Chapter 135 The blood trail

Chapter 135 The blood trail


Ophelia’s POV

The dust still hasn’t settled.

My lungs burn with every breath. It feels like someone is scraping glass down my throat. I can taste blood and dirt and something sharper fear, maybe. Kai’s arms are around me, shaking. He held our baby she was crying against his chest, tiny and furious and alive. That sound is the only thing keeping me from completely falling apart.

Damien was on his knees a few feet away. His arm is a mess of blood from the knife he turned on himself. Eve has a gash on her head that keeps dripping into her eyes. Seraphina is covered in burns. Smoke is still rising from her jacket like she’s been dragged out of a fire.

We’re all broken.

But we’re alive.

I force the words out before my throat closes completely. “The Architect has my baby’s blood.” My voice sounded so weak raw and scraped. “A canister. He took it from the birthing room when Yelena wasn’t looking.”

Kai’s face hardens so fast it looks painful. “Then we hunt him.”

“You can barely stand,” I say as frustration crawls up my spine.

“I don’t need to stand.” His gold eyes are burning. “I need to kill him.”

Yelena steps forward. Her scarred face is pale under the dirt. “There’s an old airstrip east of here. Hidden in a valley. Silas kept a plane there for emergencies. If the Architect reaches it, he’ll be gone within the hour.”

Seraphina pushes herself upright. The movement makes her hiss through her teeth. “I’ve lost my fleet. I’ve lost warriors. I am not losing that canister.”

Damien struggles to his feet, cradling his ruined arm. Blood soaks through the bandage and drips onto the broken stone. “I’m coming with you.

“You can’t fight like that,” I start.

“I don’t need to fight.” He meets my eyes. There’s something dark and stubborn in them. “I need to track him. The serum is still in my blood. I can feel him. Faint, but it’s there. I don't know when it will get off my body, he says as he sneezes.

I locked eyes with Kai.

He matches my gaze.

We don’t need words for this anymore.

Kai’s voice drops into that low Alpha command that makes everyone straighten. “Eve, stay with the wounded. Get them stable. Seraphina you’re with us if you can move. Damien, you track. Ophelia....”

“I’m coming,” I cut in. No hesitation. Our baby stays with Yelena.”

Kai’s jaw tightens so hard I hear his teeth click. He doesn’t argue. He leans in, presses his forehead to mine for one second, and breathes me in like he’s trying to memorize the scent.

“You come back,” he growls against my skin. “That’s not a request.”

“I will.”

We leave the ruined fortress behind and head east.

The forest is dark and cold. The air smells different like trees, grass, and wet earth and distant smoke clings to the air. Every step sends a sharp spike of pain through the wound in my side. I ignore it. Damien leads, one hand pressed to his chest like the serum is still burning him from the inside. Seraphina moves stiffly on my right. Kai stays close enough that I can feel the heat of him with every step.

Twenty minutes in, Damien stops so suddenly I almost walk into his back.

His head tilts. His eyes go distant.

Then he collapses.

His body hits the ground hard. His back arches. A sound comes out of his throat that does not belong to him low, cold, and different.

“Hello, little hybrid.”

The voice is not Damien’s.

It’s the Architect’s.

My blood turns cold as my mind races thinking of what to do next. Kai steps in front of me so fast I feel the air shift. Seraphina’s claws slide out with a soft snick.

Damien’s mouth keeps moving, but the words are not his.

“You think you’ve won something,” the voice continues, calm and almost amused. “You think surviving that mountain means anything. Your mother’s blood ran the same way when I took her. Celeste begged too. It didn’t save her. And it won’t save you.”

I feel the words like a physical hit. My stomach drops. My hands start shaking, i tried to control it

“Stop talking,” I snarl my voice filled with so much rage and anger.

Damien’s body jerks hard. His own voice breaks through for half a second raw and desperate. “Ophelia get back”

Then the Architect’s voice takes over again.

“Your bloodline is a tool. Your child is a key. And you… you are nothing but the vessel that delivered them both.”

Kai’s growl vibrates through the trees. “Get out of him.”

Damien’s body convulses once more. His eyes squeeze shut. When they open again, they’re brown. His own.

He gasps like he’s been underwater too long. Blood runs from his nose. He tries to sit up and fails.

“He’s not alone,” Damien whispers. His voice is wrecked. “Dozens of them. Wolves. Waiting in the trees ahead. They’re already surrounding us.”