Chapter 179
Fiona POV
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We stand on the grounds staring at each other. My fathers remain silent, but they’ve already raised their objections. It’s time to end this, end it once and for all. Celeste’s face is an expression of determination. We are standing near the training ring, getting ready to commence. My mate looks at me as I begin to strip, not wanting to ruin my clothes. My mate takes them from me and carefully holds onto them. This fight won’t take long. I’m almost certain of it. Celeste, however, seems to believe differently, and I pity her.
“Give her hell,” he murmured to me in my car.
I nod tightly. Celeste begins to copy my movements. Soon, we are both standing naked. She turns into her wolf, and I am shocked at how average it is. A grey and white wolf that is barely bigger than our warrior wolves. So much for being a pure blood Dominion. In this instance, it hadn’t helped her at all. I wondered what she had done to anger the moon goddess and then decided that I did not care. The moon goddess had her reasons for making Celeste an average wolf, just like she had her reasons for making me a white one.
I shift into my white wolf, staring her down. She still has time to change her mind, to end this. Instead, we both lunge towards each other. I am vehemently aware of her pregnancy as I leap out of the way with ease. Celeste lets out a snarl, turning back around and trying to lunge forward at me again as I sidestep her easily and lash out, getting her across the chest with my paws as she lets out a howl of pain. I could have hurt her far worse, but I refused to go for the belly. It’s the only place on her that I won’t touch, and even that is far merciful than what she deserves. The child she carries is innocent, even if the mother is not.
It’s clear she’s no match for my wolf. Her wolf is pitiful. Celeste, however, refuses to admit defeat. I am forced to tackle her, biting her and scratching her while being ever mindful of the baby she contains in her stomach. I am no monster. I would never harm an innocent child, but its mother was a different story. Celeste had to pay for all of her wrongdoings. I back away, giving her time to realize the depths of her various wounds, blood trickling down her sides and chest, matting her fur. They are all minor injuries. I’m attempting to injure her without being too severe. She thinks it’s a weakness because she chose to try and attack me again. I was not being weak but merely cautious. I could have ended this already had I chosen to do so. Her attacks were not even touching me, even as she began to get more desperate and exasperated by that simple fact.
I buck her off. I circle her, my head bowed low, my eyes fixated on her. She’s hurt but refusing to back down. She’s always been stubborn and has always believed she was the best. It must hurt to have to acknowledge the truth now and that she is far weaker than even our best warrior. It’s almost laughable how determined she is to continue. I lash out again as she gets too close, before grabbing her by the tail and throwing her into the air. She hits the ground with a heavy thud. The challenge is over. She can’t defeat me, no matter how hard she tries. I roll my eyes and shift back into human form, staring at the wolf, which has gotten painfully to its feet, limping slightly. At this rate, Celeste won’t be able to go on, and she’ll use up too much of her strength. It was better for her to bow down gracefully now and admit defeat than continue to use up her conserved stores of energy.
“Celeste, it’s over.” My voice is clear and commanding.
The others are silently watching, but I can see my mate out of the corner of my eye nodding in agreement. The fight has ended. There is no more she could possibly try and do to me without further injuring herself.
Alpha Max has come to the same conclusion. “She can’t possibly win,” he murmured to my mate as I pretended not to eavesdrop. “What is she thinking, remaining in her wolf form? Fiona has beaten her; everybody has seen it.”
I stared my sister down. She refused to change. I shivered in the slight wind that came my way, and my eyes widened as my sister let out a ferocious growl and then lunged toward me before I could shift back. She was going to kill me, I realized, even as my mate began to shift. However, it was not Liam who pushed me out of the way but Alpha Max’s wolf before he clamped his jaws over Celeste, who let out a low growl as she tried to wrestle herself free. Liam promptly shifted back and ran to me, but I held up a hand, my heart racing wildly in my chest. I had fallen over when I was pushed but gotten quickly back to my feet, unable to believe Celeste’s murderous impulse. Alpha Max’s wolf looked pissed as he wrestled with her, while Celeste’s body slowly began to run out of wind.
Soon, her body slumped as she realized she could not get herself free. Alpha Max was not loosening his jaws on her. She
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12:38 Sun, 13 Apr
Chapter 179
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collapsed and let out a whine, and only then did he free her. He shifted to human form as Celeste did the same, looking thoroughly spent and eyeing Alpha Max with hatred. It was clear to see just how angry she was as she narrowed her eyes which were beginning to make her look quite crazed.
“You shouldn’t have interfered,” she screamed from her position on the ground, her eyes glittering. “I almost had her,” she howled.
Alpha Max was none too gentle as he hoisted her to her feet. My fathers looked shocked as they watched their daughter being manhandled by the otherwise quiet and kind–natured Alpha Max.
“You tried to kill your own sister,” Xander spoke, his voice filled with utter surprise. “You tried to harm Fiona.”
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“The rules never stated that I couldn’t do it while she was in human form. I’ve been trying to get rid of Fiona ever since she was born. So many–accidents,” she hissed, her chest heaving up and down, “and still she wouldn’t die! Even Graham failed to do the task I set him,” she cried, and everybody stilled, except for me.
I knew about her attack or attempt to foist Graham on me, but now everybody knew it. She had let it slip in her anger. My fathers were almost like statues as they stared at Celeste as though they had never seen her before. She was like a stranger to them instead of the daughter they had lovingly raised all these years. I almost laughed at the expressions on their faces as they were promptly slapped with reality, all thanks to Celeste blurting it out.
“You encouraged Graham to attack Fiona?” Xavier was the first to speak while my mate continued to hold me tight, reassuring me that all was well.
“Who else do you think?” Celeste hissed. “I’ve hated her since I can remember. Always. Once I discovered who her mother was, I tried even harder to get rid of her. She never deserved to be raised as Luna potential or in the height of luxury after what her mother did. You all agreed; you all turned your backs on her. It was just me who had the courage to do what was right.”
“We never gave you permission to do that.” Xander’s voice is still filled with shock. “None of us meant to turn our backs on Fiona, and I certainly never meant to blame her for Isabelle’s actions.”
“But you never stopped me either,” Celeste spat out, even as Alpha Max continued to hold her, a grim expression on his face. “If you had known everything I did, it was for everybody’s sake. I tried to get you to run off…” she glared daggers at me “and when you finally did, all anybody could talk about was you and precious Fiona severing bonds,” she mocked, “nobody paid attention to me and now you’re trying to steal my position as Alpha of this pack! I won’t have it,” she screamed, trying to wrestle free from Alpha Max’s grasp and failing miserably.
She tried to shift, and Alpha Max spoke, his voice booming across the grounds and filled with authority. “You will remain in human form until I tell you otherwise.”
He’d used his Alpha tone. She screamed again and then my other father spoke. “Take her to the dungeons for now. We’ll allow you to take her Alpha Max,” he said heavily, looking disgustedly at Celeste, “but until you can make the preparations for her to leave with you, I think it best she stays away from me and my family.”
He shot a glance at me, and I was pleasantly surprised to feel a warmth spreading throughout my chest. When he’d said family, he had included me.
