Chapter 162 Midnight Ambush
POV: Luna
"Selene, wake up!" I shook her shoulders.
Nothing. She was completely under the alphas' spell.
Her aura pulsed brighter. Responding to their howls.
"We need to break the connection!" Sienna said.
"How?" Aria demanded.
"Disrupt the magical frequency. Make it impossible for them to maintain the link."
"In English, please!"
"We need to create enough magical interference that their signal can't reach her!"
"On it!" Lyric pulled out her phone and started typing. "I can generate sonic interference. Disrupt magical frequencies."
"Do it!"
She activated something on her phone. A high-pitched sound erupted.
Selene flinched. Her aura flickered.
"It's working!" Nova said.
But then the howling intensified. The alphas were compensating. Pushing harder.
"We need more power!" Sienna said.
I grabbed Selene's hand and channeled Eclipse power through our Guardian Bond.
Pushing back against the dark magic. Fighting for control.
Through the bond, I felt the alphas' presence. Felt their hunger. Their intelligence.
They knew exactly what they were doing. And they weren't giving up.
"Luna, behind you!" Liam shouted.
I spun.
One of the rogue alphas had breached the wards. Was standing on the balcony.
Massive. Enhanced. Eyes glowing red.
"Protect Selene!" I ordered.
My pack formed a circle around her.
I faced the alpha alone.
It growled. Low. Menacing.
Then it spoke. "Give us the royal. We have use for her power."
"Never."
"Then die protecting her."
It attacked.
I shifted and met it head-on.
We collided in a fury of claws and teeth.
The alpha was strong. Faster than I expected. Better trained.
But I had Eclipse power. And I wasn't fighting alone.
Through the pack bonds, my friends fed me energy. Strength. Determination.
I used it all. Channeled it into devastating strikes.
The alpha realized it couldn't win in direct combat.
So it changed tactics.
It howled. A signal.
Two more alphas appeared. Climbing the walls. Coming from different directions.
"Three alphas!" Aria shouted. "We're surrounded!"
"Hold formation!" I commanded. "Protect Selene!"
We fought desperately. Liam and I against the first alpha. Nova and Aria against the second. Aiden engaging the third.
Selene was still in a trance. Still vulnerable. Still the target.
"Sienna, we need that interference stronger!" I shouted.
"Working on it!"
She chanted in ancient wolf language. Layers of magical disruption building.
Finally, it was enough.
The connection between Selene and the alphas shattered.
She gasped and collapsed. Conscious again but exhausted.
The alphas, realizing they'd lost their magical hold, shifted tactics again.
They went for a direct assault. All three at once.
We met them with everything we had.
Eclipse power. Royal magic filtered through me. Pack coordination. Mate bond synchronization.
The battle raged across the balcony and into Selene's suite.
Furniture destroyed. Walls cracked. Magic scorching everything.
But we were winning.
Slowly. Painfully. But winning.
Finally, the alphas realized they couldn't succeed.
They retreated. Jumping from the balcony and disappearing into the forest.
We stood there, breathing hard, bleeding, victorious.
"Is everyone okay?" I gasped.
A chorus of pained affirmatives.
"Selene?"
"I'm fine. Shaken. But fine." She looked at the destroyed suite. "My room, however, is not."
Despite everything, I laughed.
"We need to report this," Aria said.
"And check the wards," Liam added. "How did they breach them so easily?"
"Someone helped them," I said. "Someone on the inside. Again."
We secured Selene in a different room. One with stronger wards. Better defenses.
Then we examined the breach point.
"Here," Sienna said, pointing to a section of the ward. "It's been tampered with. Weakened deliberately."
"Recently?" I asked.
"Within the last hour."
So someone had known the alphas were coming. Had prepared their entry point.
"We have a traitor," Nova said.
"We've known that for days. The question is who."
As we searched for clues, I noticed something.
Magical residue. Left behind by the alphas.
But mixed with it was another signature. Familiar. Hated.
"That's Cole's magic," I breathed.
"Again?" Lyric asked. "He's still orchestrating attacks from wherever he's hiding?"
"Or he was here," Liam said grimly. "Physically. Helping the alphas."
"How? We have wards against him. Magical alerts. He shouldn't be able to get within a mile of campus."
"Unless someone's helping him. Giving him access."
The traitor again. Whoever was betraying us from inside.
I collected a sample of the residue. Maybe Sienna could analyze it. Find something useful.
But as I touched it, the residue pulsed.
Glowed bright.
Then sent out a signal. Like a beacon.
"What did you just do?" Aria demanded.
"Nothing! It activated on its own!"
The pulse traveled through the air. Magical. Unstoppable.
It hit Silverwood's main wards.
The wards flared. Reacted. Started to destabilize.
"It's attacking the wards!" Sienna shouted. "The residue was a trap! Designed to activate when touched!"
"Can we stop it?" I asked.
"I don't know! The signal's already been sent!"
The wards flickered. Weakened. Started to collapse.
If they fell completely, Silverwood would be defenseless. Open to any attack.
"We need to reinforce them!" Professor Cael said, appearing with other faculty. "Everyone who can cast, focus on the main ward anchors!"
We ran to the ward anchors. Five of them scattered around campus.
My pack took the northern anchor. Faculty covered the others.
"Pour everything into it!" Sienna instructed. "Magic, energy, willpower. Everything!"
We did. All of us channeling power into the failing wards.
The wards stabilized. Held. Strengthened.
But it took everything we had.
By the time the crisis passed, we were all collapsed on the ground. Completely drained.
"That was too close," the Headmaster said, appearing above us. "If you hadn't acted so quickly, the wards would have fallen completely."
"What was that residue?" I asked weakly.
"A magical virus. Designed to infiltrate and destabilize ward structures. Very sophisticated. Very illegal."
"The architects," I said.
"Undoubtedly. They're escalating. Trying every method they can to breach our defenses."
"How much longer can we hold out?" Nova asked.
The Headmaster didn't answer immediately. "I don't know. But I'm calling an emergency Council session. Tomorrow. We need to address this situation formally."
"What will they do?" Selene asked.
"I don't know. But be prepared for difficult decisions."
He left us there, exhausted and worried.
"This is bad," Lyric said quietly.
"It's been bad for weeks," Aria replied.
"No. This is different. If the Headmaster's calling the Council, he's preparing for extreme measures."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Like evacuating Silverwood. Closing the Academy. Scattering us to different territories."
That would be a disaster. Separated, we'd be vulnerable. Easy targets.
"They can't do that," I said.
"They might not have a choice."
I looked at my pack. At my friends. At Selene.
We'd fought so hard. Survived so much.
The thought of losing this. Losing each other. Losing our home.
It was unbearable.
"Then we fight," I said. "Tomorrow at the Council session. We fight to stay together."
"How?" Nova asked.
"I don't know yet. But we'll figure it out."
Through the pack bonds, I felt everyone's determination.
We weren't giving up. Weren't surrendering.
Whatever the Council decided, we'd face it together.
Because that's what packs did.
They stood together. No matter what.