Chapter 651
Casaio and Amelie landed with a sharp crunch on the bed of dry leaves covering the forest floor.
“Ahh! What’s this?” she whispered, her heart jumping in fear. The dark energy of the place felt like it was trying to choke her.
Suddenly, a series of earth-shattering roars tore through the trees, vibrating in the very marrow of her bones.
“Gabriel!” Amelie breathed, her grip tightening on the heavy hilt of the sword.
Before they could take a step, a violent gush of wind, choked with grit and swirling dead leaves, roared toward them. It was a storm created by the collision of Alpha energies. Amelie threw her arm over her eyes to shield them from the stinging debris, but Casaio was faster. He grabbed her shoulder and teleported once again.
They were finally close enough to witness the struggle. Amelie’s breath hitched as she saw the dark, matted blood staining Gabriel’s pristine white fur; her heart clenching in worry.
She frantically began to pull the heavy sword from its ornate sheath, but Casaio’s hand clamped down on her wrist, stopping her.
“If you run in there blindly, you’ll be killed before you reach him,” Casaio warned. “I’ll shift and carry you closer. Alex is starting to overpower Gabriel; we have to be precise p>
In the clearing, Gabriel delivered a staggering blow, sending the grey wolf skidding across on the forest floor. Alex let out a violent growl that seemed to shake the trees themselves, but his predatory gaze suddenly snapped toward the ridge. He had spotted Amelie.
With a snarl of triumph, Alex launched himself toward her. Gabriel, sensing the shift in target, raced to intercept him, but Alex’s form flickered and vanished. He moved with a supernatural velocity, precisely a gift of Ophelia’s dark magic, reappearing yards closer in the blink of an eye.
Casaio didn’t hesitate. He transformed instantly, his massive wolf form surging forward to meet Alex’s charge head-on, the two of them colliding in a tangle of snarling fury.
Seeing the opportunity, Amelie sprinted toward them with the sword in her hand. Gabriel shifted back into his human form mid-stride. He ran to her in the hope to keep her safe.
“Amelie, give me the sword!” Gabriel commanded, not wanting her to get close to Alex as he suddenly approached beside Alex but a little far from him. Amelie threw the sword in Gabriel’s direction, who grabbed its hilt with a jump.
Amelie stood frozen, her chest heaving as she watched the final, brutal exchange. Casaio executed a perfect tactical retreat, leaping back to create the path Gabriel needed.
With a roar of redirected agony and power, Gabriel launched himself high into the air. The silver blade caught the moonlight before he drove it into the skull of the grey wolf. A sickening crack echoed through the Forest of Death as the massive beast writhed, its limbs flailing in a spasm before thudding heavily into the ground.
As Gabriel wrenched the blade free of the skin, the wolf’s form shimmered and shrank, leaving Alex lying in the leaves in his human skin.
“I can’t die,” Alex wheezed, the words bubbling through the raven-black blood coughing from his lungs. He looked past Gabriel, his hollow eyes fixing on Amelie with a haunting grin. “Noah has my blood. If I die today, he is my legacy. He will have my reflection when he grows up. Every time you look at him, you will see me p>
“No,” Amelie said, shaking her head and stepping forward. “Noah hasn’t even the slightest reflection of you. Noah has always been mine. He is a part of me, and even when he grows up, he will only despise you, Alex p>
She looked down at the man who had once rejected her, her gaze filled with pity rather than fear.
“You returned from death only to choose evil again. If you had even an ounce of kindness left, you wouldn’t have dreamt of harming us. Noah already chose his father, and it is Gabriel. It has always been Gabriel. From the moment you rejected me, Noah felt your malice. He knew you wanted to hurt his mother, and he severed the bond himself. You are nothing to him p>
Alex’s form began to dissolve, his physical body turning into fine, grey embers that were quickly swept away by the unnatural forest wind, leaving nothing behind but a small pile of ash.
Gabriel pulled Amelie into a firm side-hug, pressing a relieved kiss to the top of her head. He could feel her trembling.
As they stood there, Casaio stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the spot where Alex had vanished. Lying amidst the ash was a silver pendant attached to a black thread. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and picked it up carefully, sensing the residual of Ophelia’s dark magic.
“Where is Flora?” Amelie asked suddenly, her voice laced with panic as she looked around the dark trees.
“She was behind the oak,” Gabriel said, his protective instincts flaring again. He led the way, pushing through the brush until he found her slumped behind a massive trunk. Flora was pale and completely unconscious. Both Casaio and Amelie rushed to her side.
“What happened to her neck?” Amelie gasped. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the jagged, blackened puncture wounds where Alex’s claws had dug in. The skin around the injury looked purple.
“We have to take her to the hospital immediately,” Gabriel commanded, his voice tight. “The poison from a resurrected wolf is lethal if it hits the bloodstream p>
He scooped Flora into his arms. Amelie took the sword from him. Without another word, Casaio placed a hand on Amelie’s shoulder, and the four of them vanished from the Forest of Death in a blur of light.
Landing in the hospital, Flora was admitted to a special ward as the doctors and healers rushed on Casaio’s command to treat Flora.
“You three have to wait outside,” the nurse told them as the door was locked from the inside.
“Nothing will happen to her, right?” Amelie inquired, looking at Gabriel.
“Yes. She will wake up. Don’t worry,” Gabriel answered and mindlinked with Karmen, asking him to bring everyone to the hospital.