CHAPTER 110: CALEB’S OPPOSITION

Caleb POV

My fist slammed into Dmitri’s jaw before I even realized I’d moved. The vampire stumbled backward, blood dripping from his split lip, but I wasn’t done. Something primal inside me roared with fury at his idea.

"You will not touch her," I hissed, my werewolf side pushing close to the surface. "I don’t care if we’re friends. I don’t care if the world is ending. You are not turning Lily into a monster."

Dmitri wiped the blood from his mouth, his pale eyes flashing with anger. "Your protective instincts are admirable, wolf, but they’re going to get everyone killed."

"My protective instincts?" I laughed harshly. "You mean the link that Marcus severed? The mate link that no longer exists?"

That was the twisted truth eating at me. When Marcus broke the supernatural ties holding our alliance together, he’d severed my mate bond with Lily too. I should feel nothing for her now except simple pack loyalty. The power that had tied our souls together was gone.

But the need to protect her burned in my chest like flames.

"The bond is broken," I continued, circling Dmitri like an animal. "I can’t feel her feelings anymore. Can’t feel her pain or share her strength. According to every rule of werewolf magic, she should mean nothing more to me than any other pack member."

"Then why are you acting like a jealous mate?" Dmitri asked, real confusion in his voice.

"Because some things run deeper than magic!" I roared, my control finally snapping.

The truth burst out of me like a dam breaking. "I loved her before the mate bond appeared. I noticed her years before that Triple Moon Mark showed up on her wrist. When she was just the quiet omega in the nursery, I watched her care for the pups with such gentleness that it made my chest hurt."

Lily’s gasp cut through my rage, telling me she could hear every word.

"I fell in love with her mind when she made statements about pack politics that were smarter than anything my father’s advisors ever said. I fell in love with her strength when she stood up to Luna despite being scared. The mate bond didn’t create my feelings - it just made them hard to ignore."

My hands shook as I faced the group. "So no, vampire. I won’t let you drain her blood and fill her with your evil. Not because some special bond tells me to protect her, but because I choose to. Because even without supernatural force, I’d rather die than watch her suffer."

Elder Iris stepped between us before Dmitri could reply. "The boy speaks truth," she said quietly. "True love exists beyond magic’s reach. It’s what makes us more than just our magical natures."

"Pretty words," Dmitri answered coldly. "But Marcus wants her future child now. Your touching human feelings won’t stop him from cutting that baby out of her."

The memory hit like a physical blow. Marcus’s new threat - fifteen minutes to deliver Lily’s baby, or he’d take it himself - made my stomach turn to ice. But that didn’t make the vampire’s answer any less horrifying.

"There has to be another way," I urged.

"Like what?" Aiden demanded. "We’re stuck in a collapsing cave with seven children, a pregnant omega, and a vampire who can barely stand. Marcus has an army of Void Walkers and a reality-breaking machine. What’s your great plan, brother?"

The question stung because I didn’t have an answer. As the pack strategist, I was meant to find solutions to impossible problems. But every situation I ran through ended in disaster.

"We fight," I said finally. "We take the battle to Marcus before he can hurt Lily or the baby."

"With what army?" Brock asked coldly. "Half our fighters are spread across three dimensions. The other half are dealing with reality weather in the city. It’s just us."

"Then we make ourselves enough," I shot back.

Dmitri shook his head. "Noble, but stupid. You’re thinking like a monster - all teeth and claws and heroic charges. Marcus isn’t some rogue alpha you can frighten. He’s rewriting the laws of life itself."

"And you think turning Lily into a vampire will stop him?"

"I think giving her the power to stabilize reality on a huge scale might actually work. Your way gets everyone killed, including the baby you’re so desperate to protect."

The worst part was that he might be right. I could see the logic in his plan, even as every instinct screamed against it. But logic didn’t change the fact that vampire transformation had a ninety-eight percent failure rate.

"You’re asking me to gamble with the life of the woman I love," I said softly.

"I’m asking you to gamble with her life to save it," Dmitri answered. "Along with the lives of everyone else in this cave."

Baby Emma’s cries suddenly turned into something else - a sound no human baby should be able to make. We all turned to see her floating three feet above Maya’s arms, surrounded by silver light that pulsed like a heartbeat.

"The baby’s reacting to the chaos magic," Elder Iris breathed. "Her powers are manifesting early."

As we watched in horror, Emma’s tiny body began to age fast, then reverse, then age again. The reality confusion around her grew stronger with each cycle.

"She’s going to tear herself apart," Lily whispered, reaching toward the flying baby.

But when she tried to use her anchor skills, nothing happened. The strain of protecting everyone had finally exhausted her power totally.

"I can’t calm her," Lily said, fear creeping into her voice. "I can’t help her."

Emma’s cries grew louder, and the silver light around her started to crack like breaking glass. Through the cracks, I could see glimpses of other worlds - places where reality followed different rules.

"She’s opening rifts," Dmitri said quickly. "Random portals to other worlds. If we can’t stop her..."

He didn’t need to finish. An unchecked reality-warper could accidentally destroy our entire world.

"The transformation," Lily said suddenly. "If I become a vampire mix, could I reach her? Could I calm her down?"

"Maybe," Dmitri admitted. "But the process would take hours, and she’s losing control now."

I looked at the floating, crying baby whose strength was spiraling out of control. At the scared children huddled in the corner. At Lily, whose hand rested protectively on her own growing child.

At the vampire whose desperate plan might be our only hope.

"There’s a third option," I said slowly, the idea forming as I spoke. "What if we don’t wait for the transformation to finish?"

"What do you mean?" Dmitri asked.

"What if we start the process but stop it halfway through? Give Lily a boost of vampire power without the full transformation?"

Dmitri’s eyes widened. "That’s... that’s never been tried. The magical reaction could kill her instantly."

"Or it could give her just enough power to reach Emma," I replied.

"The risks—"

"The risks are enormous," I interrupted. "But they’re better than waiting for Marcus to come collect his prize."

Lily looked between us, then at the baby whose reality cracks were spreading wider. "How much time would a partial transformation take?"

"Maybe twenty minutes," Dmitri said grudgingly. "But Caleb’s right - the failure rate would be even higher. We’d essentially be poisoning you with vampire magic and hoping you live long enough to use it."

"And if it works?"

"If it works, you’d have maybe an hour of enhanced power before the incomplete transformation starts tearing you apart from the inside."

An hour. One hour to save Emma, face Marcus, and protect our future child.

"Do it," Lily said.

"Lily, no—" I started.

"Someone has to reach Emma before she destroys everything," she said strongly. "And someone has to stop Marcus from getting our baby. If this is the only way, then we try it."

She looked at me with eyes full of love and fear. "I need you to trust me, Caleb. Even without the mate tie, I need you to believe in me."

Before I could answer, the cave around us began to dissolve as Emma’s reality cracks spread further. Through the gaps, I could see Marcus’s army of Void Walkers moving toward us.

"Time’s up," Marcus’s voice echoed proudly. "Ready or not, I’m coming for my prize."

But as his forces neared, something else came through Emma’s dimensional rifts. Something that made my blood freeze in my veins.

Another form of Marcus. Then another. And another.

The baby had accidentally opened portals to realities where Marcus had already won, and now three different versions of our enemy were converging on our position.

"Oh," Dmitri said quietly. "We’re definitely going to die."