All Chapters of The Lycans Twins Hidden Mate: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Everything happened at once.The wolves split clean into their three streams, fast and silent, pouring around the shimmer’s edges toward the chokepoints. Cassandra’s soldiers woke to the sound of running feet and drew weapons in the dark, stumbling out of sleep and into chaos.Kaden ran with Alina’s group, his borrowed sword in his hand. The shimmer was on his left, that grey wrongness spreading slow and steady. He kept his body angled away from it, keeping the distance Alina had ordered.“Don’t engage unless you have to,” Alina called, her voice carrying just far enough for her wolves. “Make them work for every inch.”The first clash was at the valley’s south entrance. Mira’s group hit Cassandra’s soldiers before they’d fully formed up, driving them back into each other. Kaden could hear the impact from fifty feet away, steel and bone and shouted orders dissolving into the specific chaos of a night fight.At the north chokepoint, Gregor’s wolves were doing their job. Not attacking ha

Nobody moved.Damon stood there with his hands loose at his sides, that empty smile still on his face. He looked older than Kaden had imagined from Alina’s descriptions. Not just in years, but in the way his eyes moved, cataloging everything, always calculating.Alina’s hand had gone to her blade. Her knuckles were white.“You’re supposed to be dead,” she said.“I know.” Damon took a step closer. Just one. Slow and deliberate. “Funny how that works out sometimes.”“The council sent hunters after you. Three separate teams.”“They did. Very dedicated people. I’m impressed you convinced them to bother.” His eyes moved past Alina to Lena, still sleeping against Vera’s shoulder twenty feet back. “Is that yours?”“Don’t look at her.”“Relax. I’m not here to hurt a baby.” Damon’s gaze moved to Kaden and Kael. “The Lycan kings. In the flesh. I heard rumors you’d aligned yourself with them, but I didn’t believe it.”“What do you want, Damon?” Alina’s voice was flat, controlled, but Kaden could

The ceremonial grounds were a clearing at the settlement’s heart. Flat stone worn smooth by generations of wolves who’d fought here, bled here, died here. Torches lined the edges, their light flickering against the gathering dark.The pack had assembled. Every wolf who could walk was there, forming a ring around the stone. Silent. Watching. Their faces showed fear and hope in equal measure.Damon was already waiting in the center. He’d stripped to the waist, his skin pale in the torchlight, old scars visible across his chest and arms. He looked relaxed. Confident. Like this was already over.Alina stepped onto the stone.The crowd went quiet. Not the quiet of anticipation. The quiet of held breath.Elder Brann moved to the edge of the circle. His voice carried in the still air.“By pack law, Damon Rowan challenges Alina Rowan for the title of Alpha. This is a fight to submission or death. No interference. No mercy.” He looked at both of them. “Do you both accept these terms?”“I accep

The settlement walls were packed with wolves, all of them armed and watching the northern tree line. Kaden stood between Alina and the edge, his hand on his sword. Kael was on Alina’s other side, that distant look in his eyes as he tried to sense what was coming.“How many witches?” Alina asked. She’d insisted on coming to the wall despite Mother Elara’s protests. Now she leaned against the wooden railing, her face pale but her eyes sharp.“Three that I can feel,” Kael said. “But they’re powerful. Maybe as strong as the ones from the Bone-Thicket that took you.”“Can you fight them?”“Maybe. If I have to.” He didn’t sound confident.The riders emerged from the trees. Fifty soldiers, just like Kael had said, all of them in black armor. Cassandra rode at the front on a white horse, her blonde hair catching the last rays of sunlight.Behind her, three figures in dark robes. Their faces were hidden, but Kaden could feel the wrongness radiating from them even from

The fires took three hours to put out.Kaden worked alongside the pack wolves and Cassandra’s soldiers, hauling water from the river, beating out flames with wet blankets, pulling people from collapsed buildings. His hands were blistered and black with soot by the time the last ember died.Fifteen dead. Twenty-three wounded. Half the northern wall destroyed. A quarter of the settlement’s food stores lost to fire.It could have been worse. Kaden kept telling himself that as he helped carry bodies to the temple for burning. It could have been so much worse.Alina sat on the steps of the main hall, Lena sleeping in her arms. She’d refused to go back inside, refused to rest, even though her wounds had opened again and blood soaked through her dress. She just sat and watched her people work, her eyes tracking everything, her jaw tight.Mother Elara had returned an hour ago, taken one look at the destruction, and immediately set up a healing station in what remained of the community center.