MATED TO THE BEAST ALPHA BROTHERS
Chapter 76: Buried

Chapter 76: Buried

The cave trembled.

Not from footsteps. Not from wind.

From Ezra.

He screamed...again. But it wasn’t the cry of a hungry child. It was guttural, primal, wrong.

His body arched, tiny limbs thrashing in the cradle as the ground beneath him cracked, glowing lines spidering out from the base like a thousand burning veins.

Haelyn ran in.

"Ezra!" she shouted, dropping to her knees. "No...baby, look at me!"

Archer reached for him . got blasted back against the wall.

"What the hell?" he grunted, coughing.

Seraphis rushed in, eyes wide. "Don’t touch him!"

"He’s overheating," Haelyn cried. "He’s burning up..his eyes...Archer, look at his eyes..."

They glowed.

Gold rimmed with a violet ring. No pupils. No recognition.

Seraphis backed up slowly. "He’s unlocking."

"Unlocking what?" Haelyn snapped.

"His blood. His gifts. He’s awakening..."

"I thought we sealed the curse!"

"We sealed Zareth’s mark," Seraphis growled. "But we didn’t seal what he passed on. This is the boy’s own power now!"

Haelyn grabbed Ezra, skin blistering under her fingers, but she didn’t let go. "Ezra. You’re okay. You’re mine. You’re here."

The magic pulsed out of him in a wave of light and wind.

The cradle shattered.

The firepit imploded.

Archer shielded his face. "He’s going to tear this cave apart!"

"Then help me!" Haelyn shouted.

"I can’t get close...he repels everything!"

"Not me," she hissed, holding tighter as the light engulfed them both.

She pressed her forehead to his.

"I’m here," she whispered. "I’m not leaving you."

Ezra let out a final, broken cry...

And the light exploded upward, punching through the roof of the cave like a beacon of fire and sky.

Then silence.

Just the sound of Haelyn’s breath.

Ezra whimpered softly, weak, his eyes slowly closing.

His skin cooled beneath her hands.

Archer knelt beside them. "Is he...?"

"He’s asleep," Haelyn whispered. "He’s okay."

Seraphis’s hands were shaking. "No. He’s not. That wasn’t random."

Archer frowned. "What do you mean?"

"That wasn’t just a magical surge," Seraphis said. "It was a message."

Haelyn looked up, confused.

Seraphis whispered, "Someone felt that power burst. And they’ll come for it."

Liora stood in the ruins of an ancient forest temple, her eyes glowing.

The energy had slammed through her skull like lightning. Her lips curved slowly.

"So... he’s waking up."

The wind responded in tongues of flame, dancing around her shoulders.

She stepped toward the altar and whispered, "Thank you zareth. You gifted him your flame."

A figure emerged behind her...hooded, bowed.

"My lady. The wolf clans have begun to gather near the eastern ridge."

"They’ll follow her," Liora muttered. "Of course they will. She killed their monster."

"Do we move?"

She grinned.

"No. We wait. Let the child grow into the flame."

The servant hesitated. "And what of the girl?"

Liora’s face turned cold. "Which girl?"

"Nyx."

"She’s already broken," Liora said. "Let her watch everything she feared come true."

But Nyx wasn’t broken.

Not this time.

She appeared in the cave as Haelyn washed Ezra’s face with trembling hands.

Her voice struck like ice. "You didn’t hesitate."

Haelyn turned sharply, blade halfway drawn before realizing who it was.

"...Nyx."

The woman stood at the mouth of the cave, wrapped in black, her face carved from stillness.

"You killed him."

"I had to."

"He was your enemy."

Haelyn nodded. "And your father too."

Nyx stepped forward. "Yes."

Haelyn straightened. "I’m sorry."

"Why?"

"...Because you didn’t get to look him in the eyes first."

Nyx tilted her head. "What would I have seen?"

"Your blood."

Nyx scoffed. "No. I would’ve seen a man who offered me to the flames for power."

Haelyn lowered her gaze. "He deserved to go."

Nyx’s jaw clenched. "Then why did you hesitate to say that?"

"I didn’t kill him as a warrior," Haelyn whispered. "I killed him as a daughter."

A beat of silence.

Then Nyx spoke, soft but brutal.

"I wanted to do it myself."

Haelyn looked up.

Nyx walked slowly toward the cradle, eyes fixed on Ezra.

"He gave you his name. His ambition. His cruelty."

Haelyn tensed. "He gave me nothing. I was raised by ghosts and war."

Nyx stood beside her now, staring down at the boy.

"Did he scream when he died?"

"...No."

"Then you did it wrong."

Haelyn’s breath caught.

Nyx looked at her, eyes sharp as knives. "You think I’m grieving?"

"You were his blood too."

"And that means nothing. Because he never chose me."

"I’m sorry."

Nyx laughed bitterly. "Stop saying that. You don’t owe him grief. You owe him a grave and silence."

Haelyn looked at her. "You really don’t feel anything?"

"I feel fire," Nyx said. "And vengeance."

She leaned closer to Ezra.

"He’ll come for this one."

"He won’t," Haelyn hissed.

"He will," Nyx snapped. "And you’re still not ready."

"I’ll never let him be taken."

"Then start acting like it."

Nyx’s eyes blazed. "No more hiding. No more pretending this child will grow up untouched. You want to protect him? Start a war. Burn villages. Poison rivers. Do what your father did...and finish it."

Haelyn stood slowly.

"No."

"No?" Nyx echoed.

"I won’t raise him in blood."

"Then you’ll bury him in it."

Their eyes locked.

Then...

Ezra whimpered.

They both turned.

A soft pulse of energy left his chest. The sigils on the cave walls flickered.

Seraphis appeared in the doorway, panting. "Haelyn...something’s wrong."

"What now?" Haelyn snapped.

"The wolves," Seraphis said. "The elders from the Eastern Peaks. They’ve left the ridge."

Archer stepped in behind her. "What do you mean left?"

"They’re heading here."

Nyx narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

Seraphis’s voice dropped.

"They felt the burst. They think it’s the second flame."

Haelyn’s blood turned cold. "They think Ezra’s the new Wolf King?"

Seraphis nodded.

"And they want him to lead."

Archer stepped forward. "But he’s a baby..."

"They don’t care," Nyx said darkly. "To them, blood is prophecy. And they’ll crown him in cradle or coffin."

Haelyn looked down at Ezra, asleep, his hand twitching with quiet pulses of power.

Her voice came low. "Then we leave tonight."

Seraphis blinked. "What?"

"They’ll never stop. Not the wolves. Not Liora. Not whatever my father left behind. We have to vanish."

"And go where?" Archer demanded.

Haelyn lifted her son into her arms.

"Somewhere no one knows his name."

Nyx stared at her.

"You’ll run?"

"I’ll live. And I’ll make sure he does too."

Seraphis clenched her fists. "You can’t hide him forever."

Haelyn stepped past them, walking toward the edge of the cliff, hair wild in the wind.

"I don’t need forever."

She looked back once.

"Just long enough for him to choose who he becomes."

Far away...

In a chamber bathed in firelight...

Liora opened her palm.

A shard of bone rested in it.

It pulsed.

She smiled.

"They think they’ve taken him."

She whispered a name.

Ezra.

The fire flared.

"But the blood... belongs to me."