About an hour later, I hear two people arguing outside of the prison.

One of them, I realize, is Finn, though I can't make out what he's saying. The other voice is completely foreign to me.

"What are they saying?" I whisper to Cain, who's eyes are focused.

"Shh," He says, and I roll my eyes.

Eventually, the fighting stops.

"Who was Finn arguing with?" I ask him once it's been silent for awhile.

Cain looks pissed. "Wilson's bratty son. He must have been working with your mate against Ares."

Wilson's son? Wilson was the former Alpha of Red Crescent before Ares killed him, so his son must be next in line for the position. Until Ares rips him apart along with the rest of us.

"How would Finn even know him?" I ask in confusion. "He avoids packs, I doubt he would have approached a future Alpha."

Cain considers my question. "The Moon Goddess probably has been communicating with the two of them and brought them together to stop Ares."

"I'm sorry," I apologize lowly. "I knew that the Moon Goddess wanted Ares dead. She tried to get me to kill her myself a few weeks ago."

Cain looks at me blankly.

"I said no!" I say defensively, squirming under his intense stare.

"Why?" Cain asks curiously. "You would be able to destroy the entirety of Blood Lake easily with your Dark Gift if you wanted to."

Why, indeed? Ares certainly had given me more than enough reasons to kill her. And yet, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I avoid his question. "What were they talking about?" I ask nervously.

Cain sighs. "Sebastian wants to kill me now instead of waiting for the eclipse to start. Says that Ares will be weakened if our bond gets broken."

"And what did Finn say?"

He looks thoughtful. "He said that nobody is going to die today. Seemed adamant about that."

I exhale in relief. Maybe, just maybe, if Cain wasn't killed, Ares would have mercy.

Unlikely.

Cain looks at me curiously. "Your mate, Finn. Do you love him more than you loved Thane?"

"Yes," I answer simply.

Cain looks disappointed by my answer, I'm guessing because Thane is his cousin.

And then Cain's eyes widen as he looks at me.

His nostrils flare, and his face suddenly looks anxious.

"Onyx, did you complete the mating bond with Finn?" He asks slowly.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, jerkwad, not that it's any of your business. If this is about Thane then you should know that-"

"It's not about Thane," He says harshly. "You have to get out of here, right now."

I look around the cell. "Umm, not to be rude, but the whole point of Finn locking me in a prison is so that I can't get out."

"You have to get out of here, now," Cain hisses, his voice desperate. "Beg Finn. Do whatever you have to do. You can't be here."

His words confuse me and, quite honestly, terrify me. He hadn't even looked this troubled when he was talking about his own death.

I'm about to ask him what the hell is going on when I hear more shouting. "What are they saying?" I ask Cain anxiously.

His eyes darken. "Sebastian has decided to kill me now. The eclipse just started."

"But Ares-" I start to say, but he cuts me off.

"Onyx, listen to me," He says seriously, his gaze intense, and I see worry woven in his expression. "Things are about to get bloody. If Ares shows up and I'm already dead, tell her the name Drakon."

"Drakon? What? Cain, what are you even-"

"She won't kill you if you tell her the name. Onyx, promise me you'll remember the name," Cain insists, his voice raising.

He's really starting to freak me out, so I just go along with it. "Okay, fine, I'll tell her the name but you're not going to-"

The jail door slams open, and an angry looking blond guy with golden hair walks in. For some reason, he has a black symbol of some kind drawn on his face. He must be Sebastian.

Finn follows close behind. "Sebastian, stop. We agreed that nobody gets hurt," He says calmly, but he looks worried.

"The eclipse has begun and Ares isn't here yet. She's already gone to kill Selene. I'm killing Cain now," Sebastian snarls. "Give me the keys."

"No," Finn says, his voice firm.

Sebastian shrugs. And stabs my mate with a dagger.

I scream, and Finn crumples to the ground, groaning. The dagger is embedded in the middle of his chest, and blood pours out like a river. The dagger is silver, and the smell of the wolfsbane coating it made my nose burn.

I can practically see the life draining out of him thanks to my Dark Gift. He's already practically dead.

Onyx, Finn mindlinks me, coughing up blood as he turns his head to face me. I'm so sorry for all of this. I hope one day you can forgive me.

Tears pour down my face. Finn, it'll be okay. We can get Ronin here, he can heal you, he can-

Finn smiles at me sadly, blood smeared on his lips. I'm going to die, Onyx. I can already see the light. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

No, no, no. I recognized the quote from the first book he gave me when he kidnapped me. The book I finished last night.

He died for a worthy cause.

I start sobbing as Sebastian reaches into Finn's pocket and pulls out a ring of keys.

Onyx, my love, Finn chokes on more blood, and his eyes glaze over. I won't be there to pull you out of the darkness again. You'll have to fight it alone. Promise me you won't go back to that dark place.

I can hardly see through all of the tears, and my throat tightens to the point of barely being able to breathe. Finn, I can't do this without you, I sob.

Sebastian goes through the key ring, trying different keys to find the one that unlocks the gate.

You have to, he says, his voice gentle as always. I... I just wanted a land where our kids could grow up without worrying about dying. So they didn't have to watch their parents die and live their life in fear. I'm sorry, Onyx. I love you, always.

With one last sputtering cough, his body slackens.

And I feel our bond shattering into a million pieces.

I scream as it feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest, and I can't breathe, don't want to breathe.

My mate, my husband. Gone, just like Greyson. Two times now, I have not been strong enough to save those I love.

Sebastian finally finds the right key and opens the door victoriously.

Rage floods my body. He's killed my mate. I will bathe in his blood.

"I'm going to fucking tear you apart," I tell Sebastian as he walks into the cell.

I'm kneeling over on the ground, still in unfathomable pain, and Sebastian looks down at me. He snorts. "Your magic is worthless here, Witch. Selene warned me you may try to drain my life and gave me a protective rune to paint on my skin."

I lift my hand up, trying to drain his life force, but he was right. Whatever symbol he painted rendered my magic useless.

He snorts again in disgust, and I leap off of the ground and wrap my hands around his throat. I squeeze, but he easily throws me off, throws me across the cell and my head smacks back hard into the concrete.

Spots line my vision, and I'm seeing double. I see Sebastian leaning over Cain, punching him over and over again.

"Who's your Alpha now?" He snarls in between punches. And then he pulls out a knife.

He stabs Cain once in the stomach. Then another time.

"I wonder if I make your death painful, Ares will be able to tell," He muses.

Cain is silent, taking the punches and stabs. He makes eye contact with me, and I know he's reminding me to say the name to Ares.

I can feel Cain's life force rapidly depleting. He doesn't have much life left in him.

Run, he mouths.

I look out the gate. Sebastian has left it open.

And I see my mate's dead body on the ground, his eyes frozen open, just like Greyson's.

It has to end here.

Something inside of me snaps. The Darkness takes complete control.

I drain the life from myself.

It hurts. Badly.

I can feel myself begin to wither away, my strength and energy rapidly depleting as Darkness swirls in my hands.

I throw a ball of my own energy at Sebastian.

It knocks him off his feet, and he groans in pain, now a few feet away from Cain.

I drain more of my energy, feeling weaker and weaker with each second I do it. And then there's a flash of light, blinding and golden.

It burns, burns my skin and I realize that Sebastian has electrocuted me. Lightning crackles around his arms, concentrated at his hands as he stands up.

I rise to my feet, swaying slightly from quite literally taking my own life.

"You will pay for everything," I say softly.

And I throw my dark magic at Sebastian as he throws his lightning at me.

There's a stream of darkness that meets his light as our Gifts fight against each other for power. They collide somewhere in the middle between us, light against dark as energy shoots out of both of us.

I'm draining too much of my own energy to keep the light at bay. With each second our power collides, I have to take more and more life out of myself.

I look at Finn's face one more time.

And then I throw almost of my life at his killer.

There's only a few small, minuscule kernels of life left in me as my darkness overtakes Sebastian's light, and delivers him a fatal blow. He dies instantly as the darkness wraps around his heart and yanks it out.

It's a kindness he didn't deserve.

"No!" Cain bellows, tugging against the chains.

I use one of my depleting kernels of life to break his chains. It didn't matter. I wouldn't be able to survive with such little life in me. I was nearly empty.

Cain rushes over, leaning over me. "Onyx, what have you done?" He whispers in horror. I must be closer to death than I realized, because I began to hallucinate that tears were coming out of his eyes.

"Promise," I choke out, already beginning to fade away. "Promise that you'll stop Ares from killing any more rogues. I don't want my death to be in vain."

Cain makes a horrible choking sound. One of his tears falls on my face, and I realize that I haven't been hallucinating at all.

"I swear my life on it," Cain whispers, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them.

I smile slightly, feeling comforted as the darkness begins to wrap around me, knowing that nobody else will suffer at the hands of the Blood Luna.

I throw the last kernel of my life at Cain, not to hurt him, but to heal him.

He looks at me in horror, tears streaming down his face.

And the darkness fully envelops me as I die.

The darkness does not scare me.

It's a warm, welcome embrace.

*dodges trash thrown at me* what, you didn't think there would be a happy ending, did you?

hahahaha anyways finish both books on my patreon! there's 66 chapters + an epilogue for each book. not to mention, 43 chapters of the next book, plus the thane x ares AU book, plus bonus chapters for onyx/lethal, only available on my Patreon!!!

www.patreon.com/vviticus