhelming. Absolute relief. Crushing exhaustion. Triumphant, hysterical joy. Blinding, desperate love. We survived. We actually survived the nightmare.
But the bloody war wasn’t over. Not yet.
A sudden, piercing howl ripped violently through the freezing night air.
I snapped my heavy head up. My white ears twitched aggressively.
The remaining rogues. The most fiercely loyal followers of his twisted, psychotic father. They saw their false, evil king fall. They didn’t surrender to us. They didn’t run away in fear. They went completely, utterly insane.
Three massive, heavily scarred rogue wolves charged wildly out of the dark tree line. Their yellow eyes were completely wild. Thick foam dripped rapidly from their ugly snouts. They wanted stupid revenge.
I didn’t care about the burning, agonizing pain in my torn right shoulder. I didn’t care about my violently aching, bruised ribs. The hot adrenaline spiked violently in my veins all over again.
I let out a deafening, terrifying feral roar.
Nicholas didn’t hesitate for a single second. He stepped up immediately right beside me. Our thick, bloody fur brushed. Pitch black against blinding white. Pure darkness and brilliant light. We were the absolute perfect team.
*‘Come on!’* I snarled fiercely through our mental bond.
*‘Kill them all!’* Nicholas roared passionately back.
The first rogue lunged directly at me. He was huge, covered in thick brown mud. I didn’t back down. I ducked incredibly low under his snapping, filthy jaws. I drove my heavy shoulder hard into his exposed chest, violently knocking him off balance.
Before he could even hit the snowy ground, Nicholas was there. My fierce mate clamped his massive jaws brutally onto the rogue’s vulnerable spine.
*CRUNCH.*
The rogue dropped instantly to the ice, entirely paralyzed.
The second rogue jumped fiercely at my blind spot. I spun around wildly. I slashed my razor-sharp claws incredibly deep across his ugly, scarred face. He let out a pathetic, agonizing scream. I didn’t give him a single inch of mercy. I tackled his heavy body violently into the bloody slush. I sank my sharp teeth directly into his throat and ripped brutally backward.
Warm, bitter blood coated my white muzzle. I was ruthless. I was a fierce Luna defending my king. I was violently defending our future.
The third rogue hesitated. He saw his packmates die brutally in seconds. True fear finally flashed in his stupid yellow eyes. He turned his heavy body to run away.
Nicholas didn’t let him. The Alpha King launched himself forward like a massive, terrifying missile. He tackled the running rogue aggressively from behind. They crashed violently into a deep snowdrift. Nicholas tore him apart entirely mercilessly.
We fought like absolute demons. We were a chaotic, bloody tornado of teeth and claws. We moved in perfect, lethal sync. Where I left a slight opening, Nicholas covered it instantly. Where he struck forward, I fiercely guarded his back. It was a deadly, beautiful dance of violence.
More loyal rogues poured into the clearing. We didn’t stop. We tore straight through them. We aggressively crushed their bones. We violently ripped their flesh. We fought passionately for our pack. We fought fiercely for our lives.
One by one, the disgusting rogues fell. Their aggressive, terrifying snarls turned into pathetic, dying whimpers. The pristine white snow was painted entirely red. The clearing looked like a total, gory nightmare.
Finally, I bit down incredibly hard on the last rogue’s neck. He twitched weakly once and went completely limp. I dropped his heavy, lifeless body into the freezing snow.
I stood up straight. I looked around wildly, my chest heaving.
Total, heavy silence fell over the bloody forest. The suffocating, metallic scent of death was everywhere. But the immediate threat was completely gone. Every single rogue was dead.
The forest was entirely cleansed. The twisted evil was finally wiped out.
I breathed heavily. The crazy, burning adrenaline slowly started to leave my exhausted system. The biting, freezing winter wind hit my wet, bloody fur.
*‘It’s over, little bird,’* Nicholas’s deep, rumbling voice echoed clearly in my mind. His tone was physically exhausted, but it was incredibly soft. It was completely filled with pure adoration.
*‘It’s over,’* I replied weakly through the bond.
I let my inner wolf recede.
*CRACK.*
My bones shifted and reformed violently. The blinding, burning pain of the transformation hit me hard, but I honestly didn’t care. I fell heavily to my bare knees in the cold snow. I was back in my fragile human form. I was shivering violently. I was covered head to toe in thick blood and freezing dirt.
Nicholas shifted immediately right next to me. He was completely naked. His massive, heavily scarred, muscular body radiated intense, comforting heat. He didn’t care about the freezing cold. He only cared about me.
He quickly grabbed my oversized, bloody winter cloak from the snowy ground. He wrapped it securely and tightly around my trembling, bare shoulders.
"Are you okay, baby?" he whispered gruffly. He gently touched my bleeding shoulder. His terrifying, glowing red eyes were now completely full of fierce, desperate worry.
"I’m perfect," I breathed out heavily. I was crying. Hot, salty tears streamed rapidly down my freezing, dirty cheeks. "We did it, Nick. We actually did it."
"You were so damn amazing," he groaned passionately. He pulled me forcefully against his hard, warm chest.
He leaned down and kissed me fiercely. It wasn’t a gentle, sweet kiss. It was hard, completely desperate, and aggressively possessive. It tasted wildly like toxic blood, exhausted sweat, and pure, undeniable victory. It tasted exactly like survival.
He finally pulled away slowly. He rested his forehead gently against mine. We just breathed together heavily for a long, beautiful moment.
Then, he grabbed my small hand. His large grip was rough, extremely warm, and incredibly strong. Our fingers perfectly, tightly intertwined.
"Come with me, my beautiful queen," he said softly.
We stood up together. We entirely ignored the burning, sharp pain in our battered bodies. We walked slowly up the steep, snowy incline. My small legs felt like heavy lead, but Nicholas completely supported my weight. He pulled me gently forward.
We finally reached the very top of the hill.
The view was absolutely breathtaking. Below us, the massive, sprawling valley stretched out endlessly into the dark night. Thousands of our loyal, brave soldiers stood silently in the freezing snow. They were heavily battered. They were bleeding. They looked completely exhausted. But they stood incredibly tall.
They saw us. Total, pin-drop silence immediately fell over the massive, victorious army.
Nicholas stood powerfully at the very edge of the steep cliff. The cold, violent wind whipped his dark hair wildly around his handsome, bruised face. He didn’t let go of my hand. He squeezed it much tighter.
He held our joined hands up incredibly high in the crisp air for everyone to clearly see.
He took a massive, deep breath. When he spoke, his powerful, dominating Alpha voice boomed loudly like rolling thunder. It echoed sharply and violently across the entire frozen mountain range.
"The bloody war is over!" he roared loudly.
A collective, massive shocked gasp rippled quickly through the bloody troops.
"The tyrant is completely dead! The rogues have been completely annihilated!" Nicholas shouted aggressively. His loud, booming voice was entirely filled with raw, uncontrollable emotion. "The twisted darkness that choked our beautiful lands is finally gone!"
He paused. The stunned silence from the massive crowd was deafening. They hung desperately onto his every single word.
Nicholas turned his handsome head slowly. He looked deeply and passionately right into my eyes. His gaze was so full of absolute, undeniable adoration that it made my wild heart physically ache. He wasn’t just an arrogant Alpha looking at his submissive mate. He was a proud man looking at his equal.
He looked fiercely back down at his loyal, waiting warriors.
"From this exact day forward," Nicholas bellowed, his loud voice echoing fiercely against the jagged rocks, "the werewolf territories are entirely united! There is absolutely no more division! There is no more senseless cruelty! We are one unbreakable pack!"
He pulled me flush against his massive, incredibly warm side. He kissed the top of my head fiercely.
"And I do not rule this kingdom alone," he announced loudly and proudly. "We rule together! Every single pack, every single territory, will be ruled jointly by me and your beautiful, fearless Luna, Irina!"
The incredibly powerful words hung beautifully in the crisp, freezing air.
My heart hammered violently against my sore ribs. I looked boldly down at the thousands of watching wolves. I didn’t hide behind him. I stood incredibly tall. I wasn’t a broken, pathetic Omega anymore. I wasn’t a helpless punching bag. I was their strong Luna. I was their fierce, undeniably powerful queen. And I was standing right where I belonged, right beside my true mate.
The soldiers looked at their Alpha and Luna and erupted into cheers.