The Alpha Trio 2: Bond by Blood and Fire
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B. E. Harmel
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184K
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28
Chapter 1
Book 2: Bond by Blood and Fire
AARON
The tide of the game was shifting—what once seemed like a sure win was now slipping away. Morgathis’s dark magic was gaining the upper hand, and our control was dwindling. My heart sank as my thoughts immediately went to Jasmine.
Every time I blinked, her image was there—her unwavering resolve, the spark in her eyes. That spark had always been my anchor, my rock, even when everything else was falling apart. She was my strength.
I couldn’t bear to lose her. Not now. The clamor of the battlefield became a distant hum as my focus narrowed to her.
My gaze found her, gripping the dagger, her strength and determination radiating from her. Jasmine, always a force to be reckoned with, wouldn’t back down until the last glimmer of hope was snuffed out.
But then I saw Morgathis, holding her by the throat, lifting her off the ground, and wrenching the dagger from her grasp. My worst fears were realized. My heart plummeted.
As the dagger pierced Jasmine’s abdomen, it felt as if the earth were splitting open beneath me. My world crumbled, and I felt a part of me die with her. I couldn’t breathe; the pain wasn’t just emotional—it was a physical, burning torment.
She was gone. Every fiber of my being screamed in agony, but no sound came out. She was gone.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Jasmine—my Jasmine, my queen. Everything around me lost its color; all I could see were her beautiful green eyes.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I knew that if there was any chance, I would bring her back. Or I would join her. Because a pack without her was pointless, a life without her was meaningless.
Who was I without her? I only noticed Sebastian’s lifeless body later. He had given his life for her, and I wished I could have done the same.
Jasmine was falling, her body crumpling in a way that broke me. She hit the ground, and I felt my soul shatter. The battle, the noise, everything disappeared as I watched her, my heart pounding with fear.
“Jasmine!” I screamed, my voice raw and desperate.
Morgathis finally released me, and I rushed to Jasmine’s side. I dropped to my knees next to her, my hands trembling as I touched her cold skin. She was so still, so cold.
My throat constricted, and I found myself unable to breathe, unable to think. I whispered her name over and over, hoping it could somehow bring her back. But she didn’t move. She was gone.
In that moment, the weight of the world came crashing down on me. The pain was unbearable—a darkness that consumed me. Jasmine’s lifeless body lay in front of me, and I felt myself shatter.
My heart seemed to stop, frozen in the moment her light went out. I could still feel the warmth of her touch, her voice echoing in my mind like a fading song I was desperate to hold onto.
I kept my gaze on Jasmine’s face, remembering how her eyes used to light up when we solved a tough problem together, how she could understand me with just a glance. But she was gone, and the world seemed devoid of color, as if the sun had died with her.
How do I breathe without you?
She had been my rock, my equal, the only one who truly understood me. She was the reason I had fought so hard for our future, to unite our packs against all odds. With her, everything made sense—every struggle, every sacrifice.
Now, with her gone, the emptiness consumed me, and all I felt was a relentless ache, a void where my heart used to be. I don’t want a world without you in it.
Then Morgathis’s voice cut through my despair like a knife. I looked up at her, barely aware of her presence, lost in my grief.
“I could bring her back,” she said, her voice a cruel tease. “But it will cost you. Everything. Your packs, your lands, your power—all of Seraphium.”
I barely registered her words. None of it mattered. Nothing meant anything if Jasmine wasn’t there with me. I would set the world on fire if it meant I could see her smile again, feel her warmth. Without her, I was already dead.
Yes. Anything. Take it all. What was a world without Jasmine? What was any of it worth without her? The answer was simple.
“Yes,” I replied, my voice steady, unwavering. I was ready to face any consequence, pay any price.
Morgathis’s voice reverberated around me, offering a cruel, pitiless solution—a way to resurrect Jasmine if we surrendered everything. Our packs, our people, our heritage…all the land we were sworn to protect.
The price was unimaginable, but it barely fazed me. I didn’t hesitate, because without her, none of it mattered. The kingdom, the power, the responsibility—it all paled in comparison to Jasmine.
I was ready to forfeit everything if it meant Jasmine could come back. Erik’s eyes locked with mine, surprise and conflict dancing in his gaze, but I remained resolute.
This was the only option. There was no existence without her, and I didn’t care if it meant losing everything we possessed.
The battlefield fell into a hushed silence. Morgathis stood tall, a sinister glint in her eyes as she looked down at me and Erik, who were shattered, kneeling beside Jasmine’s lifeless body.
She felt a surge of victory, the raw power pulsating through her veins. We were hers now—all our packs, all our land, every bit of Seraphium that tied us to this realm.
She let the darkness spread, watching as her armies decimated the scattered remnants of our forces. This was her moment.
She smirked, relishing the despair in my eyes, the hollow torment in Erik’s. We were defeated, crumbling, and in our shattered silence, she heard the whispered acceptance of her terms.
We had surrendered. Morgathis had triumphed.
But then—a glimmer, an energy shifting at the periphery of her consciousness. Behind her, from the corner of her eye, she noticed movement.
I turned to look, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Morgathis spun around just in time to see Sebastian stirring, a faint spark of life returning to his battered body.
His eyes opened, and they were ablaze, a determination that dispelled the shadow she’d cast over him.
“Impossible!” she spat.
She had drained him. I echoed the same word in my mind, having watched his spirit fade. And yet, he was rising, defying the odds, his body rejecting her dark curse.
Somehow, against all odds, Sebastian was coming back. The faintest hint of life pulsed in his skin, and my heart pounded with hope.
In that split second, Morgathis’s attention shifted, her triumph morphing into confusion and fury. She spun around, distracted—and then I saw it, a slight movement from Jasmine’s side.
The distraction was enough.
In that split second, as Morgathis’s attention shifted, I saw her. Jasmine… My heart skipped a beat, not daring to believe it, but the fierce determination in her movement was unmistakable.
Jasmine rose beside me, and I saw Erik’s eyes widen. I didn’t trust my judgment enough to feel joy or relief—I just wanted to understand.
In one swift, fluid motion, Jasmine seized the weapon and, before Morgathis could react, plunged the dagger deep into the sorceress’s chest.
Morgathis gasped, her face twisting with shock and rage as the blade penetrated her heart, her dark magic recoiling from the pure energy in the dagger’s blade. She stumbled back, her body convulsing as the light of the weapon began to overpower her shadows, unraveling the dark power she had wielded for so long.
The life drained from her eyes as she collapsed, her body disintegrating into ash, scattered by the battlefield’s winds.
My heart soared, a wave of overwhelming relief and disbelief washing over me. Jasmine was alive.
The balance shifted instantly.
The mages and allies, witnessing Morgathis’s fall, rallied with renewed vigor, their hope reignited by the sight of her defeat. The darkness that had blanketed the battlefield began to lift, and our armies surged forward, reenergized, fighting back with unstoppable momentum.
Almost all the dark magic died with Morgathis; the power of their witches faded, and some fled.
I took two steps to be beside Jasmine again. She placed a hand on her abdomen, still smeared with blood.
I saw Erik approaching, but Sebastian was struggling to reach us, still weak. He had been dead just a moment ago.
“I need Valerian—the tutis sanitatem spell,” Jasmine whispered, and I caught her before she could fall.
That scene with Morgathis—her killing her—had been a display of strength, but inside, Jasmine’s body was collapsing from all the blood she had lost.
“Valerian!” Erik yelled as he took Sebastian’s hand and helped him get closer.
A fiery-haired mage from Sebastian’s pack approached us, and I carefully placed Jasmine on the ground. She knelt beside us, ready to help.
“Tutis sanitatem spell,” Jasmine murmured, her voice barely a whisper.
The mage moved her fingers in the air, casting the spell. I watched as Jasmine began to heal, bit by bit.
Jasmine was back. Jasmine was back. She was back with me, my mate. My Jasmine. My world.
But even as her injuries started to mend under the spell’s influence, her lips moved. A fragile whisper escaped:
“It’s not over.”
A chill ran through my veins.
“They’re coming.”
