Free Web NovelChapter 57: Ritual Combat III
Damon dropped me immediately due to his shock, his hand rising to shield his forehead as he hissed in pain. A curse slipped from his lips, and I fell to the ground, desperately gasping for air to make up for the seconds that passed with a lack of it. With my windpipe crushed like a plastic bag under a car tyre thanks to Damon’s tender loving hands, even the easy task of breathing was becoming increasingly laborious and painful.
’Goddamn it,’ I cursed Damon’s durability as I sucked in large mouthfuls of air. That man’s head was as hard as a slab of concrete and twice as thick. No wonder he was such a stubborn asshole.
I hissed as I rubbed my forehead, stumbling to my shaky feet; that one hit might have hurt me more than him. But it was still a hit.
I did it. I had done the impossible.
I had landed an actual blow on Damon! Through the crippling pain that enveloped my body, I could feel the sheer pride from Blaise flowing through me, like a coursing river destroying every obstacle in my way. The mark on my left shoulder was practically burning― it felt like Blaise was transmitting every bit of his love and strength into me, so I could stand up against his brother.
I couldn’t fail now. I wanted Blaise to know that I was worthy of his love and trust, that I was worthy of being his mate.
Suddenly, I registered the silence that surrounded me. It wasn’t because I had gone deaf from Damon’s blows; it was because no one in the crowd dared to make a sound― they were simply stunned into silence at this turn of events.
I bet their sharp werewolf eyes never thought they would witness the day that someone as weak as me would last this long against their alpha, let alone land an actual hit.
Damon himself seemed perplexed and shocked, which I’m pretty sure was an act to make me let down my guard. Surely, in all his years of being an alpha, there had to be someone who actually managed to hit him. It was simply too ridiculous otherwise. Damon wasn’t infallible or untouchable, no matter how domineering and powerful he was.
Yet, I felt my sudden jubilance take a dive when I saw his skin healing itself right in front of my eyes. I didn’t even manage to bruise him long enough to last― I was back to square one, and this time, I wouldn’t be able to catch him off guard like I did before.
Fuck. Time for a new plan then.
If I could hit him once, I could do it again. I raised my hands, and lunged for Damon’s face, hoping to take this moment of distraction to claw out his eyes. But Damon had recovered from his temporary stunned stupor and shifted away with practiced ease, kicking me straight in the chest with one of his powerful legs, a look of absolute disdain on his face.
A scream tore out of my throat. I flew through the air faster than before, my body hitting the ground with a heavy thud as the momentum caused me to roll backward, crashing into the debris left behind from his earlier blows.
I got up with a wince, clutching my ribcage as I wheezed. If I thought breathing hurt before, it was a million times worse now.
Damon must have crushed my ribs with one kick. Fuck. I must have pissed him off so much with my words he decided he wouldn’t pull any punches. fгeewebnovёl.com
On the bright side, if I died, I wouldn’t need to sleep with him. This silver lining was looking more and more gloomy with every second. Despair filled my soul.
"Fuck you!" I cried out weakly, my vision hazy with pain.
"You chose this," Damon growled out, vicious anger in every syllable of his words. His voice rattled in my head like a command I couldn’t ignore. "You don’t! Get! To! Complain!"
He punctuated every word with a painful blow to my body. My chest, my belly, my back― no place was left uninjured by his fists. I could only instinctively curl into a fetal position as I tried to protect myself as much as possible from him.
Gone was my bravado and strength, now every cell in my body simply wanted the pain to stop. I must have screamed myself hoarse. I had to get up and run, but my body was too wrecked to cooperate. It was hard to run when your legs were shattered, and crawling was impossible when your arms were powerless to pull yourself up.
In the end, I was left lying on the floor, my body battered and broken. My green eyes were staring up, straight into Damon’s vivid blue irises. Somehow, the blue of his eyes eclipsed even the blue cloudless sky that haloed his head. Painters would have killed themselves to bottle the color of his irises as pigment for their masterpieces.
Well, now the only one dying was me. Damon loomed over me, his body casting a long possessive shadow over my own. frёewebηovel.cѳm
It was so similar to our first mating that I wanted to laugh incredulously at the ridiculousness of it all. Blood burbled up my throat. I coughed out a mouthful of blood weakly, feeling disappointed that I couldn’t spit it straight at his face.
Was I hallucinating, or did I detect a strange sorrow in Damon’s eyes?
Hah, my laughter escaped in a stream of shaky breaths. I was in so much pain that my thoughts were becoming delusional. Like Damon would ever feel sad for me. It was more likely that he felt sad for Blaise since he would be losing his mate soon.
If anything, I must have been registering Blaise’s sadness.
Oh god, Blaise was still watching, wasn’t he?
I hoped he wasn’t. I didn’t want him to remember me dying in such a gory manner, forever tainting his memories of me. I wanted him to remember me as his young and beautiful mate.
"Are... are you... going to kill me?" I wheezed out. I wanted to give him a middle finger, but I couldn’t muster up the strength. "Get on with it, then."
I closed my eyes, ready for the final blow.
’Mother, I will see you soon.’
