The Hooded Luna:Happily Ever After
Chapter 27~Despair

Michael was still screaming long after Blaze had finished mutilating his body. The floor was coated with blood as Michael withered on the ground with pain. Blaze was seated on the desk with blood spatter on her face and was staring down at Michael in poor boredom.

“Your screaming is giving me a headache.” She mumbled before jumping off the desk and walking up to Michael. She twirled the sword in her hand before cutting his head clean off. She turned to face Mateo and cocked her head to the side as she looked at him curiously.

“Now, what should I do with you?” She mumbled staring at him.

‘He’s mine.’ Phoenix said immediately. Blaze frowned and held up a finger, signaling one minute before turning her back to him.

‘Um, are you sure?’ She asked skeptically.

‘Yeah, I’m sure.’ Phoenix said softly. Blaze turned to face Mateo and smirked.

“Good luck.” She said sending him a wink. She gave Phoenix back control before disappearing back into her spot. Phoenix released Mateo from her hold and he looked at her skeptically. She released a shaky breath before sitting in the chair beside him and turning so they were facing the same direction. Her eyes landed on Peter and they immediately filled with tears.

“Do you ever feel like you can’t do anything right?” She whispered keeping her eyes on Peter. He didn’t respond as he tried to decide whether he should make a run for it or see how this would play out. He liked his chances considering this was Phoenix and not Blaze. She looked up at Mateo as she realized he was just staring at her. Her wolf whimpered in her head and her heart clenched.

“I need you to reject me as your mate.” She said, gently wiping the tears from her cheeks. Mateo tensed and looked at her curiously.

“What?” He asked despite hearing her question perfectly. Phoenix cocked an eyebrow as she looked at him and pursed her lips together.

“You were ready to kill me less than 20 minutes ago, but me asking you to reject me as your mate is mind-boggling?” She asked seriously. Mateo chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck.

“You know I l-”

“Don’t say it.” Phoenix said immediately cutting him off. Mateo went flying and he groaned in pain as his back made contact with the wall.

“Why? It’s the truth, that’s why I still wear the dog tags you gave me.” Mateo whispered. Phoenix’s eyes blurred with tears and she bit her lip hard to keep them in. Despite her best attempts, her tears began rolling freely down her cheeks and she laughed sadly.

“Do you know what’s so sad about all this? That despite the evidence smiling directly in my face- Teo I just wanna run in your arms.” She croaked swallowing back a sob. She waited patiently for Mateo to say something to say anything but he was lost in his own thoughts. It’d be easy for me to say that as he looked at her he despised her, he wanted nothing more than to find a way out of this invisible hold on him and rip her throat out, but that would be a lie. As Mateo looked at her love flowed through his body and he found himself, cursing mentally. Nothing about betraying Phoenix was easy-she was his mate and he would never feel anything for her other than love. He fought the urge to release a shaky breath and did his best to make his eyes seem cold. He knew he was successful from Phoenix’s flinch and he clenched his jaw.

“That’s because you’re so fucking stupid.” He spat before rolling his eyes. His wolf growled at him in his head but he understood that this needed to be done. After everything he’d done to her-after threatening to kill her-there was no going back. Phoenix would forgive him eventually, he knew that. But he also knew that he didn’t deserve it. He hadn’t lied before he jumped at the opportunity to betray her-granted it was before he had a chance to fall in love with her again, but after?-he chose to keep it going and he chose to keep it all a secret. He watched as Phoenix wrapped her arms around her body and sobbed. His wolf whimpered in his head begging him to console her but he couldn’t and if he could he wouldn’t. He looked over at Peter’s lifeless body and painted a smirk on his face.

“I killed your parents and I was going to kill Noah too but then Liam walked in and-”

Before Mateo could finish his sentence, Phoenix was standing in front of him with her hand placed firmly in his chest. Her hand was wrapped around his heart and she could feel each tremor as she squeezed it in her hand gently. She didn’t speak as she looked up at Mateo with fresh tears still running down her cheeks and Mateo doing the same for her.

“Why’d you work with Michael?” She whispered, desperately grasping at straws. The truth was she was stalling, she didn’t know why considering the man in front of her had ripped her heart apart in more ways than one without so much as skipping a beat, and yet she couldn’t seem to return the favor. Mateo knew what she was doing and he was thankful he was still alive but he knew he shouldn’t be. She loosened her grasp on his heart and he released a breath of relief before leaning his head against the wall. He looked up at the ceiling and shook his head with a chuckle.

“Power.” He said shrugging. He looked down at her to see an incredulous look on her face. She was literally the embodiment of power and he knew that she was finding a hard time believing him.

“I reject you as my Mate Phoenix Smith.” Mateo whispered coldly. Her eyes filled with tears again as a pain shot through her chest. She slowly nodded her head as she looked at him. She slowly pulled her hand from his chest eliciting a groan from him. She gently put her hands on his cheeks and stepped on the tips of her toes before pressing her lips against his. He knew this was her way of saying goodbye and he fulfilled her wish. He moved his lips in sync with hers and bit back the need to frown when he felt tears hitting his cheeks. She slowly pulled away from him and leaned her forehead against his own.

“I reject you as my Mate Mateo Russo.” She whispered. Both of them bit their lips to hold in their screams of pain. Phoenix took a deep breath and stepped away from Mateo.

“Now I need you to tell me the truth.” She said softly.

“My parents’ blood are on your hands so the least you can do is tell me the truth.” She pleaded. He looked at her skeptically but nodded his head. She swallowed thickly and nervously ran her fingers through her hair.

“Have you-have you ever loved me or was everything really a lie?” She whispered studying him. He froze at the question, he hadn’t realized that she was going to ask that and he didn’t know how to proceed. He knew what the answer was but he couldn’t decide if he should tell her the truth or not. She released her hold on him and watched as he stumbled a little bit before catching his balance. He walked up to her and gently took her face in his hands. Her eyes fluttered close as she sank into his hands.

“When we were young and life was just so fucking simple I did more than I loved myself.” He stared softly. She slowly opened her eyes to look at him and he resisted the urge to intake a sharp breath.

“But now-I can’t fucking stand you.” He bit out before slamming his head against her own. She groaned in pain as she stumbled away from him. Her eyes were blurred but she could see his figure walking up to her sword. She shook her head to focus her eyes only to get a kick in her stomach and sending her backward.

“Come on you have to be able to do better than this.” Mateo taunted, rolling his eyes. He waited until Phoenix seemed more stable before delivering another kick and sending her to the ground. She groaned as she fell on her wrist and mentally cursed. Mateo’s hesitated for a second as he saw her face scrunch up in pain before going back to attacking her. He kicked her repeatedly silently begging her to stop him. He pulled his foot back as he prepared to kick her again only for her to grab his foot and yank it sending him falling.

“What the fuck?” Lucifer mumbled, stumbling backward as he was hit with a sudden power wave. His head tilted in the direction it was coming from and he squinted as he tried to figure out who it was coming from.

“What’s the matter? Why are your eyes red?” Kenzie asked snapping him out of his daze.

“We need to hurry up and go save Noah and Liam.” He grumbled before walking off. Everybody stared at his back skeptically but followed after him.

Maleficent groaned as another blow was sent to her face. She’d been able to trick the guards into thinking that the people in the cage were real but she didn’t have enough power to cover her scent so as soon as they stepped close enough they’d found her. She closed her eyes and smiled faintly as she sent a mental note to Phoenix despite knowing she wouldn’t get it and prepared herself for death. Her eyes snapped open shining their emerald green and flicked her wrist sending the guards flying. She stood up and laughed as she felt power coursing through her veins. Her eyes snapped over to the guards and she smiled menacingly as she slowly walked up to them.

“You bastard.” Phoenix growled as she continued to punch Mateo over and over from the straddled position they were currently in. Her fist stopped an inch from his face as the dog tags caught her eyes and she felt her anger slowly begin to change into sadness. She backed away from him and stood up slowly.

“Why would you do this to me?” She whispered as her tears began rolling down her cheeks again. Mateo stood up and angrily ran a hand through his hair.

“You’re so fucking weak.” He spat angrily.

“And given the chance, I’d do it all again except I’d-”

Before he could finish his sentence Phoenix sword pierced through his skin and his mouth gaped open and closed like a fish as he slowly dropped to his knees. Phoenix crouched down so she was at eye level with him and slowly pulled the sword out.

“I am not weak.” She whispered, snatching the dog tags from his neck and setting them a flame in the palm of her hand. Mateo’s eyes filled with tears and he smiled proudly as he laid down. Phoenix swallowed down the urge to heal him and stood up before stepping away from him. She watched silently as his eyelids began slowly closing before they closed completely and his heart stopped beating in his chest. She looked up as the door swung open and her eyes met Lucifers. He smiled at her but it quickly faltered as he assessed the room. Her eyes went over to Peter's lifeless body just as Lucifer looked back at her but before he could say anything she disappeared.

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