Chapter 555: Taking her out

(Music Recommendation: Tell Her I Wasn’t Scared by Dan Thiessen.)

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Viola, breathing hard, slowly backed away from her opponent, staggering slightly as she moved, the bloody dagger still gripped tightly in her hand. In that moment, her eyes held nothing but ruthless resolve, not a trace of mercy left in them as she looked down at the bleeding she-wolf.

The arena fell into complete silence, so quiet that a pin could have been heard dropping, broken only by the howling wind and the snowflakes swirling through the air.

Elizabeth had made the mistake of believing she could break Viola simply because she was smaller, and supposedly less capable. Now, Viola stood over her, battered and exhausted but still holding her weapon, unwilling to back down or show an ounce of regret for what she had done.

"You weren’t willing to show me mercy, Elizabeth, but for the sake of the pups you’re carrying, I’ll show you mine. Being a mother isn’t easy, and carrying them is even harder. I hope you’ve learned not to underestimate someone smaller than yourself next time." Came Viola’s words, reaching not only the stunned, bleeding Elizabeth, but the entire audience, who finally registered that Viola had only stabbed Elizabeth’s shoulder, not her chest, not anywhere fatal.

Even Elizabeth looked genuinely surprised the other she-wolf hadn’t finished her off, since had their positions been reversed, she wouldn’t have shown the same restraint.

Even as she lay there bleeding, with the wolfsbane already working its way through her blood, Elizabeth knew that if she still had the strength, she wouldn’t have spared Viola. She would have killed the little bitch outright. The mercy Viola had shown her now gnawed at her, and she glared at the Silver Pack Luna, feeling insulted by the very mercy that had been granted to her.

"I will fucking kill you!" Elizabeth gritted out, and Viola let out a sigh, looking down at her hopeless opponent.

"If you can still stand to fight me again sometime, come find me. Next time, I’ll aim for your chest instead." Saying that, she turned to Alpha Price, whose face had twisted into open disbelief and fury, having just lost his entire chance to claim a piece of Silver, along with whatever larger ambitions he’d been building toward.

"You have thirty minutes to pack your people and get the hell out of our pack!" Viola yelled out for him and his people to hear her words.

The entire Silver audience erupted into cheers, many of them genuinely impressed as they watched their Luna stand victorious over Elizabeth the Barbarian.

Viola’s name was already being chanted throughout the crowd, the deafening noise making her head spin. Her body ached. She tightened her grip on the dagger, struggling to remain on her feet as exhaustion weighed heavily on her. She had won, but all she wanted now was to leave the arena, find somewhere quiet to rest, and let her body recover.

Seeing that Elizabeth couldn’t even manage to stand, Viola finally turned away. That was when she spotted her husband already vaulting down from the stands into the arena like a skilled monkey leaping from a tree. She couldn’t help smiling at the sight of her man.

She waved at him, only for him to glare at her, his expression clearly displeased with how badly she’d been hurt and how much she was bleeding.

As she attempted to walk toward him, her legs suddenly felt like jelly, weak and unsteady beneath her. Only then did she fully register the injuries covering her body, the places that were still bleeding, and how deeply the cold had settled into her bones after fighting in such inadequate clothing. She placed a protective hand over her stomach, silently apologizing to her pups for putting them through such a frightening ordeal.

In no time at all, Sebastian was standing in front of her, pulling her into his warmth. The moment she was in his arms, her body finally seemed to realize that the fight was over and it no longer had to keep going. She melted against him, shivering uncontrollably as though she’d just been pulled out of freezing water.

"You’re so warm. It’s delicious, hubby..." she whispered against his chest.

His arms tightened around her as he scolded her. "And you’re so cold I could freeze a drink on your skin. Silly woman, who doesn’t know better than to fight in this damn cold."

Despite his scolding, his voice held no real harshness, and Viola smiled against his chest.

She might have held her ground against Elizabeth, but once she was with her husband, her body could no longer maintain the illusion of strength. The moment Sebastian wrapped his coat around her and lifted her into his arms, she finally surrendered to her exhaustion. Secure in his embrace, she drifted into unconsciousness, a faint smile of victory still resting on her face.

Sebastian looked down at his unconscious wife, who was smiling despite everything, and he didn’t need to ask what had made her smile to know exactly why, she’d proven him wrong about her ability to handle herself.

Just as Sebastian had stepped into the arena to carry his wife out, Price had done the same, though not to carry his own, but to demand, "Someone get a fucking doctor to pull the wolfsbane out of her system!" He yelled, his voice nearly swallowed by the roar of the crowd, but Sebastian, already walking away, heard him perfectly clear.

Sebastian glanced back over his shoulder. "No doctor from Silver will touch her. Take your wife and leave my pack. Next time, you’ll think twice before messing with my pack, or my wife." He said, then paused to add, "And if anything happens to my wife, or my pups after this fight, I will come for your head myself, Price."

With that, Sebastian walked away, snow drifting softly down around them, settling over his shoulders and across his wife, and he shifted her closer into the curve of his chest, where he knew, without question, she would always hold a bigger piece of his heart than anything else ever could.

This woman had walked into his life at a time he never expected to need her, let alone want her, and more than once now, his mate had proven herself, even when she hadn’t needed to prove a single thing. His eyes darkened at the sight of the injuries she’d sustained, and without hesitation, he ordered through the mind link to his men,

"Feed the Darkbur Pack before they leave, and make sure wolfsbane’s mixed into the food, call it extra seasoning. I want them crawling home in agony." He ordered, already leaving the arena behind with cold determination to get his wife out of there.