Page 59 of Fated Alpha Baby

The forest opens up to a clearing, and just over a hill lies an old sawmill with cracking mustard walls and a wooden door ripped apart from years of dilapidation.

I slow down my steps, and the others do the same behind me, our attention going to the darkening clouds over the sawmill.

The sky is splitting open above the building.

Dark energy churns violently in the clouds like a festering wound in reality itself, crimson lightning tearing through the heavens while black smoke spirals upward from the center of the mill. The portal hangs above it, unstable and unfinished, pulsing with horrifying power.

It’s only just beginning, but it’s already terrifying.

My wolf snarls viciously beneath Hannah as we stand frozen at the edge of the clearing. Behind us, dozens of wolves fan out through the trees while the witches begin chanting protection spells under their breath.

“We’re too late,” Orlando growls after he’s shifted into human form, clenching fists like weapons, eyes pierced like snares at the scene unfolding in the sky.

“No,” Hannah says sharply from my back. “Not yet. It’s not complete. There’s still time.” Her voice cuts through the panic instantly.

I shift back into human form without hesitation, Hannah sliding off my back with ease and landing on her feet as I catch her into my arms to steady her. Heinrich and Annika do the same nearby. Orlando doesn’t even wait for instructions before shifting back into his dark brown wolf and charging downhill toward the sawmill.

“Orlando!” Theodore shouts.

But grief has already made the Nightcreek Alpha reckless.

The front doors of the mill explode inward the second Orlando crashes through them. And then the screams and screeching begin.

Demons pour out of the shadows in grotesque waves, their bodies twisted and malformed, eyes glowing molten red beneath slick black skin. Some crawl on all fours while others tower unnaturally tall, their claws scraping against rotting wood.

“Kill them!” Heinrich roars, and that’s when the clearing erupts into chaos.

Wolves shift mid-run, crashing into demons with snapping jaws and claws while witches unleash blasts of magic that illuminate the dark night in violent flashes of blue and gold.

A demon lunges toward Hannah from the side.

I react before thought even forms, power gathering in my palms. That’s when fire bursts out almost instinctively, and the creature shrieks as flames engulf its body, reducing it to ash before it can even touch her.

I freeze.

That wasn’t my power.

I’m not supposed to wield fire.

I turn my head slowly, shock dropping my jaw as Hannah just stares at me in equal shock, her palms glowing bright orange beside whipping currents of wind.

“The bond,” Annika gasps nearby. “Your powers merged!”

Another demon barrels toward us before we can process what happened.

This time, Hannah raises her hand first, and I feel her magic surge through me like wildfire flooding my veins. Wind spirals violently around my arms, air power returning, but it’s not the only magic I can control.

Fire follows air, whipping torrents of combined magic around my palms.

Together, the elements explode outward in a roaring inferno that tears through the battlefield, flames twisting within cyclones of air powerful enough to shred demons apart where they stand.

The others just stare, amazed by what’s happening because, truthfully, this is the first time it’s happened.

Damian, who wields water magic, was only able to combine it with fire when he fought alongside Sophie, and they consciously joined forces. The same is true for Heinrich and Annika, combining earth and fire magic when they work together.

This is different.

I’m controlling air and fire as if both powers are my own.