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CHAPTER 186: LILITH
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-05-02 18:03:34
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CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 187: QUEEN'S COMMAND
HAILEY The throne room still smoldered with the ashes of war, the walls whispering with the ghosts of screams and fire. Ash streaked across my cheeks like war paint, my breath calm but flavored with fury. I stood at the room's center—queen, mother, warrior—with blood on my blade and power thrumming beneath my skin. "To me," I bellowed, voice ripping through the quiet like thunder. I didn't need to say it twice. Every soul in the castle would hear me. And they would come. Because something else had passed beyond the veil. Something worse. The air reeked. Burnt sugar and spoiled wine. The veil had been pulled taut in our last battle, but now it was torn apart—and something was bleeding through. They came in bursts—Ryan first, low and tense, growling, Jaden on his flank. Aaron came in laughing and cautious, half, with Isaiah trailing behind him, haunted. The others came in after me—Turtela shining with moonlight in her eyes, Jackson still fixing his collar like they hadn't just battl
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-02CLAIMING 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.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-03CLAIMING 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
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-03CLAIMING 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
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-04CLAIMING 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.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-04CLAIMING 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
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-05CLAIMING 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
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-05CLAIMING 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
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-05-06
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CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 200: AFTERMATH
ALEXIAI woke up with a metallic taste in my mouth and the smell of blood thick in the air. My lungs hurt with each breath, but I didn't dare move. Something pressed on my chest—not physically, but emotionally. A weight I couldn't get rid of.Hailey.My last memory had been of her scream, of the way her power burst forth like a star. It engulfed everything—the Legion's commander, most of his men, even the battlefield itself. I remembered the fear in his eyes when Draco dived. Then nothing. Just darkness."She hasn't woken up."I recognized Turtela's voice. It was rough with worry, but there was determination in it too."We have to do something," Marissa said. "She's the Queen. She can't stay like this."My eyes fluttered open, and the brightness of the infirmary nearly blinded me. White walls. The scent of herbs and steel. I turned my head slowly, my every muscle protesting, to see them all gathered around another bed.Hailey.I sat up, ignoring the tearing pain down my ribs. Lynn was
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 199: NEVER TOUCH ONE OF MINE
AUDACUSThe realm seem disturbed tonight.Even the stars—those arrogant little heaven's candles—were afraid to shine too brightly above me. They knew. Even the universe knew what I was about to do.I stood at the edge of the cliff, my cloak of darkness swirling in the harsh wind. Below, the ravine shuddered, its depths seething with hissing smoke and runes carved by long-forgotten gods. I had set up this summoning circle a hundred years ago—just in case. And now… now the time was here."Come," I whispered, raising my hands as old incantations flamed on my lips. "Come, Legion.The ground creaked. Split. Groaned in agony like a dying beast. From below, out of the darkness, a scream ripped the silence. One. Then a hundred. Then hundreds of thousands—rising as one.The Legion.Three hundred thousand demons, bred for anarchy. Some had been angels once. Some had never been more than formless until my darkness gave them form. And now they surged like bubbling tar rising up from the bowels of
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 198: THE PLAN
AUDACUSFire spat and spat in the fire before me, shadows curling around the walls of stone like hungry snakes. I reclined in the chair of dark, high-backed obsidian in the center of my war room, robes of smoke and midnight folded around me in loops of fate. My hands tapped a slow, calculated beat on the bent armrest, lethal.Lilith sat motionless in the adjacent room.Her breath—if one could even call it that anymore—was shallow. Barely there. Her fall into the coma had been abrupt, unforetold, un-theatrical. Just. silent. A silence so deep that it vibrated through the realm.And I hated it.She alone had ever spat venom right back at me and still made me crave the taste of her defiance. Her anger. Her fury. But now? Glass. Shattered. Cold. And worse—silent.No more filthy words.No more threats that she'd rip out my heart if I ever sinned against her daughter.Now, all I had was time.But Ryan… oh, Ryan didn't have time at all.Ideal.A knock echoed on the door—sharp, brief. My gene
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 197: LOOMING WAR
RAYThe 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. Diver
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
