The mansion was thrown into chaos. Riordan's energy was all over the place and it was affecting everyone who was below his level. His wife was having a hemorrhage. Blood was dripping out of her ears, nose and mouth. She wasn't responding to his call anymore and she was so cold.
"Dad." Nicholas came inside and the situation struck him really hard. "How can this be?"
"How can it not be?!" Riordan yelled at his son. "You know that she can't spend time with Serina but you allowed it! You brought this to your mom!"
"You knew?" Nicholas questioned in disbelief. "All this time, you knew something about Rina but you tricked me that you don't."
"Even if I knew, do I have another choice? Zalia, even at the brink of death, she wanted me to respect your choice and your mate. She didn't want your woman to get hurt but what about your mom?! Why is it that she has to sacrifice so much when she didn't even do anything that wronged other people?!"
"I..." Nicholas couldn't find a way to refute. He wanted to say something in defense for Serina but he was really speechless against the painful truth that his father threw at him.
Yiran was looking at them in horror. She was standing there at the door and among all of them, the person who loathed dragons the most was her. Tears burned her eyes and she blinked to stop them from falling. Still, the pain in her heart from being fooled by them was ripping her apart.
"She's a dragon bearer. You let her come inside our domain even though she's a dragon bearer." She turned to her brother and sniffed, acting tough and brave when in fact, she wanted to scream and tear someone apart. "I could accept anyone, ANYONE of your choice but I will never ever accept anyone from that clan. The dragon princess killed our brothers! For Pete's sake! How could you guys forget that?! She placed a curse on our mom and killed our siblings!"
"That's the dragon princess! Not Rina! Why would you blame her for something she didn't do! You are not being fair!" Nicholas retorted angrily.
"And mom dying because of her love for dad is fair enough?"
Outside the door, Serina was standing with tears streaming down her face. Beside her was Gabriel and the doctor who was supposed to look into the Luna.
The thing she feared the most, the thing she was trying to avoid - it's happening right this moment. She never expected that the Luna was actually Zalia. She already got suspicions on Nicholas being a werewolf but she wanted to wait and let him say the truth voluntarily. Although that was what she suspected him to be, she didn't include the part that he's an offspring of the woman that her auntie cursed.
Earlier, she even told herself that she'd tell Nicholas everything during their playtime with the wolves. She couldn't wait for her 18th birthday anymore. But time didn't allow her to do that.
Now, everything's exposed.
"Brittislava." Serina mentioned and suddenly, the room sank into a dead silence and the servants were bending over, trying to stand up to the pressure coming from her. It was ten times stronger than Riordan.
Some fainted and others were running our of the mansion to escape the pressure but it was all the same.
Beside her, the doctor was already kneeling on the floor and Gabriel was trying his best to reach for her hand to stop her with what she was doing.
'Rina, this isn't the time yet.' her dragon commented from the depths of her mind. 'We can still go out of this situation.'
"There's no need. I have prepared myself from this a long time ago."
'You will get hurt.'
"It doesn't matter."
Serina kicked the door opened and there she met the family of four who welcomed her during lunch. There was a faint smile on her lips as she walked towards Zalia.
"I'm sorry." It was the only thing she said before she raised her hand and formed a protective barrier around the two of them. Since she was inside the barrier, the pressuring energy also lessened and the stronger werewolves were able to withstand it.
Seeing that she was placing her hand on Zalia's stomach ache, Riordan went wild in anger.
"Stop her! Stop her! You have to stop her!" He knocked on the barrier but the energy field bounced back at him and he was sent flying across the room.
"Rina." Nicholas called our for her but Serina didn't want to waste any more of her time. She has to save Zalia in order to repent for what her auntie did in the past. "Rina, is it still you? Or are you the dragon princess?"
"I am both." Serina replied calmly. "Nik, I can save your mother. Do you trust me?"
Nicholas looked into her eyes and slowly nodded his head. "I trust you. I know you would never hurt her."
"Thank you."
She started chanting to gather energy from the surroundings, blocking all the noises from the outside to stop being distracted. She could no longer hear what was happening and she was very focus on getting rid of the curse which already made its way to her blood vessels. Three-fourth of her body was already corroded with the curse. She could no longer bear a child and she has less than a year to stay. If Serina didn't come today, she was afraid that Zalia would be dead the next time she saw her.
Outside the barrier, the elders have arrived and was stunned to see Serina holding their Luna in a prison barrier. No matter how many times Nicholas explained that she was curing his mother, they wouldn't believe him.
"You are enchanted by this woman! How can a dragon be mated with the werewolf clan?! That's impossible!"
"It's because you are blinded by love so now, all you see is right for you. Even if it's wrong, even if she's killing your mother, you would still think she's doing the right thing."
"Hold him! Lock him in his room!" Riordan ordered but Nicholas suddenly transformed to a huge wolf. He has the advantage because he was bigger compared to everyone, even bigger than his father who was the current Alpha.
"If you hurt her, I will kill all of you!"
"Nicholas! You are going crazy! You are out of your mind!" His father angrily yelled and transformed to his wolf form as well.
"If you choose to side with her, that makes us enemies." Yiran transformed to her wolf form once again and faced her brother.
"Gabriel, call your twin and ask him to come over. We need to protect Serina."
Gabriel looked at him and his expression turned sad. They have grown together, played together but his loyalty remained to the Alpha and the Luna of the pack.
"I'm sorry Nicholas." Gabriel took a step back and sided with Riordan.
Nicholas didn't mind it. He will hold on for Serina, even if he's against the whole world. No one can touch her unless he's dead.
He stood there in front of everyone, guarding the barrier and the two woman inside it.
"Get him!" Riordan ordered and the Gabriel attacked his best friend. He pushed Nicholas out of the way but Nicholas didn't budge. All this time, when he thought the dragon was pressuring him, she was actually injecting little power of hers to him. Now, he knew why he was getting stronger and why he was getting that power. He was meant to protect Serina from everyone.
Sensing the danger his daughter was in, Michael looked towards the direction of the Vallardi estate. His eyes turned cold and the color changed to a fiery orange.
'Rina.' Michael connected to his daughter and the added pressure brought fear to the werewolves. They were already having a hard time fighting off Nicholas just to get to a single dragon, now there's another one joining on the fight.
"She's calling for help! We have to subdue her!" An elder shouted and this time, Yiran, who always looked up to her brother, attacked him. "Get him out of the room!"
Nicholas was afraid of hurting his little sister and because of this moment of hesitation, Gabriel took the chance to bite Nicholas's shoulder and pushed him out through the window.
Shattered pieces of glasses were everywhere and the two werewolves fought each other outside. Nicholas was only wounded on his shoulder but Gabriel has gotten more damage.
Not long after, Gregori came to help his twin. One of the elders came out to join them as well while the others stayed in the room to keep attacking the barrier.
Serina had her eyes closed, feeling the flow of the curse in Zalia's body while lifting them slowly. Zalia looked really in pain as if she was being torn apart and this drove Riordan crazy! He could feel the pain his wife went through in the past but she learned to block him from feeling that emotion so he has lived a pretty normal life.
This time, Serina opened all channel that Zalia closed and Riordan felt the searing pain once again. He kneeled on the floor, his tears falling while shouting at Serina to stop whatever she was doing. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear a single thing from the outside world.
"Kill her! Kill that woman!" Riordan howled and the elders tried their best to give him a satisfying result.
Serina wasn't as powerful as her auntie because she just recognized her dragon three years ago. She didn't have much energy and she didn't know how to use energy from people who attack her. She only knows how to extract it from nature unless someone injects it on her.
As she was getting weaker from curing Zalia, the barrier was getting weaker as well. One against more than ten people, no matter how strong she was, she'd be vulnerable once she let her guard down.
Gabriel and Gregori was lying on the ground, blood splattered everywhere and they weren't even able to lift their heads. Nicholas was also a little tired but he didn't want to stop. The elder was about to attack him when three wolves came out of the bushes and bit the elder's arms. No matter how powerful he was, he couldn't hurt these animals because of the clan rule.
Nicholas took this opportunity to jump back to the balcony of his parents room but before he could even land, his sister used her ice arrow to pierce him on his chest. There was no remorse in her eyes just complete hatred.
Nicholas didn't stop. He stood on his foot and tried jumping again but now, his father joined and attacked him with earth spears.
"Please. Rina is - "
The loud shattering noise of energy field broke his speech and when jumped up to see what happened, a chilling coldness drove him to insanity.
Serina was lying on the floor with so much blood pooling underneath her.