Retribution

Rain's P.O.V.

After recovering from whatever hit me, I turned to see a female who looked so much like Lady Lena that it threw me off. Zion is just as surprised as I am, his face mirroring my surprised expression. Then I realized that the restraints that held Douglas in place were released, letting him recover and stand beside the lookalike as a group of his rogue army stood behind them.

"Who the hell are you, and why do you look eerily similar to a dead woman?" Zion asks after he shifts back to his human form and takes his place beside me.

"You must be talking about my twin. That foolish bitch refused to leave that weak coven and decided to go against me. She got what was coming to her." She said with a cackel. "I even offered to take her with me after I kidnapped you, but she refused and even tried to fight me. She might have been our parent's favorite, but she was weak, always letting everyone fight her battles for her."

"You're the witch that kidnapped me?" I ask, confusion lacing my voice as my anger began to rise.

"Of course. And it went perfectly to plan until that moron of a Futur Alpha fucked it all up." She sneers. "But now I'm here to fix it. I'll kill you and get you out of the way once and for all."

"You will no such thing, Arina!" Douglas finally says.

"She's an obstacle to us taking the Kingdom, my love," Arina says in a sickly, sweet voice. She places her hand over his heart and leans into him.

"No, she's the key to success." He says darkly as he shoves Arina to the ground. "Now that she's awakened her true powers, I will take her as my chosen mate."

"What? I am your chosen. Not this worthless half-bread!" She screeches at the top of her lungs as she jumps to her feet and lunges at me while Douglas tries unsuccessfully to stop her. "I'll kill her, and we will take our rightful place as King and Queen. She isn't worthy of your attention!"

"You don't know what I'm worthy of!" I said as my anger rose to new heights. "But that wannabe Alpha is not worthy of me!"

Lifting my hands, I erected a barrier to take the brunt of her attack as I prepared for a counterattack while constantly hurling insults at both of them to piss them off and hopefully throw them off enough for us to gain a little bit of leverage. Zion links me, letting me know that Orian and King Arnald are on their way to our location.

"They can't leave the border unmanned. What if Doglas sends another wave of men through?" I ask him in a panic as Arina struggles to get through my barrier.

"They are leaving the group we have stationed and bringing a few warriors of each species from each border group, so they aren't low on men. We have prepared for this, my love." He answers, but I'm still nervous that Douglas has a backup plan.

"Send more warriors to the shelters to guard them, just in case," I tell him as Arina finally breaks through my barrier just in time to hear howls in the distance.

Arina lunges as I throw fireball after fireball in her direction to slow her down while running for her, giving Zion the green light to go after Douglas. Right before she reaches me, I send a shock wave through my hands as I flip over her, grabbing her by the back of the neck and pulling her down. She jumps to her feet quickly and swings to hit me, her nails barely grazing my arm and drawing blood as she recites some kind of incantation, but I can't make out what she's saying over the growls of Zion and Douglas.

Suddenly, my body goes numb, causing me to fall to my knees. I panic when I can't hear Dosha or link with Zion or Orian. Arina stands over me, grabbing my throat and squeezing tightly, trying to cut off my airway.

"I told you, you're nothing! I'll kill you and then help my love kill your mate. Then there will be nothing in our way from taking what is ours." She says with an evil glint in her eyes. "I'll make sure to keep your precious pups alive for a while, though. After all, I'll need someone to siphon powers from after I use up what I take from you."

I can feel my energy begin to drain as my vision blurs. I can barely make out a shadow of a large brown wolf quickly approaching from behind Arina, but she's so engrossed with draining me of my powers that she doesn't notice. I summon all the strength I have left, lifting my hand up and pushing out a strong gust of wind, pushing her back into the direction of Orian.

She turns to see Orian, but it's too late as he clamps down on her side hard enough to hear her bones crack before he lets go, and her body falls to the ground in a bloody heap. I fall forward but collapse onto a furry brown mass before I can land face-first on the ground. After a minute, I could feel my energy slowly coming back and Dosha reemerging in the back of my mind.

"It's okay, my Queen. I've got you." Orian links me.

"Zion" Is all I can manage to get out.

"He's okay. King Arnald and Beta Mark are with him. Douglas won't be getting away." He tries to reassure me.

"No, I have to end him myself," I tell him as I push off of him, slowly standing on my feet and looking around until I can see my mate.

Orian tries to stand in my way as I slowly make my way over to where my mate is fighting Douglas while King Arnald and Beta Mark are fighting some of Douglas' minions. Shoving him off a few times until he finally wraps his arms around my waist, turns us away from them, and holds me in place for a moment since I don't really have the energy to fight him off. Suddenly, I hear Ryker yelp in pain, and I turn my attention back on them to find Douglas's mangy wolf standing over my mate, covered in blood and looking like he's going in for the kill, causing something in me to snap.

"My Queen, please let Zion handle this. I can't let you get hurt." He says, panic and worry lacing his voice.

"Move, Orian!" I shout with all my might, forcing him to submit quickly and step out of my way.

Dosha takes over, and we race towards our mate, not bothering to slow down as we collide with Douglas. We roll a few times, still snapping and snarling at him, clamping down on any part of his body we can get our teeth on. He's already taking my father, my childhood, other peoples' family members, and who knows what else. He won't take anything from anyone else ever again. We will end this now!

I can feel my anger begin to reach a boiling point, and I know what's coming. I quickly link Orian, King Arnald, and Beta Mark, telling them that I'm about to blow and that they need to get Zion and our men out of here. They try to argue, and I have no choice but to command them, which they aren't happy with, but they grab Zion and take off while Zion tries to fight them off. I feel so bad for commanding them, but I can't risk losing any of them to my anger.

When I think they are far enough away, I look at Douglas and his minions surrounding me and closing in. Taking a deep breath, I throw up a barrier around us to try to contain the explosion as I focus on my anger and let it consume me, throwing my hands up and whispering, "Release" as they lunge at me.

I open my eyes to find that I'm back in the comfortable darkness of the Moon Goddess's realm. I looked around to see that I was alone at the moment, so I tried to think back to what happened after I released all of my anger, but I couldn't think of anything, and then it hit me. I'm dead.

"Hello, my beautiful daughter," Selene says from behind me, making me jump. "Sorry, my Dear, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Am I dead? Did I fail my mission? Are Zion and the twins okay?" I blurt out as my mind begins to go into a panic.

"You completed your mission gracefully, and the twins are being well looked after by Jessica, Odett, Lady Ezmerelda, and Gamma Sam." She says as she places her hand on my shoulder, instantly calming me.

I didn't miss the fact that she didn't answer my question about Zion or if I was dead. I can only hope that we will be reunited in the afterlife and that our pups will be safe with us, not there to protect and raise them. I hope that Orian is okay for Jess and their family's sake and that I didn't take his life as well.

"So we didn't make it out after all," I say, slightly defeated.

"They made it far enough away that the explosion did not hurt them, and everyone is still alive, but Zion has sustained some severe injuries from his fight with Douglas." She says with a sad smile. "For the determination and resilience you have both shown, sacrificing yourselves for the greater good of all supernatural species, I am willing to pull you both from the world of the living and take you both to my moon realm to spend an eternity together where you will never have to worry about anything like this ever again. Or I can return you to his side to live your lives together as you see fit, but I can not guarantee things will be easy. With everything you have endured, the choice is yours to make."

"I would go through it all again if it meant that I could be with my family again. The choice will always be them, no matter what." I say resolutely. I didn't even need to think about it. "We will take any obstacles that come our way head-on together."

"I had a strong suspicion that you would say that. We are so proud of you, my daughter. I will always look over you." She says with a bright smile, making me even more confident in my decision. "Always remember, you are destined for great things."

"Thank you, my Goddess," I say as I'm filled with renewed hope, knowing that I will be back with my family.

"Forever and always, sweet girl. The moon can't shine without darkness." She says as she begins to fade into the darkness, leaving me alone to pull myself out of the darkness once again.