บททั้งหมดของ The Wolfless Doctor: บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

Owen's POV"Three more cases were reported overnight. All within a hundred miles of coalition territory."Lucas stood in my office at coalition headquarters, his expression grim. I had been reviewing security reports when he arrived with the news. Six weeks had passed since the first Covenant curse appeared at Mary's healing center. Now we had fifteen confirmed cases."Any pattern to the targets?" I asked, studying the map on my wall where I had marked each incident with a red pin."Young supernatural beings. Ages fifteen to twenty five. All with some level of power or talent. It is like someone is deliberately targeting the next generation." Lucas pointed at the cluster of pins near coalition territory. "And they are getting bolder. Moving closer to our center of operations.""They want us to know they are here. They want us to be afraid." I stood up and walked to the map. "But why? What is the endgame? The Covenant wanted control. They wanted to reshape supernatural society. Is that

"You are just a child," I said, staring at Lydia in disbelief. "You cannot be more than twenty years old. How are you using Covenant magic?""I am twenty one. And I learned from the best teacher possible." Lydia's smile widened. "My father was Elder Mordecai. One of the thirteen you murdered."The room went cold. One of The Elders had a child. A child who survived the Montana assault. A child who wanted revenge."Your father was part of an organization that tortured thousands," Owen said, his voice hard. "He helped imprison supernatural beings. He served ancient gods who wanted to enslave reality. He deserved what happened to him.""He was my father!" Lydia's calm expression cracked, showing the rage underneath. "He raised me. Taught me. Prepared me to continue his work. And you killed him. You killed all of them. Destroyed everything The Covenant built over three thousand years.""We freed people. We stopped a tyranny. We saved lives." I took a step forward carefully. "Lydia, whateve

"Five months since we last saw any sign of Lydia."I was sitting in my office at the healing center, going over security reports with Owen. The calendar on my wall showed a date I had been dreading for weeks. Tomorrow was the one year anniversary of the Montana assault, which meant tomorrow was also my second renewal."She could be anywhere," Owen said, his voice tight with frustration as he reviewed the same reports I had already read three times. "We have searched every abandoned Covenant facility within five hundred miles. Checked every lead. Interviewed every former Covenant member we could find. Nothing.""Maybe she really did give up," I suggested, though I did not believe it for a second. The note she had left on my desk haunted me, her elegant handwriting promising that The Covenant would rise again and I would be the first to fall.Owen looked at me with those amber eyes that saw right through my forced optimism. "You do not believe that any more than I do. She is planning so

"We have checked sixty seven locations in five days and found nothing."Lucas threw the latest reconnaissance report on the table in frustration, his normally calm demeanor cracking under the pressure. We were running out of time and we all knew it. The duel with Lydia was in two days and we still had not found the hostages."There must be something we are missing," I said, studying the map where we had marked every location we had searched. Abandoned buildings, old Covenant facilities, remote warehouses, everything we could think of. "She has to be keeping them somewhere. Five teenagers cannot just disappear without leaving any trace.""Unless she has help," Damon suggested, pointing at the wider regional map. "She said she was recruiting, remember? Building The Inheritors. If she has members positioned throughout the territory, they could be moving the hostages every few days. Staying ahead of our search."That thought made my stomach sink. If The Inheritors were already organized e

The coordinates Lydia had sent led to an ancient stone circle deep in the forest, the kind of place that felt wrong the moment I approached it. Old magic saturated the air here, making my skin prickle with warning. This was a place where reality was thin, where the barrier between worlds was fragile.Perfect for dark magic.Perfect for stealing abilities.I arrived exactly at noon as Lydia had specified, wearing simple clothing that would not restrict movement and carrying nothing but the protective charm Serena had given me. Behind me, hidden in the forest at least a mile away, the entire coalition waited. They could not come closer without risking the hostages, but they were there, ready to charge in if needed.It was a small comfort.Lydia was already there, standing in the center of the stone circle with a confidence that made her look older than her twenty one years. She wore dark robes similar to what Covenant scientists used to wear, and her hands glowed faintly with dark magic