-HIM-

I could feel my body slowly giving away. The pain from the wounds on my legs and abdomen made every second feel like an hour and every moment feel like I was climbing a steep mountain, making me want more and more to give up but whenever I laid eyes on that pathetic excuse I had in the name of brother, it filled me with a new rage and determination to win in this war.

I needed to win in this war. If I lose then I would lose everything and if that happens, I would have to return to the darkest depths that river has to offer. That's where my nightmares hid. That's where I had lost a lot of my boyhood days and childish innocence.

I didn't want to go there again. If I do then I was afraid I might not return this time. Even though it had been thousands of years since I had managed to crawl out of that hell, I still felt the old fear that I couldn't overcome anyhow.

That place was so dark, it made hell look like heaven.

I must have been too deep into my thoughts to have missed the opportunity my brother took to slash one of my thighs, reopening a wound there.

I growled as a new wave of pain hit me. My fingers loosened around the sword as my will faltered for a moment.

"You're losing, Ezekiel. There's still time. If you surrender then I might show some mercy on you," My incompetent brother's words made me tighten my fingers around my sword and deliver a deadly blow to him.

"Careful, brother," I warned him, "I might be the one saying that soon. After all, it has happened once before," My reminder infuriated him even more before we clashed again even more angrily.

I was in great pain. I knew in the back of my head that my army was losing because at the end of the day this motherfvcker could get more troops sooner than I could but this made sure that I fought with more resilience until I was able to have an upper hand for a moment.

I had managed to cut a deep wound at the side of his hip, severing one of his major arteries. So much blood flowed out of there instantly. I must have severed some important nerves as well because I noticed how his leg quivered as if it was out of control.

Balthazar gave me an angry growl but it was already too late. I took this moment of weakness on his side to be a perfect opportunity for me to deliver a deadly blow to him but just when my sword was about to reach his neck, the ground shook beneath us.

It knocked me down to my knees, buying Balthazar more time to recover. I was instantly pissed because I knew who had caused this. It was that damn woman who claimed to be my mother.

I didn't have to look for long because she rose from the river soon after, looking down at the two of us. Though before she could do anything to Balthazar, I was already picking up my sword and stepping over him to poke the tip of my sword in his neck.

I could instantly see the anger in her eyes when I did that. It satisfied me whenever I could get any kind of reaction from her, especially negative because that bitch always seemed so unbothered by me even though it was her who woke me from eternal slumber and trapped me in a body before throwing me in the darkest pit of a realm. I'd never understood how she could do this and claim to be a mother. She seemed to have never lost any sleep over doing something so terrible to me and this had always raged me so much.

Bothering her was my ultimate way of getting a reaction out of her and I fvcking loved to see the desperation and rage in her face as she looked down at me, having her favorite son under my feet with my sword hanging right over his neck.

"Ezekiel," she growled at me in a warning. "Don't you dare—" she trailed off.

"Don't I dare what?" I asked smugly as I pressed my sword a bit harder over Balthazar's neck, drawing out some blood. He didn't dare struggle underneath me.

"Don't be so smug, Ezekiel. You are not going to win the war," She told me.

"I always knew you were blind," I told her instead, "Because only a blind bitch would say that even after I have her loser of her son underneath me," Balthazar growled under me, and in response, I drew out more blood from him.

"You should be extra careful with your words, Ezekiel, especially when I have your mate with me," She told me grimly as a sinister look climbed on her face. Balthazar gave a short laugh underneath me as soon as my mother's words made sense to me.

My eyes widened as I looked at that cursed woman in front of me.

"What now?" She asked me when I failed to respond to her, "Don't feel confident about your win anymore?" She asked me slyly.

"If you put a single scratch on her, I will kill you," I warned her, seeing bloody red at that moment. In response, my mother threw her head back and laughed. Meanwhile, I was beyond terrified. The thing that I was scared about the most happened— my mother got a hold of my mate. My blood was boiling as I watched her laugh.

"It wouldn't be fun if I don't play with her a bit, don't you think, Ezekiel?" She asked very sweetly.

"Remember, Levavine. I have your son under my sword. It wouldn't take me long to drive my sword through his neck," I reminded her and her smile threatened to slip from her lips.

She glared at me, "If you want to see your mate alive then you wouldn't do anything like that,"

"I killed my own mother, Levavine. What makes you think that a mate's death would affect me anymore?" I asked her grimly. It would have been the biggest lie if I say that losing Celeste wouldn't affect me. I will lose my shit if anything happens to her here but that bitch didn't have to know this. She seemed to have bought it for a moment.

"You will hand over my son to me," Levavine growled at me.

"I've heard that before," I gave out a short laugh and this enraged her even more.

"The death of a mate is quite painful, Ezekiel. Are you sure you'd want that?"

"The pain you have given me in my lifetime has numbed me to others. Your pain has only made me powerful. If you want to see me rise higher then go on and kill her. I will return stronger, Levavine. I always do," I reminded her and if anything, it only made her look a bit more desperate to get to me. It satisfied me to see her like that but at the same time, I was aware of the dangerous game that I was playing.

"You don't understand how serious this is, do you?" My mother spoke before she raised Celeste's body from the water. She looked unconscious and almost... dead.

I almost forgot to breathe for a moment when I looked at her pale face. She looked... lifeless. My expression must have given something away because she threw her head back and laughed.

"Let's see what happens when The Lycan King's mate dies,"

_

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