Chapter 78: I Always Clean Up Your Mess
My breath hitched, the blood running entirely cold in my veins. I would know that voice anywhere. It was a voice that belonged to suffocating dining halls, to perfect posture, to the sister who had always done exactly what she was told.
"April," I breathed, trying to peer around Zain’s shoulder.
Out of the gloom stepped my eldest sister. She looked entirely different from the woman who had cried and nudged my leg under the mahogany table all those months ago. The fragile, anxious April was gone. She wore the heavy, silver-lined leather armor of a Hawthorne commander, a custom-built crossbow held steady in her grip. The massive silver bolt loaded into the chamber gleamed with a sickening, violet fluid.
Pure concentrated eclipse-root extract. Meant to kill wolves.
And behind her, stepping out from the mist like ghosts, were six heavily armed hunters from my father’s elite guard.
"Did you really think you could hide out here forever, Violet?" April asked, her voice steady, cold, and entirely devoid of the sisterly warmth she used to possess. She raised the crossbow, aligning the sight directly with Zain’s chest. "Father has been tracking your failures for months. But this? Siding with the beast? Carrying its abomination?" Her eyes flicked briefly to my hands, which were still protectively covering my stomach. "You’ve dragged our family name through the dirt."
"April, listen to me," I begged, stepping out from behind Zain despite the low, warning growl that vibrated through his torso. "It’s not what you think. You don’t understand the bond—"
"I understand treason," April snapped, her knuckles whitening around the trigger. "Jade went missing looking for you, and now Father believes she’s dead because of your incompetence. He sent me to finish your hunt, Violet. And to bring back the head you failed to."
Zain let out a sound that shook the very leaves on the trees, a deep, demonic roar of pure fury. The ground beneath our feet seemed to tremble as his shadow stretched, the dark energy of his lineage bleeding into the air.
"You will dare speak of taking my head in front of my mate?" Zain snarled, his golden eyes burning like twin suns. "You are a frail, useless human, Hawthorne. If you do not lower that weapon, I will feed you to the crows piece by piece."
"Let him try," April said coldly to her men. "Fire!"
The clearing exploded into chaos.
Two of the elite hunters launched silver netting toward Zain, aiming to pin his massive frame, while the others closed in with electrified blades. April didn’t fire her crossbow yet; she kept it trained on Zain’s heart, waiting for the perfect window to deliver the lethal dose of eclipse-root.
"Zain, look out!" I screamed.
Zain moved with blinding, supernatural speed. He intercepted the first silver net mid-air, ripping it to shreds with his bare claws, the silver burning his skin but failing to slow him down. He pivoted, slamming his fist into the chest of the closest hunter, sending the man flying through the air until his spine cracked against a stone boulder.
But these weren’t the panicked wolves from Maelra’s camp. These were my father’s elite. They knew how to fight Alphas.
Two hunters bypassed Zain completely, their eyes locked onto me. They drew short, curved silver daggers, tracking my movements. Even without my weapons, my hunter training flared to life. As the first man lunged, I ducked beneath his blade, grabbing his wrist and twisting it until the bone popped. He grunted, dropping the dagger, and I caught it before it hit the ground, driving the hilt into his temple to knock him out.
"Violet!" April’s voice cut through the clash of steel and growls.
I looked up just in time to see her shift her aim. She wasn’t targeting Zain anymore.
She was aiming the eclipse-root bolt directly at my stomach.
"If the child dies, the Demon Alpha will have nothing left to fight for," April whispered, her finger tightening on the trigger.
"NO!"
Zain saw it. The sheer terror that flooded the mate bond was blinding, a white-hot strike of panic that completely shattered his restraint. He didn’t care about the hunters slashing at his back; he didn’t care about the silver burning his flesh.
With a roar that sounded entirely demonic, black smoke erupted from his skin. He lunged across the clearing, throwing his body directly into the path of April’s line of fire just as she pulled the trigger.
The heavy thwack of the crossbow echoed through the trees.
The violet-tipped silver bolt tore through the air, embedding itself deep into Zain’s chest, right over his heart.
Zain gasped, a choked, agonizing sound escaping his lips as the concentrated poison instantly flooded his veins. He stumbled, the golden glow in his eyes flickering violently before completely snapping to black. He collapsed to his knees in the dirt, his chest heaving as the black veins of the eclipse-root began to rapidly spider-web across his neck and face.
"ZAIN!" I screamed, dropping the stolen dagger as I threw myself at his side.
I caught him as he fell forward, his massive weight nearly crushing me as we both sank into the damp leaves. His skin was blistering hot, his breathing ragged and shallow as the poison fought to shut down his heart.
"Violet..." he rasped, his hand trembling weakly as he tried to lift it to shield my stomach one last time. "Run..."
"I’m not leaving you," I sobbed, pressing my hands over the wound around the bolt, my fingers staining with his dark, steaming blood.
The heavy crunch of boots approached us. I looked up through a blur of tears to see April standing over us, reloading another bolt into her crossbow with practiced, chilling efficiency. The remaining three hunters stood behind her, their blades drawn, surrounding us completely.
"Stand up, Violet," April said, her expression completely detached, looking at me like I was a diseased animal. "Father wants you brought back alive to face judgment. But the beast dies here."
I lifted my chin, the fierce, unyielding spirit of the hunter merging with the primal fury of a mate protecting her family. I didn’t stand up. Instead, I shielded Zain’s convulsing body with my own, staring directly into my sister’s cold eyes.
"If you want to kill him, April," I whispered, my voice deadly quiet, "you’re going to have to put a knive through me first."
