Page 60 of Fated Alpha Baby

But there’s barely time to think about it when Orlando’s roar echoes from inside the mill.

“Nico!”

Hannah and I sprint toward the building together.

The inside reeks of blood, sulfur, and decay. Symbols painted in black cover the wooden floors while candles burn in massive circles around the center platform of the mill.

My stomach drops when I follow Orlando’s horrified gaze.

Nico hangs suspended above the ground inside the ritual circle, unconscious, black tendrils of energy wrapped around his small body, while the portal overhead pulses with every flicker of power draining from him.

“Oh Goddess…” Hannah whispers in shock, a hand flying to her mouth.

Orlando calls out again beneath the platform. “Nico!”

But the child doesn’t respond.

A massive demon suddenly rises between the circle and us, its body towering nearly to the ceiling, jagged horns protruding from its skull.

“The vessel belongs to the gate,” it snarls, and something inside me snaps beyond the churn in my gut.

“Over my dead body!” I growl.

The creature lunges for Orlando, but Hannah’s wind magic slams into it first. At the same time, my flames follow immediately after, our combined powers moving together instinctively now, as if the mate bond itself understands what to do before we can think about it consciously.

The demon roars as fire tears across its chest. Heinrich crashes into its side in wolf form while Orlando leaps upward toward Nico.

But the ritual circle reacts instantly to being broken. Dark energy explodes outward, sending Orlando hurtling backward violently into the wall.

“Break the circle!” Annika shouts from behind us.

The witches begin chanting immediately, and Hannah grabs my arm.

“Together.”

I nod once at the single instruction, recognizing it as her power, not her authority over me. We’re a team, a unit, and together, we unleash everything we’ve got.

Fire and wind spiral together into a massive torrent of magic that crashes directly into the ritual markings beneath Nico. The entire sawmill building shakes violently as the symbols begin cracking apart beneath the force of our combined power.

The portal above us flickers, fighting against the disruption, and the demon screams in protest, a treacherous cry, right before it’s consumed into nothing but ash.

And suddenly, Nico drops.

Orlando catches his son before he can hit the ground, clutching him tightly against his chest.

“Nico!”

The child wheezes weakly in response to his father’s voice, then his tiny body jerks before the sawmill is filled with the unnatural sound of small bones cracking.

Fur in the same shade as his father’s wolf bursts across the child’s skin.

Right there in his father’s arms, Nico shifts fully into a wolf pup.

And the portal destabilizes instantly.

The swirling darkness above the mill shudders violently, the entire gateway collapsing inward for a brief second as if the source powering it has suddenly become the very thing with enough power to rip it away.

“He disrupted it,” Hannah breathes as she grips my arm.