BOUND TO THREE ALPHAS
Chapter 55: THE BREAKINH SEAL

Chapter 55: THE BREAKINH SEAL

Chapter 55: The Breaking Seal

"Run!" Kael shouted as Mara’s claws cut through the air where Liana’s head had been a second before. But there was nowhere to go. The temple walls closed in around them. Above, the roof cracked wider with each heartbeat. Behind them, the tunnel they’d come through was closed by fallen stones. They were stuck. Mara’s laughter filled the room like poisonous music. "Perfect. No escape. No help. Just you, me, and ages of revenge." Her shadow wings spread wider, blocking out what little light remained.

When she moved, the air itself seemed to scream. "Jace, Rowan, take Darius!" Liana ordered, pulling the stone from her bleeding leg. Pain shot up her back, but she forced herself to stand. "Kael, help me get to that altar!" "What about her?" Talia pointed at Mara with a shaking finger. "Leave her to me." The words shocked everyone, including Liana herself. But deep inside her chest, something old stirred. Something that remembered this fight from long ago. Luna’s spirit was waking up. Darius suddenly jerked to life like a broken doll. His empty eyes fixed on the twins. "Kill them," Mara ordered without looking away from Liana. "Make it hurt." The controlled rogue Alpha lunged at Jace with inhuman speed. His claws extended, going for the throat. Jace barely rolled away in time. "He’s fast!" "He’s not himself," Rowan told his brother, dodging a swipe that would have taken his face off. "Don’t kill him if you can help it." "Kind of hard when he’s trying to murder us!" Jace fired his gun, but Darius moved like liquid shadow. The bullets passed right through him. "He’s partially spirit now," Elder Mira realized with horror. "Mara’s magic is turning him into something between life and death."

Meanwhile, Kael was trying to reach the altar, but shadow-warriors poured out of the walls like black smoke given form. They had no faces, just fiery red eyes and claws that could cut through stone. "There’s too many!" he called out, stabbing at them with a silver knife. "Keep fighting!" Liana yelled back. "We just need to reach the ritual circle!" She limped toward Mara, silver light blazing around her damaged body. Each step sent pain through her leg, but she didn’t stop. "You think that tiny light can hurt me?" Mara sneered. "I am darkness itself. I am every fear that ever was." "Maybe," Liana agreed. "But I’m every hope that ever fought back." She lunged forward, silver power crackling from her hands. Mara met her attack with claws of pure darkness. When they collided, the force shook the entire temple. Cracks spread across the floor like a spider web. The old pillars groaned under the strain. "The whole place is coming down!" Talia screamed. But neither Liana nor Mara seemed to notice. They were locked in a dangerous dance, silver light against consuming darkness. Every blow sent shockwaves through the room. Liana ducked under a claw swipe and drove her fist into Mara’s gut. Silver light exploded on impact, sending the ancient soul stumbling backward. "Impossible," Mara hissed. "You’re just a child. A weak little omega." "I’m Luna’s heir," Liana answered, her voice carrying an echo that hadn’t been there before. "And Luna remembers you." For the first time, real fear flashed in Mara’s red eyes. "Luna is dead. I made sure of that myself." "Death isn’t the end for spirits like us." Liana’s eyes began to glow silver-white. "It’s just a transformation." Across the chamber, Jace and Rowan were still fighting Darius. The possessed Alpha had grown stronger and faster with each passing moment. His strikes came in a blur of claws and fangs. "I’ve got an idea!" Rowan called to his brother. "But I need you to trust me!" "What kind of idea?" Jace ordered, barely avoiding another deadly swipe.

"The kind that might kill us both!" "Love it already!" Rowan closed his eyes and reached deep into his newly awakened magic. Not the gentle healing power he usually used, but something older. Something that connected him to the very spirits that built this place. "Ancient ones," he whispered in the old language. "Hear your descendant’s call." The paintings on the walls began to glow brighter. Seven silver figures stepped out of the painted stone, their forms translucent but clearly real. The original royal animals had answered. Darius froze mid-attack, confusion replacing the nothingness in his eyes. "What... where am I?" "Welcome back," Jace grinned, then punched the rogue Alpha in the face. "That’s for trying to kill us." Darius rubbed his jaw ruefully. "Fair enough." But their win was short-lived. Mara saw what was happening and shrieked with rage. "No! I will not be denied again!" She raised both hands toward the ceiling. Dark energy poured from her fingers, hitting the largest crack above them. Stone blocks the size of cars began to fall. "Move!" Kael shouted, pulling Talia away from a falling chunk of marble. Elder Mira wasn’t so lucky. A piece of the roof caught her shoulder, spinning her around. She hit the ground hard and didn’t get up. "Mira!" Liana cried out. "I’m... I’m fine," the older gasped, but blood ran down her arm.

"Just get to the altar!" Liana tried to run toward the obsidian stone, but Mara stopped her path. The ancient spirit had grown even larger, her shadow wings nearly touching the cracking roof. "You want the altar so badly?" Mara hissed. "Then take it!" She grabbed the heavy stone platform and threw it like a weapon. Liana dove aside, but the altar smashed into one of the glowing poles. The entire column fell, bringing down more of the ceiling with it. "The structural support is failing!" Dr. Rivera’s voice crackled through someone’s radio. "The whole mansion is about to collapse into the caves!" Above them, something huge hit the ground. The vibration sent more cracks racing through the temple walls. "We’re running out of time," Talia said, her seer eyes wide with fear. "In my vision, everyone dies if we don’t complete the ritual in the next two minutes." "Then we finish this now," Liana stated. She looked up at the roof, where a shaft of red light was filtering down through the rubble. The eclipse was hitting its peak.

The blood moon hung straight overhead. "Luna," she whispered. "I need your help." The spirit inside her stirred stronger than ever before. Memories filled Liana’s mind. The original fight. The sacrifice. The way the seal was meant to work. "I remember," she breathed. "The seven wolves didn’t just give their lives. They gave their link to the moon itself." Understanding hit her like lightning. "That’s what we need. Not just royal blood. Moon-blessed blood." "What does that mean?" Kael ordered, still fighting shadow-warriors. "It means the eclipse isn’t Mara’s ally," Liana realized. "It’s ours." She raised her hands toward the shaft of red moonlight. Silver energy met crimson light, and something beautiful happened. The light changed from red to pure white, then to something beyond any color at all. "The true moon’s blessing," Elder Mira whispered in wonder. "I’ve only read about it in the oldest texts." Mara felt the change instantly. She spun toward Liana with a snarl of rage. "What are you doing?" "What Luna should have done centuries ago," Liana replied. Her voice carried the weight of old power now. "Sending you where you belong." "I belong here! This world is mine by right!" "This world belongs to the living." Liana’s entire body blazed with moon-blessed light. "You’re dead, Mara. It’s time to accept that." The light grew brighter, filling every corner of the building. The shadow-warriors screamed and disintegrated.

The cracks in the roof began to seal themselves. Even the fallen stones rose back into place. But Mara wasn’t finished. As the light touched her, she started to change again. Not getting stronger this time. Growing desperate. "If I cannot rule this world," she hissed, "then I’ll drag it into darkness with me!" She pressed her hands against her stolen heart and began to chant in a language that hurt to hear. Dark veins spread out from her fingers, running across Celeste’s body like infection. "She’s breaking her own seal!" Elder Mira shouted in fear. "She’s going to release all her stored power at once!" "What happens if she does that?" Rowan demanded. "The explosion will tear a hole between our world and the spirit realm," Mira explained. "Every dead thing that ever existed will pour through." Liana felt the change starting. Reality itself was beginning to bend around Mara. The air grew thick and hard to breathe. Shadows moved regardless of their sources. "I have to stop her," she said. "How?" Talia asked. "By doing what Luna couldn’t." Liana looked at each of her friends one last time. "By sacrificing myself to seal the breach." "No!" all three triplets yelled at once. "There has to be another way," Kael maintained. But even as he spoke, Mara’s shouting reached a crescendo. The dark veins covering her body began to pulse with sickly light. Cracks emerged in the air itself, showing glimpses of a realm filled with hungry spirits. "Too late," Mara laughed. "I call forth the forces of the dead! Let darkness swallow everything!" The cracks in reality spread.

Cold air rushed through from the spirit realm, bringing the smell of graves and forgotten nightmares. Liana stepped forward, ready to give everything to save her pack. But before she could move, something unexpected happened. The seven spirit wolves that Rowan had called moved to surround Mara. Their metal forms grew solid and real. "Sister," their boss spoke in Luna’s voice. "Your time is over." "Luna!" Mara’s faith cracked for the first time. "But you’re... I killed you!" "You killed my body," Luna agreed. "But my spirit endured. As did theirs." She gestured to her six friends.

"We’ve been waiting for this moment.

Waiting for you to make yourself exposed." "Vulnerable? I am at my best!" "Are you?" Luna smiled sadly. "You’ve put all your power into breaking the seal. You have nothing left to defend yourself." Mara looked down at her hands. The dark veins were disappearing. Her shadow wings were starting to dissolve. "No," she whispered. "This isn’t how it ends." "This is exactly how it ends," Luna replied. "With love beating hate. With sacrifice beating selfishness. With light driving out darkness." The seven spirits joined hands around Mara, making an unbreakable circle. Silver light blazed between them, getting brighter and brighter. "You cannot send me back!" Mara screamed. "I won’t go!" "You don’t have a choice," Luna said softly. "Goodbye, sister." The light burst outward, filling the entire temple. When it faded, Mara was gone. The cracks in reality had fixed themselves. Even Celeste’s body had been restored, though she lay asleep on the ground. The seven spirit wolves turned toward Liana one final time. "Thank you," Luna said. "For giving us the chance to finish what we started." "Will I see you again?" Liana asked. "When your time comes to join us, we’ll be waiting." Luna’s form was already getting translucent. "But that won’t be for many, many years. You have a life to live first." The ghosts faded away, leaving only echoes of silver light. For a moment, perfect silence filled the temple. Then Talia started crying. Jace whooped with joy. Rowan hugged his brothers. Even Darius managed a tired smile. "Is it over?" Elder Mira asked, trying to sit up. "It’s over," Liana stated. But as she spoke, a new crack emerged in the air above them.

Not leading to the ghost realm this time. This one glowed with different energy entirely. Something bright and warm and alive was trying to break through. "What now?" Kael sighed. The crack widened, and a woman’s voice called out from the other side. Not Mara’s cold tones or Luna’s ancient knowledge. This voice was young and desperate and achingly familiar. "Liana? Are you there? Please, I need your help!" Liana’s heart stopped beating for a moment. It was her mother’s voice. Her dead mother, calling from somewhere beyond death itself.