Chapter 22 THE DEFENSE OF THE SHIELD
The corridor leading to the Command Center was a stone replica of hell.
The air in Serra’s lungs felt like swallowed shards of glass; every breath sliced her chest from the inside out. Dorian’s weight was heavy on her shoulder. That invincible Alpha was now dead weight, forcing every step by breaking the bones of his own will.
"Leave me..." Dorian growled, his voice thick with phlegm and blood. He stumbled against a wall, his legs buckling. "My damn legs... Shit, they won't move!"
Serra grabbed him by the collar and slammed him hard against the wall. She looked into his eyes; his lava-colored irises were like a dying, flickering candle flame.
"Shut up, Volcan!" she shouted, breathless. "We are not dying here. You have to hold that damn shield!"
The windows at the end of the corridor shattered. Vespera's mercenaries burst in, not in full Lycan form, but in hybrid forms—half-man, half-wolf monstrosities. They wielded firearms and silver-coated batons.
"Get down!"
Despite his exhaustion, Dorian pulled Serra to the floor with pure reflex. Bullets whizzed over their heads, shredding the family portraits on the wall.
"They don't care about the rules," Dorian said, spitting blood through his teeth. "Vespera... that bitch is turning the palace into a slaughterhouse."
(BLOODY CORRIDOR AND VALERIA'S SCREAM)
Dorian clutched the seal on his chest. "I have no power, Serra. I can't stop them."
"If you don't have power, you have teeth," Serra said, grabbing a jagged shard of glass from the floor. "And you have my rage."
Two mercenaries rushed at them. The first was built like a bear. He lunged at Serra. Using her Red Alpha speed, she slid between his legs and drove the glass shard into the one spot his armor left exposed—the tendon behind his knee.
The man's scream was like an animal's bellow. "You little slut!"
But he couldn't finish his sentence. Dorian, despite having no magical strength, launched himself from the ground with sheer savagery, driving his good shoulder into the man's throat. The man's head hit the wall with a dull, sickening thud.
"No one..." Dorian stood over the man's slumped body, panting heavily. "...calls my mate... a slut."
Dorian looked at Serra. His face was covered in blood, but that feral glint had returned to his eyes. "Come on. Valeria might not be holding out."
When they reached the door of the Command Center, they heard the sound of metal clashing against metal and Valeria's high-pitched, furious screams from inside.
"The door is sealed!" Serra said, trying the panel. "They locked it from the inside."
Dorian leaned against the door. "Lukas!" he roared, his voice strong enough to vibrate the steel of the door. "Open the door! Now!"
A mechanical whir was heard from the locks, and the door slid open halfway. They tumbled inside.
(CYBER WAR AND BLOOD)
The scene was chaotic. The massive hologram table in the center of the room was flashing with red warning lights: "SHIELD INTEGRITY 12%."
Valeria stood by a console, holding a gun. Her elegant dress was torn, and blood trickling from her forehead had turned her perfect makeup into a clown's mask. In the corner, Lukas was typing frantically on a keyboard, shivering.
"Finally!" Valeria shouted, aiming her gun at them before lowering it. "Where the hell have you been? The shield is melting like ice cream!"
"Vespera is outside," Dorian said, limping toward the table. "She's bypassing the system. We need to shut down the generator manually."
"I can't!" Lukas said, his voice cracking with panic. "Someone... someone is eating the codes from the inside. It's not Vespera. It's something else. It's like the system is alive and resisting us."
Dorian looked at the screen. His eyes widened. "This isn't Vespera's work. This is Marius's Shadow Age virus. They aren't shutting down the shield, Serra. They are trying to detonate it. If that generator blows, the palace goes up in smoke."
(THE FINAL DEFENSE: GLASS IN THE VEINS)
"Stop it!" Serra yelled.
"Only Alpha biometrics can stop it!" Valeria cried. "But Dorian's power is too low! The system doesn't recognize him as Alpha!"
Dorian placed his hand on the scanner. The system flashed red. "UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. ALPHA SIGNAL WEAK."
"Damn it!" Dorian slammed his fist on the table. "My own palace rejects me!"
The lights in the room flickered. The sounds of explosions from outside were getting closer. Vespera was at the door.
Serra went to Dorian's side. She took his hand. "We do it again," she said.
"What?" Dorian looked at her, fear in his eyes. "Serra, you almost died in the tunnel just now. Your blood..."
"I don't care about my blood!" Serra shouted, her voice echoing in the room. "Even if it feels like shards of glass circulating in my veins, you will put that hand on that panel! Take my power, Dorian! Take it all!"
Serra pressed Dorian's hand onto the panel again. She placed her own hand over his. This wasn't a gentle transfer like in the tunnel. This was a violation; she was forcing her power into his body to jumpstart his system.
The pain was blinding. It felt like someone was ripping out her spinal cord. Serra screamed. Dorian groaned with her. Their bodies shook, sweat and blood mingling.
The light on the panel turned from red to orange, then to a blinding Golden Yellow.
The system spoke in a metallic voice: "HIGH ALPHA AND LUNA IDENTIFIED. SHIELD STABILIZATION INITIATED."
The explosions outside suddenly became muffled. The shield was back online.
Dorian and Serra collapsed to the floor, clinging to each other. She couldn't breathe.
"Did we do it?" Lukas whispered, poking his head out from under the desk.
Valeria looked at the screen, then turned to them. Her face was pale as a sheet.
"We held the shield," Valeria said, her voice trembling. "But that wasn't Vespera's main plan."
Valeria pointed to the main screen. There was a broadcast on it. A live feed going to the phones and screens of the entire Pack.
In the image, Vespera stood at the palace gates. But she wasn't alone. She held a bloody sword in her hand. And at her feet lay a massive, motionless body.
Kael.
"Your shield may protect you," Vespera said, smiling at the camera. "But it cannot protect your loved ones. Alpha Volcan, come out of your hole. Or I will hang your cousin's head on your gate as an ornament."
Dorian looked at the screen. Tears streaming from his eyes mixed with the blood on his face. And in that moment, the air in the room turned to ice. Dorian's seal began to crack, not with Serra's help, but with pure, unadulterated hatred.
"I'm going to kill her," Dorian said. His voice wasn't human. "I'm going to tear her apart with my bare hands."