*Maddox*
I lunge, colliding with Seth just as he swings the sword. The heavy metal slices through the air as I wrap my arms around his knees and send us both flying backward away from the blast of silver light now coming from the statue.
I feel the sword graze my back, slicing through my shirt and scraping across my skin. It's enough to make me grit my teeth and growl as we roll and roll towards the far wall of the temple, the sword left in our wake.
Seth’s fist smashes against the top of my head, and I momentarily see stars before I roll off of him and get onto my knees, panting.
Only six feet separates us.
“Don’t make me do this,” I say to him, my ears ringing sharply as I blink into the silver light now climbing in long ribbons up the walls. “Seth–”
“I can’t let you leave this temple alive,” he says hoarsely, and I see blood trickling down his face from a wound he must have obtained when I slammed all of my weight into him and sent us to the ground. He takes an uneven step toward me, fists raised. “I can’t let you leave,” he repeats.
“I don’t want to kill you,” I say, raising my hands.
He laughs, low and menacing as he steps forward again, his steps more sure footed as he begins to close the distance between us.
“There will be nothing for you to return to, Maddox. Isla is dead. Your precious heir is dead. Everyone you love and trust will be ash and bone–”
“You’re lying. I would have felt it if she died,” I seethe, taking a step away as he advances. I would have felt it. I would have felt the same feeling of overwhelming dread and emptiness that night Isaac was born. I would have felt that bond between us snap and give way–just like it did when Rebecca died. “She’s alive.”
“If so, then it’s only for now.”
“What have you done?”
Seth stops short of me, smiling with cat-like confidence that is wholly unlike him.
“Seth–”
He swings at me, but I catch his fist in my hand, squeezing until I feel his bones scrape together, and he cries out, bending at the knees.
“Seth, please,” I damn near beg as I grip his shoulder with my free hand and push him to his knees. He fights against me, but I’m stronger, faster, more deadly.
He must know that this isn’t a fair fight. He has to know I could kill him now if I wanted to. If I needed to. As my Beta, he is strong, but I am the Alpha for a reason. That station alone gives me power he could never defeat.
I let him wrench free of my grip and back away, wiping blood from his mouth.
Then the dance begins, Seth lunging and swinging at me, hooking his arm around my neck and trying to take me to the ground. I let him drive his fist against my cheek, my jaw, my eyes. I let him do his worst, but when he slams me against the wall, I know it is time to end this.
I just don’t know how I can kill my own Beta.
I block another blow and grab his face, slamming my head against his. He staggers backward, tripping over the sword and falling onto his ass. He fumbles the sword as I advance on him, his hands trembling as he raises it at me.
I grab it by the blade, the sharp edge biting into my hand.
“You can’t, can you?” I say. “You’re not even trying to kill me, Seth. Why are you doing this?” The metal slices deeper into my hand as he yanks on the sword, but my grip is firm.
He says nothing as I let go and back away from him.
“Leave,” I tell him, pointing to the door. “If I ever see you again, Seth. I will kill you, that’s a promise. This is the only mercy I will ever show you. Your betrayal will not be forgotten.”
He bares his teeth, and I barely have time to register what's happening before he’s on the brink of transforming into his wolf.
But he doesn’t get the chance.
The statue, which has been glowing and spewing silver light since I flung the diamond at it, starts to ring so loudly that I cover my ears, cowering against the noise. Seth cries out, then screams, the silver ribbons of flame lacing over and around his legs, dragging him toward the statue.
The flames burn into his clothing, and he screams louder, this time for help.
I don’t hesitate as I lunge forward, grabbing his legs and pulling him toward me. The temple begins to tremble, then shake in earnest as if the ground beneath us is moving in on a rushing tide.
He reaches for the sword, but I stop him, hooking my arm around his waist and barreling toward the door.
The ground beneath us splinters and cracks as we’re blasted by sudden white-hot sprays of heat.
Then we’re rolling through the mist and fog, coming to a stop only inches from each other, my hand clutching his.
I raise my head, pain radiating down my back. The temple is totally engulfed in the flames now. It’s strange magic, the building giving off little heat but lighting up the night as bright as day. Above the temple, the moon burst from behind the clouds.
“What’s happening?” I say aloud, reaching through the mist for Seth, but he’s not there.
I roll onto my stomach, catching his wrist just as he slams a dagger down toward my throat. The tip of the blade presses into my chin as I try to push him away, but this time he’s trying to kill me for real, I can tell.
“Why!” I demand. “Why kill me, and kill my mate and child! Seth! The diamond has been returned. It’s over!”
He shouts in frustration as I push against him with all of my might, his strength increasing because of his wolf powers radiating through his body. If he were to shift, I might have a chance, but I’m vulnerable in this position. I wrench on his wrist as he takes a breath, shoving against him and then grabbing him by the side of the head and slamming him into the ground beside me.
He stills.
I smell the blood, the tang of it ripe in the air as I turn my head to look at him. Blood is pooling from his head, his eyes wide open and unseeing in the silver light cascading over his body. A humming sound lifts up from the ground around us, the mist settling back into the earth and disappearing all together as the humming gets higher, and higher, until it’s damn near unbearable.
Another rush of light, and suddenly everything goes quiet and calm, a stillness settling over the area like a blanket.
I don’t remember closing my eyes. I don’t remember falling asleep laying next to my dead Beta. I only hear Isla’s voice lifted in a soft, dreamlike lullaby that whispers down our bond and straight into my heart.
“He’s still alive! Oh, Goddess, Leo! Leo, help!” Trinity shakes me, gently slapping my face with her hand.
“Maddox, Maddox? Hello? Leo, hurry with the water–”
Metal grazes my lips, and I cough violently as water trickles and pools at the back of my throat. My mouth is painfully dry as I spit out the water and shoot bolt upright, blinking into the star-filled night.
Trinity’s eyes are wide beside me, and Leo crouches next to her, looking just as surprised.
“Seth,” I croak, reaching over to wear Seth had died what feels like moments ago, finding him still warm to the touch. I look over in shock to find him glaring up at me, his wrists and ankles bound in rope.
I look to Leo, who I’d last seen with a gaping, fatal chest wound.
He’s… fine. Whole.
“There was an earthquake,” Leo says, his voice trembling.
“And then… light. All over the place,” Trinity adds, blinking at me. She looks at Leo, a soft, knowing smile trembling across her lips. “I swear he was dead one minute and helping me up onto my feet the next.”
I turn my head, looking at the temple, which had barely been more than tumbling stone and decay when we’d first arrived here.
Now, it stands in unbelievable glory, untouched by nature and time.
The clearing is also very much changed. Trees laden with flowers and thick, waxy green leaves drift in a soft breeze, the barren land beneath us now covered in soft, emerald green grass.
“I placed the diamond at the altar,” I say, swallowing back the words. “It’s done.”
“I tied him up,” Leo says in a low whisper, his eyes lingering on Seth, who has a gag in his mouth. “He was… speaking in riddles and being violent when we arrived.”
“We need to go back now,” I say, ignoring Leo’s remarks. “Isla’s in danger. Isaac–” I close my eyes, shaking my head. “We need to go back. Seth is working for someone.”
Seth makes a noise behind the gag and thrashes against the ropes binding his ankles and wrist, but the three of us ignore him, and I don’t acknowledge his attempts to mind-link either. Trinity places her hand on my shoulder, her eyes brimming with tears.
“How much time has passed?” I ask, allowing Leo to help me to my feet.
“Only a few hours,” Trinity responds, wiping dirt from her pants. “It’s not yet morning.”
I look back at the temple once more, then nod, tilting my head towards Seth.
“Will all need to shift. We’ll drag him behind us if we need to,” I say sharply without looking at Seth, who is seething. “Give me a moment.”
Leo and Trinity nod as I walk away, slightly unsteady on my feet. My footsteps are soundless on the thick grass as I walk toward the temple and barely make a sound as I walk up the steps and cross the threshold.
The Goddess is as she was when I first beheld her, but with only one significant change. In her tiara, the three moonstones glint in the moonlight coming through the windows and the open door, and at the very top of her crown, the diamond shines with a steady blue glow.
I hadn’t noticed a space missing in her crown when I first arrived, but it doesn’t matter. Not now.
It’s home, and peace has been restored.
At least, I hope.