Chapter 14
1098words
Ella let out a broken scream that sounded barely human.
Time seemed to stand still in that moment.
Karen's tall body suddenly trembled. He looked down to see a blood-stained, silver-infused blade tip protruding from his chest. In his golden eyes, there was shock, and surprisingly, relief.
He had taken that fatal blow for her.
At least she was safe...
"Karen!"
Ella's rationality was instantly submerged. Without thinking, she instinctively embraced his body as it began to fall.
"...Ella..." He coughed up a mouthful of black blood mixed with Silver Venom, clutching her arm and using his last ounce of strength to say, "...run... quickly..."
"No!"
"Hahahahaha!" After his initial shock, Leo Wilde erupted into a fit of hysterical laughter. "Foolish! Utterly foolish! You, an Alpha, actually dying for an Omega!"
He withdrew the dagger, preparing to deliver another blow.
"You madman!" Ella suddenly raised her head, her eyes burning with the golden fury of the "Progenitor Omega" and Luna that she herself had not even noticed, "You are not to touch him!"
"Stop her!" Leo's expression twisted with jealousy, "This traitor! She wants to save him! Don't let her succeed!"
Those Rogues loyal to Leo immediately surrounded them, trying to drag Ella away from Karen.
"Protect Ella!"
Jason roared, bringing with him two other healed warriors, drawing their weapons and standing in front of Ella.
"Get out of the way, Jason! You traitor!"
"She saved us! We are loyal to her!"
The camp instantly fell into internal chaos. But Jason's side only had three people, they simply couldn't hold back the dozen or so Rogues under Leo's command.
"Ella!" Leo snarled viciously, "Let him die! This is our victory!"
Ella looked at Karen who was losing his warmth in her arms. The wound in his chest couldn't heal because of Silver Venom, and his life was slipping away rapidly.
Her rationality was screaming: He is your enemy! He slaughtered your people! Let him die!
But the "mark" on her neck was wailing. The wolf inside her heart was painfully slamming against her soul due to her mate's impending death.
He... he saved me.
He took the silver for me.
Hot tears welled up in Ella's eyes. She was no longer the embodiment of "hatred," nor was she a weapon of "vengeance."
She was just Ella.
"I won't let anyone else," she trembled, pressing her hand onto the terrible wound in Karen's chest, "die because of this feud!"
"Stop her!" Leo was about to lose everything, and he lunged forward frantically.
Just as his hand was about to touch Ella—
"Roar—!"
A unified howl from a distant wolf pack shook the entire canyon.
"Boom——!"
The top and sides of the cave were completely torn open by an even stronger force!
Dozens of black figures descended like vengeful shadows, all transformed into half-wolf forms, their golden eyes burning with rage that threatened to destroy everything.
The Beta and elite warriors of Shadow Fortress—they had finally arrived, following the scent of their missing Alpha and the overwhelming stench of Silver Venom!
"For the Alpha!"
Karen's deputy, Cael, eyes blood-red upon seeing Karen lying in a pool of blood. He was the first to lunge at Leo Wilde, who was closest to Karen.
In an instant, the camp transformed from "internal strife" to "slaughter."
The Rogues were no match for the well-trained Alpha legion.
In Ella's world, only the man in her arms remained.
In the deafening sounds of battle, she seemed to be at the center of the storm. She channeled all of her newly awakened "Progenitor Omega" power into Karen's chest.
"Come back!" she cried, as pale golden light frantically poured out, "I forbid you to die! Karen!"
It was a miracle.
That silver-infused dagger was only one millimeter away from his heart.
Under Ella's power, the deadly Silver Venom was forcibly expelled from his body, turning into black smoke. The pierced wound began to contract and heal at a visible speed.
"...Ella."
A hoarse, low call.
Karen Wolcoff suddenly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw upon waking was Ella's face, just inches away, covered in tears and dirt.
The giant wolf within his heart let out a satisfied, relieved growl.
"No——!" Leo Wilde let out a desperate scream.
Cael had knocked him to the ground, raising his sharp claws, preparing to execute the Rogue leader who dared to assassinate the Alpha.
"Kill him!"
"Avenge the Alpha!"
The warriors of Shadow Fortress were roaring. Jason and his pack members cowered in the corner in terror.
Hatred was about to cycle once again.
"—Stop!"
A hoarse voice, yet filled with absolute authority, drowned out all the cries for blood.
Not the forceful "Alpha's Voice," but a kind of weariness emanating from the soul.
Karen stood up shakily with Ella's support.
The Shadow Fortress warriors stopped their movements. Cael's claws halted in front of Leo's throat as he turned back in confusion to look at his Alpha.
Karen looked around the chaotic, bloody camp—at his dying enemy, at his angry warriors, and also at those few terrified survivors from the Red Moon Pack huddled in the corner.
"Enough." He said in a low voice, with the weakness of Silver Venom in his tone, yet no one dared to question him.
"This hatred..." he began, his voice echoing throughout the entire canyon, "was sparked by my father's sins. Leo Wilde perpetuated it in the name of revenge, and now, my people want to end it in the name of loyalty."
He closed his eyes, as if enduring immense pain.
"Revenge begets revenge, without end."
Karen's eyes snapped open, his golden pupils showing unprecedented clarity.
"This blood debt... ends here."
He no longer paid attention to his warriors, nor did he look at Leo who had already collapsed on the ground.
He turned around, only looking at Ella.
Under the gaze of everyone too shocked to breathe, Karen Wolcoff—the Conqueror of the North, the Alpha Wolf King of Shadow Fortress—slowly and solemnly knelt on one knee.
He knelt before Ella, the Omega he had once viewed as a disgrace.
"The sins of my father," he lowered his head, his voice hoarse, "I shall repay them."
He raised his head, the golden eyes no longer filled with pride and possession, but only endless remorse and devotion.
"I, Karen Wolcoff, hereby swear."
"Half of the land of Shadow Fortress, and all the wealth accumulated by the Wolcoff Family over hundreds of years, will be returned to the survivors of the Red Moon Pack."
"This is..." he held Ella's trembling hand, "my atonement."
