<h4>Chapter 255: _mes Fizzled Out</h4>


    "Caroline, step back!" Odessa yelled out, cing her right hand in front of her maid and pushing her backwards.


    The next thing that happened was Althea spreading out her arms and cing her palms in front of her face.


    Her palms glowed with a blue light, manifesting a powerful force field that wrapped around us like a dome.


    The guard, who was still zing with dark purple mes, crashed into the forcefield, sending a powerful shockwave that caused me to grab Odessa’s hand subconsciously.


    The guard bounced off the forcefield and plopped to the ground with a groan, the dark purple mes which lit up his body dying down as he struggled to breathe.


    I blinked with confusion.


    That’s it?


    The mes, the power, the magic... The domineering voice from him which shook the sky with his deration about the lord of the North.


    All of it now felt like nothing as the guard heaved pitifully, raising his right hand toward us. His fingers brushed against the forcefield, ashes from his skin tainting its surface.


    "He’s dying," Althea mumbled as she caused the forcefield to disappear with a simple wave of her palm.


    My nostrils red as the smell of charred skin and smoke wafted.


    Heck no!


    "He can’t die. Not until he exins himself and all the atrocities he’smitted." I growled, stepping past the others and grabbing the bastard by his shoulders.


    The dark purple mes had cleared off from his body now but it had burnt off his clothes and left his skin an ashen mess.


    "Kaelos, he’s hurt." Odessa tried to speak but one nce from me made her seal her lips.


    All I could hear and see were the people whom this bastard had killed.


    Elder Davina. The humans in the human town just outside the Blood Oak woods. Two different pack doctors. And indirectly, the victims of the riots.


    "Why are you killing people? What’s your end goal?" I snarled, raising him into the air despite the way he struggled to breathe.


    He wrapped his burnt hands around my wrist but I ignored that, fixing my eyes on him.


    "Kaelos..." Odessa tried to speak yet again, but this time, I let my Alpha King aurae out and directed it at the guard.


    My aura was a silver shroud, engulfing the guard like mes and causing him to screech in pain. But it didn’t burn him. My aura never burns.


    It only pushes enough pressure to make the targetply with my wishes.


    "Answer me!" I snarled, my voice reverberating like a thunderp through the pack mansion grounds.


    The silver energy of my Alpha King aura swirled violently around the half-dead man I held in my grasp. ric choked, his charred body twitching as if about to seize, his mouth opening in pain and eyes bulging in terror.


    But instead of words, a sickening hissing sound escaped his lips.


    A glowing sigil, dark and cracked like an old brand, began to spread across his chest. My eyes widened as the symbol glowed brighter—a jagged crescent surrounded by serpentine shapes.


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    "What the hell is that?" I hissed, dropping him to the ground.


    Althea gasped, stepping forward. "No... That’s a binding curse. An ancient failsafe used to silence traitors before they can speak. It’s not natural magic... It’s imnted by someone."


    Odessa hurried to my side, her breath hitching as she crouched next to ric. His skin cracked like dried y, king to ash as the sigil on his chest pulsed onest time.


    "He was silenced on purpose," Odessa whispered, cing her hand on my arm. "Someone didn’t want him talking."


    ric trembled, his gaze locking with mine. And then...


    "He... promised I wouldn’t feel pain..." he rasped out, barely a whisper. "He’s watching... All of us... The Lord of the North... is already here..."


    His pupils dted and one final shudder passed through him. Then, with a sickening puff of smoke, his heart ruptured into a fine mist of ck ash.


    Odessa let out a startled breath and shielded her face as the residue scattered into the wind.


    "No! No, no, NO!" I snarled, mming my fist into the ground hard enough to crack the stone beneath us. "He was the one chance we had at finding the root of all this!"


    Althea stared down solemnly. "We were toote. That sigil... It’s beyond any witch magic I’ve seen. This was artificial. Modified."


    "So someone turned him into an artificial hybrid, then cursed him to die if he ever betrayed them," I growled, pacing in a small circle, fury boiling in my chest. "This wasn’t about ric... He was just a disposable pawn."


    Odessa nodded grimly. "And someone set this whole thing up to tie back to me. The witch-hate, the riots, the attacks... They’re all conveniently linked to my presence."


    "The n was clean," Althea added. "Get the pack riled up against Odessa. Use a magically-enhanced hybrid as a scapegoat. And when it alles crashing down, he dies before giving anything away."


    My fists clenched.


    Someone was ying chess with my pack, and they were moving with terrifying precision.


    Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the mansion behind us.


    I turned, my senses on edge, ready to attack.


    Marcellus.


    He strolled toward us, his hands sped behind his back, calm as ever. "Did I miss something?"


    Odessa narrowed her eyes slightly.


    I could feel her suspicion through the bond.


    "Where were you?" I asked, barely masking the edge in my voice.


    He tilted his head. "You said you don’t need a babysitter, remember? I went to reinforce the west gate. Heard the explosion and thought I’d better check it out myself. I take it that our little me in the sky has fizzled out?"


    Odessa stood up beside me, brushing ash off her arm. "He was cursed. A sigil was burned into his chest."


    Marcellus arched an eyebrow, stepping closer to ric’s remains, or what was left of them. "Clever magic. Whoever did this covered their tracks well."


    Althea nodded. "We’ll need to analyse what residue remains. There might be traces of the caster’s essence."


    Marcellus knelt by the body, observing with his usual calcting calm. "Let me assist you with that. I’m curious about this sigil myself."


    "Why?" Odessa suddenly asked.


    Marcellus shed his signature charming smile. "Because anything capable of silencing a hybrid this powerful... Is a threat to all of us."


    For some reason, I felt like there was more to it that he wasn’t saying.


    But I said nothing.


    Instead, I turned to Odessa.


    Her eyes were locked on the sky, watching the dark purple clouds finally begin to clear.


    The tension in her body was still there, but I could feel the exhaustion setting in.


    I reached out and took her hand in mine. Her fingers were cold.


    She looked at me, startled at first.


    "You okay?" I asked quietly.


    She nodded slowly. "I will be. Just... shaken."


    We stood there for a few seconds, our hands intertwined. The world around us was still chaotic, with guards shouting orders and debris being cleared.


    But for one moment, it was just her and me.


    And the bitter truth that someone had gone to great lengths to destroy everything we were building.


    And they were still out there...