Lahat ng Kabanata ng Save Me, Claim Me: Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

Tessa POVThe frost crunched under my boots as I stepped into the clearing, golden morning light cascading over the gathered forces like a silent promise. Rows of warriors stood at the ready - Nightshade, Ashmoon, and other allies arrayed side by side, their breath misting in the dawn air. Shifting bodies, sharpened blades. Tension like a taut wire humming through every soul present.Dorian’s men were already in formation on the far ridge, his black banners moving like shadows across the wind. He had arrived before first light, just as he said he would. I hadn’t seen him yet - but I could feel him. Somewhere in that sea of soldiers, his presence burned steady. Like a star refusing to fade.I raised my eyes to the horizon. No horns. No signal. But the scent came first.Ash. Burned cloth. Old blood.And then, a sound like thunder splitting stone. Not from the sky. From the ground.The Council’s vanguard poured over the far rise - tight formation, brutal efficiency. Soldiers in gray and

The safehouse wasn’t much - an old stone barrack tucked into the slope beneath the ridge, half-covered in moss and thorny brush. Inside, the air was thick with damp earth, dried blood, and the scent of magic scorched raw. It was a place built for war, not peace. But for now, it held the closest thing to unity they had.Warriors moved like shadows through the narrow halls - some slumped against the walls with torn uniforms and hastily wrapped bandages, others sharpening blades with quiet focus. Murmured reports and soft growls filled the air. The weight of what they had all survived pressed down like storm-heavy clouds.Inside the central war room, a fire crackled in the hearth - more for light than warmth. This place had no electricity. Maps and scribbled notes blanketed the long stone table, corners pinned with blades and shards of rubble. Dorian stood at its head, his voice a low hum of precision, directing attention to the terrain lines with the flat of his palm.“They’ll expect u

Tessa’s POVThe hallway was narrow, carved from old mountain stone. My boots echoed against the uneven floor as I walked alone, torchlight flickering across the damp walls. The air smelled of iron and moss, faintly sour with old blood.They’d kept him in one of the outbuildings - far enough from the safehouse that his scent wouldn’t rattle the other soldiers. A silent agreement, no one willing to say what they feared: that even freed, he might still be a monster.I wasn’t sure they were wrong. Even after my last conversation with him. The two guards outside his cell stepped aside the moment they saw me. Rylan’s orders, no doubt. No one questioned me anymore, not after the ridge. Not after what I became.The iron door groaned as I pulled it open.He was seated on a low bench inside, ankles chained to a bolt in the floor, though the shackles hung loose. His back was straight, eyes alert. The green haze that had clouded his gaze during the battle was gone completly now, replaced with so

Tessa POV The storm didn’t break that night, but something darker did.The sky above us hung heavy, thick with low clouds that threatened rain but never delivered. Instead, the air pressed down with a strange weight, as if the world itself was holding its breath. Every time the wind shifted, it carried the sharp tang of damp earth, old pine, and the faintest trace of blood that clung to the ground after days of fighting. And beneath it all - something sour, something that didn’t belong.Sleep had abandoned me entirely. Dorian’s words from earlier circled in my mind like vultures, refusing to fade: War has started. Whether they accept it or not.My feet moved before I made the conscious choice, carrying me beyond the dimly lit tents where warriors slept fitfully or kept watch in tense shifts. The makeshift camp stretched along the southern slope of the ridge, tents scattered amidst ancient trees. Fires burned low, flickering against the canvas walls, casting ghostly shapes that danc

Tessa POV The first tendrils of smoke reached us before dawn.At first, it was only a distant haze rising beyond the southern ridge, barely visible in the dim gray light. But soon the wind shifted, and with it came the acrid stench of charred wood - of flesh.By the time the scouts returned with those who were able to run out of that place - their faces pale and voices shaking - we already knew.“They burned it.” The young Beta dropped to one knee before Dorian and me, his voice hoarse from running. “The Council... they came in the night. Alpha Marrek’s village. All of it - gone.”A stunned silence fell over the camp.I felt my stomach hollow out as the words settled into my bones. Men, women, children. The ones who hadn’t yet pledged. The ones who had stayed neutral, hoping neutrality would save them.The Council called it justice.Dorian’s face was stone, but his eyes burned. His voice when it came was like winter steel. “Survivors?”“Some,” the Beta whispered. “We’re bringing them