Chapter 23 The Rescue Mission

Chapter 23 The Rescue Mission
The original Alpha Spirit was dying, and Luna's grandmother was stealing its strength while reaching for my daughter. I had maybe thirty seconds before she became too strong to stop.
"Marcus!" I shouted through our soul-bond. "We need to move now!"
But even as I said it, I felt his hesitation through our link. The discovery about his bond with Death was paralyzing him with fear.
"I can't," Marcus said desperately. "If I choose wrong between you and Death, everyone I've ever healed dies. Including Aria."
"Then don't choose," Luna said firmly through our bond. "We'll make the choice together."
I felt her pouring courage and determination into both of us, using her empathic skills to strengthen our resolve. Through our shared link, I suddenly understood what she meant.
Instead of Marcus deciding between his bonds, all three of us would share the burden of his connection to Death.
"Luna, that's insane," I argued. "If we all get bonded to Death—"
"Then we all face the consequences together," she interrupted. "Like a real family."
Through our bond, I felt Marcus's love and fear warring inside him. But Luna's steady strength was giving him the courage to act.
"Okay," Marcus whispered. "Let's save our daughter."
We moved as one person with three bodies. I charged straight at the grandmother while Marcus circled around behind her. Luna stayed back but sent us both her power through the soul-bond, making us faster and stronger than we'd ever been alone.
"You're too late!" the grandmother laughed as golden light continued flowing from the dying Alpha Spirit into her body. "I already have enough power to—"
I hit her with everything I had, but it was like punching a rock. She barely moved, and the force of impact sent me flying backward.
"Pathetic," she said, not even looking at me. "I am the first Reality Shifter. I made the barriers between worlds. I am older than your entire species."
But that's when Marcus struck from behind, not with physical force but with his healing magic turned inside out. Instead of giving life energy, he tried to drain the stolen power she'd taken from Seraphina.
The grandma screamed and spun around, backhanding Marcus so hard he crashed into a tree. Through our bond, I felt his ribs crack and his vision blur.
"Marcus!" Luna cried out, and I felt her fear mixing with my own rage.
"Foolish children," the grandmother snarled. "You cannot stop what has already started. The Alpha Spirit's power is almost mine, and then I'll drain your daughter's skills too."
She reached toward Aria again, but something impossible happened. The three-year-old stepped forward instead of moving away.
"Great-grandma," Aria said sadly, "you're making the same mistake Seraphina made."
"What mistake?"
"You think power comes from taking things from other people," Aria stated. "But real power comes from giving things to other people."
Before anyone could stop her, Aria put her tiny hands on the dying Alpha Spirit.
"I give you my energy," she said simply.
Golden light blazed from the child into the ancient creature, and I watched in wonder as the Alpha Spirit began to recover. The grandmother's drain turned, flowing back toward its source.
"No!" the grandmother shrieked. "That's impossible! You're just a child!"
"I'm not just anything," Aria said quietly. "I'm exactly who I'm supposed to be."
The Alpha Spirit rose to its full height, no longer dying but blazing with fresh power. But instead of harming the grandmother, it did something that shocked everyone.
It bowed to Aria.
"Thank you, young Reality Shifter," the Alpha Spirit said gravely. "You have reminded me why I created the werewolf species in the first place."
"Why?" I asked, trying to stand despite my injuries.
"To protect Reality Shifters," the Alpha Spirit answered. "Your kind exists to guard those who can reshape existence itself."
Through our bond, I felt Luna's shock as she understood what this meant.
"Aria isn't just our daughter," Luna whispered. "She's what werewolves were created to protect."
"All of you," the Alpha Spirit amended, looking at our family with ancient eyes. "Luna, your suppressed skills are awakening. Marcus, your bond with Death makes you a bridge between life and ends. Damon, your Alpha strength can anchor them both to this world."
"What does that mean?" Marcus asked softly, still hurt from the grandmother's attack.
"It means you three are the first tri-bond in a thousand years specifically because the barriers between worlds are failing," the Alpha Spirit explained. "You're meant to become guardians of the Reality Shifter bloodline."
The grandmother laughed bitterly. "How sweet. But you've forgotten something important."
She raised her hands, and power began building around her again.
"I didn't just drain Seraphina's connection to the Void Court," she said with malicious joy. "I drained her memories too. Including the memory of where I hid the other Reality Shifter children."
My blood turned to ice. "What other children?"
"Did you really think Aria was the only one?" the grandma asked mockingly. "I've been collecting Reality Shifter children for decades, keeping them hidden until I was ready to drain all their power at once."
Through our link, I felt Luna's absolute horror.
"Where are they?" Luna asked.
"Scattered across dimensions where you'll never find them," the grandmother answered. "Unless you surrender Aria to me willingly."
"Never," I snarled.
"Then they'll die when the dimensional barriers collapse completely," she said coldly. "Twelve children, trapped in realities that are about to cease existing."
She began opening a portal behind her.
"You have one hour to decide," she called as she stepped toward the whirling darkness. "Bring me Aria willingly, or watch thirteen Reality Shifter children die when the barriers fail."
The portal snapped shut, leaving us alone with the Alpha Spirit and our impossible decision.
That's when Aria looked up at us with those old eyes and said the words that made my heart stop.
"It's okay, Daddy Damon. I know where the other children are."
"You do?"
"Yes," she said sadly. "Because I put them there."
Before anyone could ask what she meant, reality started shifting around us, and I saw flashes of other dimensions - children crying in strange places, barriers cracking, worlds ending.
"I'm not just a Reality Shifter," Aria whispered as her power made the air itself scream. "I'm the Reality Shifter who's supposed to fix everything Great-grandma broke."
And with those words, the dimensional barriers around us shattered totally.