ANMELDENDown at the bottom of the hill, six heavy catapults lined up across the highway lanes. General Malakor stood on top of an armored transport truck, waving his silver sword toward our position."They are loading the catapult arms!" Cade shouted down from his high concrete pillar. "Looks like heavy stone blocks wrapped in iron chains!""Soren, can your wall take direct hits from siege weapons?" I asked, looking at the glowing purple barrier."The pillars can handle physical rocks," Soren said, gripping his wooden staff tight. "But six at once will drain my energy fast.""Then we don't let all six hit at the same time," Lucian said, pulling his rapier. "Cade can shoot the crew operators from his high angle.""The distance is too far for rifle shots down to the river turn," Cade replied over our radio units. "The wind coming off the gorge is pushing bullets off track.""Then we hold our ground and brace for impact," Brecken said, stepping in front of me with his broadswords out.Down below
Down below us, two thousand capital court soldiers started turning away from the ruined bridge and heading up our mountain road.I checked my gun, slapped the magazine in, and racked the slide. I stood next to the three black stone pillars anchored into the concrete guardrails, looking at the purple energy barrier stretching across the highway lanes."They are forming up at the bottom of the hill!" Cade called out from his spot on top of the concrete pillar overhead. "Front line has iron shields and long pikes! Three transport trucks are right behind them!""Let them try," Brecken growled, pulling his twin broadswords from his back. "This road is narrow. Their big numbers don't mean anything if we hold the center asphalt.""Don't get careless, Brecken," Lucian said, stepping up on my right side with his rapier in hand. "General Malakor doesn't care how many of his own men die. He will send five hundred soldiers up this hill just to test Soren's barrier.""My ward isn't falling," Soren
The two-hour mark passed on the river highway bridge. Commander Kael’s vanguard stayed parked near the northern treeline, waiting for their General's heavy armored column to arrive. We bought valuable time, but anxiety pulls tight in my chest as I look up toward the dark concrete ridge behind us. Soren should be placing the final boundary anchor stone right now. A pack wolf came running down the asphalt road from the upper highway, stopping right beside Brecken and me under the streetlights. "Alpha," the runner panted, resting his hands on his knees. "Witch Soren finished planting the three anchor stones along the concrete ridge pass. He says the barrier is ready to activate, but he needs you and Aria to trigger the blood link." "Good," Brecken said, turning to Lucian. "Keep twenty wolves here with Thomas. Keep Silas on the barricade in plain view. If those cavalry men start their engines, shoot their officers." "Understood," Lucian replied, pulling his black trench coat tighter a
Thomas and two pack wolves dragged Lord Silas up the concrete basement stairs, binding his wrists with heavy iron chains. Brecken, Lucian, Soren, Cade, and I followed them out into the main council parking lot under the buzzing streetlights. We stopped Silas from taking the boundary altar, but he threw a bigger war at our front door. The Tribunal is finished, but the capital court has ten times the tactical troops Hale ever had on these streets. "How long until your father's main army reaches the city boundary?" I asked Lucian, stopping near the front bumper of our pack SUV. "Silas said the capital vanguard was already moving down the northern highway pass," Lucian answered directly, sheathing his blood-forged rapier. "If they take the expressway, their armored column will reach the outer city gates by morning." "The outer gates can't hold a full vampire legion," Brecken said, wiping blood from his forearm onto his jeans. "The iron security doors were damaged when Marcus's men move
Cade walked into the upper council courtyard two minutes later, sliding his brass flare launcher back into his tactical belt. Brecken, Lucian, Soren, and I met him near the central concrete fountain steps under the overhead streetlights. "The secondary cutter locked its engines," Cade reported directly, stopping in front of us on the asphalt. "Captain Vane pulled the fleet four miles out into the ocean channel. They aren't firing on the lower city docks." We won the harbor fight, but a heavy tightness settles in my gut as I look past Cade down the empty city street. High Enforcer Hale gave up his command deck too easily. A man who spent twenty years building a private mercenary legion doesn't just put his weapons away because a captain reads a paper scroll. "Did Hale escape or stay on board?" Brecken asked Cade, his broadswords resting across his back. "He stayed on the deck," Cade replied. "He didn't fight Captain Vane, and he didn't try to take a speed boat to shore." "That make
Brecken, Lucian, Soren, and I walked out of the main council building into the concrete courtyard. The yellow hum of the streetlights washed over the empty asphalt parking lot below us. The upper city district is secure, but the harbor is still an open question. Until Cade signals back from the docks, Hale's secondary cutter is a live threat to these streets. "Thomas," Brecken called out to his Beta, who was standing near a black pack SUV parked near the front gates. "Keep ten wolves posted at the main entrance doors. If any of Elder Rowen's remaining enforcers show up on this street, disarm them on the spot." "Got it, Alpha," Thomas replied, racking the slide of his handgun and stepping toward the concrete archway. Soren leaned his wooden staff against the stone railing, taking a slow breath. His face was still slightly pale from using his blood magic back at the harbor pier. "How are you holding up, Soren?" I asked, walking over to stand beside him under the courtyard lights. "
He didn't get to finish. Not because he changed his mind. Because halfway through the first sentence about my father, a sound cut through the house that nobody else seemed to notice.A heartbeat.Not mine. Not even his of course he didn't have one I could track properly, just this low slow thing th
Gareth was already in the car the light of the SUV kept flashing through my eye's. Chants kept replaying on my head. My witch side has been quiet but observing. Showing things that might take forever to figure out. My wolf curled inside me. My vampire side kept raging. An urge to something or someo
I had passed out on the floor after the three natures tried to tear me apart. When I woke up, I was back on the bed. My heart was beating too fast. It would not slow down. I felt like I had an extra heart. The sunlight was already up and my clothes were different from the previous day. I lifted the
Hearing about the rumours in the pack makes me feel like I will never belong anywhere. Why does Alpha Brecken look at me with so much compassion in his eyes? Something inside me wanted him so badly I could have kissed him right there and then. But then I remembered. I just got rejected and my Tribr







