Reuben
“Willow!”
Her clothes shredded before my eyes as she shifted right in front of me, but what stunned me was her snow-white fur adorned with a rich black undercoat that reminded me of a fever coat. She appeared even more beautiful yet completely unapproachable. With an intense glint of bloodlust in her eyes she charged at Dark, a sight that alarmed me as I could no longer recognize my Willow within her.
She tore open Dark’s chest with her claws, exacerbating the pain of the wound and catching him off guard. Still reeling from the agony of losing his human body, he growled in pain and swiftly shifted into his wolf form to defend himself.
His paws scrambled against the floor purchase when he landed, his eyes locked onto the large she-wolf standing before him.
“Rose…” he grinned, his eyes completely black. “So you want to kill me now, is that it? I loved you with everythingl have, yet you still betrayed me. I remade the world as you wished it to be, but you didn’t value any of it. You destroyed a lifetime of hard work and penance just to be with your soulmate, children, and others, didn’t you?” he quietly muttered, his fury intensifying as his eyes blazed with madness while he circled her with predatory steps. “Now, you don’t deserve my love. Though you don’t deserve a merciful death either, now you will become the path to my immortality. I will destroy everything you cherish and kill every person you love! I will start with everything at once!” With a roar, he lunged at Willow and a bloody fight ensued between them right in front of me.
Neither of them seemed even remotely sane, my heart raced as I watched Willow fiercely attack, escape holds, and fend off Dark with equal ferocity, the room became increasingly bloody and chaotic.
By mentioning the deaths of Wyatt and Lori, Dark had provoked her even further emotionally. She had become completely consumed by evil, rising again and again after every hit, attacking with twice the power as if she were made not of blood and bones, but of cotton. Her gaze was unwavering and the smile on her lips never faltered, mirroring Dark’s own.
It felt as if she was not from this world. Her strength was so much scarier that she could kill the whole pack of wolves in a few minutes. Never in my wild imagination I realized my always smiling Willow held such dangerous powers. But the longer I watched Willow, the more I felt like I was losing her.
I couldn’t just stand there and watch as she slipped away, but before I could act, I received a mind-link from Oran.
“Reuben, our pack is under attack, just as you predicted,” he remarked, explaining how thousands of werewolves were charging into our territory. They were the same wolves that had disappeared under Dark’s control. When reports indicated that there was no blood in the soil of the mysteriously burnt packs, I suspected that those individuals were still alive and posed a threat. Now, Dark had raised his army and they were assaulting my pack. However…
“Follow our plan!” I ordered.
“Already on it. Walter, Sky, and I are at the borders with members from the Emerald Bright Pack, the Opal Moon Pack, and a group of Walter’s brilliant hunters. Ella is protecting the pack from within alongside Alphas Lewis and Adam. The pack is fortified by three Alphas as you requested,” he reported quickly then concluded, “However, there are far too many of them to defeat, Reuben. On top of that none of them appear to be in their right minds. It’s as if they’re here to kill or be killed! We can’t hold off an army like this for long!”
Our mind-link abruptly cut off, and my muscles tightened. He was being attacked from all sides, all at once. As I watched the fight continue between Willow and Dark, he grinned at me for a split second. He had been controlling the army!
Anger surged through me when I realized his twisted plan. By destroying my pack, he would cause the deaths of innocent people and our children, which would undoubtedly lead to the break inside Willow widening further. If she ended up completely broken, Dark would seize control over her then use her blood to gain an advantage over us.
I couldn’t let that happen! I immediately shifted into my wolf form and charged at Dark. He prepared to strike, aiming to put another hole in my chest, but at the last moment I changed directions when I was a 100 meters away from him and lunged for Willow.
Dark was momentarily caught off guard as he realized I had taken her with me into the darkness. He couldn’t handle the shock of losing her and swiftly dispelled the gloomy darkness that surrounded us.
With everything around us becoming clear once again, I seized the opportunity to find a way out, searching for the large door through which I had entered.
“BIX!” I urgently mind-linked him and the door immediately transformed into ash.
“Damn it!” Dark gritted his teeth when he realized he had fallen for my trick as he witnessed a magical portal created by Bix appear on the other side of the door. Some paragraphs are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on Jobnib.com. Visit Jobnib.com to read the complete chapters for free. The gloomy darkness attempted to chase after Willow, aiming to snatch her from me. Before it could succeed, I pushed her through the portal blocking the darkness from reaching her. However, in the midst of the chaos, I suddenly felt Willow’s strong furious hand grip my wrist and pull me inside the portal along with her. She did not let me go!
My body tumbled to the ground with a jolting force as we emerged in the middle of the Emerald Bright packhouse and its borders, surrounded by blood, war, and death. Oran, Ella, Walter, Sky, and everyone else that we had gathered were fighting and killing. I raised my head to see Dark emerging from the portal as well.
Fuck! Dark’s influence on his army hadn’t diminished, instead it had intensified. The sky above us grew darker until suddenly the members of Dark’s army began turning on each other, savagely attacking and killing one another. Oran, Walter, Sky, Alpha Luise, and Alpha Adam every one of their wolves ceased fighting. They were frozen by the horrifying sight of wolves slaughtering their own army or taking their own lives. One by one, all the wolves dropped to the ground dead, mirroring the exact same scene that Sky had described taking place in Wade Moon with when the pack members turned on each other eleven years ago.
“Did you see what you caused, Rose?” Dark grinned wickedly at Willow.
My eyes immediately snapped to Ceri, who stood frozen in place her black eyes wide with horror as she witnessed the scene unfolding before her. My fists clenched in realization that Dark was deliberately recreating this scene of destruction in order to push Willow to the breaking point.
“This is just the beginning!” he roared. Then in the next moment, the entire pack started to catch fire beginning with the packhouse where our children were.
“NO!” I growled in indignation, shifted into my wolf form, and lunged at Dark intent on tearing him to pieces while Willow’s condition grew more chilling at the sight of the packhouse burning.
Dex completely lost his mind, driven by the need to strike at Dark’s heart. I dug my claws into Dark’s already ripped-open chest and tore it further down to his stomach. He hissed in pain, but to my horror, he began to heal himself. No matter how much I beat him or broke his bones, he still was able to recover.
“One thing you don’t know about me,” he announced, kicking me away and rising to his feet in his human form. “Dark can’t be killed by a mere mortal wolf. The deaths taking place all around us give me power, making me invincible,” he laughed darkly, unleashing more of his dark energy, intensifying the inferno that had engulfed the pack, leaving nowhere for anyone to escape. “I CAN KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, BUT NO ONE… NO ONE CAN KILL ME!”
He laughed menacingly, relishing the fear reflected on everyone’s pale faces as they stared at the monster that threatened to burn them to death. I stood up defiantly, glaring at him refusing to back down. “If I can’t kill you, then I’ll take you to hell with me!” I growled, preparing to charge at him with my last ounce of strength. Before I could make a move, a shadow loomed over my head.
Confused, I looked up to see a large wolf leaping over me. I gasped, “Willow…”
In a flash too quick for Dark to anticipate, Willow launched herself at him. She pounced on him, shattering his spine in one swift motion. Dark screamed in pain as he crashed to the ground, Willow mercilessly wracked her paws all over his chest, tearing at his neck with a powerful roar, to end his reign of terror once and for all.
The entire clearing fell into a dead silence as Dark lay half-dead beneath Willow. She savagely mauled his face with her teeth, ripping his head from his torso in a final, decisive act of vengeance. The killing ceased on its own, as if the world itself recognized the end of Dark’s reign of terror.
“She killed him!” Sky gasped, stunned by the scene that had unfolded before him. Unlike the others, who stood in awe, as the fire died out on their own with Dark’s death.
“He said no one could kill him, but Willow did!” Walter exclaimed, his voice filled with disbelief.
“Dark’s mark on her neck is gone, but her evil blood has completely taken control of her,” Oran remarked, his words sending a wave of concern through everyone.
“Now she has become another Dark,” Alpha Louise added gravely.
The group collectively held a breath during the tension, everyone watched as Willow shifted back into her human form but continued to relentlessly attack Dark, her actions fueled by an unseen force.
“AAHHHHH!!” Willow screamed, her voice filled with pain as she remained half-shifted, relentlessly ripping at Dark’s intestines while releasing dark energy that cursed the surrounding area.
“Willow!!” I yelled, racing over to her. She was no longer herself, consumed by the darkness that had consumed her. Just as I was about to touch her, her dark energy began to burn my wolf, forcing me away with a powerful energy field.
“GGRR…” I growled in pain, determined to break through the energy barrier separating us. If this continued, Willow would end up killing herself. “Willow!!” I roared at the top of my lungs, summoning all my strength to break through the energy field until I finally embraced her from behind, desperately hoping to bring her back to herself.
I lifted her off of Dark’s lifeless body and held her tightly in my arms. “AHHH…” she continued to scream uncontrollably, her evil energy causing her immense pain as I refused to let her go. Despite her struggles, I held onto her, refusing to release her from my grasp.
Dex attempted to connect with Ceri, but she was completely lost to us. I had lost my Willow.
My heart shattered into countless pieces as I watched her in this agonizing state. I couldn’t bear to lose her. I couldn’t let her slip away. I refused to give up on her.
With determination burning in my eyes, I made a decision. I rolled her onto the ground, pinning her beneath me. She screamed and thrashed, desperate to break free, but I held her firmly, restraining her legs with my knees and pinning her hands above her head. Finally, I buried my face in her neck, marking her once again, determined to reclaim the Willow I knew and loved.
She fought fiercely to avoid my mark, but I persisted, forcing her neck aside and sinking my teeth deep and then deeper into her flesh until she was completely marked as mine. As our broken bond was slowly restored, her blood mixed with mine in my mouth, when our wolves finally connected, she ceased screaming and struggling.
After a moment, I withdrew my canines and gazed down at her. Her head remained tilted to the side.
“Willow,” I whispered, gently turning her face towards mine. I searched her eyes and found them still dark, then after a few moments they gradually transformed back into their beautiful blue hue just like they were before. She looked up at me with watery eyes before slowly closing them and fainting in my arms.
I immediately pulled her into my chest. “Willow,” I murmured, biting my lip as I buried my face in her neck. “Willow..”