Chapter 153
Cassian's POV - Minutes Earlier
"She's mine." Casper's voice came from behind me, low and dangerous as distant thunder rolling across mountains.
I turned my head sharply. My twin brother's eyes had changed—no longer the warm amber I knew. Leo's crimson red blazed through instead, wild and possessive.
"Not again," I muttered under my breath, dread coiling in my gut.
We'd just decided to leave, to find Elowen immediately. Kade had his hand on the door handle, Alaric right beside him. The monster—Raven, that thing wearing an ordinary face—still stood near the corner where he'd materialized moments ago, after making his twisted deal with Drake.
The temperature in the room felt colder than it had even during that first confrontation. The oppressive energy that had stolen our strength during Raven's initial appearance still lingered in the air, making every breath feel like dragging sandpaper through my lungs.
"Going somewhere, gentlemen?" Raven's voice scraped across my nerves like broken glass. Those gray eyes—no, they were shifting red now—gleamed with ancient amusement. "But we have unfinished business."
He moved with that same inhuman speed as before, materializing directly in front of the door, blocking our only exit. That ordinary face twisted into a smile that made my skin crawl.
"You blocked us once already," Kade growled, his Alpha authority radiating outward despite the energy drain. "We're not playing this game again."
"Game?" Raven tilted his head, and I caught a glimpse of something far older than humanity itself beneath that manufactured expression. "This is no game, Alpha Kade. This is necessity."
But Casper didn't care about words or warnings or whatever the hell this monster wanted.
Everything happened in a blur after that—like time itself had stretched out while simultaneously rushing forward.
Casper lunged at Raven for the second time tonight. His body twisted mid-movement, bones cracking and reshaping with sounds that made my teeth ache. Red brown fur exploded from under his skin in a violent transformation that tore through what remained of his already damaged clothes.
"He's lost it!" Kade's voice exploded beside me, sharp with alarm.
Leo hit the interrogation room floor and the whole foundation shook beneath our feet. His massive red brown wolf form gleamed in the dim overhead lights, muscles rippling under that distinctive rust-colored pelt. Those red eyes locked onto Raven with single-minded focus—the kind of focus that meant someone was about to die.
But this time was different. This time, Leo wasn't just attacking—he was hunting.
My heart hammered against my ribs so hard I thought it might crack them. The suffocating energy in the room seemed to feed Leo's rage instead of dampening it, like pouring gasoline on a fire. During our first attempt to attack this monster, Casper had held back, calculating. Now all that control was gone.
"Casper!" I shouted, but it was useless.
I'm in control, brother! Casper's voice suddenly rang through my head, clear and sharp through our twin bond—that connection that had existed since we were born.
But the savage snarl that ripped from Leo's throat said otherwise. The red in his eyes burned brighter than I'd ever seen, wild and feral.
"You better be," I shot back mentally, pushing the thought through our link with all the force I could muster. "Because if you're not, we're all dead."
The room erupted with the sounds of collision. Leo and Raven crashed together like freight trains meeting head-on. Claw scraped against something that should have been flesh but sounded like metal. Sparks flew where their attacks met. Deep cracks appeared in the concrete walls, spider-webbing outward from impact points.
But something was wrong. Leo's movements were slower than they should be—the aftermath of whatever Raven had done to drain the room's energy during that first confrontation. Each strike that should have been lightning-fast came just a fraction too late. Each dodge took more effort than it should.
"He's still weakened from before! We need to do something!" Alaric shouted over the chaos, his voice tight with urgency.
"Wait," I said sharply. My eyes stayed glued to Leo, tracking every movement. His attacks were fierce and brutal, but there was still reason behind them—strategy in how he circled, feinted, struck. He was compensating for the weakness in his limbs, adjusting his fighting style on the fly. "He's adapting. At least for now, my brother is still in there somewhere. Give him space."
Then the monster laughed. Actually laughed, like this was all some amusing game he'd played a thousand times before.
"You think you can win?" Raven said, his voice like a serrated knife scraping across glass, setting my nerves on edge. "Even weakened as you are? She doesn't belong to you. She belongs to—"
Leo cut him off with a roar that physically hurt my eardrums. The sound was primal rage given voice, echoing off the walls until I thought my skull might split. The force of it seemed to push back against the oppressive energy, creating a brief pocket of clarity.
Kade suddenly moved, decision made. "Screw waiting! We're not letting him fight alone!"
He charged into the fight without hesitation, Alaric right behind him. Two Alphas from other packs didn't even bother trying to shift—the energy drain made that impossible. They just jumped straight into the chaos with human strength and Alpha authority radiating from them both, fighting through the weakness that made their movements feel sluggish and clumsy.
"The prisoners—" I started, glancing toward Drake and the others still chained to their chairs.
"To hell with them!" Kade roared over his shoulder.