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Gabriel and I had been out on an errand, and when we entered the courtyard that day we immediately knew something was wrong. We could feel it in the air, the bloodlust saturating the atmosphere. A few people attacked us by the main door, and I recognized them as convicts. We knew then that something was wrong. So we ran. There was nothing else we could do but run. We made our way through the village, alerting everyone that there had been a prisoner outbreak.
Many of the wardens who lived there followed us, and we hid in the forest at first. We later made our way to where Santuario now was. We found the prison unit abandoned, the guards killed. Since such a location was far more defensible than the village, we holed up there.
In the next days more refugees came our way, bearing news that the whole Torres family was dead and that Victor had pronounced himself the new ruler of Isla Paraiso. We took in the people who weren’t criminals, while those who had been and didn’t want to live under Victor’s rule wandered farther away to form the Bloody Claws and Starry Banes.
But those events were all history now. An old tale from three years ago. Right now we were making a new chapter in Isla Paraiso’s story; hopefully, a better one. No change could come for free however. Many would lose their lives today, even despite the fact that so far we were doing quite well. This battle would be a bloody beginning to what we hoped would turn out to be a peaceful era.
Over the past three years, with the island divided, we had managed to coexist but Victor’s thirst for power knew no bounds. He would attack us and capture the people who came to the island seeking shelter. He had held Hanny, Gabriel’s sister captive. There were so many things that made Victor a villain; not only the fact that he had murdered our family but all of his actions since then too.
Victor couldn’t become the ruler of Isla Paraiso. He would murder Gabriel, Hanny, and I, and Daphne too. Now that she was our mate, she wouldn’t be able to stand our deaths and she would follow us soon after. Still, when she had asked us so nicely last night if we would mate with her, I hadn’t been able to refuse her. I wanted to be closer to her too.
Victor would kill us all and make the lives of the people we cared for, the bear shifters of Santuario, miserable. We couldn’t let him succeed. We would have to defeat him today, at all costs.
With that thought in mind, I entered the throne room to see Victor standing in the middle, surrounded by the most trusted of his people. There were three dozen of them here. I recognized Fabiana as well as many other dangerous criminals When they saw us, they began to shift.
It was time for the final fight.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gabriel
We busted through the door and found Victor and Fabiana standing in the middle of the throne room. As soon as they saw us, their bones crunched and relocated, their shift taking place. There were twenty hardened criminals with them, and they all changed their forms to bears too. I was surprised Victor didn’t want to talk so he could have another chance to taunt us about how we would never be able to defeat him.
Perhaps he understood that us making it this far meant his forces had been defeated or soon would be. He looked pissed when he gazed upon us. When he changed to bear form, he stood on his hind legs and let out a long, menacing growl but I wasn’t intimidated by him.
Ban and I fell upon Victor and swiped with our claws to bury them in his flesh. The villain retaliated with claw attacks and bites of his own. A painful blow came to my side, and I felt the wound bleed but still, I didn’t relent. I didn’t stop. I had to defeat Victor at all costs.
I took a mental note of where Daphne was. She stood behind us, surrounded by our people as she fought off one of Victor’s goons. The way the others had positioned themselves around her made it possible for more than one enemy to attack her at a time.
Daphne had said shewas noworse of a fighter in bear form, but I had noticed that this claim wasn’t the case. She had confessed to us once that she had only learned how to shift in her 20s. She didn’t have the years of experience moving as an animal that full shifters had. I didn’t want to exclude her from the fight; her rightful place was at my side but I knew she should be only fighting battles she could win. Giving her an opportunity to shine and enabling her to contribute to the cause while protecting her was my way of showing my love for her.
Daphne would detest Ban and I if we tried to shelter her from the evils of the world completely. She wanted to be our partner, an equal, and so I hadn’t wanted to push her away when she had offered to help with the final showdown with Victor.
Speaking of Victor, I jumped to the right and swiped my claws down his side. He groaned, and turned around. A heavy blow I was too slow to dodge came down on my back. I groaned and swayed. Before I could stumble and give Victor’s large bear a chance to maul me to death, the enraged Ban jumped on our enemy from the left. His large body came upon Victor’s even larger animal form, and thankfully the impact was enough to distract Victor by hurting him.
I moved out from the villain’s range of attack and watched carefully for another opportunity to strike at him.
I took a moment to check on Daphne again. She must have defeated her enemy because I saw a body lying on the floor. Now another bear moved into the opening, fighting her.
“Are you alright?” I sent her a question through the bond.
“Everything’s fine here. Worry about yourself more. I can feel Esteban’s pain and your own through the bond.”
“Victor is much more hurt than we are.” Indeed, he did seem to have many more wounds than I did. Such injuries would normally be enough to make a bear shifter give up but Victor was on the same page as we were; this was a fight to the death. We would maul each other until one of us killed the other.
“That still doesn’t mean you should get yourself killed while bringing him down. Be careful.” Daphne sent me an annoyed message.
I chuckled. She was cute when she was mad. “You too.”
I saw an opening in Victor’s defense and prepared to move in but before I could try, I saw a black bear coming my way out of the corner of my eye. Fabiana.
The woman swung her claws at me, and I dodged. Did she hate me so much that she wanted to murder me? Or had she noticed that Victor was severely wounded and wanted to help him?
Either way I had no mercy for the woman who had put fire to Santuario and aligned herself with the worst villain I knew. I moved in and started attacking, slashing my claws at her. Fabiana couldn’t stand up against me in a fight. In no time, she was on the floor, whining for me to spare her.
I didn’t have it in myself to kill her. At some point long ago I had liked her company. I didn’t detest her like I did Victor but I couldn’t leave her lying there. Her whining could well be a ploy for me to walk away, and when I did – she’d jump at me and attack me. I had already fallen for her fake tears once. I no longer trusted her. I had no way to tell if her pain was genuine.
I growled at two of my people. They surrounded Fabiana, and escorted her to the corner of the room by pushing her from behind.
