AIDEN POV
The vampire landed on my back while I was trying to reach Lily.
I spun around, throwing him off as my Alpha training kicked in. Viktor, the vampire council leader, hit the basent wall hard but instantly bounced back to his feet, fangs bared.
"Stand down, wolf," he ordered. "The Guardian belongs to the vampire council now."
"Like hell she does," I snarled, placing myself between Viktor and Lily, who was still floating in dinsional energy, preparing to face Elena’s attack.
"The Supernatural Accords are clear," Viktor said coldly. "Any being with power over multiple dinsions falls under joint council authority. She’s too dangerous to stay with a single pack."
Before I could reply, the air shimred with ice crystals. Prince Ash of the Winter Fae stepped through a portal, his face grim.
"Actually, the Guardian’s dinsional abilities make her Fae property," Ash declared. "She exists between realities, which is our domain."
"You’re both wrong," said a new voice. A witch appeared from thin air—Councilor Raven from the Circle of Shadows. "Dinsional magic is witch magic. The Guardian must co with us for proper training."
I couldn’t believe this. Lily was in the middle of a life-or-death transformation, Elena was about to kill us all with void energy, and these supernatural politicians wanted to fight about custody rights.
"This is not the ti!" I shouted. "Lily is fighting for her life!"
"Which is exactly why she needs proper supernatural authority," Viktor replied smoothly. "Your pack lacks the resources to handle her condition."
Through our pack bonds, I felt my wolves’ increasing panic as more supernatural representatives arrived. A devil flickered into existence, followed by an angel whose presence made the basent feel too bright. Even a dragon shifter squeezed through the dinsional tears, his huge form barely fitting in the space.
They all wanted Lily.
"The dragon clans have ancient treaties regarding dinsional guardians," rumbled the shifter. "She falls under our protection."
"Angels have been guarding reality’s barriers since the beginning of ti," the winged being stated. "This is clearly our responsibility."
"Demons understand void energy better than anyone," the dark thing hissed. "She needs our expertise to survive."
I looked around desperately. Elena was still building her deadly attack, Lily was dealing with her transformation, and now I had to deal with a supernatural custody battle.
"She chose to stay with Silver Peak," I said firmly. "That should be the end of it."
Councilor Raven laughed bitterly. "A dinsional Guardian cannot be bound by pack loyalty. Her responsibilities transcend such small worries."
"Small concerns?" Anger flared through . "This pack is her family!"
"Family is a luxury she can no longer afford," Viktor said. "The Guardian’s power affects all magical species. She must serve the bigger good."
I felt Lily’s attention turn toward our argunt, her dinsional awareness picking up on the tension. This was exactly what she didn’t need right now—more pressure, more impossible decisions.
"You’re all vultures," I said disgustedly. "Lily is dying trying to save everyone, and all you care about is controlling her."
"We care about preventing disaster," Prince Ash corrected. "An untrained Guardian with dinsional powers could accidentally destroy multiple realities."
"Then train her here," I offered. "Send your experts to Silver Peak instead of dragging her away from everything she knows."
The supernatural representatives traded looks. I could see them calculating political gains, weighing the benefits of different arrangents.
"Impossible," the dragon shifter stated. "Guardian training requires specialized facilities that only exist in our respective territories."
"The vampire council has the most advanced dinsional research," Viktor added. "She would receive superior care with us."
"Fae magic is naturally compatible with her abilities," Ash countered. "Our healers understand dinsional sickness better than anyone."
They were talking about Lily like she was a weapon to be claid rather than a person making desperate choices for everyone’s benefit. My Alpha instincts roared at their casual dismissal of her liberty.
"What does Lily want?" I asked. "Shouldn’t she get a vote in this?"
"Guardians forfeit personal choice when they accept their power," Councilor Raven said matter-of-factly. "Their duty is to reality itself, not their own desires."
That’s when I realized the horrible truth. These otherworldly leaders didn’t see Lily as a person anymore. To them, she was just a Guardian—a tool to be used for dinsional stability.
"She’s still a person," I said quietly. "She still has rights."
"Not anymore," Viktor answered bluntly. "The mont she beca a multi-dinsional being, she transcended individual personality. She belongs to all supernatural groups now."
Elena’s void energy hit dangerous levels, crackling through the air like black lightning. But the supernatural representatives seed more interested in their political discussion than the imdiate threat.
"We’re running out of ti," I warned. "Elena is about to kill everyone in this room."
"Then the Guardian must co with us imdiately," the angel said. "We can protect her from this threat."
"By abandoning everyone else?" I shot back. "That’s not who Lily is."
"It’s who she must beco," the monster hissed. "Personal attachnts make Guardians weak."
I felt sick listening to them. They wanted to strip away everything that made Lily herself—her love for our pack, her connection to Caleb, her fierce desire to protect innocent people.
"I won’t let you do this to her," I said, my Alpha power ringing in my voice.
"You cannot stop us," Viktor answered. "This is bigger than pack politics."
That’s when Lily spoke, her voice holding the weight of multiple dinsions.
"Enough," she said, and every magical being fell silent. "I can hear you all arguing about my fate while Elena prepares to destroy everything."
She turned toward us, her eyes holding starlight and shade. "You want to know what I choose? I choose to save everyone first and think about politics later."
"Guardian," Prince Ash said quickly, "you must understand the implications—"
"I understand that you’re all more interested in owning than helping ," Lily interrupted. "But right now, I have a job to do."
She raised her hands, dinsional energy gathering around her fingers. But before she could strike at Elena, the vampire council head made a desperate move.
"If we cannot have you," Viktor growled, "then no one can."
He lunged not at Lily, but at Caleb, who was still trapped in Elena’s magical chains. I realized Viktor’s plan with horror—if he killed Lily’s mate, her emotional trauma might shatter her dinsional abilities totally.
"Stop!" I shouted, throwing myself between Viktor and Caleb.
But I was too late. Viktor’s claws raked across Caleb’s chest, drawing blood that glowed with strange energy.
That’s when everything went wrong.
The blood wasn’t normal. It pulsed with the sa dinsional power as Lily’s, causing a feedback loop through their mate bond.
Elena scread in victory as the mixed energies destabilized her ritual circle. Instead of channeling void energy to kill us, she was now pulling power from both Lily and Caleb simultaneously.
"Perfect," she laughed maniacally. "Mate bond energy is exactly what I needed to complete my transformation."
I watched in fear as Elena began to change, absorbing dinsional power through Caleb’s blood. Her oga form twisted into sothing monstrous—a creature that existed partly in our reality and partially in the void between worlds.
"You fools," she said, her voice booming from impossible distances. "You handed the key to becoming a Void Guardian."
Lily staggered as her link to Caleb beca a drain on her power. The supernatural representatives backed away in fear as they realized what was happening.
Elena wasn’t just trying to kill us anymore.
She was trying to replace Lily as the dinsional Guardian, but with loyalty to the Void Walkers instead of reality’s protection.
And thanks to Viktor’s attack on Caleb, she might actually succeed.
"Now," Elena stated, her form shifting between dinsions, "let show you what a proper Guardian can do."
She raised her hands, and I felt reality itself begin to unwind around us.
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