Arian Ice, Adrian Lancaster and Avian Valmont along with the witch Michaela, Alaska's father Clarence, Noah Waters and the werewolf Queen Milan stood in the blackwater forest where they'd tracked Alaska Ivanov and Ezekiel Gabriel with the help of one of the most powerful witches in the realm.

The seven of them stood still as statues as they watched Ezekiel pace around the Blackwater lake talking to himself. Alaska's hands were tied together by a thin rope and she hung limply above the water suspended from the rope which was tied to two trees on either side of the lake. Once snap and she'd plunge into the water and drown to her death.

Arian looked at his older cousin Adrian and nodded. They knew what had to be done. They knew how to kill Ezekiel. Adrian sneaked up on Ezekiel and aimed the knife for his heart but narrowly missed by a few millimetres.

As Milan and Avian went over to the two trees to cut the rope off, Arian knowing fully well that his mate would drown if she fell, jumped into the lake and screamed in anguish. "IT'S LACED WITH VERVAIN!" Ezekiel called out with glee. Arian's skin began blisterring and peeling off as he swam to the middle of the lake.

Alaska opened her eyes to see what the chaos was. She shouted when she saw her mate and king practically boiling in the vervain laced water. "Arian, get out!" She shouted. Ignoring her, he looked towards Avian and Milan who were still trying to get past Ezekiel's magic shield.

Noah Waters jumped into the water and swam towards his arch nemesis. A part of him wanted his king to die but he loved his best friend way to much to cause her such sorrow. He caught Arian by his collar and helped him swim towards dry land.

"You'll die with her!" Noah cursed as Arian tried getting free from his grip.

"Go save her then! I can swim to the land!" He shouted even though thry were mere centimetres apart. Noah swam swiftly right below where Ally was suspended as Arian thrashed towards the land. He got out and slumped down into the cold earth.

~

Meanwhile, Ezekiel held Adrian against an oak tree as he used his powers to fill the vampire's lungs with water. "I spend a hundred years feeling like this, wanting to die every single second but never being able to. Am I still the bad one here Adrian?"

"Y-You don't ha-ve to d-do thi-s."

"Sure I do. You didn't have to save Milan and you certainly didn't have to save Alaska. You wanted to be a hero? Now die like one!" Ezekiel laughed maniacally. Clarence held the knife that Adrian had thrown towards him. Without a second thought, he plunged the poison-laced weapon into Ezekiel's back and let it go through his heart.

Ezeiel seized his hold on Adrian who fell to the flood. Zeke fell to his knees and clutched his chest. A smile spread on his blood red lips as he regarded the man who had once been his acquaintance. "No poison on this earth can kill me," he mumbled softly, his hand clutching the knife buried in his chest.

"Maybe not but it can hold you down long enough for me to do this," Clarence replied. He took a vile of salt from his pocket. All seven of them had been given a vile. They knew that someone would have to make the sacrifice but no one knew who.

~

A splash resonated against the entire forest as Alaska fell into the lake. Her entire body went down below the surface of the water for a moment and she recollected all the heads that she'd seen the last time she had drowned. Strong hands slid around her own cold ones as she was brought to the surface.

"Noah," she whispered happily, a smile on her face, as she wrapped her legs around his torso and he swum them back to land. He smiled grimly as he put her down once they were both safe. She coughed up water and breathed in as much oxygen as she could take in as she crawled towards Arian.

Arian's blood had healed him but he still didn't have all his power back. Noah and Arian rushed to Michaela who along with Milan and Avian was sitting in the centre of another circle made of salt. They allowed Alaska into the circle and then sealed it.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I never meant to hurt you," Arian told her urgently.

"I know," she replied.

"No you don't," Arian chuckled.

Then he stabbed her right in the heart with a syringe full of liquid.

~

"Clarence," Adrian called out to the older man, "You know what happens if you do it!" Alaska's father nodded. He'd heard them all discussing their plan after meeting Dryden. He was never part of the plan but this was something he had to do. Penitence in his own twisted way.

"Tell her I'm sorry," Clarence told the vampire. If Ezekiel alone was imprisoned in the circle, he'd still live and they all knew that if Ezekiel Gabriel could survive for a century underwater and escape, he would find a way again. They couldn't take a chance.

They had to kill him when he was in the circle and only then would he remain dead forever. Someone had to go with him and make sure he didn't live.

"Wait," Ezekiel groaned. Partially unconscious, his hand moved and Clarence stepped on it, thinking he was going to do something. They looked at where Ezekiel was looking.

At whom, rather. Seven feet away, with Alaska lying unconscious in front of her, Milan met Ezekiel's gaze with tear filled eyes.

"I have always loved you," he whispered.

She closed her eyes and bit back a sob. "Ez, I-"

Clarence abruptly stepped into the circle along with Ezekiel and sealed it before Milan could say her last words to the man who had once been her best friend.

After that day, no one spoke of Ezekiel Gabriel.

"She's waking up," someone whispered.

"We can see that, Avian," another person replied.

I opened my eyes groggily and groaned. The first people I saw were Milan and Michaela standing in front of me. "Hey, you're up!" Milan cheered, "You've been asleep for quite some time now." I closed my eyes and thought of the last thing I remember.

Arian stabbing me.

My eyes shot open and I looked at all of them furiously. "How could you let him do that to me?" I accused all of them. I thought we were friends. They were starting to feel more like family.

"Ally, calm down," a voice said from across the room. I looked at the person who said it and sobbed when I saw Noah happy and healthy with some colour back to his cheeks. He came over and kissed my forehead.

"Hey! I want one too," Avian mumbled.

I looked at both of them and raised a brow. "We're mates," Avian chuckled. I let out a hoarse laugh. "I always knew you were homosexual!" I exclaimed happily. Adrian has to pay up and boy am I going to be rich once he gives me all that money we bet on.

"I'm not!" He groaned.

"You're not?" Noah asked.

"Do you want me to be?" Avian teased, a satisfied smirk evident on his face. Perhaps Noah didn't get the happy ending he was hoping for but maybe he'll end up getting an even better one.

"Shut up," he said in reply.

"Partying without us?"

THAT VOICE.

THAT FUCKING VOICE.

I looked over at the door, ready to throw the jug of water at Arian (if I had the strength to pull that off) but stopped once I saw who walked in with him.

Adrian and his mate.

.

She smiled at me and I grinned back, looking towards Adrian for an explanation but he only shrugged and nodded towards my mate. My mate who tried to kill me, in case anyone's forgetting.

"Jesus, I didn't try to kill you!" Arian said with a groan.

"You STABBED me!" I shouted angrily at him, reaching for that jug of water. Yeah, never mind. It's too heavy and Arian's reflexes are too quick for his own good. Everyone in the room seemed to find this conversation utterly amusing much to my dismay.

"The syringe was filled with blood, darling. Blood from three powerful bloodlines. The Vampire King which is me, the werewolf Queen Milan and the heir to the witch realm Michaela," he smugly informed me.

"Is this true?" I asked Milan and Michaela. They both nodded at me, still trying to bite back their smiles.

"Why?" I asked Arian.

"Ezekiel got his power by drinking the blood of more than 900 witches. He was a werewolf by blood but since he developed a need for blood he was part vampire and drinking the witch blood gave him magic, making him the first tribrid."

"The spell he used to bind you and Cara could only be broken if we had the same power that he had but only more powerful since we had to save you both," Adrian told me.

"If you all are so great and powerful shouldn't you have figured this out like I don't know a century ago?" I snorted.

"Well jeez woman we were trying to get him to change," Milan said with a small laugh but I caught the melancholy in her eyes. Maybe she's the only one in this entire universe that will miss Ezekiel.

"He did have beautiful eyes," I pointed out with a small grin.

"And he was so freaking gorgeous!" Michaela added.

"And-," I continued but then stopped midway. ". Arian, if you really had to inject me with that, you could have told me. You didn't have to stab me out of nowhere," I said irritatedly.

He chuckled.

"So you know how my friends and I always talk about how a-"

"You have friends?" I asked.

"Maybe he forced them to like him," Avian whispered to Noah but all of us caught on to it and burst out laughing.

"Yes, Alaska, I have friends," Arian replied sassily, "yeah so they always talk about how annoying their mates are and how they just want to stab them to death sometimes."

He looked at me and grinned sheepishly.

"Well now I can tell them that I actually stabbed my mate to death!" He said excitedly.

I wanted to frown and tell him that I wasn't annoying but his happiness was contagious. I shook my head at him and smiled.

"So how did you figure out how to kill he-who-shall-not-be-named?" I asked.

"Oh, Arian made a deal with a witch," Noah said casually.

I looked at Arian and raised a brow. Everyone in the room looked at him fervently waiting to know what the deal was but he just looked grimly at Milan who herself didn't look very happy. Something told me it wasn't just because she'd just lost her best friend.

"Everyone out."

"But-" Noah protested.

(". 1D, anyone?😂🙌🏻)

"Now, Waters," Arian said warningly.

One by one, Milan, Adrian, Cara, Avian, Noah and Michaela left the room. It was now only Arian and I. He came up to my bed and tilted my head so I was looking directly into his eyes. He bent down and kissed me softly.

Just a single peck.

"Why did you do that?" I asked with a happy smile.

"Because I can," he replied simply.

"So about the deal," I reminded him. He nodded and looked away. I gave him his time but he seemed to demand more than just a minute to pace around the room and talk to himself in hushed whispers.

"Arian," I sighed impatiently.

"Right," he said. He came up to me and took my hand in his. "Look, Alaska, I'm a fucked up sadist but I do care about you. I've always cared about you in my own twisted way. I'm saying this because you may never know it otherwise. Dryden wanted two powerful bloodlines to merge so there can be peace between the werewolves and vampires."

I didn't have a very good feeling about where this was going.

"He wanted a werewolf with royal blood to mate with a vampire?" I asked.

"Yes," he mumbled.

"Isn't that impossible? Werewolves only have werewolf or human mates as per what I know. And even if that did happen, can't vampires not procreate?" I questioned.

"If their souls are joined when they're still young and magic is used, it can all happen," he replied.

"So who's the unlucky pair?" I snorted.

He looked at me and blinked. Again.

His eyes traveled down to my womb and then back to my own eyes.

I sat up straight.

"No," I said staunchly. The vision that Ezekiel showed me of my daughter Maddison played in front of me. Her smile faded as though she knew what her future held for her.

My daughter.

"Who's the werewolf that gets to have my daughter?"

"Tristan Gabriel," he said quietly, unable to meet my gaze.

Milan and Elliot's son.

I'll be posting the epilogue in another day or two so stay tuned! Alaska's story will get a proper ending with the epilogue so don't worry.

I'm thinking of giving Tristan and Maddison their own book. Any thoughts on that?

♥️✨

Although the title mentions witches, the plot mainly takes place in a werewolf pack and the genre is technically still werewolf so give it a try!

•Arian and Alaska

•Adrian

•Milan

•Avian and Noah

♥️✨

~theNameIsHoran👩🏻‍💻