199

199
Lina's POV

As the battle rages around us, a crucial realization hits me like lightning to the brain. The hybrid creatures, Morgana's enhanced magic, the way these attacks seem perfectly coordinated to counter our every move – it all stems from one source.

Elena, I send urgently through our bond to Leo. We need Elena. She's the only one who can counter Morgana's magic. Twin witches, remember? Their powers are linked.

Leo's massive black wolf form turns toward me, his gray eyes blazing with understanding. If Elena's still alive.

She has to be. Morgana wouldn't kill her own sister – she needs Elena for something. And if she's alive...

She's probably being held wherever they're keeping the other prisoners. Leo's mental voice carries grim determination. The old mining facility, five miles north. It's isolated, defensible.

I scan the battlefield, watching our pack members holding their own but clearly tiring against the endless wave of hybrid creatures. Every minute we spend here, more of our people get hurt, and Morgana's magic grows stronger.

We need to break through, I decide. Leave Noah and Amy in charge here, create a distraction, and get to that facility.

Together?

Together.

We shift back to human form simultaneously, our enhanced bond making the transition seamless. Around us, the sounds of battle intensify as hybrid creatures notice the change in our energy signatures.

"Noah!" I call out, lightning crackling along my arms as I blast a path through three approaching enemies. "You have command! Hold the line until we get back!"

Noah's wolf form dips his massive head in acknowledgment before launching himself at a cluster of hybrids threatening our eastern flank.

Leo and I move as one, cutting a devastating path through the enemy forces. My lightning strikes stun and scatter the creatures while Leo's raw Alpha power sends them flying backward. We're not trying to kill – every moment spent on individual opponents is time we can't afford – but simply clearing a route through the chaos.

The hybrid creatures seem almost confused by our sudden change in tactics, their artificial intelligence struggling to adapt to our breakthrough strategy. Within minutes, we've fought our way to the edge of the battlefield and into the forest beyond.

This way, Leo sends, his enhanced senses leading us through terrain he's known since childhood. The old logging roads will get us there faster.

We run through the darkness, our supernatural speed eating up miles with each stride. But as we near the abandoned mining facility, something feels wrong. The forest is too quiet, the air too still.

Trap? Leo asks, sensing my unease.

Definitely. But we don't have a choice.

The mining facility looms ahead of us, its rusted metal buildings and abandoned equipment creating an industrial graveyard in the middle of the wilderness. Most of the structures are falling apart, but one central building shows signs of recent use – fresh tire tracks in the dirt, lights glowing behind boarded windows.

There, I point toward the main building. But Leo, they know we're coming. This is too easy.

Then we make it cost them.

We approach from different angles, using the scattered equipment as cover. The building's main entrance is clearly watched – I can sense at least two guards, probably more. But there's a side entrance that looks promising, partially hidden behind a pile of old mining equipment.

I'm about to signal Leo when I hear it – a faint crying sound coming from inside the building. Not Elena's voice, but someone younger, more frightened.

Kayla, Leo identifies through our bond. She's alive.

The relief that floods through me is almost overwhelming. Kayla, who had sacrificed herself to help me escape Paul's compound, who had faced torture rather than reveal our escape plan. If she's here, Elena might be too.

We breach the side entrance together, Leo going low while I provide cover from above. The interior is a maze of old mining equipment and makeshift holding cells, but the crying leads us deeper into the facility.

We find Kayla in a cage barely large enough for a child, her clothes torn and bloody, her face streaked with tears. But her eyes light up with desperate hope when she sees us.

"Leo! Lina!" she whispers urgently, then immediately looks terrified. "No, you have to leave! It's a trap! They knew you'd come, they're waiting—"

Leo's already working on the lock, his enhanced strength making short work of the metal bars. "Where's Elena, Kayla? Is she here?"

"They moved her this morning," Kayla sobs as the cage door swings open and Leo pulls her into a protective embrace. "Deeper underground, in the old mine shafts. But Lina, they have something planned. Something terrible. Morgana said—"

"What did she say?" I demand, scanning the shadows around us for signs of ambush.

"She said the Moon Wolf would come willingly, or watch everyone she loves die slowly." Kayla's voice breaks with terror. "And Paul, he's been talking about marking you, claiming you permanently. They've prepared some kind of ritual—"

The lights suddenly blaze to life around us, flooding the facility with harsh illumination that makes us all flinch and shield our eyes.

"How touching," Paul MacKenzie's voice echoes through the building, dripping with mock sentiment. "A rescue mission. I do so love family reunions."

He steps out of the shadows, and my blood turns to ice. He looks different than before – taller, more imposing, with an aura of dark power that makes the air around him shimmer with malevolent energy. His pale eyes fix on me with that same obsessive hunger, but now there's something else there. Confidence. Certainty.

Beside him materializes Morgana, her twin-sister resemblance to Elena making my stomach churn. But where Elena radiated warm, healing magic, Morgana's power is cold and predatory, like winter moonlight on a graveyard.

"Hello again, my dear," Paul says, his voice carrying that same cultured politeness that used to make my skin crawl in his compound. "I trust you received my message? My condolences on your loss. Sophia was quite... spirited, even at the end."

Leo's growl builds in his chest, Shadow demanding blood and vengeance. I feel his rage through our bond, so intense it threatens to overwhelm my own thoughts. He starts to step forward, but I catch his hand, intertwining our fingers and sending waves of calm through our connection.

Not yet, I whisper through our bond. They want us angry, want us to make mistakes. Stay with me.

His hand tightens around mine, anchoring us both. Together, we face our enemies – Leo's grief transformed into deadly purpose, my own fury tempered by strategic thinking.

"What do you want, Paul?" I ask, proud that my voice remains steady despite the fear and rage churning inside me.

Paul's smile is razor-sharp. "Why, my dear Lina, I want what I've always wanted. You. By my side, willingly this time, as my mate and the mother of a new generation of enhanced wolves."

"Never," Leo snarls, his Alpha authority making the very building seem to tremble.