Chapter |81| ~The Path of Blood~
Unedited.
Embry’s POV.
(Recap)
Wasting no time, my wolf begins to shake her head violently from side to side as Ravana immediately begins to let out a loud and shattering scream of pain as she attempts to break free but there’s no use because unfortunately for her my wolf has come back with one thing and one thing only on her mind.
Vengeance.
Ravana’s blood continues to flow freely down out throat as the thrill of the kill begins to take her.
With each passing second, my wolf becomes more and more monstrous, only pulling back to spit out chunks of her flesh and bones. Eventually, Ravana’s chilling screams turn into shorts gasps of air and her once toned body is now nothing but a bag of bones covered in scarlet red blood.
This is it! She’s almost done for it. The mentally ill bitch is almost done.
All of a sudden, a hand touches my chest as it flys through Ravana’s body from the back and the next thing I know is the fear of Goddess being placed into Ravana’s eyes before her body falls down to the floor.
Lifeless. Heartless. She’s gone. What the Goddess?
I lift my head quickly only to come in contact with the last person on this earth that I’ve expected to see standing before me.
Celine. She’s here standing right in front of me with Ravana’s bloody heart drenching her fair hands crimson. I’m stunned.
“Hello cousin,” she says to me. “Did you miss me?”
I stare at Celine with wide eyes filled with good-ole shock.
I can’t believe that she’s here, standing directly in front of me, watching me watch her. I’m stunned, but my wolf on the hand doesn’t seem to be captivated by her sudden moment of appearance. In all actuality she’s pretty got damn suspicious.
“That was my kill,” my wolf growls before she zooms over towards Celine and then slams her back against the wall with our bare hand. Our eyes are also glowing golden. “Her life was mine to take,”
“So you’re a killer now,” accuses Celine before she decides to return the favor by slamming our back against the wall on the other end of the room. Her eyes are also glowing golden. Her wolf is most certainly in control. “Of course you are. You’re paired with the most ruthless monster of all time. Of course, your hands are bloody,” she growls back.
“You don’t know anything about my mate,” my wolf roars before she swiftly releases our body from Celine’s tight hold with a single kick to the stomach that sends our cousin flying across the room.
Oh, snap!
Things are about to go from bad to worse I think to myself as Celine climbs to her feet with glowing golden eyes. As expected, Celine wolf release’s an extremely loud growl while her golden eyes lock onto my wolf golden ones.
“I know all about your monster of a mate,” Celine wolf begins to further provoke. “The world does. He’s the reason why so many of our people lively hood has been destroyed. He’s the reason families have been ripped apart. He is the reason why so many wives are widows, and why plenty of children are orphans, and if that’s not enough. Lets not forget that because of him millions on top of millions of our people no longer have breath in their body, including my father, my sister, and your mother,”
“Leave my mother out of this,” roars my wolf. “She has nothing to do with this,”
“She has everything to do with this,” Celine’s wolf roars back.“They all do, your mother, my father, Kaya, and countless of others have been slathered by the man that you call mate. The Ruthless bastard that you have openly claimed and accepted,”
“My mate didn’t kill my mother, your father, or Kaya,” my wolf eyes glow brighter as she comes to our mate’s defense. “And you are right I did openly claim and accept him,” taunt’s my wolf. “I’m the Ruthless vampire king mate. I”m his queen,”
“And quite the queen you shall be,” Celine wolf fake coughs while taking an all offensive bow. “You are a traitor. You turned you back on your people for a monster,” she dares to say.
“I didn’t do anything of the sort,” my wolf denies. “I accepted the gift that Goddess sent to me. I accepted my mate and I’ll do it again, and again, and again if come’s down to it,” my wolf adds in, showing no remorse. “He’s just as much my family as you are and if you can’t accept it, go fuck your self,”
“Go fuck myself!” Celine’s wolf begins to lose her cool, taking a step forward as she clenches her hands into tight fists. “My human has been there for your human her entire life just like how I’ve been there for you my entire life, you ungrateful little pup,” she hisses out her last words.
My wolf decides to roll our eyes, “Cut out the dramatics,” my wolf just has to say. “It doesn’t suit you,”
Celine’s wolf golden eyes glow brighter than bright.
“You’re right,” she agrees while flashing a wolffish grin. ” You know like I know that talking things out was never my for-say. I have forever and always will be a more hands-on type of creature,” she threatens and my wolf doesn’t miss it, instantly taking offense.
“And so I am, cousin,” my wolf sarcastically states the word cousin.
Celine’s wolf releases a vicious growl in response as if her wolf could beat my wolf. When in reality we both know that she’s no match for me. Now, don’t get me wrong Celine is a Wilde wolf. Plus, she’s an alpha’s daughter just like me but my dad was older than her father which means that he was naturally stronger and my dad’s children are naturally stronger than his little brother’s children.
It’s the law of wolffish inheritance. I inherited my dad’s dominance over his younger brother, even though she’s older than me. In addition to that, I was the last wolf born on the Luna passing day which marked me as some sort of special wolf, or at least that’s what my people believe anyway. Although, there is nothing special about me besides the fact that I’m stronger than my older siblings, and I’m able to disobey the command of an alpha which is supposed to be impossible.
In other words, other than my dad and my uncle Maddox I’m the strongest Wilde Wolf and Celine knows this, yet that will not stop her from declaring war against me. Never did! Never will! She’s still a Wilde wolf after all and we were raised to never back down. Never.
No matter, who we’re up against and that doesn’t exclude one another.
“Well then let’s see what you got, cousin,” Celine wolf challenges which now causes my wolf to be the one to viscously growl at her, and that’s all it takes for our wolves to begin to display their show of dominance, the both of them equally wanting to be the one to come out on top.
They begin with a stare-off, sizing one another up and they both are patiently waiting for the other party to make their move in deadly anticipation. My wolf is the first one to begin the shift. I can feel it in my very bones, slowly but surely taking over, and judging by the sudden energy shift Celine wolf can feel it too. She decides to mimic my wolf action’s in response, allowing her more animalistic nature to become her most prominent one.
This lasts for a long while because they are the Wilde and neither one of our wolves are willing to be the first to back down, or even back down at all. That would be against their nature. The Wilde wolf shall never be the first to surrender or throw in the white flag.
Actions like that go up against their entire being.
In other words, It’s isn’t our cup of tea or so I thought.
“We don’t have time for this,” Celine wolf surprises me and my wolf by saying. “We need to go, now,” she insists while walking over towards my wolf with caution.
“I wouldn’t get too close if I was you,” viciously growls out my wolf and I mentally gulp.
I mean, I know that I agreed to allow my wolf to take the front row seat under these types of circumstances and I will not go back on my word, but it is Celine after all. She used to be my favorite cousin, our favorite cousin.
“Keyword, use too,” my wolf chimes in before the both of us give Celine wolf our undivided attention once again. “I said don’t get too close,” my wolf growls louder as Celine wolf draws closer.
Instead of growling back which is the typical she-wolf thing to do Celine wolf pulls a Celine by just simply rolling her bright gold eyes. “Look,” she says while pausing in the middle of the room.
“You don’t have to like me and it’s obvious that I don’t like you. Those day’s of our close bonding ship has sailed awhile ago,”
Almost, instantly my heart drops. Celine’s wolf words sting even though it’s the truth. It still hurts to hear it out loud. Bad.
“Agreed,” my wolf nonchalantly states, pretending as if Celine’s wolf words didn’t wound her as well, but it did. I can feel her pain running throughout our bond openheartedly. “So remind me why you are in my presence again?”
“To save your traitorous ass,” Celine wolf snaps and my wolf growls in a warning.
Celine wolf pulls yet another Celine by just simply rolling her eyes.“Your life is in danger and despite my disliking of your new and non approved character I refuse to just sit back and watch you die, traitorous cousin or not you are still my cousin,”
“And the threat has been removed so you can take your leave,” my wolf dismisses her, finally having enough. “And by the way, nobody asked you to save me in the first place. I had it completely under control,” my wolf adds while briefly flickering her eyes at our mate’s lifeless ex-girlfriend.
“Oh, right! I almost forget,” Celine wolf snorts with a slight animalistic snarl. “Your the Ruthless King mate, the she-wolf vampire king, little miss so high and mighty, untouchable,” her words most certainly are spoken with an insulting tone.
“Thank you, thank you, very much,” my wolf just can’t help herself. “Now, get the fuck out,”
“Gladly,” Celine wolf also just can’t help herself, “But before I go how about you close your eyes and trust your gut. How about you pretend to be who you were raised to be for just a second and then tell me what you see?”
“I don’t have time to pretend to be anything other than who I am,” my wolf barks instantly. “So if that all you have to say you can see your way out,” my wolf finishes up at the same moment that an extremely familiar display of dominance hits us slam I n the gut, right in the center, directly in the core.
Oh, my Goddess! What the holy Goddess?! I never thought in a million years that I would feel that sensation anymore. I mean, it’s so familiar but at the same time so distant, so foreign.
Oh, my, and here comes the sudden adrenaline rush that happens whenever more than one Wilde wolves are in close approximation while out for blood and that can only mean.
“Yes, cousin,” Celine regains my wolf and I attention. “They are all close, Uncle Maddox, Farrah, Ruq, and your favorite person in the whole wide world,”
“My dad,” I’m the one to whisper out my disbelief. “He’s here,” I can’t believe it. I thought that I’ll never see him again. I’ve never thought that I’ll see any of them again. Ever.
“He’s close,” Celine wolf corrects me as she steps directly in front of me. “They are all close and out for blood. That’s exactly why we need to go right now. The Southern Pack, The Eastern Pack, The Northern Pack, The Western Pack, and The Lycans have joined forces. Need I remind you of what that means,”
“Path of Blood,” I can’t believe my ears, but yet I can barely even hear my voice.
“Pureblood shall overfill and then pureblood shall be spilled as the immortal face the path of their ultimate end,” my father’s booming words ring inside of my head over, and over, and over again just like a broken record.
The Path of Blood, as I’ve learned from my father long ago, came about when our Goddess declared full-fledged war against the blood God many, many centuries ago. My people believe that the Moon Goddess and the Blood God were always and will forever be sworn, mortal enemies.
Way before my time, the Blood God walked this land and was known to be a vicious and cruelly calculated God who had little to none regard for any sort of life, and that didn’t disclude his own creation. His legacy. His children. The vampires.
At that time, they were known to be ten times more deadly then they are now. The first generation of vampires was known to be just as cruel and calculating as their father. They were the Vlads, tyrants in their own right and all of them worshipped their father openheartedly, who overall goal was to claim this world as his own.
So of course his children didn’t have a problem with carrying out their father dirty deeds by attempting to drench the world in blood and that’s when the feud of the werewolves and vampires began because it was no way in this Goddess green earth that my Goddess was going to allow her children to go extinct.
With that being said, my Goddess took action. She decided to gift our first descendants with the power to draw fourth the path of blood. She taught our ancestors how to tap into her power which is said to be able to wipe out an entire species if need be. Although, in modern times, the path of blood is supposed to be my people’s last resort.
On top of that, my people can only call forth that power if they become one pack united by blood and forged by the sacrifice which means.
“The packs are one,” I murmur out my words in complete disbelief. The path of blood can only be declared if a total of three Alphas submits to one and receive a blessing from a direct descendent of our Goddess herself, the lycan royalty.
“Not quite,” Celine informs me. “They won’t complete the ritual into they obtain the sacrifice,”
“Their sacrifice,”
“Yes! Their sacrifice,” her words come out in hurry, and once again I found myself completely stunned.
“Our people have evolved,” They wouldn’t sacrifice one of their own. That’s another reason why the path of blood hasn’t been declared since that long ago. Our people believe that the ritual is barbaric. “They wouldn’t sacrifice one of our own,”
“They would if they believe that she’s a power wolf born on the luna passing day, who just happens to be a traitor of her own,” Celine says to me making my heart drop.
No, they wouldn’t.
“You shall be the sacrifice, Embry,” No. She has to be lying, she has to. My father,
“Doesn’t know,” Celine seems to be in my head. “We both know that Uncle Hunter or your siblings will never allow that to happen, no matter what you did, and neither will I, but I heard the lost luna plans and most of them revolve around you and that chosen girl.
“But uncle Maddox,”
“Is willing to do anything for his mate. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves us, family means everything to him but his mate means more. He will have her back for that I’m certain and by the look of things so will the other pack’s. She is already campaigning for the commander and she’s winning. Everything is about to change Embry and I mean everything,”
I’m stunned, officially lost for words and so is my wolf. “So can you please come on,” Celine grabs a hold of my hand. “We need to go now and fast. We have to run,”
We run with the wind, faster than the speed of lighting in our half phase state, meaning our wolves have full control while were still in human form. That way, we can utilize our wolves’ senses, strengths, and speed without being in full animalistic mode.
Plus, we can cover more ground.
I can smell the four packs scouted out all over the woods. The Northern Pack are station north, The Eastern Pack East, The Southern Pack South, and The Western Pack is stationed West, spread out like a compass and I must admit that their formation spread was a good idea.
It’s been nearly impossible for Celine and me to stay under the radar without being detected. We nearly got caught several times so far, but Celine came prepared. She bought the both of us a pair of rogue clothes to mask our scents, and I also must admit that too was an excellent idea. She’s a smart one.
We’ve been dodging warriors left and right because of the fact that she planned this so well.
“Almost too well,” my wolf chimes in before she decides to come to a complete halt.
Celine follows suit. “What the heck?” says Celine. Her voice is raspy. Her gold eyes scan the area, quickly searching for any sign of threat. “We need to keep going. We’re not far enough.”
“What are you not telling me?” my wolf voice equally as husky. “Something is off,”
“Are you doubting me, questioning my loyalty?”
“Maybe,” my wolf shrugs, officially ticking Celine’s wolf off.
“You got some nerve, I’m not a traitor, you are, ” she accuses while turning around to face me. You turned your back on me and our sisterhood, not me, you,” She then turns back around to walk away, but my wolf next words freeze her in place.
“So why are you helping me then? You know for a fact that I’m completely capable of handling my own,”
“Because you’re my cousin, damn it,” she nearly shouts. “You are my family, my flesh, my blood, my sister,” her last words come out in a hush as tears begin to form in her eyes, breaking my heart instantly.
“You were like a sister to me, Embry. I would have killed for you, took a bullet for you, and even died for you. That’s how much you meant to me, no that’s how much you mean to me and for the life of me I can’t understand why the love isn’t the same,”
“Oh, Celine,” I say to her as I take control back from my wolf before rushing over to pull Celine in a big giant bear hug.
She falls into my arms with ease, accepting my hug with open arms and I can’t help but to thank the Goddess. I missed her. I missed my cousin.“My love for you is the same, Celine. You are my best friend, my sister and even though we aren’t seeing eye to eye right now my love will never change. Never,”
“Best she-wolves for life,” she surprises me by saying, growing up that was one of the sayings that Kaya, Celine, and I use to say to one another. It was sort of like a pledge to us.
“Best she-wolves for life?” I tell her before we once again fall into one another embrace and I must admit that this feels right. Goddess, I missed her. I missed my cousin tremendously.
We stay like this for a second, or two giving our wolves time to reconnect and evaluate. That is another thing that we use to do when we were younger. After every fight, we would allow our wolves to settle down while we hugged, sort of like surrender on both ends. We did that for as long as I could remember. It was Kaya’s idea. She was always good at coming up with a peace offering.
“Wait, Embry. There is something that you need to know,” Celine begins to say when my sensitive ears detect a sudden move from the right of me followed by a very familiar voice calling out...
“Help,” says Speck. Wait! Speck. “Help, me please,” her voice is low, extremely low but not low enough for my wolf to hear and within the next second the distinctive scent of blood overload my sense of smell.
“Speck!”
Quicker than one can say I do, I take off running in Speck’s direction allowing my nose and ears to lead the way. There’s no need to turn around to look for Celine because I can feel her behind me. Plus, I know that her wolf was able to detect Speck’s voice and the scent of blood was too evident for her not to smell. In other words, she knows where I’m heading.
It takes me less than a second to track Speck down.
She wasn’t that far away from me. Maybe, just around ten miles or so, maybe less but either way my wolf and I track her down fast. Our eyes hone in on her as we draw closer. She’s lying on the blanket of white snow, balled up, and drenched in scarlet. Her once beautifully crafted bubblegum pink evening gown is now in ruins and her once silky pressed jet black hair is now just simply pressed in crimson.
My heart stops.
“Speck,” I call out to her as I rush to her aid. Oh, no, no, no. This is so unreal. Goddess, please save me. “Who did this to you?”
“Embry,” her words are rushed, and her outrageously gorgeous face is bruised and bloody.
“Yes! Speck. It’s me, I’m here,” I say to her as I place my body directly beside Speck, lift her body from off the ground and then place her directly in my lap. “I’m here and your safe, I’m here,”
From out the corner of my eye, I see Celine watching us with pure curiosity in the shadows. Seconds later, Speck cough’s up a ton of blood. “Embry is it really you?” she attempts to say. Her voice is so gruff, so dry. It’s breaking my heart just to hear her talk, literally. My heart is in shatters. It’s crushed.
My tears are pouring, vision is blurring seeing Speck this way is way too much for me. Her current predicament is breaking my wolf and my heart into tiny little pieces. My wolf is furiously howling within me and more than ready to take revenge on Speck’s attacker.
This is breaking us. Speck is dying, and as she goes a part of us is dying right along with her.
I can’t take this. It’s way too much. Her pain is our pain, we can feel it deep in my core, right in the center, split in half. That’s how bad this hurts.
We are crushed.
“Speck,” I cry out as she begins to gasp for air. “Oh, no Speck please stay with me,”
Dear, Goddess please, please, please, keep her with me. I need her. I can’t do this without her. I can’t! I just can’t and I won’t. “Speck it’s me,” I say to her as I pull her broken body close to me. “I’m here,”
“Embry,” she calls out to me again, and the pain in her voice is more than evident. It’s hurting for her just to speak and that thought alone hurts me ten times more.
This is torture. The true definition of a monstrous and I swear on my life that every single soul involved in this horrific act shall meet their maker by the night end.
That’s a promise! I officially declare my very own path of blood.