Chapter 207

I set my jaw. “It just goes to show that the Alpha King should have had it in the first place.”

Peter chuckled. “It wasn’t the Vampire King who betrayed anyone.”

“That’s a lie,” I said. “The Vampire King—”

“The history you have of the war is passed down from the hands of the same man who cursed the werewolves on this side of the gates,” Peter said. “I would think that you’d be a bit more cautious about believing what a spiteful, bitter, vengeful man had to say.”

I stiffened. “A curse? What are you talking about?”

Peter nodded. “The moon marks, mates, the bonding madness? Wouldn’t you call all of that a curse?”

“A mate is a gift from the Moon Goddess.” I glared up at him. “What are you talking about?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You know when you say that, but your expression doesn’t change, it’s like you’re lying, right?”

I blinked and lifted my hand to my face. I didn’t feel anything strange in my expression.

“I’m not lying. Candido is a gift. She gave him to me for everything that’s happened to me.”

His eyes widened but he pressed his lips closed and said nothing else as we walked on. The canyon was so quiet around us. It was a little eerie. He didn’t pull away, but there was a stiffness in him that wasn’t there before. Then, he went still. I felt something in the air change even though I didn’t know what it was.

A second later, he turned his head left then right before pulling away from me sharply and darting behind me. I stumbled and before I could say anything, he stopped and spread his hands above his head. A large, golden curtain of light spread from his hands and over the group.

“Brace yourselves!”

Someone screamed and I looked up as something large and black started falling towards us. My heart skipped a beat and I threw myself against the wall of the gorge as it exploded in a big burst of light. The noise shook the air and the ground. The air heated around me. I heard nothing but the explosion.

Then, people were screaming orders.

“Ambush! Front defense line on the right side!”

“Rifles on the left side!”

“Hurry up!”

I stumbled, trying to shake the ringing in my ears as I heard people rushing forward. Peter grabbed my arm and hauled me forward. I cried out at the pain in my shoulder, but he didn’t release me. He ran forward as more explosions rained down over us. Each of them shook the air and nearly tossed me off my feet, but Peter kept running.

“That way! Go up!”

Peter cursed and threw me forward. I stumbled and fell. As I turned back, I saw the flash of another explosion just above our heads, bending the barrier inward towards us. He grunted, digging in his heels and holding his hands above his head. Cracks rippled through the curtain of light. Someone screamed in terror behind me.

“Run,” he grunted. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can. Run!”

I got to my feet and stumbled after the rest of them, hurrying through the crowd, searching for Candido. Estella swooned on her feet as I passed. She steadied herself against the wall as she reloaded her gun and shouted more orders.

“Hold steady, left flank! Someone get a visual! Where the hell are they?”

I glared at her but kept running as she didn’t even seem to notice me. Where was Candido? He should be the one giving orders. He should be looking for me, to protect me. Then, I saw him, helping people climb up towards a dark cave where another vampire I didn’t recognize was standing and hauling them into the cave. I could smell the scent of the caves coming down from above. I didn’t know where the cave would lead, but I knew that it wasn’t a normal cave. I shivered as I pushed and shoved my way toward Candido.

“Candido!” I cried, throwing my arms around him. “Please—I’m so scared—”

He pushed me off, turned me around, and shoved me towards the staircase where everyone else was going. I clung to him.

“Candido, I—”

“Hurry up and get going!” He turned as the golden light of the barrier rippled and vanished. “Estella!”

Peter came rushing towards us. Estella kept firing into the distance. I didn’t know if she was actually hitting anything. The sound of running footsteps grew louder. I heard them coming from above us and back the way we had come from. Hundreds of vampires if not thousands of them.

My heart raced, and I looked back. Estella staggered back, still firing. I could hear her shouting, but I couldn’t make out the words. She stumbled again and braced herself against a rock, still firing.

Then, a set of chain explosions started to go off, filling the air with bright white light and dust. I heard vampires screaming. Estella started to retreat slowly, staggering back.

“Estella!” Candido yelled. Several members of Blue Moon rushed towards her, but I wrapped my arms around Candido, holding him back from going to her.

I couldn’t let him go to her. What about me? What about my safety? Why didn’t he care? He couldn’t leave me. He promised to protect me, yet he struggled to get out of my grip. I held on tighter. Then, I felt his whole body jerk. Electricity surged and shoved me back. Pain exploded through my back, but as I slipped down the side of the wall, I knew what had happened. I looked up as Candido drew his sword and rushed towards Estella. The shockwave, or whatever it was, had swept out across the area and destroyed some of the vampires who had swarmed the area.

I saw Estella, impaled with something, slumped against the wall, and several other people from Blue Moon. Some of them fired into the crowd of oncoming vampires. Some of them used their rifles as bats and swung at them, but I recognized most of them as people who had sneered at me, especially Falcon.

She fired several shots, but she was caught by one of the vampires with a knife right in her side. I watched her swing and knock away another vampire as she stumbled with glee. I knew she hated me. It served her right for being so mean to her future luna. More vampires swarmed, and soon, I lost sight of them as the vampires leaped and piled on top of them.

Estella fired three more shots, killing a few vampires in the heap before stumbling away from them. She swooned into a wall, shuddering and sliding down the wall. Falcon jumped in front of her and let loose a spray of bullets, but it wasn’t enough. She was shoved back and overwhelmed. I heard her crying out. I heard more shots being fired. Blood splattered across the wall, but I didn’t know who it was from.

It didn’t matter. A vampire reared back and bit into Falcon’s shoulder. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief as more vampires overtook her. They were going to drain her dry. They were going to kill her and Estella. I couldn’t look away. More gunshots were fired. A burst of fire shot out from the heap of vampires, scorching them and revealing Estella with her eyes still glowing. Golden fur seemed to ripple across her skin, but it faded as she fired her rifle again.

Falcon slumped near her and didn’t move. Estella crawled toward her, trying to reach her, but I could tell from the way she let Falcon drop from her eyes that she was dead.

“Estella!” Candido yelled again as more vampires descended. “Falcon!”

His roar shook the air as he tore through the vampires so quickly, I couldn’t even see him move. I couldn’t get to him to stop him either. Didn’t he see that this was the Moon Goddess’ will? I saw Estella pull the knife out of Falcon’s side and stabbed another vampire with it, dragging it through his chest and shoving him away. She took out another one as Candido tried to fight his way through the crowd to her.

Two other Blue Moon members shoved their way to her just as she seemed to disappear into the crowd again.

“Estella!” He cried. “Mercury! Mace! Falcon!”

“Candido, come back!” I cried after him, but he wasn’t listening. “There are too many of them!”

He growled and ripped through the vampires. He pulled out a gun and shot at them. The viciousness of his attack was so different than before. He cut and clawed whoever was in his path. Fire bloomed and jumped from his hands, setting fire to a few of the vampires in the way. The earth turned sharp, jutting out from the ground and impaling several of them before withdrawing. The bodies fell in a heap on top of other Blue Moon werewolves.