Blood Ties Part 3
301 Words
Kadir raised a hand.
“No hunt,” he commanded. “Not tonight.”
Elian moved quickly, pulling Lara slightly back. “We need to go.”
But Lara couldn’t move.
The moonlight intensified, flooding the barn in a pale, unnatural glow.
Kadir’s eyes burned gold as he stepped forward again.
“You don’t understand,” he said. “This curse… it’s more than a curse. It’s a bond. One that ties the Aetheri to the pack.”
A strange sensation spread through Lara’s veins—warm, electric.
Alive.
“You’ll be bound to us,” Kadir continued, his voice almost hypnotic. “Forever. Are you willing to pay that price?”
Lara hesitated.
Her thoughts spiraled—Elara, the diary, the curse, the blood.
Her blood.
Kadir’s expression hardened. “You are the key to our freedom. And I won’t let you walk away.”
Then—
The shadows shifted.
The barn door creaked open further.
A figure stepped into the moonlight.
Everything in Lara went still.
Blue eyes met hers.
“Lara…”
The voice was soft. Familiar.
Impossible.
Her breath caught as recognition slammed into her.
“Dad…?”
He stood there, real and unreal all at once.
The truth she had been chasing now stood before her.
The Aetheri.
Her father.
Behind him, the pack surged into the barn, filling it with tension, power, and something dangerously close to chaos.
Lara’s heart pounded.
Questions burned inside her—but there was no time.
This was it.
She lifted her chin, her voice cutting through the silence.
“I’ll do it.”
Her gaze shifted from her father… to Kadir.
“I’ll break the curse.”
A slow smile spread across Kadir’s face, his eyes gleaming with triumph.
“Then,” he said softly, “let’s begin.”
- Writer
