Chapter 243 CHAPTER 243

Chapter 243 CHAPTER 243
Lisa stood with her hand lifted, just short of the tree in Red Valley, her fingers hovering close enough to feel the roughness of the bark without touching it. 

Her thumb brushed lightly against the edge of the necklace resting at her collarbone, then stilled there, as if anchoring her.

Behind her, no one rushed her.

Ethan stood a few steps away, his stance firm, his gaze shifting between Lisa and the surrounding woods as if measuring the space for anything that might move wrong. Alpha Reed stood beside him, quieter, his arms folded, his attention sharp in a way that didn’t need words. Nolan and Jora stood slightly apart, their focus fixed entirely on Lisa.

Jora stepped closer first.

“This is where the connection is strongest,” she said, her voice calm, but low enough that it felt like it belonged to the space itself. “The necklace responds to blood and memory. This place holds both.”

Lisa nodded once, her fingers pressing lightly against the pendant before dropping back to her side.

Jora studied her for a moment, then added, “You need to be careful.”

Lisa looked at her.

“When the connection opens,” Jora continued, “It’ll not choose direction. If you reach them, they can reach you. And if Seraphine senses it…” She didn’t finish the sentence.

Lisa understood.

Her hand lifted again, this time not stopping.

“I’ll be careful,” she said quietly.

Nolan moved forward slightly, his eyes shifting between Lisa and the tree. “We’ll remove the spell first,” he said. “Once it’s done, you’ll feel the bond again. Don’t fight it. Let it come naturally.”

Lisa exhaled slowly and nodded.

Jora stepped beside Nolan, her hand lifting as she began to trace something unseen in the air. Nolan followed, his movements precise, controlled, like he was unwinding something delicate rather than breaking it. Both Began to chant the unblocking spell.

Lisa didn’t move.

She felt it before she understood it.

A faint shift at first.

Then something deeper.

Like a door she didn’t know had been closed… easing open.

Her breath caught, just slightly.

Something brushed against her mind - faint, distant, but real.

A presence.

Her fingers curled instinctively.

“Sebastian…” she whispered under her breath.

The connection flickered, unstable at first, like trying to hold onto something through water.

Jora’s voice came gently. “Go on.”

Lisa stepped closer.

Her palm pressed against the tree.

The moment her skin met the bark, something shifted.

The world around her stretched, blurred at the edges, like her focus had been pulled somewhere else entirely.

She saw them.

Not clearly at first.

Shapes.

Movement.

Then….

Sebastian.

Her breath hitched softly.

He stood in a dim space, his posture tense, his head turning slightly as if reacting to something just out of sight. Beside him…

“Mom…” Lisa breathed.

Helena stood close, her expression composed but alert, her hand resting lightly against the wall behind her.

Lisa leaned forward slightly, her hand pressing harder against the tree.

“Mum,” she said, her voice stronger now. “Can you hear me?”

There was no reaction from both.

She tried again.

“I’m here. Mum - look at me.”

They didn’t.

Lisa’s fingers tightened slightly against the bark.

“They can’t hear me,” she said, her voice dropping.

Nolan stepped closer. “You’re seeing them, but you’re not connected yet,” he said. “Use the mate bond. Not the place you’re seeing.”

Lisa’s gaze flickered.

“The mate bond?” she asked.

Nolan nodded.

Lisa swallowed, then closed her eyes briefly.

She reached inward this time.

Past the image.

Past the distance.

Toward the presence she had felt earlier.

“Sebastian…” she whispered again, softer now, like she was speaking into something only he could hear.

The connection shifted.

A pull.

Then…

“Lisa?”

His voice came faint, but clear.

Her eyes snapped open.

“I’m here,” she said quickly. “Can you hear me?”

There was a pause.

Then stronger, “Lisa… how - where are you?”

Relief flickered across her face, but she didn’t let it settle.

“There’s no time,” she said. “Just listen to me.”

“I can feel you,” Sebastian said, his voice tightening slightly. 

“I know,” she replied. “Trust me.”

Behind her, Ethan’s posture shifted slightly, his gaze sharpening as he watched her speak into something unseen.

“Hold her hand,” Lisa said quickly.

“What?”

“My mother,” she said. “Hold her hand.”

There was a brief hesitation.

Then she saw it - Sebastian reaching out, his hand closing around Helena’s.

Lisa’s grip on the tree tightened.

Her other hand lifted, pressing against the necklace at her chest.

“Don’t let go,” she said softly.

The connection stretched.

Shifted.

Then ….

Helena’s presence changed.

“Lisa?” her voice came, clearer than expected, filled with something that carried both disbelief and recognition.

Lisa’s breath caught.

“Mom,” she said, her voice softening for just a second before she steadied it. “I don’t have time to explain how this is happening. I need you to tell me what’s going on there. We are coming to get you.”

Helena face changed.

“Are you sure?” she said quickly. “Listen to me Lisa, Seraphine is dangerous.” 

“I know mum, that’s why I need you to tell me what we are facing when we get there.” Lisa asked.

“Everyone here including the other witches who live here, they’re all her prisoners.” Helena said. “She has taken power from many of them. Forced it from them. She grows stronger with each one.”

Lisa’s brows drew together. “Then how do we stop her?”

“There’s a barrier at the entrance,” Helena said. “A spell layered into the ground itself. If you break it… the rest becomes possible.”

Lisa nodded, even though Helena couldn’t see it.

Behind Helena, movement caught Lisa’s attention.

Ella.

“Ask Jocelyn,” Lisa said quickly. “About her power.”

Helena shifted slightly. “Jocelyn?”

Jocelyn moved into view, her face drawn but focused. “I sealed it,” she said. “My power. I hid it years ago.”

“Where?” Lisa asked.

“In a necklace,” Jocelyn replied. “In my old apartment. I couldn’t trust anyone else with it.”

Lisa’s fingers tightened around her own pendant.

She opened her mouth to ask more….

Then everything shifted.

The air in the vision changed.

Helena’s expression sharpened instantly.

Sebastian’s grip tightened.

“What is it?” Lisa asked.

No one answered.

Then—

Seraphine stepped into the space.

She didn’t look at Lisa.

But something in the way she paused… felt wrong.

Her gaze moved slowly across the room, her eyes narrowing slightly as if she sensed something she couldn’t see.

Lisa’s fingers pressed harder against the tree.

The connection snapped.