MATED TO THE BEAST ALPHA BROTHERS
Chapter 72: Total chaos

Chapter 72: Total chaos

"Something’s wrong with him."

Haelyn’s voice cut through the thick silence like a blade. She stood still, fists clenched at her sides, watching Ezra writhe in his sleep. The baby’s tiny fists balled, chest rising too fast, a cry stuck somewhere in his throat...but no sound came.

Archer crouched beside the bundle of blankets. "He’s fevered again."

"He wasn’t an hour ago." Her eyes burned. "It started the moment the wind changed."

Seraphis pressed her hand to Ezra’s forehead. Her jaw tightened. "This isn’t illness."

"You think I don’t know that?" Haelyn snapped. "Don’t talk to me like I haven’t watched this child since he drew his first breath."

"Then listen," Seraphis snapped back. "This is interference. Something’s trying to get in."

Archer stood, turning toward the cave’s mouth. "She’s close."

"Liora?" Haelyn whispered.

He didn’t answer.

Ezra suddenly jerked...arms flailing, his mouth open, face scrunched up in terror.

No sound.

Not a single cry.

Haelyn rushed to him, scooping him up. "Shh, shh, I’ve got you...I’ve got you."

But his eyes... they weren’t right.

They were wide. Too wide. Like he was looking through her.

"No," she whispered. "No, baby, no..."

Seraphis’s hand hovered near the child. "She’s trying to possess him."

"You said she couldn’t," Archer growled. "Not without a ritual. Not without proximity."

"I said not fully. This is just the beginning."

Ezra suddenly gasped...like someone had just pulled him from underwater...and then let out a shriek so piercing, it made all three of them flinch.

Haelyn held him tighter, rocking violently. "Stay with me, stay with me, mama’s here..."

But her voice cracked when blood began to drip from his nose.

Archer unsheathed his blade. "Where is she?!"

At the edge of the valley, mist rolled over the old stones.

Zareth stood at the tree line, his arms crossed, eyes narrowed on the altar before him.

Liora was already there.

Kneeling before the stone.

A wolf’s heart pulsed on the slab, freshly torn, still twitching.

"This is barbaric," Zareth muttered.

"This is necessary," Liora replied without looking. "The boy is resisting."

"He’s a baby."

"He’s blood." Her voice was sharp. "He’s royal. Sacred. And mine."

Zareth walked up behind her slowly. "You really think this will break their bond to him?"

She smiled coldly. "Not break. Rewrite."

"And if it kills him?"

She paused.

Then whispered, "Then the vessel was never meant to last."

Haelyn stumbled to her knees, clutching Ezra as he screamed. His skin was clammy, his eyes rolling.

Seraphis had begun chanting.

Archer stood just outside the cave, scanning the trees with eyes sharp and deadly. "She’s not here."

"She doesn’t need to be," Seraphis snapped. "She’s anchoring through him. Using a blood tether."

"What do we do?" Haelyn choked, rocking back and forth. "Tell me how to stop this!"

Seraphis’s eyes narrowed. "We sever the tether."

"How?"

Her silence was the loudest answer of all.

"You don’t know," Archer growled.

"I know one way."

They both turned to her.

"Bathe him in the Pool of Binding."

Haelyn went still. "That place is cursed."

"That’s why it works."

"He’s a baby."

"He’s also a beacon. Right now, he’s drawing her in with every breath he takes."

Haelyn stood. "Then lead the way."

The Pool lay hidden behind a veil of weeping willows and time.

It shimmered black under the moonlight, still and thick as oil.

Archer approached it first. "Are we sure this doesn’t kill him?"

Seraphis murmured, "If it does, it ends Liora’s hold. If it doesn’t, it seals her out."

"Great odds," Archer muttered.

Haelyn removed Ezra’s wrappings slowly, every motion trembling. "He’s burning up."

"Quickly," Seraphis urged. "Submerge him completely."

Haelyn hesitated.

Then stepped forward.

She held her breath and lowered Ezra into the pool.

The moment his skin touched the water, the surface exploded.

Ezra screamed.

The trees bent inward. The wind turned violent.

Haelyn gritted her teeth, holding him under even as he kicked and thrashed in her arms.

Seraphis slammed her palms into the earth, shouting incantations over the chaos.

Then, the water calmed.

Ezra stilled.

His body went limp.

"HAELYN!" Archer roared.

She yanked him out...his chest was still.

She shook him. "No, no, no...breathe, baby, please..."

He didn’t move.

Her screams tore through the forest.

..

And then...

Ezra gasped.

A high, wet cry erupted from his lungs, desperate and angry.

Haelyn collapsed to her knees, clutching him to her chest.

Seraphis looked up slowly.

"It worked."

Archer dropped his sword and stumbled to their side.

Ezra blinked up at him, eyes clearing.

The blood was gone.

The fever had broken.

But the scar was set.

A small, faint black mark just over his heart.

"Her signature," Seraphis whispered. "She’ll come again."

Haelyn held Ezra tighter, burying her face in his soft curls.

"Let her."

Under the Moonstone Tree, Liora’s hands jerked back as if burned.

She snarled.

"She blocked me."

Zareth raised a brow. "Did you really think she wouldn’t fight?"

"I’m not done."

"She just dragged a baby through a cursed pool. I’d say she’s only getting started."

Liora’s smile returned, slow and dangerous.

"Good," she said. "Because so am I."

Zareth’s cloak billowed as he stepped away from the altar, disgust flickering beneath his mask. "You’re unraveling."

Liora didn’t respond.

She stood still, fingers twitching, nails cracked and smoking from the backlash of Ezra’s rejection. Her gaze fixed on the altar, on the now-lifeless wolf heart split clean in two.

"I almost had him," she whispered.

Zareth folded his arms. "Almost doesn’t win wars."

Her jaw clenched. "I was inside him. I tasted her heartbeat through his lungs. The bond’s not as strong as they think. One crack...just one more moment...and he’s mine."

"You’re obsessed," Zareth muttered.

"I’m inevitable," she corrected.

Cerius groaned behind them, still shackled and slumped against the Moonstone Tree. Blood dripped from his mouth, but his voice was steady.

"You won’t get another chance."

Liora turned. "Still barking?"

Cerius spat at her feet. "You think you’re pulling strings, but they’re already unraveling behind you."

Zareth smirked. "He’s right, you know."

Liora’s eyes narrowed. "Speak plainly."

Zareth walked toward her slowly. "You focused so hard on the child, you missed what’s been building in the shadows."

She raised a brow. "Speak or shut up."

He leaned close. "Artemis isn’t gone. And he’s not alone."

Liora went silent.

Zareth stepped back. "He’s gathering the exiled. Those who survived your purge. They’re rallying behind him."

"They won’t reach me in time."

"They won’t have to," he said coldly. "Because you’re running out of anchors."

Liora’s jaw tensed.

Zareth stared at her. "You wanted war. You wanted blood. But you forgot what made Haelyn dangerous..it wasn’t her magic. It was her rage. You threatened her son. You tried to take what little peace she had left."

He turned away.

"And now you’ve given her a reason to burn."

Haelyn sat at the edge of the Pool of Binding, holding Ezra against her chest, watching the moon reflect in the cursed water.

"He’s quiet now," Archer murmured beside her.

"But not calm."

She rocked Ezra slowly, her lips against his hair. "He was looking at something while he cried. Something we couldn’t see."

Archer glanced at Seraphis. "Is she still tethered?"

"No," Seraphis said. "But she’ll try again. She’s desperate now."

"Good," Haelyn said flatly. "I want her desperate."

Archer glanced sideways. "That’s not like you."

"She crossed a line," Haelyn whispered. "She tried to own him."

Seraphis crouched beside them. "We need to plan. Tonight bought us time, not safety."

Haelyn didn’t move. "Then we use that time wisely."

At dawn, the cave was silent.

Archer stood outside, sword strapped tight.

Seraphis was drawing a fresh warding circle around the perimeter.

And Haelyn was inside, swaddling Ezra.

Her fingers paused.

A cold breath passed across her neck.

She turned sharply.

The cave was empty.

But Ezra stirred.

And whispered.

Not words.

Not sound.

Just a vibration in her arms...a pressure, a presence.

Her breath caught.

"Archer!"

He was inside in seconds, blade drawn.

She held Ezra out.

His skin was cold.

"Touch him," she said.

Archer’s fingers brushed the infant’s hand.

He staggered back, breath caught.

"She’s watching again," he said.

Seraphis rushed in.

"She’s already found a new tether."

"To who?" Haelyn demanded.

Seraphis’s voice dropped.

"...to someone close."

They all froze.

"She’s not coming through Ezra anymore," Seraphis whispered. "She’s coming through someone we trust."

Far away, under the Moonstone Tree, Liora sat with a small shard of bone pressed to her palm.

She whispered softly.

The image shimmered above it...dim, but flickering.

A face.

Familiar.

And very, very close to Haelyn.

Liora smiled.

"Oh, dear," she whispered. "I always knew betrayal would be sweet... but I never thought it would come with such perfect timing."

Cerius lifted his head slowly, eyes bloodshot but burning. "You’re looking in the wrong direction."

Liora frowned. "What?"

He coughed, then smirked. "You think betrayal comes from someone close to Haelyn? No. It already came...and it’s standing right in front of you."

Zareth blinked.

Liora’s head turned slightly. "You?"

Cerius chuckled darkly. "You didn’t question how she found the Pool? Who whispered the ritual to Seraphis? Who’s been playing both sides under the guise of balance?"

Liora’s smile vanished.

Zareth didn’t move.

Didn’t deny it.

And in that moment, the truth cracked the air like lightning.