Chapter 72
PRIMUS ALEXANDER’S POV
The vine turned to ash in my palm.
The moment the purple flame touched it, it shrieked.
ཐ ས ཏྲཱི 46%
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Loud and sharp. Like every dying root on the continent cried at once. I shoved the rest of the torch into the brazier and let it burn.
That twisted relic Terran dropped was more than a threat. It was a signature. A message. An insult.
“I came into your territory. Took what I came for and I walked out untouched.”
I should’ve burned the cunning bastard when I had the chance.
Instead, I was here.
In this godsdamned room. With a torch in my hand and a head full of a mate who looked at me like I was still fucking Gaia.
Sometimes I just want to squeeze that peanut sized head of hers.
She returned the pendant. Returned the daggers. Walked into the cage like a prisoner I’d never offered freedom to.
Why?
Why the hell was she acting like I didn’t choose her? Like she was some pet I fed scraps?
I gritted my teeth.
Well, I did treat her like one and I might continue, but still. I never told her to go back there. What the fuck was she trying to prove?
That she was able to make the Core Fang ask for acceptance? That she got rid of Gaia? Someone I’ve been trying to get off my back for years?
Or that she exposed a shapeshifter in the First Seven? A dangerous shapeshifter that could possibly come back soon.
Maybe it was working with Terran. Maybe Gaia and that thing had always been. The thought lit something inside me. Not fear. No,
it was worse.
Excitement.
After all these empty years, something was finally making my blood move. My heart beat faster. A war. A rival. A game I could lose, but at the same time, one I wouldn’t.
I felt alive.
And the price for that thrill?
Her.
My mate. My little flaming Core thief,
The Core Fang had gone quiet lately. The Luna bond, too. It seemed like it no longer overrode mine. Like the land no longer cared.
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22:26 Tue, 2 Sept
Chapter 72
Like the gods themselves were watching silently while the pack turned their eyes toward the past. The evil.
Gaia.
The woman who starved our kingdom with her pretty smiles and false harvests.
They remembered her rivers. Her crops. They don’t remember the deaths she caused. Not the Luna she almost left to–rot underground.
Not my mate.
I clenched my jaw as I stepped out of that room. The torch of purple flame still burned in my hand, casting shadows against the stone corridor as I ascended.
Any insult or curse I hear about her, even if it’s a whisper?
I would give them silence.
By hand or by fire.
“Alexander,” a chill voice whispered. Its voice wasn’t familiar, but somehow, I felt like I had known it for a long time.
It called again and my legs moved on their own. It stopped in front of my workshop. The door creaked open by itself, and I stepped
inside.
On the table was a large long object wrapped in a brown blanket with a note attached to it.
I hadn’t been here in days, since I showed Aquamarine how to craft a key. Confusion etched on my face, I approached the table and picked up the note.
But before I could read it, my nose twitched. Fear, mud and fermented grass.
And then, something strange happened.
Like something had been torn from the world. It was as if a part of my memory was torn away, leaving a gaping hole.
Without thinking, I grabbed the object and sprinted out of the workshop. My heart pounded in my chest as I ran, the object clutched tightly in my arms.
The door to our chambers was half open, the guards slack–jawed and white with terror. I didn’t stop to ask questions. I shoved
them aside and entered the room.
And I knew.
She was gone.
The mirror was shattered. The withered vines and leaves were on the floor. The floor still glowed with magic. The kind that doesn’t belong in my kingdom.
I felt it.
“Terran!!,” I growled.
I stepped into the middle of the room. The scent of her skin was still here, but faint. Fainter than it should’ve been.
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22:26 Tue, 2 Sept
Chapter 72
自家46%公
He didn’t just take her, he used dark magic to vanish. He left this world entirely and retreated back to whatever twisted forest kingdom he crawled from.
The main palace.
+5
My claws tore through the bedframe. Then the wall. Then the floor. I ripped apart everything in sight. My breathing doubled as my heart raced.
I let the torch fall, let it burn what it wanted. I roared so loud the windows cracked.
My beast roared within me, demanding to get his mate back.
“WHERE IS SHE?!”
No one answered. Because they couldn’t. Because she was gone. And I had let her slip through my fingers.
Again.
“Levi!” I bellowed.
Footsteps pounded from down the hall. But it wasn’t just him. Aaron appeared too, pale and breathless.
“She’s gone,” I said.
Levi’s eyes narrowed. “What? How? Where were you?”
“Through a fucking mirror!” I snapped at him, my breathing coming out in sharp breaths. “I had to get rid of the cursed relic he dropped off. I didn’t know he would take off with her today!”
Aaron stepped forward. “Is it him? Terran?”
I nodded. “He used a fucking portal to go back to his kingdom.”
Levi growled, but stayed still.
I turned to Aaron. “You’re in command while we’re gone.”
Aaron stiffened. “Primus-”
“I said what I said. Keep the pack in order. If they riot, muzzle thern. If they touch Kath or any of the inner rings, break their hands. If they insult the Luna, cut their tongue and give them a level 3.”
Aaron nodded. “Understood.”
I turned to Levi. “We move in two. Full gear. No trail too cold. No magic too dark. No method too much.”
“And if it’s a trap?” he asked.
I grinned, teeth sharp, eyes glowing.
“Then it’s a better hunt,” my beast spoke and hot steam escaped from my mouth.
I left them and shifted on the balcony edge, launching off into the night as my bones cracked each second I got closer to the ground.
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22:27 Tue, 2 Sept
Chapter 72
I didn’t care if his land would scream or his trees would weep. Heck, I didn’t even care if his Gods or Goddess would curse me.
But if Terran builds a throne out of my mates flesh or blood.
I would burn it all.
And I would bring her back.
Or I would raze the entire realm trying.
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