Alpha Kael’s Regret (Lisa) novel Chapter 134

_Lisa’s POV_

The air tasted like metal and ash. My chest felt like a drum. My legs would not stop shaking.

Fenric stood there like a shadow made real. He smiled as if he liked the sight of our fear.

“So,” he said softly. His voice rolled across the clearing. “You managed to come back. I did not expect this.”

My throat worked. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to run to Rylan. But I needed to be brave and face him. I had to find a way to stop him.

Sierra’s voice pressed cold and fierce against my mind. He’s powerful. We need to be careful.

Fenric walked forward like he owned the night. The warlocks behind him parted like reeds. They smiled like they were hungry.

“You freed those little lights,” he said. His voice was almost proud. “You loosened their chains. You are a clever girl. But clever does not unmake destiny.”

I felt my hands curl inside my borrowed sleeves. My borrowed body stood at the border with that false smile. Katherine was inside my face. She wore my skin like a mask and she liked how it fit.

Fenric looked straight at me. His smile widened. “You came back from a long trip to your mother’s arms. You have ghosts at your back. You think that they will help you.”

Sierra growled low. He smells sharp. He relishes fear. He wants to make us suffer.

“You will not win,” Fenric said. He lifted a hand. His warlocks answered like a chorus. The air tightened. Their magic flowed out like black water. It pressed at the trees. It touched the grass.

Morana stepped forward. Her hands were bright and small spells snapped from her fingers like sparks. She had a shield forming. It shivered in the air. The blue light was thin but brave.

“Keep the shield,” I shouted, though my voice was small in my own ears. “Hold it.”

She held it with the last of her strength. Her face was pale. Sweat ran down her temple. Her mouth moved in steady words. She was chanting. I could see magic curl from her fingertips into the blue cage.

But the warlocks‘ power was heavy. It pushed like a tide. Their spells hit Morana and the barrier bent and squealed. Each time, she eased it back. Her shoulders shook.

“Lisa!” Rylan cried. His voice ripped through me. “Stop this.”

I looked at him. His face was carved from worry. His hands trembled. He looked at my original body smiling with a hate he did not understand. I wanted to run to him and explain a hundred truths. I wanted to tell him how I had bled and crawled in a different time to make

this happen. I wanted him to know my arms were empty without him.

“You can’t channel your power,” Sierra told me. “Not in her skin. It rejects you. It will not take your wolf.”

I pressed my palms to my chest and felt nothing but the odd hollowness of someone else’s heart under my fingers. I tried to reach for the quiet place where my magic lived. A small pinprick of fire was there, but it would not grow. The body was wrong. The channel was blocked.

Morana’s chant broke. She cried out in a ragged hurry. “They are too many,” she warned. “I can hold a while, but not long.”

Fenric laughed like a bell that cracks. “You took my playthings from me. You stole their voices. You are clever, young wolf. You are noble and foolish. The souls give you courage. They do not give you victory.”

Sierra tightened. We have to do something.

Then I saw them. The ones I had freed. The small faces of those who had no burial. The bright boy with the gold curls. The baby with closed lips. They circled me like moons. Their light was thin but many. They looked tired and angry in a way that made my chest hurt. They had the weakness of bodies, but they were many.

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