Chapter 125: Catastrophe After Catastrophe

Selene’s POV

"I’m not going to fight you, Kael," Lucian said to him bluntly.

I was shocked. What had gotten into Kael? What did he eat or drink that made him think he could challenge Lucian for the throne? He had to have been out of his mind. And the look on Lucian’s face told me everything ... he was carrying too much already. This was probably the worst moment of his life.

"You have no choice, Alpha. You have to prepare," the elder said, and Lucian dragged himself out of the room like a man walking toward his own funeral.

He went to his room. I went to mine. But he had been given thirty minutes to prepare, and I knew exactly where he would be ... the training ground. So I went there to check on him.

He was still training when I arrived. I didn’t want to break his focus, so I kept myself hidden at the edge of the space, just watching.

But Lucian and his instincts were something else entirely. He caught me anyway.

"Selene, come out. I’ve seen you," he said.

I had no choice but to step forward. "I’ve been watching you train for a while," I confessed.

"That’s kind of you, Selene. But I might not win this one," he said.

"Don’t say that, Lucian. You’ve been winning your entire life. This fight may be unexpected, but you have to do it," I told him.

"Kael was my beta. My closest friend and associate ... and he betrayed me. That’s a lot to carry, Selene. You won’t understand," he said quietly.

I patted his back. Even to me, it had been a shock. Whoever convinced Kael that he could beat Lucian had done a masterful job of deceiving him.

"It’s time. I believe in you," I said, and pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you." He straightened up, picked himself together, and left.

I could already see the shift in him. The heaviness in his shoulders was still there, but his stride was different now ... steadier. More certain. He walked with his head up, moving toward the arena like an Alpha who hadn’t forgotten what he was.

Ever since Tessa became Luna, it had been catastrophe after catastrophe.

And now she was on the verge of destroying the bond between two allies ... two men who had been bound by duty and brotherhood. Whoever followed Tessa’s word was going to lose in the end. Whether Kael won this battle or not.

Kael and Lucian entered the arena.

Bare knuckles. Fight until your opponent couldn’t get up at the count of ten.

It was going to be brutal, but I was holding onto every shred of hope I had for Lucian.

Tessa was seated high above the arena floor on the Luna’s raised platform, watching everything unfold below her like she was entertainment royalty. I didn’t know whose side she was on ... not that it mattered. She was a foolish wife and a stupid Luna. She damn sure wasn’t supporting Lucian, because she was the one who had started all of this from the very beginning.

I genuinely couldn’t understand what those two had ever had together.

The referee stood between them in the center of the ring.

"In this contest, anything goes ... until your opponent falls and cannot rise before the count of ten."

He rang the bell.

"Wait ... Kael." Lucian’s voice cut through the noise before the first blow could land. "I have one question. Why? Why did you do this to me?"

Kael hissed and looked like he wanted to throw the first punch right then. "Because you’re not worthy of the throne you’re sitting on."

"We’ve been together for years, Kael. There’s nothing I haven’t given you. Nothing about me you don’t know," Lucian said, still circling, still warming up.

"Exactly," Kael said. "That’s exactly why I’m going to beat you tonight."

I couldn’t catch every word from where I stood ... I was at the front of the crowd ... but I could read their lips well enough.

Kael threw the first punch. Lucian dodged it and countered immediately, driving a heavy fist straight into Kael’s nose.

The thud was sickening. I winced. So did half the crowd.

"You don’t have to do this," Lucian said.

But Kael came back with twice the fury. He landed a blow to Lucian’s waist, then another, then another ... three punches in rapid succession, one of them crashing into Lucian’s ribs hard enough to bring him down to one knee.

Lucian retreated. Kael kept coming.

The thing was ... Kael was no amateur. He had fought alongside Lucian for years, trained beside him, watched every weakness develop over time. He knew exactly where to aim, and it showed. The fight was shifting in a direction I hadn’t wanted to believe was possible.

Kael pounded Lucian repeatedly, and still Lucian refused to go down. Kael’s nose was gushing blood, but he kept moving forward. Lucian was bleeding too now, both of them painting the arena floor red.

Then Lucian landed a punch that finally dropped Kael. He went down hard, and Lucian didn’t let up ... he crouched over him and kept swinging, his large fists relentless, drawing blood with every hit. He looked like he wanted to tear through bone.

Kael shoved him off and scrambled back to his feet, and that’s when he pulled something from his pocket.

A spiked whip.

It was short but vicious ... spikes running the full length of it. Lucian had to fall back. But Kael moved fast, closing the distance before Lucian could fully react. He got one clean lash in, and it tore through skin. Blood followed immediately.

Lucian’s jaw tightened. He’d been too lenient. That much was clear on his face now.

Meanwhile, the crowd was going absolutely insane ... screaming, shouting, watching two men who had once been brothers tear each other apart like it was a spectator sport. They had abandoned their Alpha. Even if Lucian lost, most of them didn’t seem to care ... not after everything he had done for them. Tessa and Kael’s corruption had done its damage. People genuinely believed Kael would make a better king.

Kael was gaining the upper hand.

"Get your weapon, Lucian!" I screamed from the front. I didn’t know if he heard me.

But he moved.

He drove his leg down hard against the back of Kael’s knee, and Kael buckled, hitting the ground and losing his grip on the whip. He hadn’t seen that coming.

Lucian snatched it up.

"This is the end," he said.

And he meant it ... the end of their friendship, their alliance, and this fight.

He whipped Kael like he had something personal to prove. The spikes tore through fabric, then skin, laying Kael open across his back while the crowd went silent in a way they hadn’t been all night. He didn’t stop until Kael was drenched in his own blood. Then he dropped the whip and finished it with his fists ... punch after punch ... before sealing it all with a devastating headbutt straight to Kael’s face.

Kael crumpled to the floor and didn’t move.

The referee counted to ten. Kael didn’t get up.

Lucian won.

There was never any world where Kael was going to beat him. Lucian was still their Alpha ... and he had just proven, in the most brutal way possible, exactly why.