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CHAPTER 172: THE HUNT FOR ATHENA
Last Updated:
2025-04-24 17:27:30
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CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 173: UNRIVALED SPELLS
AURORA" Damn Auntie, you certainly are queen."I looked at her.At Her.The Queen of All Species. The Unbreakable. The one whose name carried the legends' weight and whispered fear into the hearts of the enemy.And yet, up until this time, I had never truly seen her.Hailey between the dying sparks of magic, power still snapping in the air like a tempest that will not be silenced. Light and darkness curled about her as though the universe knew whom it was dealing with. Outside, wind howled, but inside was only silence—thickness, gagging, wonder-struck silence.I had believed myself strong beforehand. But facing her there, looking at her after what had just transpired between us, I realized something profound."I see now," I gasped, my words struggling to come above the still-pulsing magic.Those eyes turned upon me—aged, knowing, unreadable.I gulped, perspiration tickling against my skin. "I understand why every mighty ruler wanted you as his wife."It wasn't her power, though that
Last Updated : 2025-04-24CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 174: WHAT NEXT?
AARON Aurora's words hung in the air, heavier than the night that lingered over us. The acrid scent of wine, fire, and turned earth filled my lungs, but all I could focus on was the weight of what she'd just said. Athena was dead. Flora was dead. Hailey had drained every bit of power from the witch and turned every spell she'd ever worked around. Including the one that kept Ryan gone. I clenched my teeth, my gaze sweeping over the faces that had assembled before me. No one spoke, not yet. Jaden, lounging with his wine, looked thoughtful. Isaiah's fingers twitched as if trying to cram the consequences into his head. Logan's face was expressionless, but I knew this had hit him hard—Flora was once his mate, though she'd been bound under Athena's magic. Jermaine was the first to wake, smoothing a hand over his hair. "So that's it?" He spoke low and quiet, his voice a rumble. "She's gone?" Aurora nodded, her golden eyes burning in the darkness of the torchlight. "I saw her life fade."
Last Updated : 2025-04-25CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 175: PLAN
THOMAS The scent of blood and power hung heavy in the air. I floated through the garden like a specter, in fast, striking hard. Jackson didn't have time to blink before my fist hit his ribcage, and he reeled back into the stone table. His wine glass shattered against it, crimson liquid spreading across the ground like blood. He coughed, rolling onto his side, but I didn't give him a chance to catch his breath. I launched myself at him again, claws extended— A shock of energy struck my side. I was knocked back, crashing through a stone pillar before I landed on the ground with a grunt. Fire coursed through me, but I didn't have time to register it. I leapt up onto my feet as Adrian appeared in front of me, fangs bared. “You’re either stupid or desperate,” he hissed. “Attacking us here?” I wiped blood from my mouth and grinned. “A little of both.” Jermaine and Jaden were already flanking me, their wolves prowling just beneath the surface. Aurora stood behind them, golden
Last Updated : 2025-04-25CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 176: FREEDOM
RYAN Agony. It started as a dull ache, a pressure in my ribs, then spread like wildfire throughout my entire body. It was like some thing had been wrapped around my soul—tight, choking, unyielding—and now it was being ripped away. I gasped, my head spinning, my muscles freezing as I collapsed onto the cold, wet stone beneath me. The chains that had bound me all these years clattered against the floor, and suddenly—air was mine. The spell was broken. I balled my fists, the rush of power surging back into my veins, my wolf snarling inside me, at last released after months of being suppressed and quiet. I drew in a deep breath, the stale air of my imprisonment now mixed with something else—power. A commanding, familiar, and unbreakable presence. Hailey. She did it. I let out a whoop of breathless laughter, my lips spreading in a savage grin. My mate had broken the spell. And that left only one possibility—anyone who'd placed it there was dead. Athena. I could feel it, the traces
Last Updated : 2025-04-26CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 177: FIGHT FOR YOU
HAILEY The air was heavy with the smell of fire and blood. As soon as I entered the room, I saw Ryan. Or Ares. His wolf had emerged fully, and the sight of him sent a shiver down my spine—one not of fear, but of ragged, gnawing worry. His massive body was tense, his muscles rippling as barely repressed fury rolled off him in waves. The golden sheen of his irises had been darkened to black, the edges dancing like the embers of a dying fire. And at his feet—nothing but ash remained. Azure was gone. Not dead—destroyed. Ryan—Ares—had seen to that. The smell of charred flesh still hung in the air, but it wasn't what caught my eye. It was how his body shook, not with fatigue, but with rage barely in check. The monster within him was still fighting to get blood, still fighting to tear something—someone—limb from limb. He was losing it. Losing control to his wolf's instincts. And if I didn't stop him now, he would never come back. I crept forward, slowly, slowly, very slowly. "Ares,
Last Updated : 2025-04-26CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 178: HOME
TURTELA Night air was quiet, but there was something moving in the space around us. One moment we were sitting there, tension still thick with all that had happened, and then— I felt it. A tug deep inside me, as if an unseen string had been pulled taut and back into position. A rush of heat washed over me, as if stepping out into a frigid winter's night and into the sun. I gasped, my eyes wide with shock as my heart knew before my mind could. "Mother," I whispered. I wasn't alone. Alexia drew in a harsh breath next to me, her hold on the rim of the stone table tightening. Jermaine and Jackson both stiffened sharply, their heads snapping up at the same moment. Aaron leapt out of his chair so fast the chair scraped harshly on the floor. And then, as a group, we moved. No words were ever spoken. We all knew it—the instant she was back. We ran in, our shoes clattering in the corridors, hearts racing with a single, desperate desire. We discovered them in their room. Ryan stood his
Last Updated : 2025-04-28CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 179: ENDING THEM
HAILEY The air was quiet, save for my breathing, as regular as the tick of a clock. Sleep held me in its grasp like a heavy fog, but some power pulled me out of its depths—a discord in the air, an awkward shift that didn't belong. I didn't wake, didn't flinch so much as a muscle to show I knew anything, but my senses were on high alert. The scent hit me next—bitter and flavored with evil. David. The moment stretched, charged and taut. I felt him in the darkness, holding back just beyond the edge of night. He thought me vulnerable. He thought he held the advantage. He was wrong. A breath of movement, a mere stir in the air—then a knife descended at my throat. My eyes snapped open. Before he could bring his knife to my skin, I closed my hand about his wrist in an unbreakable grip. His eyes widened, shock crossing his face. He tried to pull away, but I held tighter, bones snapping under my fingers. "You're a fool, David," I breathed, my voice a killing whisper. He snarled, twist
Last Updated : 2025-04-28CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 180: REINFORCEMENT
JERMAINE There was something about the struggle that lingered in the air long after the final enemy fell. A weight, a thrum of residual power that clung to the soul like an ethereal resonance of the dead. Though Thomas's dying breath was swallowed by silence, I could sense him. Or his shadow. His anger. His desperation. His defeat. I leaned against the broken trellis, chest heaving, heart still racing from the battle. The garden rested in shambles—blossoms shattered beneath heavy heel marks, the smoldering scorch scars of Isaiah's and Kael's fury staining the once spotless paths. Death and potency clung in the air, but what had me unsettled the most was the icy stillness that came after. Jackson was cleaning blood from his sword, face unemotional. Jaden was still standing at the ready, golden eyes scanning the area, refusing to believe that it was truly finished. Our father was standing in the center, shoulders locked, staring down at the spot where Thomas once was. Those wor
Last Updated : 2025-04-29
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CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 196: INFILTRATION
AUDACUS The moment I stepped through the massive glass doors of Kings Enterprises, the atmosphere shifted. Clean, polished, professional—exactly how humans liked to present their tiny empires. It was nearly funny. The whole building reeked of ambition, desperation, and carefully hidden fear. It smelled like opportunity.I adjusted the mortal guise I was wearing: well-pressed suit, comfortable leather loafers, and a pair of glasses perched low on the bridge of my nose. The perfect image of a struggling investor who'd at last been able to scrounge up sufficient capital to swim with the sharks. Beneath, I smiled. They had no idea.The receptionist greeted me with that rehearsed corporate warmth. "Welcome to Kings Enterprises, Mr.?""Addison," I supplied the alias with ease. "Jon Addison. I'm here to see your investment representative. I'm interested in purchasing direct stock."Her fingers flew across the keyboard, and within a second she nodded. "Right this way, Mr. Addison."It all pr
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 195: LOOMING WAR
RAY The night was mine. The odor of war clung heavy to the atmosphere, and the promise of approaching chaos made my skin crawl, bones moving just below as I stretched through all my shapes. Tonight the game was set, and I, Ray, his most trusted one, had the honor of delivering the king's new scheme. Audacus loomed over us, demonically serene, every inch of him a vision of lethal refinement. That voice, so smooth but colder than winter's cold, was a force no sane man would want to challenge. "Keep them busy," he instructed us, fingers lazily spinning a glass of dark wine as if this plan wasn't going to break the world. "Isolate Hailey and Ryan at all costs. The two of them together are trouble. Alone, they fall apart." A vicious grin crept gradually across my lips. Simple in appearance. Deadly in purpose. "What about the others?" I asked, masking my enthusiasm with polite calmness. Audacus's golden eyes flashed to mine, as cutting as a knife. "The triplets are strong, but unripe. D
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 194: CHAOS
AUDACUS The council chamber stank of old magic and old pride. It clung to the stones, bleeding into the mortar like the blood of all fools who'd ever sat upon high thrones and imagined that they were invulnerable. I was in the center, hands clasped behind my back, the gravity of a century measured in the loose bend of my shoulders. Ten wizard elders stood around me, faces etched with lines made of centuries, eyes filmed over by complacency. The robes flowed over the marble floor as they shifted to stand nearer, as if attitude itself might distort fate in their direction. "Audacus," the oldest, Master Callum, said, his voice husky with a challenge never breached in all his years. "Your arrogance does not belong here. You are not welcome." A smile flared at the edge of my lips. "Arrogance is the right of the already triumphant. You just haven't quite caught up with reality." Whispers circulated around the circle, soft, trembling shivers from tired old gods in mortal flesh. I could
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 193: AUDACUS
AUDACUS Been out again in the mortal world feels so surreal but good, it's been so long, too long really but the night tasted sweet. Sweeter than a vow. More bitter than deceit. I stood beneath the crooked arm of a dying oak, one hand leather-gloved, the other bare, tracing my finger along the cold curve of my ring. The dark stone pulsed softly beneath my fingers, full of the quiet, slow hunger I always kept just beneath my skin. The world was still tonight. Even the wind had enough sense to whisper not when I heard it. I could sense the earth beneath my feet, the shift of shadow as it crawled towards me, drawn like a moth battering itself around its own funeral place. The shifter was late. It was always so with beasts bound by fear and not by love. Still, I was impressed by its cunning. Its guile. The art of slinking in and out of hides like leaves from a book. Finally, the beast emerged out of the woods. A distorted shape, wrapped in the stolen form of a man — the fifth, I thi
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 192: HE'S COMING
LOGAN The air reeked of blood, pungent enough to slice through bone-deep exhaustion. I arrived too late for the battle, but just in time for the cleanup. Marissa stood with her arm raised over the shape-shifter's deformed body, which collapsed at her feet like a crumpled flower. Its body shook as if even death would not claim it cleanly. Her sword dripped with black, noxious ichor. I'd wanted to feel proud — darn it, I was proud — but my wolf howled inside my chest walls, screaming for vengeance. "Are you alright?" I pressed forward, ready to catch her if her legs gave out under her. Marissa cleaned the knife on her hand, jutting chin as if the fighter I knew her to be was finally free of that cage she'd been holding herself in. "It won't be the last." That solitary stark truth weighed between us like a boulder. "Not if I have any say in it," I growled. And I meant every damn word. ISAIAH The scent of smoke still hung in the air, seeping into the stone walls like an unwelcom
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 191: MOTHER'S CHOICES
TURTELA The castle had never been this still, not really. Even at midnight, its old bones vibrated with the thrum of wards and remembrances. But tonight, after the fight, after blood and smoke, the stillness was oppressive as ever. It lay on my chest like a heavy hand, smothering the wolf inside me who trotted in ceaseless circles, anxious and watchful. I should have stayed in my own chambers. Should have soothed myself with a hot bath or the echoing sound of dad's voice up and down the halls. Instead, my own feet led me out, past the marble pillars, to the garden where everything was bathed in moonlight. And she was there. Serenia. Sitting on the stone bench like it was her own, as if she had burst forth from the earth itself, dark hair falling like silk down her back. She was so still that I almost mistook her for another statue, some forgotten relic the old kings had left. I did not sneak up on her. I wanted her to hear me coming. I wanted her to know that I was not afraid.
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 190: A DAUGHTER'S VERDICT
ISAIAH The moment Hailey's call brushed my thoughts, I felt it — the shift in the air. There was no desperation in her tone, no panic, but resolve. And that scared me more than any battlefield ever managed. I arrived in the courtyard as the moon carved silver wounds in the stone. My steps faltered as my gaze met hers. Serenia. The last time I'd ever seen her was under other skies — when I'd lost all hope of having a mate. When fate woke me up, I'd never expected that she would be bound to me again, or in this manner. She was now by Hailey's side. Not as an enemy. Not even as a stranger. Her eyes settled on me, hard and unflickering. "You came," she said. I cleared my throat, finding my balance. "Your mother summoned me." Her lips curled into a semblance of laughter, but there was no warmth behind it. "Oh, naturally she would. Always the Queen, always the commander." I started to open my mouth in defense of Hailey — habit — but Serenia raised a hand, stopping me. Her voice so
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 189: CREDIBLE ALLIANCE?
HAILEY The moon hung low in the heavens, casting a silver glow across the courtyard. The air was thick with anticipation, a silence that reeked of danger waiting to happen. I stood alone, senses heightened, muscles bunched and prepared to move. I was startled by a sudden stir within the shadows. A figure emerged, veiled in the shadows, moving with lethal grace. I recognized her immediately—Serenia, daughter of Lilith. She was a storm, her eyes burning with a mix of rage and grief. She attacked silently, her sword flashing towards me. I parried, the sound of steel on steel ringing out like a thunderclap. Our battle was a dance of fire and ice, each strike a question, each parry an answer. "Why?" I shouted, our blades intertwined. "Why attack me?" Her eyes twitched, agony clouding her features. "Because he wants you," she snarled. "The Serpent King wants you, and I need to know why." Comprehension dawned. This wasn't a straight-up attack—it was a test, a desperate search for inform
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 188: SERENIA
LILITH The mortal realm was a mess of senses—colors too bright, scents too acrid, voices too jarring. And yet I walked through it as if I was born to rule it. Perhaps I was. Smoke wreathed my robes, curling around my ankles like living vines. I let it. Let them look at me. Let them fear. I had but one objective. Serenia. My daughter. Foolish, sentimental kid that she'd been, she'd followed the Serpent King into this world, bound by some romantic fantasy. And now she was lost. Hidden. Maybe in danger. And that. would not do. The trail led me to a crooked little hut that cowered beneath trees that recoiled from me. Magic lingered at its edges—thin, muddled spells that reeked of deceit. I passed through the wards like silk through a blade. She was inside, pale as ashes, a witch not a hundred years old. Her eyes widened. She knew me. "Lilith," she whispered. "I'm looking for my daughter," I said to her calmly. "Her name is Serenia. She passed this way." The witch shook her head.
