<h4>Chapter 224: I Thought As Much</h4>


    Talon turned slowly, dread pooling in his gut. What stood there was no ordinary vampire. The creature’s face was a ruined map of violence—skin mottled with bruises so dark they seemed ck, punctured with deep w marks. The twisted angles of his limbs suggested bones had been broken and reset badly, perhaps by either Talon’s own ws or Kyllian’s during earlier struggles. Yet here it stood, swaying, its fangs bared in hunger and rage.


    Talon’s shoulders squared, even as his stomach clenched in cold eptance. His goddess would greet him sooner than he had nned. His life had been a cycle of loyalty and blood, of serving his Alpha and protecting their king, and if it ended here, it would end with his head held high. In the back of his mind, a whisper—Goodbye, my Alpha.


    Kyllian saw it happen from across the chaos. He tore into the vampire before him, his ws carving through flesh, but no matter how savagely he fought, he couldn’t free himself in time. He roared. His Beta—his friend—was about to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.


    And then—


    The heavens themselves split open. A sh of light so blinding it turned night into day for a heartbeat burst across the battlefield. The air hissed and crackled with raw energy as thunder bellowed overhead, shaking the ground. A jagged spear of lightning mmed into the earth. The impact was deafening, and a vortex of vicious wind exploded outward, hurling every vampire in sight through the trees as though the forest itself had decided to expel them.


    Talon blinked through the dust and debris, his chest heaving, and whispered a single name.


    "Morvakar..."


    Kyllian’s form twisted until his massive wolf shape receded, fur melting into skin. He sprinted toward the car. But the second he reached it, the sight inside stopped him cold. "They’re gone!"


    Talon staggered forward, his legs weak and trembling, but he forced himself to the car’s side. His eyes scanned the empty interior.


    Kyllian’s jaw tightened until the muscle twitched. "Only one person is capable of all these without blinking. Morvakar."


    Talon gave a nod, wiping blood from his jaw with the back of his hand. "I thought as much. We have to get out of here."


    Their eyes locked. Both men stood there for a moment—wounded, bleeding.


    "Head to Morvakar’s. I’ll go back to Blood City," Kyllian said.


    "Don’t tell anyone we know who took her yet. Even the king." Talon’s gaze locked with his, as though he were speaking an oath rather than a warning.


    Kyllian’s brows pulled together. "Why?"


    Talon scanned the treeline, his instincts still sharp despite his injuries. "Because Gabriel infiltrated everywhere. We don’t know who to trust. Damien and Luna were still figuring that out."


    Kyllian’s fury boiled over. "Well, what kind of bullshit has Luna been sitting on all this while? They put our princess through this madness? While heavily pregnant?"


    "I’m sure she is safe," Talon said, though his tone betrayed that he was trying to convince himself just as much as Kyllian. "You take the car. I’ll find my way."


    Kyllian nodded once and slid into the driver’s seat, his muscles protesting every movement. As he started the engine, his eyes flicked to the backseat.


    A dark, drying smear against the leather. Blood. Not much, but enough to twist his stomach into knots. He closed his eyes briefly, offering a silent prayer to the goddess.


    He put the car in gear and sped away.


    ******


    Luciver dispersed the council members. The chamber’s grand double doors swung shut behind thest of them, their murmured objections dying in the corridor.


    Damien was waiting there, shoulders taut. "How do you do this?" he demanded. "Rule with such level head?"


    Luciver smiled faintly. "Well, I didn’t have as much to lose as you," he admitted, his gaze drifting momentarily to the dark spire of the council tower above them. "I didn’t have a mate. Your mother was a marriage alliance to have a child to get the throne."


    "We cared for each other," Luciver continued, "but I wouldn’t go so far as to say I loved her. So, I ruled with such level-headedness because, aside from you, there wasn’t much to threaten."


    Damien understood it well enough—love made kings reckless. Mates made them dangerous. And now, with Luna gone, he was a man standing on the edge of a precipice, one shove away from burning the world to ash.


    "I hope she is alright," he murmured.


    And as if the heavens themselves had chosen that moment to mock his fragile hope, Kyllian arrived at the council building. Damien’s eyes caught on the streaks that stained Kyllian’s shirt and battered skin.


    The moment Kyllian stepped out of the car, Damien knew.


    He descended the steps in a blur. "Where is she?"


    "I don’t know," Kyllian answered.


    The air almost got knocked out of Damien’s lungs. "What do you mean you don’t know?...You took her from here? You took her!!!"


    "There was an attack." Kyllian’s breath came short. "The same rogue vampires that attacked ournd. A few of them. We tried to fight them off, but before we could manage it, Luna and Doctor Thessa just... disappeared." He swallowed hard. "Talon is still searching the neighbouring ces to track them."


    Damien turned sharply to the guards standing rigid at the council building entrance. "Gather the men! Follow me now!"


    He slid into the passenger side of the car Kyllian had arrived in. Kyllian gripped the wheel, and floored the elerator. The car surged forward with a growl, eating the distance toward Blood City’s outer gates.


    Behind them, the guards scrambled in a storm of movement, as they attempted to mount up and follow.


    Luciver, however, remained rooted to the spot, watching the disappearing trail of dust. His dark eyes narrowed.


    It was time to pay his brother a visit.


    *****


    Gabriel’s estate was everything the man himself was—imposing. The sprawling mansion sat behind ck iron gates twisted into the shapes of thorns, its white stone fa?ade gleaming. Every inch of it screamed wealth.