Chapter 103 Let’s go

Chapter 103 Let’s go
/Nelson/

I had fought witches.

I had fought vampires and rogue wolves, dragons, and creatures most people believed belonged only in old stories told to frighten children.

But I had never felt fear the way I did when that woman looked at Edlyn and called her daughter.

My entire body went rigid. Sunny was already awake inside my head, growling so deep I could feel it in my bones like a second heartbeat.

Something is wrong.

I know.

The silver-haired woman stood in the middle of the room as if she had every right to be there, unbothered by the guards, the tension, any of it. She looked almost human, but everything about her felt wrong in a way I couldn’t put into words. Her eyes carried something ancient, something heavy, and the air around her seemed to bend slightly toward her, like the room itself was paying attention.

She looked at Luca first. Then at me.

But when her gaze returned to Edlyn, something changed in her expression, softening into something I hadn’t expected.

It wasn’t hatred.

It wasn’t anger.

It was recognition.

“She is yours,” I said, the words coming out harder than I meant them to.

The woman smiled faintly. “No.”

My jaw tightened. “What do you mean, no?”

“She is not yours to possess.”

Sunny snarled inside my head, sharp and territorial.

“She is our mate,” I said.

The woman looked directly at me, almost as if she’d heard Sunny too. “I know.”

Luca stepped closer to Edlyn, positioning himself like a wall between her and everything else in the room. “Then tell us who you are.”

The woman didn’t answer right away. Instead, she looked toward the window, and I followed her gaze without meaning to.

The sky outside had changed. Dark clouds were gathering over the kingdom, but this wasn’t a normal storm. The clouds moved against the wind, twisting around one another as though something invisible was forcing them into shape.

I felt the hairs on my arms rise.

Then came the sound.

Boom.

The entire palace shook. Guards shouted somewhere outside, their voices tangled together in alarm.

Another explosion followed.

Boom.

This time the windows rattled hard enough that I thought they might shatter.

Luca’s eyes turned red. “They’re here.”

I looked at him. “Who?”

He didn’t answer.

He didn’t have to.

A warrior burst through the door, breathless. “Supreme Alpha!”

I turned toward him sharply. “What happened?”

“We’ve got movement at the eastern border. Hundreds of creatures just appeared out of nowhere.”

“How many?”

“We don’t know.” His face had gone pale. “They aren’t wolves.”

Luca stepped forward. “Vampires?”

The warrior shook his head. “Not vampires either.”

I looked at the silver-haired woman. She didn’t look surprised, not even slightly, and that was what scared me most of all.

She already knew.

“What are they?” I demanded.

Her eyes settled on me, calm in a way that felt almost cruel given the chaos breaking out around us. “The first army.”

My stomach dropped straight through the floor. “First?”

She nodded once. “I told you there are three.”

Luca’s expression hardened. “And you knew they were coming.”

“I knew they would come eventually.”

“Eventually?” I snapped, the panic finally breaking through. “You said they’re already here.”

The woman looked at Edlyn again, something almost tender crossing her face. “They are here because she has awakened.”

I moved toward her, my patience gone. “Then you better start explaining everything.”

For the first time, the woman’s calm expression cracked. “You do not have time for everything.”

“I’ll decide what I have time for.”

She studied me for a few long seconds, weighing something. Then she looked toward the door.

“You have perhaps ten minutes before the first attack reaches this palace.”

My eyes widened. “Ten minutes?”

“Maybe less.”

I immediately turned toward the warrior. “Sound the war horn.”

He hesitated, shifting his weight. “Alpha, should we evacuate the women and children first?”

“Yes. Move everyone into the underground chambers. Seal every entrance once they’re inside. No one leaves without my order.”

He nodded and took off running, boots pounding down the corridor.

I turned to Luca. “You take the western side.”

He nodded immediately, no hesitation at all. “I’ll take the eastern.”

“We don’t know what we’re fighting.”

“Then we’ll find out.”

Our eyes met, and for a moment neither of us looked away. A few days ago, I would have rather died than stand beside him in battle. Now I trusted him with my kingdom.

Not completely.

But enough. Enough to know that if something came through those gates, Luca would fight. Not for me. Not even for my people.

For Edlyn.

And right now, that was more than enough.

I looked at Edlyn, still unconscious on the bed. The light beneath her skin had grown brighter, almost like something was moving beneath it, restless and waiting. Moon and Vamp were both completely silent, and that scared me more than anything else in the room.

Edlyn was never this quiet.

I walked to the bed and took her hand. “Edlyn.”

Nothing.

I squeezed her fingers gently. “Come back to me.”

Her fingers suddenly tightened around mine.

My head snapped up.

Her eyes opened, but they weren’t completely normal. One looked silver. The other looked almost black, deep enough to swallow light.

She stared at me for a moment before whispering, “Nelson.”

“I’m here.”

Her gaze moved toward Luca. Then toward the silver-haired woman standing near the window. Her expression shifted, something wary settling into her features.

“Who is she?”

The woman stepped closer.

Edlyn immediately pulled her hand away from mine. “Don’t come closer.”

The woman stopped where she stood. “I have waited a very long time to see you awake.”

Edlyn’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”

The woman took a slow breath. “My name is Seraphina.”

The name seemed to make the air in the room heavier, like it carried weight of its own.

Edlyn stared at her. “Why did you call me your daughter?”

Seraphina’s expression softened into something almost grieving. “Because you are.”

Edlyn shook her head firmly. “No. My parents are dead.”

“I know.”

“Then you’re lying.”

Seraphina didn’t argue the point. Instead, she looked at Edlyn with an expression I couldn’t quite read, something between sorrow and pride.

“I did not give birth to the girl you remember.”

Edlyn’s face tightened. “What does that mean?”

“It means the woman you called mother was the woman who raised you. She was not the one who created you.”

Luca stepped forward, his voice edged with warning. “What exactly are you saying?”

Seraphina looked at him steadily. “Edlyn was created from bloodlines that should never have been combined.”

I felt my chest tighten. “Which bloodlines?”

She looked at me. “Werewolf.”

Then at Luca. “Vampire.”

Then toward the window, where the black clouds still churned. “Witch.”

She paused, and something in the pause made my skin crawl.

“Fairy.”

The room went completely silent.

Edlyn stared at her. “And what else?”

Seraphina’s eyes turned almost unbearably sad.

“God.”

My entire body went cold. Sunny stopped growling. For once, even my wolf had absolutely nothing to say.

Edlyn shook her head, disbelief written across every line of her face. “That’s impossible.”

“No,” Seraphina said quietly. “It is simply something your world was never supposed to know.”

Another explosion shook the palace, this one much closer than the last. Dust rained down from the ceiling in a fine gray mist.

A guard shouted from somewhere outside. “They’ve breached the eastern wall!”

I turned immediately. “Everyone moves now.”

Luca grabbed his weapon from where it rested against the wall.

Seraphina remained still, unbothered by the chaos.

I looked at her. “If you know what is coming, then you fight with us.”

She smiled faintly. “I was planning to.”

Edlyn pushed herself out of the bed, swaying slightly. I caught her before she could stumble.

“You aren’t fighting.”

She glared at me, some of her usual fire returning despite everything. “Don’t start.”

“You’re barely awake.”

“I can still fight.”

“I know.” I looked into her strange silver and black eyes, something twisting hard in my chest. “That’s exactly why I’m worried.”

She stared at me for a second, then placed her hand flat against my chest. “Nelson, listen to me.”

I waited, my heart hammering.

“I can feel them.”

“Who?”

“The three armies.”

Luca stepped closer, his voice low. “Can you tell what they want?”

Edlyn closed her eyes, her face tightening with concentration. “They’re looking for me.”

My grip tightened around her waist instinctively. “Then they won’t get you.”

She opened her eyes. “Nelson…”

“I said they won’t.”

Luca moved beside us, his shoulder brushing mine. “They’ll have to go through both of us first.”

I looked at him, and for once there was no argument between us. No jealousy. No competition simmering underneath the words.

Just understanding.

We had the same enemy. And the same person to protect.

A massive roar came from outside, unlike anything I’d heard before. Not a wolf. Not a dragon. Something entirely its own. The palace shook again, harder this time.

Seraphina finally moved toward the door. “That is the first army.”

I followed her. “What are they?”

She looked back over her shoulder. “Collectors.”

I frowned. “Collectors?”

“They collect supernatural power.”

Edlyn’s face changed, fear flickering across it.

Seraphina continued, her voice grave. “They will kill anyone who gets in their way, but they aren’t here to destroy your kingdom.”

“Then what do they want?”

She looked directly at Edlyn.

“Her.”

My blood ran cold.

Outside, the war horns began to sound, one after another, the entire kingdom waking for battle all at once.

I looked at Luca. Then Edlyn. Then the door.

Whatever was waiting outside, I knew one thing for certain.

They had made one mistake.

They came for our queen.

And they had just given me every reason I needed to destroy every last one of them.

“Let’s go.”

Luca nodded once.

Edlyn stepped between us, steadier now than she had been a moment ago.

Seraphina smiled faintly.

And together, the four of us walked toward the war.