<h4>Chapter 130: Chapter 130: The Alpha’s Betrayal</h4>


    Everything was eaten up by the darkness. But there was... nothing instead of pain. ra opened her eyes.


    Something was wrong with her while she was still in the pack house. It was no longer dark for the Devourer.


    Her kids were safe in Evelyn’s arms as they floated. No one moved. They were all like statues. "Confused?" Someone asked from behind her.


    ra turned around. Alpha Marcus stood there, but his eyes glowed with strange strength.


    "You’re not really Marcus," she said. "Smart girl." He smiled, but it was cold and cruel. "I’ve been wearing his face for twenty years."


    "What did you do to him?" "Nothing permanent. He’s sleeping deep inside his own mind. He’ll wake up when I’m done with his body."


    Horror filled ra’s chest. "You’re working with the Devourer." "Working with it?" The fake Marcusughed.


    "I AM the Devourer. Just a small part of me, anyway." The truth hit her like a punch. "You’ve been nning this the whole time."


    "Every single day. Do you know how hard it was to try to love those three boys? To act like a loving father while I waited for you to have babies?"


    ra’s heart broke for Kael, Ronan, and Darian. Their father had never really loved them. "The real Marcus would have protected us," she said.


    "The real Marcus was weak. He actually cared about his pack. That’s why I had to take over." "When?"


    "The night you first met my boys. I felt your power rise. I knew you were the Catalyst. So I possessed him." ra looked at her frozen family. "Why are they frozen?"


    "Time magic. We’re having this talk in the space between seconds. Nobody can hear us."


    "What do you want?" "Your children, obviously. But not to destroy them." His smile got wider. "I want to eat their power and be like them."


    "You can’t! Their poweres from love and family. You don’t have either." "I don’t need love. I just need their skills." He walked closer.


    "Think about it, ra. Nine god-children with the power to change reality. If I take that power, I won’t need to devour worlds anymore. I’ll be able to make them." "You’re insane."


    "I’m practical. Your children were always going to lose their humanity anyway. At least this way, their power goes to someone who knows how to use it."


    "Evelyn won’t let you." "Evelyn?" Heughed again. "She’s been my puppet for years.


    You think she really fell in love with Marcus? I made her fall in love with him so she’d help hide you." ra felt sick. "That’s not true."


    "Every safety spell she cast on you? I helped her make them stronger. Every time she saved your life? I told her when and where to do it." "Why?"


    "Because I needed you alive long enough to have the children. And I needed the children to grow strong enough to be worth taking."


    "They’re just babies!" "They’re guns. And now they’re my tools."


    Time began to move again. Everyone unfroze, but they couldn’t see the fake Marcus. Only ra could see him.


    "Choose quickly, little ones," the Devourer’s voice came from the sky. But now ra knew the truth. The voice in the sky was just a trick.


    The real enemy was standing right next to her. "We choose," the nine children said together.


    "Wait!" ra shouted. "Don’t choose anything yet!" Everyone looked at her in confusion.


    "The Devourer isn’t our real enemy," she said. "It’s—" "ra, what are you talking about?" Kael asked softly. She pointed at Alpha Marcus.


    "He’s not your father. He’s been possessed by the Devourer for twenty years."


    _{fre ewe bnove l}


    "That’s ridiculous," Marcus said easily. "The resurrection affected your mind." "Prove it," ra urged.


    "Tell us something only the real Marcus would know." Marcus’s face went nk for a second. "I... I don’t have to prove anything to an omega."


    "The real Marcus would never call me that," ra said. "He epted me as Luna months ago." Kael’s eyes widened.


    "She’s right. Father never calls her omega anymore." "And he’s been acting strangetely," Ronan added, trying to sit up.


    "More cold. More calcting." "Boys, don’t listen to her," Marcus said, but his voice was different now. Hungrier.


    "You made one mistake," ra told him. "You said you possessed him the night I met your boys.


    But that was also the night the real Marcus first epted me. He was proud of his sons for finding their mate." "You have no proof," Marcus growled.


    "I have better than proof." ra looked at Evelyn. "You said you’ve been protecting me for twenty years.


    But you also said you met my mother twenty years ago. That’s the same time Marcus changed." Evelyn’s face went pale.


    "Oh gods. I thought his attitude changed because of stress." "What stress?" Darian asked.


    "The night I brought baby ra to safety, your father was different when he got home. More focused on pack politics. More obsessed with power."


    "Because it wasn’t him anymore," ra said. The fake Marcus started tough.


    But this time, the sound was wrong. It was the sameugh they’d heard from the sky. "Clever girl," he said. "But you figured it out toote."


    He raised his hand, and dark energy shot toward the floating children. "No!" ra screamed.


    But before the energy could reach them,


    the nine babies did something amazing. They merged together. Not physically, but their powerbined into one bright light.


    The light was so bright it made the fake Marcus stumble backward. "Impossible," he whispered.


    "We are not weapons," the children spoke as one voice. "We are family."


    "And family protects each other," they added, looking at their parents with love. The light grew brighter.


    The fake Marcus began to scream as the Devourer’s power was burned away. "This isn’t over!" he shouted. "I’ll find another way!"


    "No, you won’t," Evelyn said strongly. She put her hands on Marcus’s shoulders.


    "Because I’m about to do something I should have done twenty years ago."


    Her own power red. "I banish you from this body and this realm!" The fake Marcus screamed onest time, then fell.


    When he opened his eyes again, they were kind and confused. "Evelyn?" the real Marcus asked softly. "What happened?


    I feel like I’ve been sleeping for years." "You have," she said sadly. "But you’re back now."


    The darkness in the sky was gone. The Devourer’s voice was silent.


    But the nine children were still glowing, still joined together as one being of pure power. "Mom," they said, looking at ra.


    "Dad," they said, looking at the boys. "We need to talk." "About what?" ra asked.


    "About what we really are. And what we’re going to do next." The light around them pulsed once.


    When it faded, the children were separate again, but they all had the same knowing look in their eyes.


    "The Devourer is gone from this world," baby Wisdom said.


    "But it’s not gone from all worlds." "What does that mean?" Ronan asked.


    "It means our real job is just beginning," baby Courage answered.


    "And we can’t do it alone," baby Love added. They all looked at their parents with looks far too mature for their baby faces.


    "We need you toe with us," baby Truth said simply. "Come where?" Darian asked.


    "To save the multiverse," baby Hope answered. "All of it." The pack house began to shake again.


    But this time, it wasn’t from an enemy attack. It was from a door opening in the middle of the room.


    Through it, they could see other worlds. Other worlds. And in some of them, the Devourer was winning.


    "So," baby Wisdom said, floating toward the doorway. "Who’s ready for the real adventure?"


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