The Alpha's Curse The Enemy Within

The witches’ chants echoed within the walls of the cave, as we carried on with the ritual. | could feel the power of the four phoenix stones mixing with the water. It was time to move on to the next phase of the ritual. Nikolai nodded to one of the witches from his coven, and he stepped forward, bringing the dagger specifically for the ritual to me.

took it from him, holding its black handle. I started chanting in a foreign language, and the magical symbols on the dagger began to glow. I strode to the crystalline waters that shone with the magic of the phoenix stones.

Vladimir was still in it, his deep golden eyes narrowed on me as | brought the sharp blade to his throat. | hesitated briefly, as his unreadable gaze bured into mine. For the next phase of the ritual, the chosen vessel had to be dead while we perform the resurgent titual. The vessel's throat had to be slit with the black dagger, with the blood mixing into the crystalline waters now holding the magic of the phoenix stones.

With a small glint in his eyes, Vladimir's lips curled into a smirk, as he moved his head into a small nod and | pressed the sharp blade of the dagger deeper into his neck, slitting his throat. His blood jumped tight out from his body, rushing out at great speed. Vladimir sank himself into the water which had begun to color red. His golden eyes never left mine until he closed his eyes. The black dagger was no mere dagger, its magic was enough to stop one's heart for a few minutes, and that would give us enough time to complete the ritual.

1 turned my eyes to Nikolai who was watching me from the end of the water. | nodded to him, and the witches began chanting, and so did 1. We had barely gotten deep into the ritual when a force of magical energy swept through us. And every one of us felt it.

Nikolai's dark eyes widened, and | was sure he knew what it meant.

The boundary had collapsed, and at this moment, Oasis was under attack. And the best part, we were right in the middle of the ritual.

I shook my head. "Don't leave your positions,” | warned firmly. | could see the tumult in Nikolai's eyes, but even though he wasn't stupid, he knew leaving the ritual would not only ruin whatever chance we had of unleashing the dark magic, it would endanger us all.

His dark eyes left mine, and darted towards the entrance of the cave where a few witches were guarding, nodding at them. At once, they left their positions. My eyes narrowed on Vladimir's unconscious body in the pool of his blood.

The ritual continued; it was almost at its peak. If | had to do something, it was now. | concentrated deeply, channeling from the coven's magic. | connected with Jaskier and the witches and we deviated from the original spell Nikolai had created for the ritual. | moved quickly. | knew it was only a matter of time before Nikolai realized something was wrong. Before that happened, | had to ensure I was almost done sealing the rift in the prison binding Shota's magic.

The spell I had created and was now anchoring was too powerful. | kept channeling Nikolai and the coven witches’ magic together with Jaskier and the witches aiding me, but it wasn't enough. | needed all the magic | could get. I had no choice but to channel the magic from the phoenix stones.

1 felt enormous magic coursing through my veins, breathing fire. It was consuming me and taking everything | had, but | was almost there. | could feel Shota’s magic. Its darkness seeped through the crack, which I had begun to seal when Nikolai's raging voice plunged the comer walls of my mind with his magic.

“Bloody traitor! | knew you shouldn't be trusted!” | heard him say as he broke free from my hold and I lost control of his magic and the rest of the coven witches who now surrounded us.

With everything that was going on, | tried my best not to break off the connection | had with Jaskier and the witches, and also with the new spell | had already begun. | was this close to ending it all once

and for all.

“You won't win tonight,” he sneered, and I easily understood what was about to happen. Before the witches surrounding me could lft a finger, I sent a force against them that sent them flying against the rough walls, and immediately, | created a shield covering Nikolai, Vladimir, and me.

My blue eyes shone on Nikolai who attacked me fiercely with his magic without moving from his position. | evaded his attacks swiftly, lunging back at him until | was able to knock him unconscious. But | knew it wouldn't be for too long. Vladimir was any second from awakening, and I couldn't harm Nikolai yet, | needed as much magic as | could get from channeling him.

1 continued the spell in a haste, rushing as fast as | could. | was almost there when | felt a sharp piercing deep in my bones. | pulled my eyes open, and they fell into Nikolai's dark gaze, before moving to the black dagger that had stuck deeply to my stomach. It wasn't a

deep wound but | could feel my strength giving up as my blood dripped into the crimson pool of Vladimir's blood that held magic from the phoenix stones.

Nikolai began chanting, channeling the power of the phoenix stones, and one by one, they began to lose their brilliant blue and white glow, turning a deep red.

1 groaned, pulling the black dagger out of me. Even as Adie roved to the surface, my wound was still not healing. The pool of blood containing Vladimir's body began to boil rigorously out of control and the water turned a dark color, and | continued chanting. Before Nikolai could proceed any further, there was an enormous force that broke out from the water, blasting everything in its path, and tearing down the shield that had covered us.

Killian's point of view

The attack on Oasis had begun a few hours ago when we felt the boundary collapse. Everyone could feel it, including Nikolai as he sent some of his witches to find out exactly what was happening. But | was waiting for them within the cave, along with some prisoners to ensure no one left the cave alive and | wished that included Vladimir, but it didn't. The bastard cannot be harmed.

The only option we had after Oasis had burned to the ground was to take Vladimir back to North Central as a prisoner while we find a way to end him permanently. I was damned sure the Council had a solution for that.

It didn't take long before Vladimir's witches’ bodies were scattered around the cave. | left the prisoners guarding the entrance of the cave and the narrow paths and joined Jaskier and the witches who were also in the cave.

By the time | reached there, they had already begun the ritual, connecting to Sheila. | was at a near distance watching them when all

of a sudden, | noticed something was wrong. The ancient symbols they were standing on began to lose their glow.

| felt my heart mount an instant race, and immediately, | left them, hurrying to where Sheila was anchoring the ritual. To my horror, the witches were trying to use their magic to tear down a white shield. | couldn't find Sheila, Vladimir, and Nikolai.

Sheila. Something had no doubt gone wrong, and it scared me Sheila was in there with those imbeciles.

Immediately, without thinking, I lept in the air, giving Ryker full control as he attacked the witches, and right on cue, the group of prisoners guarding the entrance of the cave joined in, fighting the witches.

Ryker moved quickly and viciously like a wild beast, ripping off the heads of the witches with his sharp canines as we made our way to the shield. My first and only thought was to get to my mate.

Ryker raced to the shield, and the instant we touched it, a strong force sent us flying against the rocky walls, with pain coursing through our body, that | was forced to shift back abruptly into my human form.

“What the fuck!” | steadied myself to stand, and amid the fight going on, my attention was focused on the white shield. | couldn't see anything that was going on inside, but something was wrong and the white shield was turning black.

A fearful beat drummed in my ears, as my entire body felt the fear settle in. | rushed closer to the shield, about to find a way through it when something within exploded, tearing down the shield, and as soon as my eyes found Sheila, | grabbed her just in time before the powerful force sent everyone flying in different directions, and the earth to shake heavily, and causing rocks to roll down the cave, falling mercilessly on anyone in its path.

The cave was crumbling down. I held Sheila tightly, using my huge body to shield hers from the destruction. After painful minutes, it died. | groaned, pushing off the rocks that had fallen on me.

“Sheila,” | turned my eyes on her, pulling her into my arms, trying to get her awake but | couldn't. Sheila's body was as cold as ice.