BOUND TO THREE ALPHAS-Chapter 50: HALF-CENTURY MARK

Chapter 50: Half-Century Mark

Liana blinked hard, trying to focus on the war council meeting. But the sounds around the table sounded like they were coming from underwater. Her head pounded with memories that weren’t hers. A building burning. Screams booming through stone halls.

A woman with gray hair laughing as darkness swallowed everything. "Liana?" Kael’s voice pulled her back to the present. His face looked gray with pain, the curse eating at him from the inside. "You okay?" "Fine," she lied, holding the table edge. But her hands were shaking. Alpha Garrett was drawing war plans on a map. "We attack at dawn. Hit three places at once—" "No." The word came out of Liana’s mouth, but it wasn’t her voice. Deeper. Older. Ancient. Everyone stared at her. "That won’t work," she continued, though she had no idea why she was speaking. "Celeste will expect frontal strikes. She’s not stupid." "Since when do you know military strategy?" Alpha Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow. Liana opened her mouth to say she didn’t know. Instead, different words came out. "Since I commanded armies for three hundred years." Silence fell over the room like a heavy blanket. Rowan leaned forward, studying her face carefully. "Liana? Is that really you talking?" She tried to answer, but her voice was gone. Someone else was speaking through her lips now. "Hello, little wolves," the old voice said, making her lips curve into a smile that didn’t feel like her own. "I am Selene." Jace jumped to his feet. "What’s happening to her?" "The convergence," Elder Mira whispered, her face pale.

"It’s strengthening all magical souls. Including the one bound to Liana." Liana felt like a passenger in her own body, watching everything happen but unable to stop it. Selene stood up using her legs, moved her arms, spoke with her voice. "Celeste thinks she’s clever," Selene said through Liana’s mouth. "But I’ve fought her kind before. They always make the same mistakes." "Her kind?" Kael asked, gritting his teeth as another wave of curse-pain hit him. "Dark spirits who think power means everything." Selene moved Liana’s body to the window, looking out at the darkened sky. "They never learn that true strength comes from sacrifice." Dr. Rivera stepped closer, her medical scanner beeping furiously. "Her brain activity is off the charts. It’s like two minds are sharing one body." "Because we are," Selene answered calmly. "Though Liana is stronger than she knows. She’s been fighting my existence for days." Inside her own head, Liana fought to regain control. It felt like swimming up from the bottom of a deep, dark lake. Let me back in! she screamed quietly. Not yet, child, Selene’s voice repeated in her mind. They need to understand what we’re really facing. Selene turned Liana’s body back to the group. "Celeste isn’t working alone. She’s trying to resurrect someone. Someone who should have stayed dead." "Who?" Rowan demanded. "My sister. Mara." The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. "Five centuries ago, Mara was a Luna like me," Selene continued, moving with Liana’s body. "But she grew jealous of my power. She turned to dark magic, tried to steal everything I had built."

Talia suddenly gasped, her corruption-blackened eyes rolling back. When they focused again, a different voice came out. "Sister," the new voice purred through Talia’s lips. "Still telling lies about me, I see." Everyone spun to stare at Talia. But it wasn’t Talia speaking anymore. "Mara," Selene hissed through Liana, her hands sparkling with silver light. "Miss me?" Mara laughed through Talia’s mouth. "Celeste has been such a helpful little helper. Soon I’ll have a body of my own again instead of renting this pathetic girl’s." "You’re dead," Selene growled. "I made sure of that." "Death is just another door, dear sister. And doors can be opened." The other corrupted wolves—Alpha Marcus, Beta Jordan, and Gamma Stevens—suddenly stood up in perfect unity. Their eyes went black as midnight. "Celeste promised me an army," Mara spoke through all four corrupted dogs at once. "But I think I’ll take yours instead." She raised the corrupted dogs’ hands, and dark energy shot toward the uncorrupted pack leaders. Selene reacted quickly, throwing Liana’s hands up.

A shield of silver light stopped the attack, but the force sent everyone stumbling backward. "The corruption is spreading faster now," Dr. Rivera yelled over the magical chaos. "Whatever ritual Celeste is doing, it’s accelerating!" Kael tried to stand, but the curse doubled him over with pain. Blood dripped from his mouth. "Can’t... hold on much longer..." "You won’t have to," Mara laughed through the corrupted dogs. "When the eclipse reaches totality in six hours, everyone with even a trace of magical blood will join my army." "That’s impossible," Elder Mira argued. "Is it?" Mara’s voice came from everywhere at once now—the corrupted dogs, the shadows on the walls, even the wind outside. "The Shadow Devourer wasn’t my jail, you fools. It was my cocoon." Realization hit Rowan like a lightning bolt. "The thing beneath the temple... it’s not the Shadow Devourer. It’s Mara herself." "Very good, little wolf," Mara purred. "I’ve been feeding on magical energy for five hundred years, getting stronger. Tonight, I break free." Selene pushed more power through Liana’s body, the silver light getting brighter. But Liana could feel how much it was costing her. Her human form wasn’t meant to summon this kind of ancient magic. I’m burning up from the inside, she realized with growing fear.

"The girl won’t last much longer," Mara noted with cruel amusement. "Ancient souls require ancient bodies. Modern wolves are so... weak." "Then I’ll find another way," Selene stated through Liana’s lips. "Will you?" Mara’s laughter echoed from every shadow. "Because I already have. Look outside, sister." Everyone ran to the windows. The eclipse had started early. The moon was already turning red, and dark figures were rising from the ground all across the area. "My army awakens," Mara stated triumphantly. "Every corrupted soul, every dark spirit, every thing touched by shadow magic. They all serve me now." Hundreds of red eyes gleamed in the darkness outside. Maybe thousands. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was watching Talia’s real personality trying to surface through the corruption, tears streaming down her face as she mouthed a single word: "Help."

And then Alpha Marcus grabbed a silver knife from the table and directed it straight at Kael’s heart. "The curse makes him weak," Mara hissed through Marcus’s mouth. "Time to put the dying wolf out of his misery." The blade flashed downward just as Liana finally broke free from Selene’s control, screaming her mate’s name. But she was too far away to reach him in time.