Chapter 15 – Betrayer’s Mercy

Malric stepped into the clearing like he had every right to be there.

Cloaked in silver, hood drawn low, his voice was silk laced with knives.

"Seraphina," he said again, slower this time. "You look... changed."

Kaelen was already shifting before I could move.

His claws burst from his fingers, muscles flexing under his skin, bones snapping as his Alpha rose to the surface.

"You shouldn't be here," he growled, voice laced with ancient power.

Malric ignored him.

His eyes moonstone grey and unreadable locked on mine.

"I came for her."

I stepped in front of Kaelen before the curse inside him finished what the fury started.

"Stop," I said sharply. "He's not attacking."

"Yet," Kaelen spat, chest heaving.

Malric smiled, slow and sinister. "I never attack when I can persuade."

"I should kill you for what you tried during the Rite," Kaelen snapped. "You tampered with her offering"

"I saved her," Malric cut in.

"No. You marked her with a sigil of binding meant for control."

"I marked her to keep her from binding herself to a cursed Alpha."

Silence.

Heavy. Suffocating.

I couldn't breathe.

Malric lowered his hood, revealing his sharp jaw and golden sigils pulsing at his temples a witch of the Seventh Circle. Dangerous. Calculated.

His eyes softened when he looked at me. "You still don't see it, do you, Sera? He's the end of your magic. That... thing inside you? It isn't growing stronger because of you. It's growing because of him."

Kaelen growled, "Speak again, and I will tear out your throat."

"You can try," Malric said, finally turning to face him directly. "But your powers are unraveling, aren't they? The rune burns more at night now. Your strength wavers. Your instincts blur. Tell me, Alpha how long before the Wyrm uses your body as its puppet?"

I saw the flicker in Kaelen's gaze.

Doubt.

Worse than a wound.

"Why are you here?" I asked, stepping between them.

Malric didn't hesitate. "Because the Oracle was wrong. You can break the curse."

I blinked. "What?"

"You don't have to choose death," he said. "There's a third path."

Kaelen snorted. "Let me guess you just happen to know it."

"I've studied the Curse of the First Hybrid since I was thirteen," Malric said calmly. "Long before you even knew what mating was."

He stepped closer. "The curse is rooted in blood betrayal. You know that now. But what if blood wasn't the only anchor?"

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"I'm saying," Malric said slowly, "you can sever the curse... if you sacrifice the bond."

The silence was colder than the mountain wind.

Kaelen's voice was raw. "You mean... reject her."

"Yes."

"Over my dead body."

"That can be arranged," Malric muttered.

I shook my head. "Even if that worked which it won't why would you help us?"

Malric's expression changed.

His eyes darkened.

"Because if you don't stop what's growing inside you," he said, voice almost a whisper, "it'll destroy not just you. Not just him. But both our worlds. Witch and wolf."

He looked straight into my soul.

"That child is not meant to be born."

Kaelen surged forward.

This time, even I couldn't stop him.

But Malric didn't flinch.

He raised one hand and Kaelen froze mid-lunge, suspended in a ring of glowing air, snarling but motionless.

"Let him go!" I screamed.

Malric turned to me. "Not until you listen."

I stepped closer, fists clenched. "Drop the spell."

"You need to understand what's coming, Seraphina. This isn't about love anymore. This is about the end of balance."

He lowered his hand.

Kaelen collapsed to the ground, panting.

But even on his knees, he looked dangerous.

"I've seen it," Malric continued, ignoring Kaelen's low growl. "Visions. Warnings. Every magical line in the Cradle's archives points to the same convergence: a child born of cursed bond and awakened womb will become either salvation or destruction."

He stepped closer. "You've felt it. The shift. The way your magic responds to his touch. It's not natural. It's not stabilizing. It's amplifying."

I clenched my jaw. "We're aware."

Malric reached into his robe and pulled out a black stone, etched with runes.

"I went to the Archive of Witherhold," he said. "The oldest source of pre-prophecy spellwork. I stole this from the vaults."

He tossed it toward me.

I caught it and nearly dropped it.

The stone pulsed like a living heart.

Cold. Sharp. Alive.

"It's a severance relic," Malric said. "It can cut a mating bond permanently. No pain. No death. Just... gone."

I looked at Kaelen.

His expression shattered me.

Because beneath the fury, I saw it fear.

Fear of losing me.

Of losing us.

"I won't do it," I whispered. "Even if it kills me."

"Then it won't just kill you," Malric said quietly. "It will kill everyone."

He turned to walk away.

But before he vanished, he said one final thing:

"There's a reason the First Hybrid cursed her bloodline. And it wasn't because of love. It was because she saw what her child became."

Kaelen and I stood in the clearing long after he was gone.

I held the stone in my palm.

It pulsed again.

Kaelen touched my hand, gently closing my fingers around it.

"Don't ever use that," he said.

"I won't," I whispered.

But deep inside...

Something had already started to crack.

That night, Kaelen didn't sleep.

I heard him pacing under the moonlight, shirtless, sweat glistening along the curve of his spine. His rune glowed faintly darker than before.

I watched from the shadows.

Wondering how much longer we had before the Wyrm made its move.

Before our love became a weapon.

Before our child became a war.