All Chapters of The Lycans Twins Hidden Mate: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The silence that followed the blast was a lie.I stood in the center of the Spire, my chest heaving, watching the last wisps of emerald smoke dissipate into the cold morning air. Kaden was beside me, his arms wrapped around me in a protective vice, his heartbeat thudding against my shoulder. We looked down at the empty floor where the witches had stood, seeing only scorched stone and tattered bits of blackened silk."They’re gone," Kaden whispered, his voice thick with relief. He pressed a kiss to my temple, his hand still resting over my stomach. "You incinerated them, Alina. I’ve never seen power like that."I wanted to believe him. I wanted to sink into that relief and let the "Hum" of the Archive finally go dormant. But as I looked toward Kael, who lay unconscious near the glowing Ledger, something felt... thin. The air didn't smell like victory; it smelled like dry rot and old copper."Kael!" I called out, pulling away from Kaden to rush to our friend’s side.As I knelt beside hi

The horses were half-mad.Kaden grabbed the black stallion’s bridle, yanking its head down before it could rear again. The animal’s eyes were rolling white, foam gathering at the corners of its mouth. It smelled the wrongness in the air, the way the wind now carried notes of decay and iron instead of hay and wood smoke.“Easy,” Kaden muttered, though his own hands were shaking. He could still feel Alina through that thin golden thread in his chest. The tether pulled north, always north, like a fishhook buried in his sternum.Kael was already mounted, his burned hand wrapped in strips torn from his shirt. Blood was seeping through the cloth, dripping onto the grey mare’s mane. He didn’t seem to notice.“We have maybe three hours before nightfall,” Kael said, his voice flat. “The Wastes are worse in the dark. Things move between the trees that don’t have names.”“Then we ride fast.”Kaden swung onto the stallion’s back, feeling the animal’s muscles bunch and quiver beneath him. Behind t

Time slowed.Kaden saw the branch falling, massive and inevitable, its bone-white surface cracked and ancient. Kael was frozen, his arms wrapped around Alina’s limp body, his face turned upward in horror. He couldn’t move fast enough. Wouldn’t make it.Kaden let go of the lead witch and ran.His legs burned. His lungs screamed. The witch he’d been choking wheezed behind him, already recovering, but he didn’t care. He threw himself forward, his boots sliding on the ash, and slammed into Kael just as the branch came down.They hit the ground hard, rolling through the ash and bone fragments. The branch crashed where they’d been standing a second before, sending up a spray of debris that stung Kaden’s face and filled his mouth with the taste of rot.Alina landed between them, her body slack and cold. Her eyes were closed again, her breathing so shallow Kaden couldn’t see her chest moving.“Is she…” Kael couldn’t finish.Kaden pressed his fingers against her neck, searching for a pulse. It

The light coming from Alina’s palm pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat. Gold. Black. Gold. Black.Kaden stared at it, his mouth dry. “What does that mean? Is the baby hurt?”“I don’t know.” Alina’s voice shook. She pressed both hands against her stomach now, and the glow spread, seeping through the fabric of her torn dress. “It’s moving. Kaden, it’s really moving.”“Babies move. That’s normal.”“Not like this.” Her face twisted in pain. “It feels like… like it’s trying to push out. But it’s too early. Way too early.”Kaden’s heart slammed against his ribs. He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “How early?”“I don’t know exactly. Maybe three months? Four?” She gasped, her back arching. “The magic you gave me. I think it woke something up. The baby’s reacting to it.”“Then we get it out of you. We find a healer, someone who knows about magic and…”“There’s no time.” Alina’s eyes were black again, the gold veins spreading across her cheeks like cracks in glass. “Kaden, I

“What kind of cost?” Kaden asked. His jaw was tight, his hands balled into fists at his sides.Mother Elara didn’t answer right away. She turned back to Kael, her gnarled fingers tracing the black veins that spread across his chest. Where she touched, the veins pulsed brighter, like they were responding to her presence.“Witch magic doesn’t just sit idle,” she said finally. “It needs to feed. Right now, it’s feeding on your brother’s life force, draining him bit by bit. But if I pull it out, it won’t just disappear. It’ll need somewhere else to go.”“Then put it in me,” Kaden said without hesitation.“No.” Alina’s voice was sharp. She tried to stand, but her legs buckled. Vera caught her before she hit the floor.“I can handle it,” Kaden said, looking at Alina. “I’ve already swallowed witch magic once. I survived.”“Barely,” Alina shot back. “And you gave it all to me. You don’t know what it’s like to hold that kind of poison inside you for more than a few seconds.”Mother Elara laugh