Page 39 of Fated Alpha Baby

“Fire is the only thing that weakens them!” Annika calls out. “Don’t let them regroup! Hold them off, and I will use my powers on them!”

The valley wolves surge forward with renewed determination, but the demons adapt almost instantly, retreating from Annika’s flames and circling outward strategically.

One veers toward me. Then another. Then a third.

They move together with terrifying precision, forcing me backward toward the ruins themselves. Air magic bursts violently from my body as I slash through the first with razor currents sharp enough to split stone, but the second demon slips through the attack and rakes its claws across my side.

Pain tears through me, and I retaliate instinctively, jaw snapping around its throat before blasting it backward with another unstable surge of wind.

But my focus fractures.

Hannah’s face flashes through my mind…Clarissa asleep in my house…the truth…the lies.

The betrayal.

My hesitation lasts less than a second. It’s enough for the demon to gain the upper hand.

“Conan!” Simon roars through the mind link.

But it’s too late.

The third demon emerges directly from the ruins behind me, its body larger than the others, dripping black molten decay. Before I can turn fully, claws spear straight through my shoulder and into my chest.

Agony explodes through my body, a wretched cry ripping from my throat.

The force sends me crashing into the ruined stone wall hard enough to crack it apart beneath me. My air magic erupts wildly on impact, creating a violent cyclone that tears through the ruins, but the power is unstable, broken by pain and distraction.

The demon screeches triumphantly and lunges again.

Fire slams into it before it reaches me. Annika’s flames engulf the creature while Heinrich barrels into another demon beside her, brown fur stained black with blood. Damian joins the attack from the opposite side, Annika’s silver magic spiraling around the battlefield in brilliant ribbons that trap the demons long enough for the wolves to finish them.

But more keep coming from the ruins. Too many.

“Fall back!” Damian commands. “Now!”

“I’ve got Conan!” Simon growls.

I try to stand, but my front leg buckles beneath me immediately. Blood pours from the wound in my chest, black smoke curling along the torn flesh where the demon’s claws pierced me.

Something corrupted burns my skin, and I can hardly even make the shift into human form, body in agony, mind in a haze. But I try, phasing between wolf and human, the line between the two blurred.

“Their claws are infected,” Annika says fearfully as Heinrich backs toward us. “We need to get him out of here before it spreads.”

Simon shifts back into human form just long enough to haul my arm over his shoulder while Damian guards our retreat.

The demons don’t pursue immediately.

They linger near the Ashclaw ruins instead, watching us retreat with molten eyes glowing through the darkness. Waiting. Learning as they always do.

My vision blurs as Simon drags me through the forest toward Iron Breath territory, every breath growing heavier than the last. And somewhere beneath the pain, beneath the rage and betrayal twisting through my chest, one truth settles with terrifying certainty:

I need Hannah.

But even now, I remain adamant about staying away from my mate, clinging to the anger toward her.

“Take me to Dorothy…” I croak through the fuzziness of my mind.

Damian and Simon carry me through the night toward Iron Breath territory, my breathing becoming shallower as we near the west side of the valley, with the entourage of wolves following close behind, some injured, others helping them back.