CHAPTER 517: ENTICING SMELL

Ian charged forward in fury!

’How dare she try to harm his Elfin! His baby! His family!’ He swung his arm instinctively to intercept the attack, but he was the first to feel the change in the air, causing him, against his best interest, to slow down a fraction.

Coming back from the Wendover mansion, Ian had been prepared to deal with that nuisance in his home, but little did he expect to see her attacking his people. He could not even imagine what they had gone through in his absence, for Ian knew exactly what Aliya was.

Ian had known that there was some danger in Aliya being there, but he had gravely underestimated that level of risk!

It was almost like a slow-mo scene.

Shelby also stood her ground and raised her left hand to counter the attack, while the right hand cradled her belly.

It was at this time that the rest, especially Geneva, saw the emphasis of the bulging belly, and her eyes widened in surprise, then shock, and then fury, directed at the intended harm that the creature wanted to inflict.

Ian’s brief slowness gained Aliya the moment she needed to lunge right at Shelby, not with brute force, but with the kind of surprising, swift elegance that only came from centuries of hunger sharpened to a blade. One blink, and she was no longer a distance away.

Aliya was in front of them and was too fast. Ian raised his hand unconsciously, and with a burst of white light, a barrier snapped into place between his Elfin and the charging threat, but Aliya’s fingers sliced through it like silk, shattering it in impact. She tore through it with an unholy screech, shards of magic exploding around her. She was strong in that moment and too desperate.

The lunge was feral and determined—her then bloodred eyes locked on Shelby’s belly. She was angry that Ian had impregnated her, but with the way the two were making out at each turn, that was not surprising.

What ticked Aliya off the most was the scent coming off the unborn child, which hit her like a wave of delicate perfume laced with ecstasy. She salivated, actually salivated, her claws twitching mid-air. "That child..." she whispered hoarsely, "it smells like power.... Delicious!"

She muttered this to herself, licking her lips, but it was as loud as could be, especially, for Ian and Shelby, who were closest to her.

Shelby instinctively stepped back, both arms now crossing her midsection protectively. She didn’t have time to think, only to shield... and she knew that her baby was the priority!

As the barrier that Ian had summoned collapsed under that deranged Aliya, he did not hesitate to plant himself between the two.

Then came a second barrier ... this time cooler, more calculated. Currey flicked his wrist with a sharp command, and violet energy spiralled into a protective shell. "Hold," he muttered, sweat dotting his brow. He was not used to summoning such, and it had been done too quickly. Out of the Fae-land, their power diminished almost to half of its strength, and they needed more concentration to get it done.

So, it was no surprise that, even the second shield fell.

Aliya’s clawed hand pierced through, ripping it open like paper. "Useless!" she spat, deranged hunger dripping from every syllable. Her eyes widened in crazed triumph.

Neither she nor anyone else in the room expected what came next, though.

Screams echoed throughout this brief moment.

"Mummy!"

"No!"

"Stop! Don’t hurt her!"

"Please! Let go of Mama!"

The children’s as well as the adult onlookers’ voices rang through the room, desperate, frightened, high-pitched with panic.

But though they tried to rush forward blindly, they were held back by the grandparents, only Alex was doing most of the holding back as Geneva also tried to rush forward. Alex looked at his wife in disbelief, wondering what she could do in that attacking situation unfolding. All they could do was watch with their hands pressed at their throats, in breathless horror.

Then a faint pulse, and then another.

From within Shelby—no, from within her protruding belly - a massive, radiant barrier erupted outward. It didn’t crackle like summoned magic. It didn’t waver. It pushed, as if the very space had decided enough was enough.

Aliya froze mid-swipe and was thrown back several feet like a rag doll. Her body hit the floor with a sickening thud.

Everyone stared agape. Even Ian was shocked, as was Currey. Shelby staggered but stood tall, hand still on her belly.

Samantha had tried to shield the younger ones, but even she let out a gasp as Aliya was thrown across the room, her limbs splaying, hair wild, eyes wide in disbelief. This time, human or not, they all saw the force field push Aliya back.

The light—the pulsing, pure, golden light—flickered once more around Shelby, before slowly fading like ripples on water, right beneath their eyes.

Silence followed. Deafening, brittle silence.

The children stood frozen, Gabriel with tear tracks down his cheeks, Ingrid’s usually indifferent face shocked, with a hand half-raised to her mouth, stunned.

And then, slowly, their gazes turned... to her.... to Shelby... their mother, and these three kids couldn’t have been prouder of her in that moment.

Shelby was shaking, but unbroken, one hand still resting gently on her belly. She looked shaken, unsure of what had just happened, but her back was straight. Her eyes were fierce. She was but a mother hen protecting her unhatched chick, though she had no idea how she had done that!

Then Ingrid whispered, "Did...did Mummy do that or did the baby just protect Mummy?"

No one answered right away. It looked that way, but ...

Silence hung in the air until Currey breathed, "That wasn’t her... that was the child."

Ian looked from his wife’s stunned face to the soft, golden light still flickering but fading around her womb.

Geneva and even Alex marvelled that they had seen a glimpse of a miracle!

And for the first time, Aliya, still on the floor, looked afraid.

Obviously, she was not sure what had thrown her back, but the force was something that she could not even begin to imagine and that scared the shit out of her.

"Our ba-by did that?" Shelby whispered in disbelief herself, as Ian fretted over her, trying to make sure that she was okay.

"Bind her," the man ordered, the softness and worry vanishing from his eyes, replaced by a chilling, unyielding coldness that left no room for argument.

Currey sprang into action, disappearing and reappearing. It was almost as if he blinked himself back into the room.

Without hesitation, Currey stepped forward and drew a length of shimmering rope. It was a rope humming faintly with ancient runes. With practiced precision, he cast it around her wrists and over her body as well. The moment it touched her skin, it sparked, pulsing with energy.

Aliya hissed, jerking as if stung. The little transformation around her dimmed instantly, as if her power had stilled like a flame smothered beneath glass. She returned to her human features and actually felt as if the hunger had been doused a little.

"It’s done," Currey said coldly, the rope tightening of its own accord.

With her power sealed by the rope of binding, Aliya thrashed against the invisible chains of her rage from the helplessness she felt. She was used to being in control, and this was not a situation she liked. She was distressed, furious—her fingers clawed uselessly at the air. Her mind swirled with maddening thoughts that she could not act on.

’Why should she get a child so powerful-so... untouchable—even while it is unborn ... while mine... mine is like this?

Aliya’s eyes burned with hate, narrowed on the still-glowing Shelby cradling her belly. Though her thoughts were her own, her actions made the unspoken words all the more clearer. But before another venomous word could slip from her lips—

SMACK!

A sharp crack echoed through the hall as Geneva stepped forward and backhanded her across the face. The slap snapped her head sideways, making Currey turn back in surprise. Gasps rippled through the room, but not because anyone felt sorry for Aliya.

Seeing that she was bound, Alex walked over to his wife and checked if her hand was okay.

"That—"Geneva growled, voice trembling with fury, "—is for daring to harm my grandchild!"

This was all the more clear as to the reason, for all of them knew how much Geneva had longed for a child between Ian and Shelby.

Before Aliya could recover, another pain tore through her scalp.

"Aaagh!" she screamed, as Suzie yanked her head back by the hair, forcing her to her knees. In this near-human state, stripped of most of her protections, she felt every sensation vividly—every jolt of pain was real, raw. It had been centuries since she felt such pain, but it did nothing to stop the assault on her.

And yet, it was the silence that followed that cut deepest.

Shelby, calm, unbending, stood a few feet away, one hand resting over her belly after giving Ian a mental assurance that she was okay. She stared at Aliya with a gaze colder than ice, just like her husband’s.

Her voice was low, sharp.

"Is this all you could think to do? Harm children? ... and the innocent?"

A pause. "That’s all your power amounts to? Pitiful!"

There was no mockery in her tone. No pity. Only a terrible, elegant kind of judgment—the kind that stripped a person down to the truth of what they were.

The room was silent ... again, but the shame was deafening. If Aliya thought that she felt her worst in centuries, she did not expect what her own daughter did next!

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