True Alpha's Chosen Mate-Chapter 278: Final Act I: Darkest Hour II

THUD!

The sound of Cora’s knees hitting the ground sounded louder than that blowing a horn. Along with the descent of her knees, her heart sank, eyes in a daze, looking at two figures not far away.

"Ret..." she whispered, watching a gigantic three-legged wolf tear her husband’s shoulder while the latter was not moving anymore. "My love..."

Her round eyes shifted to the wolf, wrinkling the space between her brows as she recognized whose wolf was it. She had been seeing that wolf since she was a child, so there was no way she would mistake who was ravaging her husband’s body.

Deimos Tempest. The emperor of the Ronmin Empire. Her father. Garrett’s father-in-law. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Cora," Reks called, holding her bicep up. "Let’s go."

"No..." she returned under her breath, unable to move a muscle with the plethora of questions in her head. She didn’t care how Reks seem to speak so easily despite what they arrived at, but how could she just flee if her father — the man whose blood was running in her veins — was brutally tearing her husband limb to limb?

"Ret... Father... what are you..."

Cora tried to stand up to stop Deimos, only to slump back down as her knees felt wobbly. Still, she tried to crawl her way towards him, but Reks held her shoulder.

Reks gritted his teeth, steeling his heart. "Your Highness, we should keep going. His Majesty seemed to had fallen under the same phenomena as the crown prince. We... we have to go."

"No... I can’t..." Cora moved her palm forward, digging her fingers into the damp ground. "Father, stop..."

However, she couldn’t move forward anymore, not because Reks was stopping him. But because she didn’t have the strength anymore. Her eyes remained fixated on her husband and her father, listening to the latter’s low snarls.

"Please... stop..."

Tears shone in her eyes and washed down the dirt stuck on her cheeks. What was going on? They parted with Silas because Cora heard her husband’s howling as if he was fighting.

When they arrived, Garrett was no longer moving. It was just a minute or two since his last howl. How could he die in such a short time? Right... his opponent was the emperor.

A minute was already too long and commendable.

"It’s my fault," she whispered. "I should’ve rushed here faster."

Cora’s mind tried to find fault in her in this situation. Not because she felt remorseful, but because... how could she blame her beloved father?!

Even though she knew deep in her heart that Deimos was in a feral state and was unaware of his actions — just like what happened to Daniel — how could she forgive him? Her heart and mind were in turmoil.

Cora loved her father deeply; she respected him more than anyone in this world. Never in her life would she imagine Deimos would do this to Garrett. After all, her father accepted her mate with all his heart and treated him as one of his own.

But this... what she was looking at was the insufferable reality.

RIPPED...

The auditory of the flesh and bones getting ripped apart screeched in her ears. But instead of yelling or crying aloud to stop Deimos, Cora’s eyes were blank.

Her mind and heart were unable to accept this reality. Hence, she shunned it.

"Your Highness," called Reks, squatting down beside her while shaking her shoulder, but to no avail. "Your Highness now’s not the time to idle!"

Nothing.

Cora wasn’t responding anymore as her eyes dimmed. Reks ground his teeth and tried to shake her, but Cora landed on her side with a thud, eyes still on Deimos and Garrett.

"Shit!" he cursed through his gritted teeth, shooting his bloodshot eyes at Deimos. She entered a state of shock and was in denial of reality. She just shut off.

"Alpha Hugo... you..." Reks ground his teeth as he studied the two from his vantage point. But when the gigantic wolf, whose leg was already missing, stopped and twist his neck in his direction, Reks held his breath.

Up until now, he had been forcing himself to keep himself level-headed. He knew he had to keep his composure, that even if he passed by the carcass of his friends, the people he usually hanged out with, and everyone he knew, he shouldn’t stop. Because if he did, they would all die.

Reks took an oath, and that was to abide by their Alpha’s order like it was his bible. Hugo gave him a task not long ago. It was a vague request, something Hugo uttered in passing with the thought of the war in his mind.

"Look after my family," were Hugo’s exact words while standing in front of the window, looking in a particular direction where Hendrik was at, where Rinnie was at. "They’re a bunch of emotional people. Wars are a vicious place. We can’t let one death deter us from advancing."

He knew Hugo was simply concerned about his siblings, knowing what sort of people they were. Hugo made a point too, but... what they didn’t expect was the werewolves would also attack each other and be each other’s enemy on top of the vampires.

Azazel planned everything meticulously. The vampires were simply a distraction to separate all of them and keep them all busy.

"Alpha..." whispered Reks as he carefully reached for Cora, carrying her in his arms from the wolf vying on them. "Your Highness, I will retrieve your husband’s remains later. For now, I need to make sure you’re safe. I’m sorry."

He gazed down at Cora and sported a bitter look. The latter still wasn’t responding, causing his grip around her to tighten. Reks drew a breath as he raised his head. The bitterness and sorrow that clouded his features were gone, replaced by a determination to advance.

"The wolves need to rise along with the sunrise..." he whispered, taking a step back whilst keeping his eye contact with the three-legged wolf meters before them. "... and persist the night like the moon."

"Your Majesty, if you can hear me, please... don’t come after us." His voice was barely above a whisper, but he knew the wolf’s hearing was keen and he would hear him. That was if there was the slightest part that Deimos was still there inside that wolf.

"Because if you do... you’ll end up killing all your children."

With that being said, Reks jumped back and picked up his pace shortly. Meanwhile, the three-legged wolf simply watched his prey flee, even though his instinct was telling him to come after them. He didn’t.