"You'll pay for that mistake with your life. This ends here and now, Kaleus."
Theo sprinted toward Kaleus, gaining speed as his shift triggered mid-run. His clothes ripped, his bulky muscles rippling and shimmering as his wolf fur rapidly grew along his limbs. Kaleus made a sound of alarm and fired another crossbow bolt at Theo, but he easily jumped out of the way.
"Kill them!" Kaleus cried. "Kill them! Protect your king!"
The goblin rebels looked around at each other, confused and uncertain about what to do. A few began moving toward Lily, and she backed away from them, but most were focused on the confrontation between Kaleus and Theo.
Having failed to shoot Theo in his pursuit, Kaleus tried to scramble away, but he was trapped inside the excavator. From the angle she stood at, she couldn't see Kaleus anymore once Theo cornered him in there. She flinched at the wet sounds, the goblin's gurgling cries, and Theo's snarls.
Then everything went quiet.
Lily looked up again a moment later to see Theo walking out. He threw back his head and howled, and then shifted into his human form to face down all the remaining goblins.
"It's over!" Theo's voice boomed through the cavern. "Your leader is dead, as is your prospect of claiming a new king.Iam the only king you will have. I understand if you have your grievances about my ideals and my plans, and that is only to be expected after my father's reign, and the abrupt end to it. But I want to create a world that is not only safe for goblins, but for everyone else in the world that we have to share our land with. I want us to be strong enough to choose peace over war!" His dark blue eyes landed on Lily, and she sucked in a sharp breath. "Now will you come back to my side, and fight for a future worth living in, or will you die in the age of the old?"
A moment of silence passed, followed by an eruption of cheers and cries. "The-o! The-o! The-o!" they cheered, and it seemed with the fall of their leader, the rebellion was over.
Lily knew it wouldn't be that easy. Likely Theo didn't think this would be the end, either. But for now, a great victory had been won, and together, they would show the goblins a way forward that did not involve destruction and ruin. They needed to believe in Theo if they were ever going to thrive again in peace and prosperity under his rule.
Once the goblins began to disperse, Lily found herself wandering to Theo's side. She threw herself into his arms again, his warm embrace steadying her. He squeezed so tight, and she hoped he would never let go.
It seemed so impossible that they were here. Alive. The rebellion all but over.
Together.
Hopelessly in love.
Finally, he kissed her, taking her breath away in a matter of seconds, but he pulled away from her far too soon.
"We need to head back and tell everyone what happened here, and that Kaleus is dead," Theo said. "But we have a lot to talk about once all that is done with."
She nodded. "But first, let's free Daniel. He's tied up inside the compound."
Their lips touched again, briefly, a promise of more to come.
Chapter 14 - Theo
If being a prince was tiring and burdensome, then being king of all the goblins was exhausting and impossible. Though the goblin rebellion had been quelled for now, there was a lot of work ahead of him to repair the damage that Kaleus had done in his many years of sowing doubt against Theo.
Still, it was a challenge that Theo took up gladly, for the sake of his people, and for peace. Months had passed since Kaleus' death, and working together to hunt him down and his remaining rebels had strengthened the relationship between the wolf shifters of Kaldron and the goblins for the first time in decades. Their alliance had proved fruitful so far, and Theo intended to go above and beyond to show his gratitude for the wolves who'd risked themselves to protect his reign.
It seemed that, for the first time ever, his mother's dream of peace was within reach. And for that ... he would stop at nothing to achieve it.
That didn't mean he couldn't stop for a break every now and then.
Lily was standing by the window in their shared treehouse, staring out into the trees beyond. A thin layer of snow dusted the prongs and needles of the pines, and a blanket of white covered the earth below. A contented smile lingered on her face, and whatever she was deep in thought about, it had to be something good.
Theo wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, bringing his mouth to kiss her ear. "What are you thinking about?"
She relaxed into him with a sigh. "The future," she said. "It seems so impossible that we're standing here, after all we went through."
"I know what you mean." His tongue traced the outline of her lobe, tickling her in the way he knew drove her crazy. She sighed in response, bringing her hands to his torso to pull him into her back.
He obliged, his chest pressing firmly against her back, and his groin nudging against her bottom. "But we made it," he said. "We're here."
"Yes," she whispered. "We're here."
He allowed his eyes to close as he enjoyed the feeling of her body pressed against his. It was moments like this, when everything was calm and they were simply together, that Theo allowed himself to believe that everything would be alright. That they could actually make this work.