Victoria
Before it connected, a blur of movent knocked the guard sideways. Leo stood over , his eyes burning with feral rage, his hands already shifting into claws.
"Touch her again," he snarled, "and I’ll tear your spine out through your throat."
The guard recovered quickly, drawing another silver blade from his belt. "Alpha Grimwood sends his regards," he taunted, circling Leo cautiously.
Leo’s answering growl made the stones beneath us vibrate. "Then send him back my reply."
Their fight was brutal and swift—Leo moving with controlled fury, the guard relying on the advantage of his silver weapons. I forced myself to my feet, fighting vertigo as I returned to Enzo’s side, determined to free him while Leo kept the guard occupied.
As I worked on the final chain, Enzo grabbed my wrist with surprising strength. "Aurora," he rasped urgently. "He’s using her... for the ritual."
"What ritual?" I demanded, finally breaking the chain. "Enzo, what does Marcus want?"
His eyes rolled back montarily, consciousness slipping. I shook him gently. "Tell , Enzo. What ritual?"
"Blood... of the first Fae-Wolf," he managed, his voice fading. "He needs... both of you."
A chill ran through . "Both of us? Who—"
"Your mother," Enzo whispered. "Not dead. Aurora... knows where."
Before I could process this bombshell, a victorious roar from Leo signaled the end of his fight. The guard lay motionless on the floor, and Leo was already striding back toward us, blood spattered across his face but none of it his own.
"We need to move," he ordered, assessing Enzo’s condition with a critical eye. "Can he be transported?"
I nodded numbly, my mind still reeling from Enzo’s revelation. "Leo, he says my mother—"
"Later," Leo cut off, already lifting Enzo’s broken body with surprising gentleness. "Temple’s coming down."
He was right—the structure around us had begun to tremble, dust and stone fragnts raining down from what remained of the ceiling. My impromptu vine attack had compromised what little structural integrity the ancient building still possessed.
"Where’s Aurora?" I asked frantically, scanning the chamber as we prepared to retreat.
Tiny appeared at my side, his massive hand steadying as another tremor shook the temple. "No sign of her. Sweep of the entire structure ca up empty."
Leo’s expression darkened. "Marcus moved her before we arrived."
As we hurried through the crumbling temple, supporting Enzo between us, a voice echoed through the chamber—Marcus’s voice, though he was nowhere to be seen.
"Impressive display, Victoria," it bood, seeming to co from the very walls themselves. "Your mother would be proud. She had the sa connection to growing things, though never so... aggressive."
I faltered mid-step. "Where is she?" I shouted at the disembodied voice. "Where’s my mother?"
Leo tugged forward as a massive stone block crashed to the floor where I’d been standing seconds before. "Don’t engage," he hissed. "It’s what he wants."
Marcus’s laughter echoed around us. "Listen to your mate, little hybrid. He understands the ga better than most." A pause, then: "Aurora sends her regards. She’s quite looking forward to a family reunion—all three generations of Howlthorne won together at last."
The implication hit like a physical blow. My mother was alive. And Marcus had both her and Aurora.
"This isn’t over!" I scread as Leo practically dragged toward the exit, the temple collapsing in earnest now.
"Oh, I’m counting on that," Marcus’s voice replied, fading as we burst through the entrance into the cool night air. "In fact, I’m rather looking forward to our next eting."
We barely made it clear of the structure before it imploded with a deafening roar, dust billowing outward in a choking cloud. Leo shielded both Enzo and with his body, his arms like steel bands around us as debris rained down.
When the dust finally settled, I pulled away from Leo’s protective embrace to check on Enzo. My brother’s eyes were closed, his breathing shallow but stable.
"He needs dical attention," I said urgently. "Now."
Leo nodded, already signaling for our transport. "Tiny, secure the periter. I want eyes on every approach."
As our warriors moved to follow his orders, Leo turned to , his expression grave. "What did your brother tell you in there?"
I t his gaze steadily, still processing the revelation myself. "He said my mother is alive. That Marcus is planning so kind of ritual involving her blood and mine."
Leo’s jaw tightened. "The Blood Moon ritual. It’s an old legend—supposedly grants imnse power to an Alpha who consus the heart’s blood of a Fae during the Blood Moon."
Horror crawled up my spine. "And the Blood Moon is—"
"Three weeks from now," Leo confird grimly.
I glanced down at my hands, still tingling with the power I’d unleashed in the temple. The vines had responded to instinctively, an extension of my will. Power I hadn’t even known I possessed until that mont.
"He’ll co for again," I said quietly. "And now he knows what I can do."
Leo’s expression softened slightly as he brushed dust from my cheek with his thumb. "Let him co. He’s not the only one who learned sothing tonight." His eyes dropped to my hands. "That was... impressive."
Despite everything, I felt a small smile tug at my lips. "You an terrifying."
"That too," he admitted, a hint of humor in his voice. Then, more seriously: "We’ll figure this out, Victoria. Together."
As our transport arrived and we carefully loaded Enzo inside, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything had changed tonight. My brother rescued but broken, my mother alive after years of believing her dead, and my own strange power finally revealing itself.
Marcus’s final words echoed in my mind as we sped away from the collapsed temple,“I’m rather looking forward to our next eting.”
Next ti, I promised silently, I would be ready for him.
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