The end arrives

Elsewhere, the rest of the group were facing their own battles. Lita and Amy were working on disabling Diamond's security system while Andrew was keeping watch. They'd lost Chad during a scuffle at the front of the cave, he'd entered the cave with them, before his head had whipped to the side and he'd loped off into the dark. They knew he could look after himself, but it wasn't normal for him to take the role of lone wolf, that was usually Darien's trademark move.

Chad was seeing red……literally. There was a red tinge round the insides of his eyes, getting bigger and bigger as he came nearer and nearer to the person who had Raye's scent on them the strongest. And it wasn't a happy scent; it was full of anger, terror and pain. Charging round a corner he came face to face with Rubeus, Diamond's right hand man. His blood red hair hung over his cold grey eyes, a cruel smirk etched permanently onto his face. Chad came to an abrupt halt as he sniffed the air around him, confirming that it was indeed Rubeus who had attacked Raye, a ferocious snarl vibrating from his lips and into the tense atmosphere.

"You bastard." "Please. As if I haven't heard that one before. If you're going to insult me at least come up with something original."

The sound of Chad's fist connecting with Rubeus' face resounded around the cave's damp walls. "That original enough for you?"

The smirk on Rubeus' face faded as he whipped the back of his hand across his nose. Blood shone in stark contrast to his pale skin and he flicked his tongue across it, making sure to keep eye contact with Chad all the while. "Hmmmm, nice, but not as…… delectable as the blood I had before. Came from a gorgeous girl, black hair, fiery temper, killer body and violet eyes." He quickly ducked as Chad fist whistled through the air where his head was seconds before.

The snarl Chad emitted would have been enough to make any sane man or wolf reconsider their options, but Rubeus had never been sane. He let out an answering snarl, crouching down to begin his transformation into wolf. Chad followed suit, leaving behind two wolves: one a gorgeous red wolf, its fur shimmering in the over head lights, its molten copper eyes holding some hint of madness, teeth bared in a wolfish grin, the other a deep mahogany brown, its fur hinting at the sleek muscles underneath, its eyes a startling hazel that were locked onto the red wolf.

No signal was given as Chad instantly lunged forward and grabbed Rubeus' ear between his teeth and wrenched, shredding it as Rubeus immediately reared back and out of Chad's range. Blood matted his fur, creating dark spots as he tried to blink the stinging substance from his eyes. He felt the air move before him and instantly moved to the side before whirling to face a growling Chad. Bastard would pay for that. He didn't let Chad gather his feet before he tackled his side, taking them both down with Chad beneath him as he sunk his teeth into his shoulder. Chad instantly let out a yelp before he began bucking in an attempt to dislodge Rubeus. He felt the teeth in his shoulder loosen slightly and immediately rolled onto his back, startling Rubues who instantly let go in an effort not to be crushed.

They were both covered in dirt, Rubeus' blood now staining both their coats. A dull throb in Chad's shoulder let him know that ligaments and tendons had been damaged, but he ignored the pain as they began circling each other, looking for weakness in the others defences. Chad crouched low, an instant before Rubeus attacked. He drove for Chad's neck, instant reflexes meaning that Chad's forefoot took a swipe at Rubeus' eyes, managing to make a connection before Rubeus ducked out of his lunge.

Chad advanced on the temporarily blinded Rubeus, his teeth making their way under the other wolf's muzzle until they could lock themselves together, resulting in Rubeus' throat been torn out. The red wolf's eyes widened in disbelief as it collapsed to the ground before Chad, who stood victorious over it. Patience just wasn't part of Chad tonight as he hastened Rubeus' death by sinking his claws into Rubeus' underbelly and ripping away the fur and flesh, blood gushing out, muscle and intestines spilling to the floor and he bit down until the sickening crunch of bone resounded into the air. With one last cry, Rubeus stilled, his life force leaving behind and empty shell of a body.

Muzzle bloody, Chad let out an eerie howl, stating his victory to all who listened, before bounding off to find the rest of the team, never once looking back at the corpse behind him…………………………………………………………………

The two wolves began circling each other, water sloshing under their movements, Darien making sure to keep an eye on Serena, his concentration split for a second and only Serena's mental and verbal warnings alerting him to Diamond's attack. He quickly buckled his hind legs and dropped to the ground, avoiding the majority of Diamond's teeth, rolling to the side, before rising back up to face the wolf in front of him. He felt a sharp sting at his shoulder and realised that he was bleeding.

Time became a blur as Darien leapt for Diamond, his jaw snapping as Diamond twisted and he too tried to snap at Darien in return, both meeting in a confusion of snapping teeth and stumbling paws, neither making contact, but instead of backing away to regroup, Darien head butted Diamond in the side, taking delight in the whoosh of air that his enemy expelled. Quickly taking advantage of the situation he sank his teeth into Diamond's hind leg, setting his teeth deep and ripping away at the flesh and fur until he saw a glimmer of white amongst the blood. Bone. He pulled back ready to take another bite when Diamond managed to twist his head and lock his jaw round Darien's front leg, pulling him off balance.

He let out a deep snarl as Diamond began advancing once again. Diamond propelled himself into the air and Darien followed at a slightly lower height, cutting him off mid flight and sinking his teeth into the nape of his neck, yanking down and tearing Diamond's throat open, blood spurting out in an arch as Darien emptied his mouth of Diamond's flesh. They both dropped to the ground: Diamond landing in a heap on his side, body twitching as he tried to breath through his torn out throat, a wheezing sound filling the air as the air whistled in and out, never reaching his lungs; Darien standing protectively in front of Serena, his body heaving as he took in gulps of air. His front legs were shaking from the bite Diamond had administrated before, but he refused to back change back until Diamond was dead, teach anyone to mess with his mate again.

Time seemed to slow down in the precious seconds it took Diamond to die, both Serena and Darien keeping their bodies tense in case he happened to recover, however it wasn't to be as Diamond's body gave one last twitch, before lying still upon the damp ground, his frost grey fur soaking up dregs of the water and darken his coat, while his blood swirled in the water, slowly making its way around Darien's legs and towards Serena.

Assured that Diamond would no longer be attacking, Darien cautiously made his way over to Serena, sure he was glad to see her, but he could help thing back over the words she said at their last meeting. Her head seemed to be hanging limply from her neck, her tangled hair covering her face from his view, sparking worry within Darien that she was hurt worse than he'd first thought. He let out a low, worried growl and quickened his steps; her head instantly springing up, eyes wide in terror as she heard his growl and approaching footsteps. Tears were streaming down her face, her eyes softening with joy as she realised the approaching wolf was her mate and not Diamond. She'd been unable to watch the fight since Darien had first been attacked so she hadn't known its out come.

Her eyes quickly flickered to the dead wolf behind Darien, relief flooding her senses, quickly followed by exhaustion. Darien took those last few steps that would bring him to his mate, his eyes instantly searching her body for any serious injuries. Satisfied that there were none he stood back and watched her, apprehensive that she'd reject him once again. Confusion graced her features as she wondered why he'd stopped, until she remembered their last conversation. The words "I'm sorry" floating from between her dry lips to his cocked ears all the incentive he needed to curl his body into hers and nuzzle her body, comforting her as she wept openly into the room.

After some moments, he changed back into his human self, his hands making small work of the shackles on her wrists, before he scooped her frail body up and held her close to his nude body. He ached all over, but that pain seemed irrelevant to the euphoria of having his mate back in his arms. He made his way to the entrance of the cave, weary of any other attacks coming his way. Chad appeared at his side, as naked and as bloody as him, but he too held the aura of a man who'd won his fight and the two exchanged a nod before they continued on their way, meeting up with Andrew, Amy and Lita at the front of the cave. The two girls seemed to be holding someone between them and as the three drew closer they realised that it was Mina.

"What's she doing here?" "Seems Mina was the one who lead Diamond to Serena, thought we'd see what you wanted to do with her, though frankly, losing your soul mate seems like punishment enough, she'll not last the night by the looks of things."

"Back up a sec, soul mate?" Chad's voice held the confusion clearly written across Darien's face, his hands cradling Serena as she tensed the nearer they got to Mina.

"Seems Diamond was naughty boy, mating and then not keeping to our laws by bedding other women. Not that it surprises me."

"If he was mated to Mina then why the hell was he after my mate, why was he after Serena?"

Everyone looked to Amy who answered, "It would appear that Diamond refused to believe Mina was his mate, choosing instead to pick someone else to his liking. We all know he was crazy and it was this that allowed him to convince himself that Serena was his mate and not Mina."

Darien's eyes widened in utter disbelief, for someone to reject their mate was utterly preposterous, you had to be completely deranged to do that and survive as well as Diamond had. He turned cold eyes to Mina who had been silent during the exchange, she whimpered slightly as she saw the murderous look he gave her.

"Leave her; like you said Lita, she won't survive the night."

With that he carried Serena to his car, placing her in the back seat, before popping his trunk and grabbing the spare clothes he always kept there. He chucked his keys to Andrew opening the back door, "You're driving", with that he climbed in and settled Serena into his body, he'd only just got her back, no way would she be leaving his side for the next couple of days, weeks, months……… heck, she wouldn't be leaving his side for the next couple of centuries.

Two months later

"God dammit woman! You're pregnant for god sake; there's no need for you to be gallivanting round town."

"And what the hell would you have me doing, huh? Staying at home, keeping the place tidy, waiting for you to come home so I can put your dinner on the table?"

"Damn straight that's what you should be doing!"

This rather foolish exclamation was followed by silence, and then the sounds of things smashing into the walls at unprecedented speeds. One could make out the small sounds of "I'm sorry," and "calm down", the latter followed by "Calm down? Calm down?" and an increased flurry of objects hurtling through the air at the offender.

Serena and Darien winced at he sounds they could hear coming from the kitchen, glad that it wasn't their place that was being demolished, rather effectively by the sounds of things.

"My God Darien, you best not say anything as stupid as Chad when I'm pregnant. Stay at home and cook for him, this is the 21st century for God's sake, not the 1950's!"

"You want to have children?" "Of course……… why are you looking at me like that Darien……… hey! Put me down! I'm not a sack of potatoes you can sling over your shoulder when you feel like it!"

His voice came out a low purr as he continued towards the guest room, "But Serena how are we possibly going to have children in the near future if we don't start now? You know what they saw, practice makes perfect."

She instantly flushed a deep pink, flustered by what he'd said. (It could also have been due to the blood rushing to her head seeing as she was being carried upside down, but for the purpose of the story she was flustered).

Her shy "oh" was met by Darien's chuckles as he took her into the guest room of Raye's flat, his foot coming out to swing the door shut with a significant thud.

The end ladies and gentlemen. If you'd like to write a review that'd be nice and if you don't that'd be nice too……… who am I kidding? Write the damn review!

P.S Thanks to all those who stayed loyal and read the story from start to finish and wrote me reviews…… oh and for putting up with my random updates seriously need to work on that aspect of story writing I suppose……… nah

Adeola xxx