Chapter 105 Chapter 105

Chapter 105 Chapter 105
_Leah’s POV_

As they argued, the temple began to shake. Shouts echoed from outside. I could hear the sound of running feet, clashing metal and a wolf’s roar tearing through the night.

Hope flared in my chest.

“Kayden,” I breathed.

Athena’s voice was fierce. Yes, your Alpha is here.

A group of wolves and men crashed into the temple. Some were half-shifted. Their claws and teeth were out. There were warriors from my pack and maybe others. Fred was among them. His eyes were wild with battle.

Behind them came the seer. Her gaze locked onto the altar at once.

And then I saw him.

Kayden.

He burst through the doorway with Leo close to the surface. His eyes glowed with Alpha power. His chest was heaving. His clothes were torn from the fight outside. There was blood on his arm but it was not slowing him down.

When he saw my body alive and off the altar, his entire face changed.

“Leah!” he shouted.

He ran straight toward her.

Toward Sarah wearing my skin.

Sarah turned toward him. For a second, something soft flickered in our eyes. Then her jaw tightened.

“No,” she said, voice firm. “Stay back. Let me do my job. I have to get rid of him.”

Kayden grabbed her shoulders and pulled her slightly behind him. “You’re not fighting him,” he snapped. “I am. It’s too dangerous.”

He thought it was me.

He thought he was talking to me.

Sarah’s hands curled into fists. “You don’t understand,” she said. “I need to do this. I need to end him with my own hands.”

Kayden frowned. He was confused. “Leah, this is not the time for stubbornness. You almost died. I did not come here just to watch you walk toward his sword.”

Around them, chaos exploded.

Tariq’s men rushed in from the other side. Kayden’s warriors met them with snarls and blades. Wolves slammed into each other. Bodies hit the stone floor. The red moonlight turned everything into a nightmare painting.

The seer and Susan stepped toward each other at the same time. Their eyes met.

“You meddle again,” Susan hissed.

“You play with souls like toys,” the seer replied coldly. “This ends tonight.”

They both raised their hands. Magic collided. Light and shadow crashed in the air between them, sending sparks and waves of force around the temple. Some warriors stumbled as the power brushed them. Candles went out. New flames ignited out of thin air.

I hovered above it all. I was desperate and shaking.

“I have to talk to her,” I said. “I have to make someone understand.”

I floated down toward the seer. Darts of magic flew around her. She stood steady. Her lips were moving fast as she countered Susan’s spells.

I reached out and tried to grab her arm. My hand passed through her like smoke. I gasped.

The seer flinched. Her eyes closed for a second. She murmured another word and blocked a bolt of dark magic with a shield of light.

Then she said, very quietly, “Leah?”

My spirit shook. “Yes!” I cried. “Yes, it’s me!”

She could not hear my voice but maybe she felt the shape of my thoughts. She kept her eyes half-closed while standing in the middle of the magical storm.

“Speak,” she whispered in her mind. “I am listening.”

I pushed my thoughts toward her as hard as I could.

“Sarah is in my body,” I said. “She used the curse mark to get in. I freed her soul. Now she has taken the vessel. She is the one standing with Kayden now.”

The seer’s face tightened slightly, but she did not break her focus. “Sarah,” she murmured. “Tariq’s true mate.”

“Yes,” I said. “She is the only one who can kill him. She needs to do it. The curse started with her. It has to end with her.”

The Seer’s eyes opened just a little. She looked quickly at my body near Kayden, then back at Susan.

“And you?” she asked in her mind.

“I am still out here,” I said. “Susan blocked me. I can’t get in. I tried and it burned.”

The seer’s jaw clenched. “Of course she did,” she muttered under her breath.

A blast of dark energy flew toward her. She spun her hands and deflected it toward the temple roof where it cracked stone and rained dust.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked me silently.

“We need to get rid of Susan,” I said. “She is too strong. She will not let Sarah finish the job. She keeps feeding the ritual with her magic.”

The seer nodded once. “You are right.”

“And I…” I hesitated. “I am a spirit. I can’t touch her. I can’t hold a blade.”

Athena spoke up then. But you can still use your powers. Your soul carries moonlight. It lives in your bond.

The seer’s eyes flicked up, as if she also heard Athena’s wisdom.

“Your powers are tied to your soul,” she said to me in her mind. “Not to your flesh. You channeled them in the astral realm. You can do it again. But you will need an anchor. A living host.”

My breath caught. “What kind of host?”

She gave the slightest of smiles, even as sweat slid down her temple from the strain of the fight. “The one you trust most,” she said.

My mind went at once to Kayden.

To his eyes.

To his vow.

To the way the bond pulled me out of the portal.

“The mate bond,” I whispered.

“Yes,” the seer said aloud this time. “Use it.”

She took a half step back to brace herself and shouted, “Leah! Find him! Take him! I give you my blessing!”

Kayden glanced her way for a second. He was confused. “What?” he shouted over the noise.

He was still standing in front of my body...Sarah’s body now. He held one arm out in front of “me,” trying to shield her from Tariq, who circled with his bloody sword. Sarah glared over his shoulder. She was frustrated as he was being overprotective. 

“This is my fight,” she hissed. “Move.”

“Not happening,” Kayden growled.

I floated toward him.

Fear and hope twisted inside me.

“Athena?” I whispered.

I am with you, she said. Follow the bond. Do not fight him. Merge.

I reached out. This time I did not try to grab with ghost fingers. I reached with my whole soul.

The bond lit up between us like a silver thread. It stretched from my spirit to his chest. To his heart. To Leo.

I dove.

There was a moment of resistance...like hitting cold glass. Then something gave in. I fell into him.

Heat surged around me. I could feel his body; muscles, a heartbeat slamming, pain in the shoulder, the taste of blood in the mouth and the smell of iron and smoke and fur.

For a second, I could not see. Then my vision cleared. I was looking through Kayden’s eyes.

I heard Leo’s growl rumble in our chest. “Mate,” he said. “What are you doing in here?”

“It’s me,” I said. My thoughts mingled with his. “I need to borrow us for a while.”

He huffed. “About time you came back,” he said. “Do what you must. I am with you.”

Kayden’s mind trembled in shock. “Leah?” he asked. “Is that you?”

“Yes,” I said softly. “It’s me.”

His heart kicked. I felt his relief like a wave. “Where are you?” he asked. “Are you safe?”

“I’m inside you,” I answered. “Your body… it’s our anchor now.”

He swore in his thoughts. “Of course,” he muttered. “Only you would decide to possess me in the middle of a war.”

Even in this chaos, even with fear clawing at me, I almost laughed. “Can I drive?” I asked.

He did not hesitate. “Take it,” he said. “Take everything. Just… come back to me after.”

I took a deep breath with his lungs.

Power stirred.

Moonlight rose inside us. It spread through our veins. It mixed with Kayden’s Alpha strength and Leo’s wild fury. It felt bigger than anything I had held before.

The seer’s voice cut through the noise. “Now, Leah!” she cried. “Susan first!”

I turned.. .Kayden’s body turned...toward Susan.

She was still locked in a magic battle with the seer. Her eyes were wild. She screamed another spell and threw a jagged line of black energy.

The seer blocked it, but barely. Her shield shook.

I raised our hand. Silver light burst from our palm.

Athena roared inside my mind. Strike with purpose!

I focused on Susan’s heart. Not just her chest. But the center of her powers. 

I poured all my energy into the light and shoved it forward.

A blast of silver shot from our hand. The seer saw it coming and added her own magic, twisting hers with mine like two rivers joining.

The beam hit Susan square in the chest.

She screamed.

Her body jerked back. The dark lines at her feet snapped like ropes breaking. Her own spells turned on her in a crack of backlash.

The seer shouted, “Now! The heart!”

Athena echoed, The witch’s heart. Remove it or she will claw her way back.

My hand flew to the dagger at Kayden's belt. The handle felt warm and familiar. I pulled it free.

Susan fell to her knees. She was still screaming. Dark smoke poured from her eyes and mouth.

I ran toward her.

She looked up at us. There was rage and terror mixed in her gaze. “You,” she choked. “This is your doing. You and your cursed bond.”

“Yes,” I said through Kayden’s lips. My voice sounded deeper but my words were mine. “You should not have touched what is mine.”

Her eyes widened as she realized.

“Leah,” she whispered.

I did not give her time to say more.

I grabbed her by the front of her robes with one hand and drove the dagger into her chest with the other.

The blade slid between her ribs. Warm and thick blood spilled over our fingers.

She gasped.

I twisted and carved, pushing past bone.

“Leah,” the seer shouted. “Take it out. Now!”

I gritted Kayden’s teeth and sliced deeper. My fingers closed around something hot and beating weakly.

I pulled.

Susan’s heart came out in my fist. It was still twitching. Dark veins writhed over it like tiny snakes.

Her body sagged. The light went out of her eyes.

The seer shouted a final word and sent a burst of power into the heart in my hand. It burned in white fire, shriveling and turning to ash. The ash fell from my fingers and vanished.

Susan’s body dropped to the floor. The temple took a breath. The dark magic in the air thinned.

I spun around.

We still had one monster left.

Tariq.

He had watched, stunned, as Susan fell. For the first time, his calm cracked. Rage twisted his face.

“You ruined everything,” he snarled. He charged and raised his sword. 

I did not move away. Instead, I lifted Kayden’s hand again and sent a burst of moonlight at his legs.

The light twisted into chains and wrapped around his ankles and knees. He stumbled and crashed to the ground. The sword flew from his grip and skidded across the stone.

He roared and tried to shift but the chains held him.

“Leah!” the seer cried. “Hold him! Do not let him free!”

“I’ve got him,” I said.

Tariq struggled. He was snarling. “Cowards!” he shouted. “You need magic to hold me? Fight me fairly!”

A new voice cut through the chaos. My voice. But it was not me.

It came from my body, standing near the altar.

Sarah walked slowly toward Tariq. The candle flames flickered as she passed. Her eyes were hard and cold. 

She bent and picked up the sword that had fallen....the same sword which was meant to cut my throat.

She weighed it in her hands.

Tariq glared up at her. He was still struggling. “Leah,” he spat. “Move away. Do not touch that. This is between me and fate.”

Sarah smiled. It was not my smile.

It was sharper, sadder and older.

“I am not Leah,” she said.

Tariq froze. Slowly, fear crept into his eyes.

“What did you say?” he whispered.

Sarah stepped closer. She held the sword with sure hands. Her voice was steady.

“I am Sarah. The mate you murdered. The soul you chained. The first wound you caused.”

His face went white.

“That’s not possible,” he hissed. “You are dead. Your soul was.....”

“Trapped,” she finished. “Yes. For a long time. But she came for me.”

She glanced up at where my spirit hovered, locked inside Kayden’s body. For a moment, our eyes met.

I nodded.

She nodded back.

Then she looked down at Tariq again.

He thrashed against the glowing chains. “You don’t understand,” he snarled. “I had to do it. You were weak. You would have made me weak. I needed power. I needed a Luna who...”

“Who would help you hurt others,” Sarah said calmly. “Who would close her eyes when you spilled blood. That was never going to be me.”

She raised the sword.

He bared his teeth. “You think killing me will fix anything? You think it will erase what I did?”

“No,” she said softly. “But it will stop you from doing more.”

He spit at her feet. “You are still weak. You could never....”

She swung. The blade flashed in the red moonlight. It cut through his neck in one clean move.

For a second, everything went very quiet. Then Tariq’s head fell to the side. His body went limp in the glowing chains. Blood spread across the stone like a dark pool.

Sarah stood there, breathing hard, my chest rising and falling with her breaths. Her hands trembled on the sword.

A strange peace moved across her face.

“I did it,” she whispered. “I finally did it.”

The air changed. Something soft and bright began to rise out of my body.

It was Sarah’s spirit.

I felt it before I saw it. A gentle warmth like the first rays of dawn after a long night. It slipped free of my chest. It was glowing pale and steady.

She looked at me….at us…one last time.

“Thank you,” she said. Her voice echoed both in the temple and in my mind. “You came for me when no one else did. You believed me. You gave me this chance.”

My throat closed with emotion. “You deserved it,” I said. “I am sorry it took so long.”

She smiled. In that moment, she did not look like a broken omega. She looked like a queen.

“Be happy,” she said. “Do not let him take more from you than he already has.”

Then her light rose higher. It thinned. It dissolved into the air like mist in sunlight.

She was gone.

The temple was suddenly very quiet.

The seer lowered her hands. The warriors around us panted. They were looking at Tariq’s corpse, at Susan’s body and at each other.

I felt tired…so very tired.

The seer looked at me…at Kayden’s body. Her lips moved in a soft chant. “Spirit that does not belong,” she said, “return to rest. Return to your rightful place.”

Athena’s voice came to me again, gentle now. It is time, Leah.

Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision. I felt myself pulled out of Kayden’s body. I slipped free like smoke.

For a moment, I was nowhere. I tried to reach for the bond. I tried to reach for my own skin. But there was only the deep dark void. 

And then…

Nothing.