Chapter 139 You Are Not Helpless
For the first time in a very long time, Leela started dreaming.
At first, it was beautifully, blissfully normal. The sun was warm and golden, casting a perfect afternoon glow across the sprawling front lawn of the pack house. The air smelled of sweet grass and pine. A few yards away, Caspian and Briar were chasing each other through the dandelions, their chaotic, happy giggles ringing out like music. Leela sat comfortably on a woven blanket, looking down with a soft, maternal smile as she nursed little Zephyr. It was a perfect, untouched sanctuary.
But dreams are fragile things.
Without warning, the golden sunlight curdled into a sickly, bruised purple. The warmth was violently ripped from the air, replaced by a freezing, unnatural wind that made the grass wither and die in seconds.
The High Council guards didn't march; they simply materialized from the shadows. Heavily armed and faceless behind iron visors, they descended on the lawn like a plague.
Leela scrambled backward, trying to shield Zephyr, but heavy, ice-cold iron chains suddenly lashed around her wrists, snapping taut and dragging her roughly into the dead dirt. She fought, her elemental magic flaring, but the chains were dampening her power, draining her hollow.
Rough hands tore the babies away. The visual melted away, leaving her utterly blind, but the sounds were a million times worse. She could hear them. Caspian was screaming in absolute, unadulterated terror, while Briar’s loud, broken wails tore through Leela's soul like jagged glass.
"Fenn!" Leela screamed in the dream, thrashing wildly against the unyielding iron.
She heard him then—the thunderous, earth-shaking roar of her Alpha, a sound of pure, protective violence. But when she looked up, desperately searching for his massive wolf, there was nothing but an endless, suffocating wall of thick gray fog. She was entirely alone in the mist, and her children were being taken into the dark.
"Fennigan!"
Leela jerked violently, her eyes flying open as a real, raw scream tore from her throat, completely shattering the quiet of the Alpha suite.
She was thrashing, her hands blindly fighting off nonexistent chains until a pair of large, fiercely warm hands caught her wrists, holding her steady.
"Leela! Sparky, look at me. Look at me, I've got you."
Fennigan’s deep, gravelly voice was a frantic anchor in the dark. He was hovering over her, his golden eyes wide and glowing slightly with his wolf's panicked, protective instinct. The heavy Alpha presence in the room was suffocating as he tried to pull her out of the terror.
"Fenn—the babies, they took—" Leela gasped, her chest heaving as tears streamed hot and fast down her cheeks.
"They're right here," Fennigan promised fiercely, pulling her up into his broad chest and wrapping his arms tightly around her trembling frame. "They are right here, Leela. You're safe."
Her scream had completely shattered the twins' peaceful sleep. Beside them in the bed, the "baby knot" had dissolved. Caspian was sitting up, his lower lip trembling before he let out a frightened wail, and Briar immediately joined him, crying loudly at the sudden chaos and the pungent scent of their mother's fear.
Fennigan didn't hesitate. With one arm still wrapped firmly around his shaking mate, he reached out with his other and hauled both crying toddlers into his lap. He pressed Caspian and Briar against Leela’s chest so she could feel their solid, warm, utterly safe little bodies.
"I'm here," Fennigan murmured into her hair, kissing her temple over and over again as the twins clung to her shirt. "I've got all of you. It was just a dream, my love. I've got you."It took several long, agonizing minutes for Leela’s erratic breathing to finally slow. Surrounded by Fennigan’s massive, grounding warmth and the undeniable, solid weight of Caspian and Briar clinging to her chest, the terrifying phantom chill of the iron chains slowly began to melt away from her wrists.
The twins' panicked cries eventually quieted into wet, sleepy hiccups. Sensing that their mother was safe and their father was standing guard, they burrowed their faces back into Leela’s neck, letting her familiar scent lull them back toward sleep.
Fennigan didn't let go. He kept one arm wrapped securely around her waist, his large hand gently stroking the long line of her spine.
"Tell me," Fennigan rumbled softly against her hair, his wolf still buzzing with a restless, protective edge. "Tell me what you saw, Leela."
Leela squeezed her eyes shut, a stray tear slipping down her cheek and landing in Briar's soft curls.
"It was the fog, Fenn," she whispered, her voice still trembling with the raw aftermath of the terror. She tightened her grip on her children just a fraction. "It wasn't just a normal nightmare. It felt so incredibly, physically real. It felt exactly like the fog the night I finally ran from my parents."
Fennigan’s jaw tightened.
"It was just like that," Leela continued, her breath catching as the horrific sounds echoed back into her mind. "It swallowed everything. The guards... they chained me down in the dirt. I fought them, Fenn, I tried to use my magic, but the iron blocked it out. And then they took them."
A fresh sob tore from her throat, and Fennigan pulled her tighter against his chest, pressing a fierce kiss to her temple.
"I couldn't see anything through the mist," she choked out, her fingers tangling desperately into Fennigan's shirt. "I was completely blind. But I could hear them. I could hear Caspian screaming for me in absolute terror. I could hear Briar crying these loud, broken wails, and I couldn't get to them. I was completely helpless."
"Hey. Look at me," Fennigan commanded softly, his tone vibrating with absolute, unshakable Alpha authority.
He pulled back just enough to force her to meet his glowing, golden gaze. The sheer power and devotion burning in his eyes chased the last remnants of the gray fog straight out of the room.
"You are not helpless, Leela. You are the strongest elemental to ever walk this earth," Fennigan vowed, his voice a low, fierce promise in the dark. "And they are not taking our children. The High Council will burn to ash before any of those bastards ever get within a hundred miles of Caspian and Briar. Do you hear me? You are safe. They are safe."
Leela let out a long, shaky exhale, the absolute certainty in her mate's voice finally anchoring her completely back to reality. She nodded against his chest, letting the deep, steady rhythm of his heart chase away the lingering ghosts.