Dear Enemy, You're My Mate

Chapter 112 **

Maya

I throw myself at Lily, snapping and biting while the people looking at our duel are shouting and whistling. Kyra is rooting for me, but I can't face my friends—I'm too invested in the fight.

Finn must be worried, but seeing his expression might throw me off my game, so I continue my battle without distractions.

I can't lose.

Lily fights with anger, and darkness follows her with every attempted bite at my neck. Her shadow is growing, and half the sky turns black. Our fight suddenly turns into a battle of day and night.

Darkness threatens to conquer the sky, but I force out light since I have to win. My blood is boiling and my frustration from all the years Lily spent harassing me offers me motivation. I bite at her shoulder, headbutt her stomach, and slash her face.

Lily whimpers and falls to the ground, where I bend down to maul her. Blood splashes everywhere, and I know I've officially won the battle.

Lily is still breathing, though.

'Kill her,' Lumi orders me. 'You're the new alpha, but you have to prove your strength to your pack members. FINISH HER!'

I lift my head, ready to end my sister.

"No, wait!"

My eyes lift, and I stare at a concerned Bianca running down the stairs from our house. I'm so shocked to see her well and unharmed and hold my breath when she falls to her knees in front of Lily.

"Lily?" Bianca lifts the white wolf's head into her lap, and tears spring from the corner of her eyes. I stare at the scene. Blonde hair falls around her face, and her breast heaves as she whispers. "Please don't die on me."

Realization dawns on me.

Bianca and my sister are fated to one another—mates.

'This changes nothing...' Lumi is still angry, and her hackles are rising over her back.

'Yes, it changes everything,' I shape-shift back into a human and peer down at my sister. Lily is watching me, and I take a deep breath before speaking with Lumi again. 'I'm not only a wolf—I'm a human too—a werewolf, and I choose to keep my sister alive.'

"Lily," I immediately gain my sister's attention and glare down at her with a conflict of emotions inside my heart. "The Winterbite pack will be mine, and because of this, you're banished from our grounds. You will become a rogue, hunted if you set foot here again, and killing you isn't prohibited. You will die if you come back."

Lily swallows thickly, taking in my words, and I turn my back to the wolf, ready to hold a speech.

Only my sister disagrees with my plan.

She lunges at me with a ferocious growl the second my back is left unguarded, and I turn around in fright. I brace myself to be torn apart, but Elijah runs forward, stabbing my sister in the heart with his claws, while Finn pulls me to him.

My lips part and I find his gentle eyes searching my face. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," I force a smile onto my lips, feeling the flutters in my stomach. Finn was so ready to protect me. "Thank you for coming to my aid."

He bends down to press his lips against mine in a sweet kiss. It makes bubbles of joy float up to my throat until I feel tingly and warm.

Finn smiles down at me, holding my hand. "I was ready to step in the entire time—if I didn't think you could win the duel, I wouldn't have hesitated to fight every werewolf in your entire pack to save you."

"She isn't breathing!" Bianca suddenly exclaims. "No…"

I look forward, finding Elijah. He glares down at my dead sister with a glazed gaze before giving me his attention. "I'm sorry, alpha Maya, but she was going to kill you—"

"NOOO!" Bianca screams and hugs the dead wolf's head. "Please don't die on me—we just met each other..."

My heart breaks at the scene of my best friend crying over her mate, and I'm forced to turn away. I bury my head in the fabric of Finn's shirt, and he pulls me to him.

"It had to be done," Finn whispers, kissing the top of my head with his hand, drawing circles on my back. "Lily had taken so many lives—she had already wandered down the path of darkness, and there was nothing you could do to save her."

Tears are prickling behind my eyelids. "I know... I'm not sad for her, but Bianca doesn't have a mate now..."

Finn hugs me tighter. "I'm still sorry for your loss..."

There is a lump in my throat, and my chest constricts. "I mean, Lily wasn't even nice to me, but why does it still hurt?"

"Because you were related."

"She did horrible things, Finn—she looked up our parents and murdered Elijah's mate in cold blood."

"And yet it doesn't change the fact that you were sisters. She was your flesh and blood."

I love this man. Finn doesn't have to understand my sadness, neither does he need to comfort me, yet his words are so gentle when I need them to be. I hug him tighter and let the tears fall from my eyes.

A hiccup leaves my lips. "My sister always protected me when we were little, and in the other timeline, Lily was good..."

Finn brushes his fingers through my hair. He says nothing and holds me close, offering me his warmth before the other werewolves come forward.

I recognize Jayden from high school and try to smile when he offers me a hesitant half-smile.

"Looks like you're our new alpha."

My lips strain. "It seems so..."

He smiles back, then peers down at Lily's body and the werewolves pulling a screaming Bianca away from the scene. Pain draws his eyebrows together, and then he sighs.

"It's been a dark few years having Bianca as our alpha," he says and looks up at the clearing skies. "But I have a feeling thing will be different with you, alpha Maya."

I smile. "I would hope so—"

"MAYA!"

I turn around, shocked to see my parents. My father waves at me while my mother runs up to hug me. She looks malnourished like she has been locked up for days. There are dark circles underneath her eyes, yet she travels like a storm and squeezes me.

"I've missed you so much!" My mother lifts me from the ground and spins me around with insane human strength. "You have answered none of my phone calls!"

"Mum—" I cough. "Can't—breathe..."

"Oh..." She releases me somewhat, offers me an apologetic smile, and then she peers up at Finn. Her eyes narrow, and then her lips form a knowing grin. "Well, hello there, Finn."

Finn smiles sheepishly, and my mother blinks up at him before turning to me with her arms crossed. She looks massively amused.

"Your mate?"

I beam up at her, and once my father joins her side, I nod at them both, with my heart thudding against my ribcage. "My mate."