The Professor's Mate Clause novel Chapter 110

Chapter 110

ADRIAN’S POV

Victory should have felt different

+15 Bonus

Corbin was dead. The battlefield belonged to us. His forces had broken beneath our pack, and for one brief moment, I thought the nightmare was finally over. But all around me were bodies-wolves I had known for years, wolves who trusted me enough to follow me into war. The scent of blood and smoke hung heavy in the air while survivors moved through the wreckage searching for the living and mourning the dead.

And Marcus was gone.

That truth sat inside my chest like a blade I couldn’t pull out.

Thirty years beside me, and in the end he died protecting me exactly the way he always had.

I barely had time to process it before a scout’s voice shattered through the clearing.

“Alpha! Movement on the ridge!”

Every instinct in my body sharpened instantly.

I shifted and ran toward higher ground despite the exhaustion tearing through my muscles. The second I reached the ridge and looked down into the valley below, cold dread settled into my stomach.

Hundreds of wolves.

Fresh. Organized. Moving in formation.

And at the front of them stood a face I had hoped never to see again.

Asher.

For a heartbeat, I honestly thought I was imagining him. We nearly killed him before. He should have been dead. But there he was, scarred and furious, leading another army straight toward us while we were too broken to survive a second war.

Of course he waited until now.

Of course he came when we were exhausted, grieving, and barely standing.

It was exactly the kind of strategy he would use.

Through the bond, I felt Freya’s horror hit at the same time mine did. She understood immediately what this meant. We had nothing left. The wolves still standing behind me were wounded, grieving, barely able to remain upright after tighting Corbin’s

forces.

And Asher knew it.

This wasn’t a battle.

It was an execution.

Still, I forced myself to turn back toward the pack and raise my voice

“All wolves, defensive positions! Protect the wounded and prepare for engagement!”

The order carried across the battlefield, and despite their exhaustion, the pack responded instantly Wolves limped into formation beside each other. Healers pulled the injured farther back while fighters stepped forward even when blood still

covered their fur.

They were terrified.

+15 Bonus

I could feel it.

But they came anyway.

That was what made them pack.

Not strength.

Not dominance.

Loyalty.

Love.

The willingness to stand together even when survival looked impossible.

Asher’s army reached the clearing within minutes. He moved at the front like a wolf dragged back from death itself, his body marked by scars from our last fight. Whatever mercy life once left in him was gone now. All that remained was hatred sharpened

into obsession.

When he stopped across from me, his eyes swept over the battlefield and the broken state of my wolves. Satisfaction curled across his face immediately.

“Did you really think killing Corbin meant victory?” he called out, his voice echoing across the clearing. “Did you think you

won?”

I stepped forward despite the exhaustion threatening to pull me to my knees.

“You already lost once, Asher,” I answered coldly. “Maybe you’re just too stubborn to accept it.”

The truth was I could barely stay standing.

Every part of my body hurt. Blood still poured from wounds that hadn’t healed properly, and Marcus’s death kept replaying through my head over and over again. But an Alpha does not let his pack see fear. Even when the fear is real.

Especially then.

Asher laughed darkly.

“Look at your wolves,” he said. “Half dead. Half broken. You’ve got nothing left.”

His gaze shifted toward the wounded spread across the clearing before returning to me.

“And I’m going to destroy what remains.”

The worst part was that he was right.

I knew it.

There was no strategy left that could save us. No hidden strength waiting to turn the tide. We had already given everything we had against Corbin.

But if this was where we died, then we would die fighting.

“Then stop talking,” I growled. “Come finish it.”

The challenge hit exactly the way I intended it to. Asher snarled immediately before shifting, his wolves following him in terrifying synchronization. Hundreds of bodies surged forward all at once.

And then the battlefield exploded again.

The collision hit like a storm.

Chapter

+15 Bonus

Our wolves fought with everything they had left, but exhaustion slowed every movement. Fresh enemy wolves tore through weakened defenses faster than we could recover. Everywhere I looked, wolves were falling-friends, pack members, people who had already survived one war only to be thrown into another before they could even breathe.

The battlefield became chaos almost instantly.

And in the middle of it, Asher came for me.

Of course he did.

Alpha against Alpha.

The ending we both knew was inevitable.

We collided hard enough to shake the ground beneath us, but the difference between us was obvious immediately. He was rested. Fueled by revenge and fresh strength.

I was barely holding myself together.

Every clash drove me backward another step. My muscles screamed from exhaustion while his attacks came harder and faster each time. Claws ripped through my side deep enough to send white-hot pain through my body, and blood spilled down my legs almost instantly.

I fought back anyway.

Because that’s what Alphas do.

Not because we always win.

Because we fight even when we know we won’t.

Through the bond, I felt Freya moving toward me. Panic and determination flooded through her as she tore across the battlefield trying to reach me.

No.

I pushed the thought toward her desperately.

Stay back.

But Freya had never been the kind of woman who stayed safe while people she loved were suffering.

That was part of why I loved her so much.

Even now.

Especially now.

Asher slammed into me again before I could regain my footing, claws tearing deeper into already damaged flesh. My body staggered violently beneath the impact. The world tilted for half a second, and I realized with terrifying clarity that I was losing consciousness.

This was it.

I wasn’t going to survive this fight.

Strangely, the realization didn’t frighten me as much as it should have. What terrified me was knowing Freya would keep fighting after I was gone. Knowing she would throw herself into impossible odds because she refused to abandon the pack.

Because she refused to abandon me.

I landed one desperate hit across Asher’s shoulder, but he barely reacted. He only kept coming, relentless and brutal, while my

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify