Chapter 188 Friends Unite
POV: Luna
Cole's departure didn't end the chaos.
The moment he vanished, rogues attacked. Dozens of them. Coordinated. Professional.
"He planned this!" Aria shouted. "The confrontation was a distraction!"
"Defensive positions!" I ordered. "Protect the students!"
My pack moved instantly. Years of training taking over.
Sienna, Aria, Lyric, and Nova formed the first line. Combined magic and physical force.
"Shield formation!" Sienna called.
They cast together. Voices synchronized. Power flowing between them through the pack bonds.
A massive magical barrier appeared. Shimmering. Powerful. Containing the rogues. Protecting students behind it.
"It's holding!" Lyric said. "But I don't know for how long!"
"Long enough!" I replied. "Liam and I will eliminate rogues! You focus on the barrier!"
Liam and I shifted. Charged into battle.
Through the mate bond, we synchronized. Perfect coordination. Every move calculated.
I went high. He went low. I distracted. He struck. I defended. He attacked.
We were unstoppable.
But there were so many rogues. Too many.
"Where are they all coming from?" Liam asked.
"Cole must have been gathering them for weeks! This is his final assault!"
We fought desperately. Taking down rogues. Protecting students. Holding the line.
Through my mark, I felt the connection Cole had planted. It was pulsing. Active. Growing.
And it was drawing power. Pulling Eclipse energy from me. Sending it somewhere.
To Cole. Definitely to Cole.
"Liam!" I gasped. "The connection in my mark! It's draining me! Feeding power to Cole!"
"Can you break it?"
"I tried! It's too strong! Embedded too deep!"
"Then we contain it! Minimize the drain!"
He was right. I couldn't break it. But maybe I could limit it.
I focused inward. On my mark. On the connection.
Built walls around it. Eclipse power forming barriers. Containing the drain.
It helped. Slightly. But the connection was persistent. Fighting back. Adapting.
"It's not enough!" I said. "Cole's still pulling power! Getting stronger!"
Through the pack bonds, I felt everyone struggling. The barrier was weakening. Students were terrified. Faculty was overwhelmed.
We were losing.
Then Selene appeared. In her hybrid form. Wolf-magical fusion. Blazing with power.
"I'm here!" she announced. "What do you need?"
"Your aura! The protective barrier! Reinforce the shield!"
She moved to the barrier. Placed her hands on it. Royal magic flooded into the structure.
The shield stabilized. Strengthened. Became impenetrable.
"That's better!" Sienna said. "But we still need to eliminate the rogues! We can't just contain them forever!"
"Working on it!" I replied.
Liam and I redoubled our efforts. Fighting harder. Faster. More efficiently.
But I was weakening. The connection in my mark was draining too much. Taking energy I needed for fighting.
"Luna, you're slowing down!" Liam said through the mate bond.
"I know! The drain! It's too much!"
"Then let me help! Channel through our bond! Share the burden!"
"That'll weaken you too!"
"Better both of us slightly weak than you completely drained!"
He was right.
I opened the mate bond fully. Let Liam share my power. My burden. My struggle.
Through the bond, he felt the drain. Felt Cole's connection pulling at me.
And he pushed back. His Alpha energy. His strength. His absolute refusal to let Cole win.
Together, we contained the drain. Minimized it. Made it manageable.
"Better?" he asked.
"Much better. Thank you."
"Always."
We fought with renewed energy. Taking down rogues systematically.
My friends maintained the barrier. Protected students. Held the line.
And Selene. Selene was magnificent. Her hybrid form allowing her to fight and shield simultaneously.
She was becoming the warrior she'd always wanted to be.
"We're winning!" Nova shouted.
"Don't jinx it!" Aria replied.
But Nova was right. The rogues were thinning. Fleeing. Being eliminated.
Victory was close.
Then I felt it. Through the connection in my mark.
A massive pull. Stronger than before. Drawing enormous amounts of power.
"Something's wrong!" I gasped. "The connection! It's surging! Taking too much!"
I collapsed. Unable to stand. The drain was overwhelming.
"Luna!" Liam caught me.
Through my mark, I felt Cole's presence. Felt him drawing power. Storing it. Building toward something massive.
"He's gathering energy!" I said. "From me! From the connection! Building a weapon or a spell or something!"
"We need to cut the connection!" Sienna said.
"I can't! It's too embedded! Too strong!"
"Then we stabilize you! Everyone! Channel power through the pack bonds! Share the burden!"
My pack did. All of them. Feeding me energy. Sharing my drain. Taking the weight together.
It helped. Gave me strength to stand. To function.
But Cole was still pulling. Still gathering. Still preparing.
"Whatever he's planning," I said. "It's big. And it's coming soon."
"Then we prepare," Liam said firmly. "We fortify. We plan. We survive."
"How? He's stronger than anticipated! He's been draining me for who knows how long! Storing my power! He probably has enough Eclipse energy to—"
I stopped. Realization hitting.
"To break the seal," I whispered. "That's his plan. He's been draining my Eclipse power. Storing it. And when he has enough, he'll use it to break the otherworld seal. Permanently."
"But the seal requires Eclipse power to maintain it," Sienna said. "Not break it."
"Unless you reverse the polarity. Use Eclipse power as a battering ram instead of a shield. It's possible. Theoretically."
"Has anyone ever done it?"
"My grandmother tried. It killed her."
Silence.
"So Cole's planning suicide?" Nova asked.
"Or he thinks he can survive what killed my grandmother. Because he has more power. More resources. More preparation."
"Can he?"
"I don't know. But I'm not willing to find out."
The last of the rogues were eliminated. The battle was over.
But the war. The war was just beginning.
Because Cole was out there. Somewhere. Gathering my power. Building his weapon.
And we had no idea how to stop him.