MATED TO THE BEAST ALPHA BROTHERS
Chapter 36: Cycle of rebirth and vengeance.

Chapter 36: Cycle of rebirth and vengeance.

"This is bold, even for you."

Zareth’s voice was laced with amusement as he leaned against his ornate desk, fingers drumming lazily on its polished surface. The grand study was dimly lit, the air thick with the scent of aged whiskey and old parchment. He exuded an air of unbothered dominance, watching his uninvited guests with an expression bordering on amusement.

Archer’s jaw was clenched, his stance rigid with barely restrained fury. "Where is she?"

Zareth exhaled, swirling the drink in his hand. "You assume I have her?"

"Enough with the games, Zareth," Artemis snapped, his patience fraying.

Zareth arched a brow, his smirk deepening. "Oh, I assure you, if I had the girl, you’d know. But it seems Arthur got to her first."

Silence thickened in the room.

"You let him take her?" Archer growled.

Zareth scoffed, setting his glass down with a soft clink. "Let? You think I care enough to stop him?" He tilted his head slightly. "Your mate, your problem."

Archer took a dangerous step forward, his wolf clawing beneath his skin. "You’re a coward."

Zareth didn’t flinch. His smirk didn’t even waver. Instead, he turned his gaze to Cerius, an unspoken tension passing between them.

"You know this isn’t just about Arthur," Cerius said, his voice low.

Zareth sighed, standing to his full height. "Arthur is meddling with things far beyond his comprehension. He’s always been reckless. But this... this is a new level of stupidity, even for him."

Archer’s patience snapped. "Tell us where she is, or I’ll rip it from you."

Zareth let out a dry chuckle. "Oh, please do try. I’d love the entertainment."

Archer lunged, but Cerius grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"We don’t have time for this," Cerius muttered, his gaze still locked onto Zareth’s.

Zareth smirked again, but there was something different in his expression now. A flicker of something unreadable.

"Arthur always returns to the places that make him feel invincible," he said at last. "Find him there."

Archer turned without another word, storming out.

As the doors slammed shut behind them, Nyx stepped out from the shadows, arms crossed.

"You let them leave too easily," she mused.

Zareth exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders. "Arthur doesn’t realize what he’s done."

Nyx’s violet eyes darkened. "Then let him suffer."

The gates of the Beckett estate swung open violently.

But Archer didn’t walk in.

He charged.

There was no need for words. No need for demands.

Arthur would never give Haelyn back willingly.

So Archer would take her back.

The first guard barely had time to react before Archer’s claws sank into his throat, lifting him off the ground.

CRACK.

The body dropped, lifeless.

Chaos erupted.

Wolves in black armor poured out from the mansion, howling, shifting, attacking.

Artemis and Cerius were at Archer’s side instantly, cutting through their enemies with lethal precision.

Rowena’s magic flickered, sending wolves flying through the air.

Blood splattered the marble steps.

Archer’s vision blurred with fury. "WHERE IS SHE?!"

Arthur stepped onto the balcony above, watching the carnage with a smirk. "You’re wasting your energy, boy."

Archer launched himself toward him, but a wave of warriors blocked his path.

Cerius was a storm of destruction, his blows shattering bones as he carved through the chaos.

Artemis moved like a shadow, his daggers gleaming, silent and deadly.

"You’re too late, Archer," Arthur taunted, voice calm despite the bloodshed.

And then—

The ground shook.

The cave was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from the shimmering spring at its center.

Haelyn lay on the ground, her fingers brushing the cool moss beneath her.

Her chest burned.

Figures in flowing white cloaks moved around her in slow, deliberate circles, chanting in a language she did not understand.

She tried to sit up, but her body felt weighted, heavy, feverish.

"Do not fight it," a voice whispered.

Her head snapped up.

A tall figure stood at the edge of the water. Unlike the others, this one removed their hood.

A woman.

Her face was ethereal.

Ancient.

Eyes deep with knowledge Haelyn did not yet possess.

"Who are you?" Haelyn rasped.

The woman smiled, soft but knowing. "A guide. Nothing more, nothing less."

Haelyn’s breathing was ragged. "What are you doing to me?"

"Rest, child," the woman whispered. "Your body is simply remembering what it was always meant to be."

Pain. Searing pain.

It burned through her chest, curling through her veins.

She gasped, clutching her heart.

She could feel it.

Something awakening.

Something stirring.

A force unlike anything she had ever known.

The figures around her continued chanting, their voices rising, falling, harmonizing with the very pulse of the earth.

And then....

The world shattered around her.

Zareth froze.

A pulse of power rippled through the air, thick and electric.

His breathing faltered.

Nyx, standing at his side, stiffened.

"That... was not normal," she murmured.

Zareth clenched his fists, his stormy silver eyes flickering with something dangerous.

"No. It wasn’t."

Miles away, Cerius staggered.

Rowena’s eyes widened, fingers trembling.

Archer felt it too.

He knew it was Haelyn.

And Arthur....

Arthur was smiling.

"It has begun," he whispered.

Haelyn’s scream tore through the cave.

Her back arched, light pouring from her skin.

The figures around her did not stop chanting.

She could feel everything.

The wolves.

The land.

The sky.

And then....

Her eyes snapped open.

They were no longer blue.

They were white.

Glowing.

And the cave trembled with the force of something ancient finally waking.

"No... no... NO!"

The growl was not human.

It rumbled through the cave like a living force, shaking the very earth beneath Haelyn.

Her body twisted, convulsed, burned.

The creatures circled her, their white cloaks billowing as their chant rose higher, an eerie hymn in the ancient Amaeic language.

Her chest ached.

Something was awakening.

She could feel it....deep, buried in her blood, her bones.

"What is this?!" she gasped, thrashing against the force that held her in place.

One of the cloaked beings stepped closer, its skeletal hand hovering just over her forehead.

"You are remembering," the voice whispered, a mixture of many tones layered over one another.

Haelyn screamed.

A tidal wave of memories crashed into her, suffocating, overwhelming.

Her mother, Lunara, whispering ancient words into her ear as a child.

Arthur’s lies, his deception, his cruelty.

Cerius’s unreadable expressions, the protection in his eyes.

Zareth’s presence, always lurking, always watching.

And then....

A name.

A place.

A truth.

Haelyn’s eyes snapped open, burning white.

The creatures stilled.

"It is time."

Zareth’s glass shattered in his grip.

The entire estate rattled.

The air turned thick, suffocating, wrong.

Nyx took a step back, her hands clenching. "What the hell is that?"

Zareth’s body convulsed. His breathing was ragged, erratic.

His claws elongated, his canines sharper, his veins pulsing with ancient magic.

The beasts inside him stirred, howling, snarling.

His mind screamed one thing:

No.

"NO!" he roared, his voice shaking the walls.

His body twisted, his muscles expanding, bones breaking and reforming.

His wolf was breaking free.

Not his usual form.

No....this was something else.

Something monstrous.

Nyx’s breath hitched. "Father...?"

Zareth turned.

His silver eyes were gone.

In their place.....

A black void of chaos.

Nyx staggered back.

For the first time in her life....

She was afraid of him.

Across the werewolf lands....

Alphas fell to their knees.

Elders whispered ancient prayers.

The moon itself dimmed.

Archer stumbled, gripping his head as his wolf raged inside of him.

Artemis pressed a hand to his temple. "Did you feel that?"

Rowena’s magic flared uncontrollably, her pulse racing.

Cerius, standing on the cliffside of his estate, gritted his teeth.

"It’s her."

His heart pounded.

"Haelyn."

Zareth’s body expanded, his form grotesque, unnatural.

His fur was not fur.

It was shadows....tangible, crawling, alive.

His canines were jagged, dripping with dark venom.

His claws pulsed with raw destruction.

And when he spoke.....

It was not Zareth’s voice.

It was many voices.

"She cannot awaken."

Nyx was paralyzed, unable to move.

Zareth lunged...

Not at her.

At the entire estate.

The ground split apart beneath his weight.

The walls collapsed.

His roar echoed across the realm, shaking the mountains, splitting the skies.

He wasn’t just losing control.

He was becoming something else.

Something even he could not contain.

And as the night trembled under his power....

Haelyn’s transformation reached its peak.

Haelyn’s body lifted off the ground.

The cloaked figures knelt before her.

The entire cave trembled.

And then....

Her voice rang out, layered with a power not her own.

"Zareth."

The monstrous wolf froze.

His breath hitched.

Nyx’s eyes widened.

Haelyn, from across the realms, had called his name.

And Zareth.....

For the first time in centuries.....

Felt fear.

"I am not the vessel"

A voice chanted but with calmness like a still spring

"I am the destiny, I am the destroyer"

Then laughter sinister and mocking rang

" I am the vanquisher, for I tear across the lands, my power mightier than the moon"

"And they.....they know my name" the voice was feminine and vengeful

"Reborn vengeful like Persephone!"

"I am KERES!!"

There was a rumble in the sky,the clouds gathered, becoming darker than usual.

something pooled and swirled at the center of the sky....

Then thunderclaps...

And the rain finally began to touch the ground but it was Mid summer...