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“Yes,” I finally whispered, barely audible. “I felt it.”

The witch smiled knowingly, her eyes warm in the firelight. “Then trust in what’s coming. It’s a path you’re already walking, even if you can’t yet see its end.”

I stared into the flames, my chest tightening.

Two years. Lexa. Me. A daughter. And a future that had somehow, against all odds, found its way to us through a human boy with too-wide eyes and a heart that refused to let go.

I exhaled slowly, the weight of it sinking in. I glanced at the witch again, my voice steadying. “Then we save Lexa. No matter the cost.”

And as I watched her stir, as the firelight danced across her lined face, something new took root within me:Hope.

The potion bubbled, steam rising in thick, pungent curls. Just as the witch began carefully pouring it into a vial, my vision lurched suddenly, violently. The room tilted, blurred. The world narrowed, darkening around the edges.

I stumbled, gasping.

Then, her voice—Lexa.

Weak, shaking, desperate, butalive. She was awake, reaching through the bond with the strength she had left, pulling me toward her, forcing her visions into my mind.

Blurry lines, muffled, distorted images. Voices harsh, distant, yet painfully clear—

“The fucking kid is gone too!”a familiar voice snarled in fury.

My heart seized violently. Roran.

“I told you to keep a fucking eye on him!” he roared.

Then another voice, cold and familiar. Tanya.“Andros put his stupid Beta on my tail. Trying to exile me. I couldn’t move freely in the citadel—not until your men showed up and gutted him. Left him to bleed out behind the stables.”

My breath stopped.

Garrick. Gutted. Left for dead.

Lexa's panic rippled sharply through the bond, a wave of terror, rage, desperation. Everything she'd shown me, every blurred vision, real. They were trapped in the citadel, surrounded by traitors, hunted.

My blood roared in my ears. Rage ignited again, fierce and savage. Lexa, Garrick, everyone loyal to me, they were all in grave danger.

I turned sharply to the witch, eyes wild, frantic. “The citadel. Now. We have to go back.”

She looked at me, mouth thin, eyes blazing with dark determination. “A day's ride won't cut it, Alpha.”

“Then do something.Anything.”

Her lips curled into a bitter, exhausted smile. “That fucking house you build me better have one hell of an herb garden.”

Before I could question her, she reached out, fingers slicing through the air with the last dregs of her strength. Energy crackled, splitting the room open, tearing reality itself apart. A shimmering portal spiralled before us, wild and volatile, filled with dark energy and raw magic.

The witch held out her hand, shaking but fierce, eyes locked on mine.

“After you, my Lord,” she rasped.

CHAPTER 25

Andros

We plunged through the portal, magic slicing violently through my bones. Reality spun and twisted like molten metal around us. My vision blurred, narrowed, then shattered.

Madness surged through my skull, raw and savage. Images poured across my mind, visions no mortal should see, things beyond my understanding.