Chapter 124 The wrong treasure
Amanda dropped to her knees beside Jacob and pressed both hands to his throat. The sound that left her was low and controlled, pulled from somewhere deeper than shock.
“Jacob. Stay with me.”
He did not.
Kane reached her in seconds and crouched opposite her. His hand pressed to Jacob’s chest. No pulse. No breath. He looked at Aria across the body.
She gave a single shake of her head.
“Amanda,” Kane said carefully.
She did not look up.
“He is gone.”
“I know,” she replied, her voice steady in a way that felt unnatural. “I know.”
She remained there a moment longer. Then she lifted her hands from Jacob’s throat and stared at the blood coating them to the wrists. She rose without another sound.
Across the shattered fountain, Alexander stood with dark smoke curling from his shoulders. Rogues poured through the broken eastern line in relentless waves.
Kane shifted and slammed into the first attacker before it reached the residence steps. His wolf tore it down and pivoted toward the next. Marcus and several allied Alphas shifted beside him, forming a defensive line.
Aria did not move toward Alexander.
She went to Amanda.
Jacob’s throat was beyond saving. There was nothing left to mend.
“Amanda,” Aria said softly.
Amanda’s shoulders lifted once. Then she stepped away from the body and turned toward the battlefield.
Kane’s wolf collided with Alexander in a violent impact that split more stone from the ruined fountain. Smoke burst outward, swallowing them briefly before Kane tore free. Alexander reformed several paces away, eyes black and calm.
“This is what you get for betraying me,” he said, his gaze fixed on Amanda.
She stepped forward, Jacob’s blood drying on her skin.
The air thickened.
Aria felt the shift in power before she saw it.
Amanda knelt and pressed her palm flat to the torn grass.
For a heartbeat nothing changed.
Then the earth answered.
Stone fractured in jagged lines radiating from her hand. Roots ripped upward and coiled around the legs of advancing rogues, dragging them down. Soil erupted beneath enemy feet while curving around allied warriors with precise control.
Alexander’s expression altered from amusement to focus.
Kane shifted to human form long enough to drive a moon steel blade toward Alexander’s ribs. Smoke absorbed much of the strike, but the edge cut shallow flesh before Alexander knocked it aside.
Black energy lashed outward and struck Kane across the chest, throwing him back. His wolf surged forward again in the same motion, refusing the distance.
Aria rose and thrust both hands outward. Silver light swept across the grounds and stripped enhanced strength from several rogues at once. They faltered and were cut down by allied Alphas before they recovered.
The battle fractured into layers of violence and power.
At its center, Amanda walked toward the man who had killed her mate.
Alexander extended his hand. The roots binding his nearest rogues blackened and crumbled. The corruption did not burn them cleanly. It infected them, racing through the soil before snapping the living fibers apart.
Amanda felt it.
“You poison everything you touch,” she said.
“Power is never clean,” he replied.
Two rogues broke toward Aria from opposite sides. She pivoted and released a curved arc of lunar light that struck both mid charge and sent them crashing into the fountain remains.
Kane intercepted another rogue before it reached Amanda, his jaws closing around the attacker’s shoulder and hurling him aside.
Amanda stepped closer to Alexander.
The ground beneath her boots vibrated with restrained force.
“You are drawing too deep,” Alexander warned.
“Good.”
Dark smoke condensed around him and shot forward in a concentrated surge that struck her square in the chest. She was lifted and thrown back, carving a shallow trench into the lawn.
Aria retaliated at once, sending a focused beam of silver energy toward Alexander’s side. He twisted, but the light grazed him and forced partial solidity.
Kane closed in, claws extended, yet a ring of dark force exploded outward and knocked him sideways.
Amanda rolled onto her side, coughed once, then pushed herself upright. Blood marked her lip.
She spat it onto the grass.
“You think you command this land,” she said, her voice gaining strength. “You do not.”
She dropped to one knee and drove both hands into the earth.
This time the response was violent.
Jagged spires of stone erupted upward beneath advancing rogues, impaling some and throwing others aside. Thick roots coiled around Alexander’s ankles before he could fully dissolve, anchoring him long enough for Kane to strike.
Moon steel claws raked across Alexander’s side and drew real blood.
Alexander snarled and slammed his palm downward. A pulse of dark magic shot through the roots and raced toward Amanda.
Aria saw the surge.
“Amanda, break the connection.”
Amanda did not withdraw.
The corruption raced into her arms, black veins threading beneath her skin. Her back arched under the force, but she clenched her fists and forced the energy downward.
The ground roared in response.
The corruption burst from beneath her in a shockwave that tore a fissure between her and Alexander. The black energy dissipated into the soil, neutralized by something older.
Alexander stared at her.
“You should have fallen.”
“I am still standing.”
Around them, more rogues forced their way through the eastern breach. Allied Alphas strained to hold the line.
Marcus shouted near the perimeter, directing reinforcements.
Aria’s gaze snapped toward the main house.
The twins were inside with guards. The reinforced wing held strong, but the wards flickered under the pressure of clashing magic.
Alexander followed her glance.
“You guard the wrong treasure,” he said.
Amanda stilled.
Instead of answering, Alexander lifted both hands toward the forest.
The air shifted.
A low rhythm began beneath the clash of battle. It grew steadily louder, structured and deliberate.
From the eastern treeline, figures stepped into the moonlight.
Witches.
They advanced in ordered rows, robes brushing the forest floor. Each carried a carved staff marked with glowing sigils that pulsed violet in time with the rising chant.
Amanda’s face lost what little color remained.
Alexander’s lips curved faintly.
“You chose your side,” he said. “They chose theirs.”
The witches halted beyond the shattered boundary stones and raised their staffs together. Their chanting deepened and layered, weaving into a vibration that carried through bone and soil. The sigils ignited fully, casting eerie light across the battlefield and freezing several combatants mid strike.
Aria felt the structure in the words before she understood them. This was not chaos. It was invocation.
The lead witch stepped forward, her voice rising above the others.
Amanda translated under her breath, dread replacing fury.
“They are not here for land.”
Kane shifted back into human form and moved to Aria’s side, blood streaking his chest.
“What are they saying?”
Amanda did not look away from the treeline.
“They are calling for bloodline.”
The witches drove their staffs into the ground in perfect unison.
The earth trembled.
The chant surged and clarified, carried on vibration rather than sound alone.
“We claim the silver born.”
Aria’s pulse pounded in her ears.
Kane’s hand closed around hers.
The witches lifted their voices higher.
“We claim the twin heirs.”
A window in the main house shattered outward as the wards flared under the assault.
Amanda stepped back, horror sharpening her features.
“They want the twins.”
More figures emerged behind the first line of witches, stretching deep into the trees in disciplined ranks.
Alexander watched Aria.
“This was never about you,” he said quietly.
The witches raised their staffs again, their voices merging into a single declaration that rolled across the compound.
“Bring us the twins.”
The eastern gates exploded inward.