Lahat ng Kabanata ng Alpha's Healer: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

Alyssa's POVI slam into the barrier again, and this time I'm ready for the pain.It still hurts like hell.The impact sends sparks across my vision—bright white and sickly green—and nausea rolls through my stomach hard enough to make me gag. I stagger back, cradling Sophia against my chest with one arm, and press my free hand to my mouth.Don't throw up. Not now. You don't have time.I force myself to breathe through my nose and look at the barrier. Really look.The magic hums against my skin, a frequency I can feel in my teeth. And there's something else—a pull. Like the barrier recognizes me. Knows me.It's keyed to my blood.Healer blood."Of course it is," I mutter, and the bitterness in my voice surprises me. "Because nothing can ever be simple."Sophia whimpers and burrows deeper into my shoulder. Her small body is still too warm, still glowing faintly, and I can feel her heartbeat fluttering against my ribs like a trapped bird."It's okay, baby," I whisper, even though it's no

Alyssa"s POVMy hands won't stop shaking.I stare at Sophia—at her too-still face and glowing eyes and that voice that wasn't hers—and for a second I forget how to breathe."Sophia?"She blinks. Once. Twice. And then the glow fades and she slumps forward into my lap like a puppet with cut strings."Mama?" Her voice is small again. Young. Hers.I grab her and hold her tight against my chest, one hand cupping the back of her head, and I have to bite down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep from sobbing.Not now. You don't get to fall apart now."I've got you, baby," I whisper. "You're okay. Mama's got you."She whimpers and curls into me, and I feel her heartbeat—too fast, too light—fluttering against my ribs.Behind me, Adam groans.I twist around, still holding Sophia, and my stomach drops.His breathing is wrong. Too shallow, too slow, each exhale rattling in his chest like stones tumbling down a hill. His skin is gray, slick with cold sweat, and the veins around the wound are dar

Alyssa's POVI know that voice.My whole body goes rigid, and for a second I can't move. Can't breathe. Can't think past the ice flooding my veins.Because that voice sounds like home.I tighten my grip on Sophia and press my back against the cave wall, eyes locked on the entrance. The footsteps are closer now—steady, unhurried—and I see a shadow move across the mouth of the ravine."Alyssa," the voice says again. "I know you're in there."It's not Marcus.Relief and terror hit me at the same time, and I don't know which one wins.The shadow steps into view, and I see him.Not Marcus. Not Darius. Not anyone I want to see right now.It's a man I don't recognize—tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair slicked back by rain and a face that's too calm for someone standing in the middle of a war zone. He's wearing Blackstone colors, but he's holding something white in one hand.A cloth. A flag.False peace."Easy," he says, raising both hands like he's approaching a spooked animal. "I'm not

Alyssa's POV"Sophia!"I grab her before she hits the ground, and her small body is rigid in my arms. Too stiff. Too still.Her eyes are open but unseeing, glowing that terrible white-hot brightness, and her chest isn't moving.She's not breathing.Panic claws up my throat, but I shove it down. No time. No room for it.I press my hands to her chest and push every ounce of warmth I have left into her."Breathe, baby. Come on. Breathe for Mama."The glow surges under my palms—hot enough to burn—and for a horrible second I think I'm making it worse. But then her back arches, and she gasps.Air rushes into her lungs, and the glow dims.Relief floods through me so hard I almost collapse."That's it. Good girl. Just breathe."She sags against me, limp and shaking, and I hold her tight while she drags in one ragged breath after another.But I can feel it.The pull.It's still there, faint but insistent, tugging at her like invisible hands wrapped around her ribs. Whatever magic is anchoring

Alyssa's POVThe sacred grove reeks of old blood and ozone.I step into the clearing—if you can call it that—and every instinct I have screams at me to turn around and run. The space is circular, ringed by ancient stones carved with runes that pulse with sickly green light. The ground is scorched black in places, and the air feels heavy, charged, like the moment before lightning strikes.At the center sits the altar.It's massive—rough-hewn stone stained dark with what I really hope is just rust but probably isn't. The blade is still there, glowing faintly, and the runes carved into the stone beneath it are moving. Actually moving, shifting and reforming like living things."This is it," the girl whispers beside me. Her name is Cara—she told me on the way here, voice shaking. "This is where they're anchoring the ritual."Adam moves past me, positioning himself between us and the altar, and I see his claws flex."How do we destroy it?" he asks."I don't know. I was just supposed to gua