CHAPTER 106: _WON’T LET ANYTHING TAKE YOU AGAIN

Lucian’s POV

*****

When Elian’s scream tore through, the black veins sprouting like worms from the mark on his ankle, Lucian felt an odd sense of dread.

Everything was happening so fast and the so-called "Umbra Beast" seemed far too convenient.

That and the Dark Hand’s potential involvement in this.

Earlier today when he walked into Axel cupping Elian’s dick like it was a lollipop he couldn’t wait to gobble, Lucian had made a mental vow to distance himself from him.

Seeing Axel touch their mate like that, knowing the Beta knotted in him first, was too much for his ego and his possessive instincts. Plus, the fact that the Eastern Wolves Council’s message of marriage still loomed didn’t help things.

But seconds ago, seeing Elian getting surrounded by those dark tendrils... Snapped something primal within him. The urge to protect him at all costs.

He told himself it was merely instinct... But he knew deep down it was more than that. And he loathed it.

"Elian? Elian, look at me." Lucian cupped his mate’s face in both hands, forcing him to focus his violet eyes on him. "You’ll be fine. Just focus on my voice."

Elian barely blinked, his face wincing with pain as he slowly shook his head. "It hurts... The mark feels like it’s... Burning through my fucking bone. Argh!"

That shout at the end caused the lights above them to flicker before turning off entirely.

"Shit!" Lucian cursed, wrapping his arm around Elian’s back and helping him off the ground.

He glanced back at Axel, seeing him still struggling with the five dark tendrils.

As for Aurora, she stood still, her hand on her chest. The disconnected look in her eyes told Lucian she was still struggling with the aftermath of the mate bond loss.

"Aurora!" Lucian yelled, his jaw clenched. "I get your pain. Really, I do. I know that’s ironic coming from me, but you’re my sister, and I hate seeing you like this."

Just then, his eyes flicked to the entrance of the bar where the five guards who’d followed them to the hotel trooped in, their sleek golden armour glistening despite the darkness swallowing the bar.

They rushed to go help Axel, whose left arm had gotten tangled by a dark tendril, the Umbra beast’s monstrous screech echoing through the bar at a pitch so loud that glass shattered.

"Aurora! My point is... Please, don’t let Elian die." Lucian pleaded. "I need your help, sister. We need your help. I haven’t been the best mate to him, I know. But he doesn’t deserve the same fate as Magnus."

Something seemed to click in Aurora’s silver eyes just then as she slowly raised her head to face him.

Aurora’s gaze was distant at first, her lips trembling, but then... a faint silver glow flickered across her skin. It started at her collarbones, then pulsed outward like a heartbeat.

Lucian tightened his grip on Elian, feeling the heat from the mark searing under his palm as if it wanted to devour his mate from the inside out.

He gritted his teeth and shouted. "Now, Aurora!"

Her scream ripped through the darkness like the first cry of dawn, mixed with her pain and emotions.

A burst of silver moonlight exploded from her body, washing the entire bar in brilliance so bright Lucian had to half-shield Elian’s face with his arm. The tendrils recoiled instantly, hissing, sizzling against the holy radiance like tar meeting fire.

"Elian!" Axel roared, his plasma sabre blazing brighter as he spun, hacking at the nearest tendril. Bolts of light showered the room as he severed two, their stumps writhing before retreating back into the shadows.

The Umbra beast howled, finally revealing more than just its claws. From the ceiling it unfurled, massive and grotesque, a body stitched from smoke and bone.

It filled the space, its eyes glowing like hollow pits of night.

Lucian bared his teeth, silver light flaring across his own skin, his Alpha aura awakening. The beast faltered, its screech cutting sharply at the force pressing against it.

For a second, Elian gasped in Lucian’s arms. The veins crawling his skin pulsed harder, black against his pale flesh, but Aurora’s silver light fought back, searing them at the edges.

Smoke curled off him like ash.

"Keep going!" Lucian barked, his voice sharp. "Aurora, brighter!"

She gritted her teeth, screaming as she forced the light to swell, her body nearly trembling apart from the strain. Every inch of her glowed until she was a miniature moon blazing in the dark.

Axel timed it perfectly, charging forward with a snarl, his sabre like a golden bolt. He slashed upward into the beast’s chest, cutting through shadows like flesh.

The beast staggered on the ceiling, letting out a thunderous roar that rattled the walls.

Lucian set Elian gently against the floor and stepped forward, his silver aura bursting into a gale around him.

"You will not touch what is mine," he growled. His hands clawed the air, pulling the beast down with sheer dominance, his Alpha power clashing with its darkness until the ground cracked beneath them.

"NOW!"

Aurora screamed again, unleashing her full power. Silver beams shot straight into the mark on Elian’s ankle. The black veins writhed violently, black smoke pouring out as if exorcised.

Elian arched his back, crying out... but then the mark shrieked, the sound inhuman, before shattering into nothing.

At the same moment, Axel drove his sabre through the Umbra beast’s skull. Lucian unleashed one final roar, his aura detonating in a storm of silver that ripped the creature apart from the inside out.

The beast dissolved in a violent implosion of shadows, sucked back into the void it crawled from.

And then, silence fell.

Only Elian’s soft, uneven breaths filled Lucian’s ears.

He was already kneeling, scooping him back into his arms before anyone else could. Elian’s head lolled against his shoulder, violet eyes half-lidded and drowsy. The mark was gone, but his body trembled like he’d been drained of everything.

Lucian brushed damp hair from his face.

"You’re safe now," he murmured, softer than he meant to. His thumb lingered against Elian’s jaw, tracing the warmth there. "I won’t let anything take you again."

Elian blinked slowly, his lips parting. "Lucian..." His voice was weak, slurred with exhaustion, but the way he said his name—so unguarded—tore straight through him.

Lucian swallowed, torn between pulling him closer and setting him down before he betrayed himself.

Before he could decide, Axel’s voice broke the moment.

The Beta stood nearby, sabre dim now, golden eyes sharp even with blood dripping down his arm. "If Magnus is truly dead," he said grimly, "I can’t help but wonder... how. And what happened to Estella?"

The words hung heavy, colder than the ashes left behind by the umbra beast.

And Lucian had a feeling he wouldn’t like the answer.