All Chapters of Marked by the Alpha Captain: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The baby's laughter stopped everyone cold.Rei stared toward the ruins."No."Dominic moved beside her."That isn't possible."The creature wearing young Dominic's face smiled."That's what you've always said."Rei ignored him.She stepped toward the collapsed temple."Hope!"The laughter came again.Soft.Happy.Almost playful.But there was something wrong with it.It wasn't coming from one direction.It was coming from everywhere.The ruins.The sky.The ground beneath their feet.Even inside Rei's own mind.Mommy.Rei froze.Liora's voice returned.Rei, don't go closer."Why?"Because that's not our Hope.Rei stared at the rubble."Then who is it?"Liora was silent.That frightened Rei more than anything."Liora."I don't know.The false Dominic stepped forward."Now you understand."Rei turned toward him."Explain.""You've spent all this time thinking Hope was the beginning."He gestured toward the ruins."She isn't.""Then what is that?""The first Hope."Dominic's expression h

The hand that emerged from beneath the fourth circle was unmistakably human.Rei stared at it.Five fingers.A wrist.Pale skin.A thin silver scar running across the back of the hand.Her scar.Her exact scar.The same mark she had carried since childhood.Dominic stepped in front of her.“No.”The thing beneath the floor pulled itself higher.Its fingers curled around the broken stone.Then a face appeared.Rei's face.Not similar.Not an alternate version.Not a possibility that had once existed.Her face.Her eyes.Her mouth.Her scars.Even the small crescent-shaped mark beneath her left eye that Dominic had once kissed when she was too frightened to tell him she remembered it.Dominic's breathing stopped.“Rei…”“I know.”The other Rei smiled.It was a terrible smile.Not cruel.Not angry.Just certain.She climbed from the crack and stood before them.For a moment, nobody spoke.Then Hope whispered:“That's not Mommy.”The other Rei turned toward her.“No.”Her voice was identi

Nobody spoke.The photograph lay on the stone between them, its edges still smoking.The words remained burned into its surface.THE FOURTH CHOICE HAS A NAME.AND HE HAS ALREADY BEEN BORN.Rei stared at them until the letters blurred.Then she looked at Hope.Hope wasn't crying anymore.That frightened Rei more.Her daughter sat perfectly still in her arms, silver eyes fixed on the photograph.“Hope,” Rei whispered.The baby slowly looked up.“Mommy?”“Who is he?”Hope's lips parted.For several seconds, nothing came out.Then she whispered:“I don't know.”Kael shook his head.“That isn't possible.”Hope turned toward him.“You don't know everything.”Kael flinched.Rei looked between them.“Kael, what exactly do you remember?”He swallowed.“In my future, there were stories about Hope.”“What kind of stories?”“That she was the first child born completely outside the old system. The first child who couldn't be controlled by the Origin.”Rei nodded.“We know that.”Kael looked toward

The first thing Rei heard was a baby crying.Not Hope.Not one of the children from the future.A different baby.A newborn's cry echoed through the darkness, small, furious, and wonderfully alive. The sound seemed to travel through every memory around them, reaching into places that had never held life.Rei clutched Dominic's hand.“Where is he?”Dominic stared into the collapsing darkness. “I don't know.”“Evan!”Her voice echoed.No answer came.Then the darkness split open.A bright doorway appeared ahead of them, revealing a small hospital room filled with warm light. A woman lay in a bed, exhausted but smiling, while a nurse held a newborn wrapped in a pale blue blanket.A man stood beside the bed, crying openly as he looked down at the child.The newborn had dark hair.And silver eyes.Rei's breath caught.The baby opened his mouth and wailed again.The man laughed through his tears.“Hello, little one.”The woman reached out to touch the baby's cheek.“Evan,” she whispered. “O

The chamber collapsed around them.Stone split apart overhead, sending fragments crashing into the floor. Silver light poured through the cracks, illuminating the faces of everyone trapped inside. Dominic pulled Rei toward him while Alexander dragged Seraphine away from a falling pillar.“Everybody move!” Caelan shouted. “The whole structure is coming down!”Mira grabbed Lily's hand. Kael lifted Nora into his arms, and Adrian helped Elara toward the opening that had appeared in the far wall.But Rei couldn't move.She stood frozen, staring into the darkness where the older Evan had disappeared.The voice still echoed through her mind.It's time you met your real mother.“Liora,” Rei whispered. “Who was that?”For the first time since Liora had become part of her consciousness, Rei felt something she had never experienced from the Witness.Fear.We have to leave.“Who was it?”Rei, please.The plea stopped her.Liora had never begged her for anything.Not when the Origin threatened to