All Chapters of BOUGHT BY THE BEAST: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Keira took a shaky breath and began to speak in a rush, her words tumbling over each other in her haste to get them all out. "They call it the Ascension Project, and they have been working on it for decades using every First Moon descendant they could capture or kill. Our bloodline is not just a key to unlock ancient power like everyone thinks, it is a blueprint for creating new power, power that has never existed before in any form.""What kind of power?" I asked, though part of me was not sure I wanted to know the answer."They are trying to create artificial First Moon descendants, beings that have all the abilities of our bloodline without any of the limitations or vulnerabilities that come with being mortal." Keira's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "They have already succeeded with three prototypes, and those three are nearly unstoppable in combat because they can channel pure essence like you can but they feel no pain, they need no rest, and they cannot be killed by con

The result was immediate and dramatic, as energy surged through my body with enough force to make the red-haired prototype's eyes widen in surprise. I shifted back to human form and grabbed his wrist with both hands, channeling the combined power through the bond into a concentrated burst that burned his artificial flesh where I touched him.He released me with a hiss that might have been pain or might have been mere surprise at encountering something unexpected. "Interesting," he said, examining the burn marks on his wrist. "You have bonded with a lycan and can share power through that connection, which was not in our tactical briefing about your capabilities.""Good," I gasped as I struggled to my feet. "I love surprising people who think they know everything about me."The white-haired prototype had reached Keira by now and had wrapped one hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground with effortless strength. "Retrieval complete," she announced to her companions. "Recommend i

We rode hard for two days.North through forests and over streams, following the map Keira had drawn from memory. The landscape grew darker as we traveled, like the Shadow Court's presence had poisoned even the land around their facility.No one spoke much. Everyone was conserving energy for the battle ahead.Through the bond, I felt Caspian's constant vigilance. His awareness of our surroundings, his assessment of threats, his preparation for violence.Keira rode near the front with us. She had been quiet since we left Thorncross, her eyes distant like she was seeing ghosts."Are you all right?" I asked her during a brief rest stop."I haven't been back to this area since I escaped three years ago." She stared toward the north where Blackstone Keep waited. "Part of me thought I'd never see it again. Hoped I wouldn't.""We can still send you back with a guard escort.""No." Her voice was firm. "I need to see it destroyed. Need to watch it burn."I understood that need. The desire to e

She was probably right about that, which meant I needed a different approach to this problem. I looked at the two new prototypes flanking her and noticed that unlike the white-haired one who bore scorch marks from my previous attack, these two appeared completely undamaged and fresh, which suggested they had not been in the courtyard fight and therefore did not know what I was capable of when pushed to my limits."You made a mistake bringing him here," I said, letting rage build in my voice and in my power. "You made a mistake hurting what is mine, and you made an even bigger mistake thinking I would surrender to save him when the option exists to simply kill all of you and take him back by force."I did not give them time to recalculate their tactical models or adjust their combat algorithms.I just attacked with everything the Awakening had given me, channeling pure essence through the bond to draw on Caspian's lycan strength even as those cursed chains drained him, creating a feedb

The thought hit me like physical blow because I had been trying so hard not to consider that possibility, trying so hard to believe my sister was genuine in her desire to help rather than another Shadow Court manipulation."She destroyed the power source like she said she would," I protested weakly. "She risked her life to complete the mission.""Or she destroyed the power source because the Shadow Court wanted it destroyed," Caspian said gently through the bond. "Because this facility was already compromised by our discovery of it, and destroying the evidence here while seeming to help us serves their purposes better than defending it would."I wanted to argue, wanted to insist he was wrong and paranoid and too suspicious of everyone, but the documents we had just found made it impossible to dismiss the possibility.If the Shadow Court had been manipulating bloodlines for centuries, planting agents and arranging circumstances to achieve their goals, then Keira appearing at the perfec