Evelyn POV
My usual mantra of breathe in and breathe out wasn’t working for me right now. Every time I breathed in she was dunking me, drowning me slowly.
I couldn’t shift and it dawned on me why, giving me that extra level of fierceness to fight her and Malcolm off. I’m meant to have my mate with me for protection as my body works hard to grow the new life within me. My strength lessened and my wolf unable to shift.
I would still fight and my alpha strength still out weighed hers but with Malcolm as well, I was struggling to find a good enough opening to cause lasting damage on her.
With the twins, I had Noah by my side every day and I didn’t have a daily threat because it was assumed I was dead. But this baby was already at risk before it had even drawn its first breath. Just like when she pushed me down the stairs.
Now I was being plunged under water by a female that stole my position, tried to steal my mate, tried to murder my first babies when they were in my womb, now trying to kill my new baby. She also killed her own mate and her own pack members, she didn’t deserve to breathe the same air that I was trying so desperately to breathe.
She was growing weak, every punch and kick I could see the pain in her eyes. She was on a suicide mission, she knew she couldn’t survive for much longer. She must have known that if I couldn’t kill her, Reuben would.
I manage to get out of her grip only to be pushed back under water. I claw at her face, kick at her stomach…anything to loosen her hold on me.
Under the water I can see the true intensity of the fire burning at the Lake House. It breaks my heart that this bitch keeps destroying what is mine.
The last thing that I had to feel connected with my parents, and she’s turning it into ash. It’s like she’s killing then all over again.
“Just fucking die!” I hear her scream from above the water as she uses all her might to keep me in the water.
I can feel the water burning at my lungs as I have no choice by to inhale it as if it were air. Panic takes over me as my chest tightens, the oxygen leaving and the water winning it’s invasion.
“Reuben!” I push on the mate mind- link but he still has his block up. I try to reach Noah but it’s as if he has frozen. I can feel him but he’s channeling somewhere else. Maybe my strength isn’t strong enough to break through it or maybe…no not Cassandra.
I push on my pack link with my female beta and relief floods me to know she was still alive, just. I could feel Rex and Elspeth and although she wasn’t a member of my pack, I knew Liberty was keeping them safe. I didn’t need to worry about them, just their little sibling growing inside of me.
I manage to kick out and gasp for some air only for her to tighten her grip around my throat, so tight I don’t think even water could get in.
She screams, all her remaining energy going into plunging me under water again. She was a she-devil possessed, I could see the hell fire in her eyes.
Under the water surface the lake was calm, except for my thrashing and the bubbles caused by my movement and the air escaping my lungs.
The lake wouldn’t think hell had arrived to its surroundings up above. So much water that could put the fire out, if only I could try. Maybe I could save the Lake House.
A sense of peace washes over me. I can see the moon light shimmer above me, it’s glow trying to push through the clouds to me. She’s not at her strongest, but she’s reminding me she is still there. If I want this to be it, I have a feeling within me that she would accept me with open arms. Let me return to her as gracefully as she would allow.
But I don’t, I don’t want this to be it. I have my children, my mate, my baby, Noah, my friends and my pack. I have a life to live and I’ll be damned if this is it, if I’ve worked this hard to let her win.
But am I too late?
A small shimmer of light catches my attention to the left of me. The lake murky yet still enough to show me the lake bed. Vicky hadn’t been able to drag me in as deep as she wanted.
I stop thrashing, to let the water calm more…the lake minerals to sink in order to give me a clearer vision.
At first I think it is a fish or a stone. Until I remember and my heart spikes with hope.
It’s silver glimmers to me, it was in pristine condition, not rusty at all.
The Red Stone craftsmanship is famous across the country and for good reason. It remains ready for battle, ready for its master’s call. I now being that master.
Reuben’s sword, the sword that I tossed into the lake. It’s presence in the Lake House had been an insult to me. It now offers its allegiance to me under the moon light.
She thinks this is it, my reduced movement a sign of my body losing the battle. She starts to loosen her grip slightly as I stretch my hand out, trying to reach for it…feel for it. My life slowing down as I know these are my last few moments. My fingers stretch out, trying to grab the handle.
Once I am able to lace a few fingers around it, I clutch it with my hand and with all my might strike it into Vicky’s stomach.
The brute force of my strike knocks her back, and it gives me that break in her hold to break the lake’s surface and gasp for breath.
The air enters my lungs trying to force the water back out, wanting me to cough out the water but I can’t, I haven’t got a moment to lose. I have to forget the burning sensation within my lungs.
With that last breath I grab hold of Vicky’s shoulder, using her weight to support my numb legs. Her hands are busy holding the open wound on her stomach that wasn’t healing thanks to the silver element of the sword.
With a grunt, I thrust the sword into her chest…into her heart. Revengeful poetry at its finest, just how she had killed my mother.
I watch her eyes as death comes for her, her hatred filled eyes losing life before me.
Once she is dead, I let go of her body… leaving her to sink to the bottom of the lake. To me she didn’t deserve a burial.
The sword becomes heavy in my hand, my adrenaline wearing off. My hand can no longer hold its weight and I start to sink slowly back under the water until I let go of the sword.
“Liberty! Rex!” I try to scream out as I struggle to tread water. But the strangling of my throat has damaged my voice box and my shouts are no louder than a whisper.
I can feel Reuben finally push on the mate link but I can’t answer him, even my mind hazy and unable to fathom the possibility of replying.
“Mum?” My darling boy hears me, somehow. He rushes off the decking towards the lake but is pulled back by Liberty.
“No Rex, stay back.” She orders at him as she starts to rush into the water. My mouth is barely above water as I try to lay back to reserve energy.
I take one last gasp of air before my body pulls me under, my muscles no longer able to keep me afloat.
Until I feel a hand grasp on to my arm and pull me up and out of the water. She drags me to the lake shore, where my exhaustion finally takes over me.
