CHAPTER 79: WHEN MAGIC DIES

Chapter 79: When Magic Dies

Three days had passed since the traditional circle, and Liana hadn’t slept once. She sat beside Kael’s bed, dabbing a cool cloth against his fevered face.

In the next room, Jace tossed restlessly, mumbling words she couldn’t understand. Down the hall, Rowan stared out his window, silent as stone.

They were living. But barely. "You need rest," Talia whispered from the doorway. Dark rings shadowed her friend’s eyes too. "You can’t help them if you collapse." "I’m fine," Liana lied, her hands shaking as she wrung out the cloth.

"They gave everything for me. The least I can do is—" "Is what? Kill yourself watching them sleep?" Talia stepped closer. "This isn’t your fault." "Isn’t it?" Liana’s voice cracked. "If I hadn’t challenged Lyra, if I’d just walked away—" "Then Rowan would be dead." Kael’s voice was barely a whisper, but it made both girls jump.

His gray eyes opened slowly, focusing on her face. "And she would have killed you anyway." "Kael!" Liana grabbed his hand, relief rushing through her. "How do you feel?" He tried to sit up, then fell back with a groan. "Like I got crushed by a herd of buffalo. And they all had iron shoes."

Despite everything, Liana smiled. "That’s the most Kael thing you’ve said in days."

"How are my brothers?" " Jace woke up yesterday but went back to sleep. Rowan..." She glanced toward the hallway. "He’s been awake, but he won’t talk to anyone." Kael’s face darkened. "He blames himself."

"For what?" "For being the reason we had to break the link. For being too weak to fight Mother’s magic." Kael fought to sit up again, and this time Liana helped him. "He’s a psychic. He feels everyone’s pain like it’s his own."

A knock at the door stopped them. Elder Mira entered, her ceremonial robes changed by simple gray cloth. She looked older than Liana had ever seen her. "You’re awake," Mira said to Kael. "Good. We need to talk."

"About what?" Liana asked. Mira’s face was grim. "About what happens when you sever a blood link. About what your brothers have lost, and what it means for all of us."

She sat heavily in the chair beside the bed. "Blood magic isn’t like other magic. It links to the very essence of who you are. When that link is cut..."

"We lose our Alpha strength," Kael finished. "We already figured that out." "It’s more than strength."

Mira shook her head. "Your power to shift may be gone forever. Your healing factor, your enhanced senses, your link to the pack mind—all of it tied to that blood bond." The room went quiet. Liana felt her heart drop into her stomach. "Forever?" she whispered. "I don’t know," Mira revealed.

"This hasn’t happened in over three hundred years. The last Alpha who cut his blood bond..." She paused.

"He never recovered. He lived as a normal person until old age took him." Kael’s face went pale, but his words stayed steady. "Then we live as people. Better than letting Rowan die." "Kael—" "No." He squeezed Liana’s hand.

"We made our choice. I won’t regret it." But Liana could see the fear in his eyes, the same fear she felt growing in her belly.

What would happen to the pack with three weak Alphas? What would happen to them? A commotion outside made them all turn toward the window. Pack members were gathered in the courtyard, pointing at the sky and talking in hushed voices. "What’s wrong?" Liana asked. Mira stood and looked out.

Her face went white. "It’s starting." "What’s starting?" "The protection spells around our area. They were bound to Lyra’s bloodline through her boys. When the boys severed that link..." She trailed off. Liana pushed past her to look outside. The sky above the pack lands was wrong.

A blood-red moon hung in the bright afternoon sun, casting everything in an eerie crimson light. "That’s impossible," Kael said, trying to stand. "Moons don’t appear during daylight." "They do when the magical barriers that protect reality start to crack," Mira answered.

A scream echoed from somewhere in the house. All three of them rushed toward the sound, Liana supporting Kael as he tripped. They found Jace in his room, sitting bolt upright in bed, his green eyes wide with fear. "The babies," he gasped. "Something’s wrong with the babies."

"What babies?" Liana asked. "The ones born this morning. Three of them. I can hear them crying, but..." He shook his head furiously. "Their cries aren’t normal. They’re... different."

Talia burst through the door, her face red from running. "The new parents are asking for you, Liana. The pups... they have shiny eyes. All of them." "Silver eyes?" Mira’s voice was barely a whisper. "That’s a sign of the old blood rising. But it only happens when—" She didn’t finish, but Liana saw the fear in her face.

"When what?" Liana demanded. "When something old is stirring. Something that’s been sleeping for ages." Another scream, this one from outside.

Through the window, they could see pack members pointing at the forest edge. Dark shapes moved between the trees—shapes that didn’t belong to any wolf Liana had ever seen. "What are those?" Jace whispered.

Before anyone could answer, Talia’s eyes rolled back in her head. She swayed on her feet, her voice becoming faraway and hollow. "I see darkness," she said in a voice that wasn’t her own. "Coming from beyond the edge of everything. It’s been waiting, watching, hungry. The walls are cracking. The locks are breaking.

And she’s calling to it." "Who’s calling to it?" Liana grabbed Talia’s shoulders. "Talia, who?" "The witch. She’s found something worse than her own power. Something that’s been sleeping in the spaces between worlds."

Talia’s silver eyes centered on Liana with terrifying clarity. "It wants what you have. The guardian blood. The royal line. It needs you to wake up completely." "To wake up what?" "The Void Wolves. The pack that lives in the darkness between stars." Talia’s voice grew more anxious. "They’re coming, Liana. All of them.

And when they arrive, our world ends." The blood moon above pulsed brighter, and somewhere in the distance, something howled. It wasn’t the howl of any earthly dog. It was the sound of hunger given voice, of nothingness trying to fill itself. Rowan emerged in the doorway, his face drawn but determined.

"We need to evacuate the pack," he said softly. "Now." "Evacuate to where?" Kael asked. "If Talia’s right, nowhere is safe."

"Then we make a stand," Liana said, surprised by the power in her own voice. "We find a way to fix the barriers, stop whatever’s coming, and—" Talia grabbed her arm, her nails biting into skin.

"Four days," she whispered quickly. "We have four days before the Convergence. When all three moons align, the barriers fall fully. And that’s when she’ll bring them through." "Bring what through?" "Everything. The Void Wolves, the dark creatures, the hunger that devours light itself."

Talia’s grip tightened. "She’s not just trying to take over our pack, Liana. She’s planning to end our world." Outside, the blood moon pulsed again, and the screaming grew louder. In the trees, more dark shapes emerged, their eyes glowing with an inner fire that hurt to look at.

The brothers might be helpless, the barriers might be cracking, and something ancient might be stirring in the darkness between worlds.

But as Liana looked at the faces around her—Kael pale but determined, Jace scared but brave, Rowan steady despite his guilt, Talia trembling with visions of doom—she felt something unexpected. Hope. They’d face whatever was coming. Together. Even if it killed them all.

The blood moon pulsed one more time, and somewhere in the space between heartbeats, something huge and hungry turned its attention toward their small corner of reality.

Four days. They had four days to save everything. Starting now.