Gabriel’s POV
Aria was next to me the entire time. I held her hand in mine and refused to let go of it, even for a second. I will not lose her again. He was not taking her away from me. She won’t get hurt.
My ears were ringing from the constant noise coming from the forest. There were dead bodies lying around us. We tried not to kill, we truly did. But sometimes we didn’t have a choice.
I could hear growls all around us. Aria’s eyes were on Nick the entire time. He was merciless. He was bringing other wolves down like it was nothing. He was fueled by anger, and that made him even more dangerous.
“Aria!” I yelled, bringing her focus back on our task.
There was a man running toward her with a knife in his hands. She snapped her eyes at him, and he was down in a second. He was screaming in pain.
“Fuck,” I mumbled.
That was close.
Zack ran toward us. He took the knife from the man and knocked him unconscious.
I looked over at the group fighting with Mike and Jack. I focused on them and projected an image of a beach. They stopped fighting. They were looking around confused, and that’s all it took for Mike and Jack to knock them down.
Aria was projecting pain onto a group of wolves surrounding Annie and Nick. They whined loudly and shifted back. Annie and Nick took care of them.
I looked around trying to find Victor and Cora. I couldn’t see them anywhere.
“They are tiring us out,” Aria said, panting hard. “They are here somewhere.”
I nodded and focused back on the attack. We were winning. Thankfully, all of our friends were alive. There were minor bruises and scrapes on some of them, but nothing bad. Aria was unharmed. And I intended to keep her that way.
We approached the final group of Victor’s men. From the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie running back to those we knocked down to sprinkle some of the powder in their noses, making sure they stayed down.
She made the powder strong enough so we wouldn’t have to worry about any of them waking up for a good while.
Blake and Zack made sure no one followed her. They were managing well, but then one of Victor’s men pulled out a knife from his boot.
I didn’t have time to scream. I didn’t have time to warn Zack.
The man plunges his knife into Zack’s stomach.
Everything stopped.
All of us were looking at Zack. Our eyes were wide, and our mouths were open and ready to scream.
Cassie’s scream came first.
“NO!” she yelled from behind us. “ZACK! NO!”
He fell to his knees and his hands grabbed the knife jammed into his stomach. The blood was pouring down his body.
Everybody moved at the same time.
Aria tried to rip away from my hold, but I held her back. She was screaming, crying, and thrashing in my hold.
Jake ran toward the man who stabbed Zack and ripped his throat out.
I focused on incapacitating the rest of the men so the guys could take care of them.
A few moments later, Victor’s men were lying down.
Defeated.
Aria broke from my hold and ran toward Zack. Cassie was already next to him, trying to keep him awake.
Annie walked over to Cassie with tears streaming down her cheeks. She took the powder from Cassie and went to finish the job. Mike went with her. We couldn’t let her go alone. Some of them could wake up and try to attack her. Or there could still be one or two men hiding somewhere in the forest.
Victor and Cora were definitely still here somewhere. Hiding. Waiting.
My eyes were scanning the forest for them. I couldn’t let my guard down.
“We have to take him back to the house,” Cassie cried. “He can’t die. I can’t lose him.”
I saw Blake clenching his jaw, but he didn’t say anything. He had tears in his eyes.
“Jack, grab Zack and take him back to the house,” Nick said as he pulled Aria to him, comforting her. “Cassie, go with him. Make sure he is okay. We will deal with the rest.”
Jack nodded and picked Zack up in his arms. Zack grunted and tried to close his eyes.
“NO!” Cassie yelled. “Don’t close your eyes!”
He listened to her and opened his eyes. He smiled, and I could see blood in his mouth. Fuck. This was not good.
“I won’t close my eyes as long as I can look at you, sweetheart,” he mumbled, looking at Cassie with glassy eyes.
“You can look at me, okay, Zack?” she said, grabbing his hand. “Look at me and don’t close your eyes, please.”
Jack and Cassie walked away. Cassie kept talking to Zack, begging him to stay awake.
I looked at Aria, who was shaking in Nick’s arms. He held her tight and kept kissing the top of her head.
“Are you okay, baby?” he asked. “Are you hurt?”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and took a step back, looking up and down her body, searching for injuries.
“I am fine,” she said, her voice trembling.
I walked up to her and pulled her to my chest. “Zack will be fine.”
She sobbed quietly and leaned on me.
“Where the fuck is Victor?” Jake asked, running his hand through his hair. “Did anyone see him?”
“No,” I shook my head.
I scanned the forest again, looking for him. Was it possible that he didn’t come? Did he think his army would be enough to take Aria away? Was this some kind of a distraction?
My heart started beating faster and my grip on Aria tightened. I started looking around frantically, waiting for the trap he had obviously set.
It had to be a distraction. There was no other explanation.
“Well, well, well,” a voice coming from the forest startled me. “I guess the prophecy is true after all.”
Aria’s POV
The man from my nightmares was here.
He walked out into the clearing where my friends and I were standing.
Behind him was a woman who looked a lot like Petra, but she had more wrinkles on her face, and her hair was grayer than red. She was looking at me with a menacing smirk on her face.
Next to her was the man who grabbed me that day. He was short and his dark hair was greasy. It was falling on his forehead, covering his left eye. He was smiling. and I could see his yellow teeth all the way from here. I remembered what he smelt like that day, and I felt bile rising.
“It was amazing to watch both of you in action,” Victor said, bringing my attention back to him. “I can’t believe my men were so incompetent. They were watching my little witch for years, and they never noticed her twin.”
A shiver went down my spine. I pressed myself closer to Gabriel, and he tightened his arms around me. No matter what happens, he was not getting to him. I will protect him. I had to protect him.
“I came here to get my little witch and stumbled upon something I thought was a lie,” Victor continued, smirking. “I knew you were a special, little witch. But I never would have guessed you were only half of what I needed. I wonder why I didn’t know about your brother? Why were you separated?”
Nick growled and stood in front of Gabriel and me.
Victor laughed. “Hello, wolf. You fought well.”
“Shut the fuck up, Victor,” Nick growled. “You are not getting them.”
Victor laughed again. “I am sorry, wolf. I need them and I will take them.”
Nick growled. Gabriel’s grip on me tightened even more. Jake, Blake, Mike, and Annie stood in a protective circle around us.
Patricia and Petra were somewhere behind us, hiding in the forest and waiting for the perfect time to strike.
“How about this?” Victor said with a smirk as he rubbed his chin. “You two come with me willingly, and I will leave your friends alone. Nobody else has to die.”
“No,” Gabriel said sternly. “We are not coming with you, and you will not touch our friends.”
Victor smiled. “Little witch, are you ready to watch your friends die for you, because of you? One of them is already dying. Well, he is probably dead already. Do you want to watch them all die?”
My heart started beating painfully. This was my worst fear. He knew, and he was using him against me. I felt ice spreading through my veins after he mentioned Zack. He was not dead. He couldn’t be dead.
“I don’t think your twin is ready to sacrifice her friends,” Victor laughed.
Nick growled, and Gabriel pulled me behind him, shielding me from Victor’s gaze.
“Don’t talk to her,” Gabriel said through his teeth. “Don’t look at her. Stay the fuck away from her.”
It was getting hard to breathe. Tears were running down my cheeks. Victor was right. I couldn’t let my friends get hurt. I would go with him if I had to. But he would have to promise me to leave Gabriel alone.
I guess Nick could tell what I was thinking because he was next to me a second later.
“Don’t even think about it,” he growled in my ear. “Nobody is getting hurt.”
I looked up at him and saw how angry he was. I knew that he wasn’t angry at me, but I still shivered. His eyes were black, and his grip on my arm was a little too tight.
“Come on, little witch,” Victor said, after a few moments of silence. “I know you want to save your friends. I know that you will do what’s right.”
Nick growled so loudly that the ground shook.
“STOP TALKING TO HER!” he yelled.
His canines lengthened and fur started to appear on his arms and legs. Loud, menacing growls were coming from him.
Victor laughed and raised his hand in mock surrender. “Fine. I will stop talking. But I am done being nice. You had your chance. Little witch, every death from now on is on you. You are about to have a lot of blood on your hands. I hope you are ready.”
My breath got caught in my throat. Before any of us managed to react, Victor looked over at Cora.
“Let’s get what we need,” he told her.
She smirked and raised her hand. A black flame appeared, and it looked like the flame was caressing her fingers. If I didn’t know it was black magic, I would have thought it was beautiful.
“Interitio,” she said, and the black flames flew toward us.
Before we could raise our shields, another black flame knocked Cora’s spell out of the way.
Petra.
Cora screamed furiously and looked toward the forest. Petra walked out, holding her hand up high. I could see a black flame in her hand. Cora gasped and stood frozen for a second. Petra mumbled a spell, and Cora moved.
Her attention wasn’t on us anymore. Victor was furious. He looked at us and I could feel his magic rising.
He was powerful. More than I thought he would be.
“You are full of surprises,” he said, pissed off. “I will just have to punish you harder for this.”
A blast of his magic flew toward us, but Nick was faster. He raised a magic shield, and Victor’s spell bounced back.
This angered Victor even more. He screamed, and his eyes turned red.
Nick turned to us and nodded. Mike flew toward the man standing behind Nick. He snapped his neck in one quick move.
Victor didn’t care. He didn’t even try to stop him. His sole focus was on us.
I glanced at Petra and Cora. They were having their own battle. Black flames flew around them. Black clouds gathered above them, and I could hear thunder. The wind picked up.
I looked back at Victor. He was smirking darkly, looking right at me.
I’ve never been more determined. It was time we finished this.
