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But she is more than what he took away. Because underneath the violence and injustice, there is a part of her soul that is entirely hers. I see it now in the way she reins in her fury. Men like Viktor could never understand it, and despite his best efforts, he could never touch it. He could never corrupt it.
The white wolf growls, and Viktor shuts his eyes to wait for the final blow, but it doesn't come. She snarls at him, biting the air right above his neck in warning, and then pushes off him.
The second she releases him and turns toward me slowly, I stagger forward. I can't remember which wolf was the one to cripple me as I fought my way to reach her across the bridge. It doesn't matter. I don't care how many parts of myself I had to break to be standing here in front of her right now.
As the wolves around me part, opening a path toward my mate, she runs toward me and shifts back into my human form, not caring who sees her.
I sag with relief when she collides with me, wrapping her arms around me and burying her face in my fur. At last, I can breathe again, the aching need to find her and keep her safe settling inside me.
She seems so small compared to her wolf form, and I'm reminded of just how young she is. But she defeated Viktor. She sliced through his chest and left him bleeding on the ground.
"No more..." she whispers against me, and her voice is so soft it ripples inside me, soothing the jagged edges of my rattled soul. "I'm so tired, Tristan... I don't want to be his monster... No more killing... please."
She has endured enough.
'Shhh, it's over, my little flower.'
Her fingers dig into my pelt as I step forward, letting her curl up against me in a moment of vulnerability that feels far too intimate for all these prying eyes.
I turn to face the gathered wolves with as much authority as I can muster up.
'This ends now. Your Alphas are dead, and your leader was defeated in single combat by his own kin. No one else has to die because of him. Viktor Massen brought you here under the false pretense of destroying your common threat, but he lied. The nightwalkers are not your enemy. We are not your enemy!'
A silence falls over the crowd as I feel his words resonate across the battlefield. The tension in the air is palpable, but no one else attacks. Soon, the sun will begin to set, and we will have to gather our wounded and bury our dead. It's strange how a single day can feel like an eternity.
But it's over.
At least, that's what it seemed like. But then Viktor rises, his injuries oozing blood that stained the stone at his feet. Everything inside me goes rigid as his eyes fall on me.
I am the one who just announced the end of this war. The girl is exhausted from fighting him, and now she's in her human form. So, Viktor perceives me as the threat worth crushing with his dying breath.
That was his last mistake.
Viktor lunges toward me just as my mate whirls around to face him. We collide against each other, the girl trapped between us, and the world flashes past as the three of us topple over from the impact. As we roll, I use the momentum to shove Viktor down against the stone with a vicious crack, and we come to a sudden stop.
Everything is quiet.
I cannot say what happened first; my blow to Viktor's neck or my mate's fangs sinking into his throat to drain the life out of him. Either way, his neck snaps, and he falls to the ground, dead beneath us.
I stumble back with the last of my strength.
We'll never no know which one of us killed him in the end. Perhaps it's better that way. But while I'm content to share her burdens, this victory is hers.
She rises slowly, a crimson stain on her full lips and her eyes wide in shock as she stares down at her fallen foe as if she can't quite believe he's finally dead. There are tears in her violet eyes, her platinum hair fluttering softly around her in the breeze. She stands bloodied and beaten, without armor or crown, her scars and wounds open for the world to see.
And I have never seen anything more beautiful. She is hope, innocence, and courage incarnate. Selene herself never looked so lovely or divine, and I am not the only one to see it. A hushed whisper falls across the crowd, and for once, she does not shy away from the awed looks that fall on her.
The victim is gone. She is no longer the bruised and battered child that first took my hand on the day of her cousin's mating ceremony.
Before me stands a Luna in her own right.
So I do what any man should do in the presence of a goddess.
I bow.
One by one, the warriors around me drop their heads, ears flattened as they lower themselves before her. Most avert their eyes as a sign of respect, but I keep mine fixed on hers as she furrows her brow.
She looks down at Viktor's body at her feet, then up at the crowd, and then back to me. We anchor ourselves in each other as a kingdom comes to its knees before her.
