The hybrid nobody wanted

Chapter 14:The Fortress

We walked north for three days.

The forest changed. Grew darker. Colder. The trees twisted together like they were trying to block the path.

Mira walked beside me, eyes scanning the shadows. Jax took the rear, knife always in hand.

No one spoke much.

The bond pulsed in my chest, weak, twisted, wrong. Like a heartbeat that didn't belong to me anymore.

But still there.

Still alive.

I held onto that.

On the third night, we saw it.

The fortress.

Black stone. Towering walls. Torches flickering in the darkness. Shadows moving along the battlements ,vampires, dozens of them.

Mira pulled us behind a rock formation.

"There." She pointed. "That's it."

Jax stared. "How do we get in?"

"We do it together." I looked at them. "Mira, you create a distraction. Jax, you watch our backs. I find Dorian."

Mira grabbed my arm. "And if something goes wrong?"

"Then we run. Together."

She held my gaze. Nodded.

We moved.

Mira's distraction was beautiful.

Fire exploded near the main gate. Vampires screamed. Ran toward the chaos.

We slipped through a side entrance.

Dark corridors. Cold stone. Doors that led to more doors.

I followed the bond. Pulling me deeper.

I'm coming, I sent through it. Hold on.

Nothing. Just cold silence.

I found him in a chamber at the heart of the fortress.

He was on his knees. Chains around his wrists. Head bowed.

Alive.

My heart leaped.

"Dorian." I ran toward him

A hand grabbed my throat.

Lifted me off the ground.

I gasped. Struggled. Looked up.

Dorian.

His eyes were empty. Blank. Wrong.

"D-Dorian..." I choked. "It's... me..."

Nothing.

He tightened his grip.

The bond screamed in my chest,his pain, his confusion, his fight.

Somewhere deep inside, he was still there.

But he couldn't reach me.

"Dorian... please..."

His hand squeezed.

Black spots danced in my vision.

Then a voice echoed through the chamber.

"Release her."

The King stepped out of the shadows. Smiling.

Dorian dropped me. I fell to the ground, gasping.

The King walked to Dorian. Touched his face like a favorite pet.

"Good boy." He looked at me. "You came. I knew you would."

I struggled to my feet. "What have you done to him?"

"Improved him." The King smiled. "Took out the weakness. The guilt. The love." He tilted his head. "He doesn't remember you, hybrid. He doesn't remember anything except his purpose."

"Which is?"

The King's smile widened.

"Killing you."

He snapped his fingers.

Dorian moved.

Fast. Too fast.

I barely dodged. His fist grazed my face. Sent me spinning.

"Dorian!" I screamed. "It's me! RAYA!"

Nothing.

He attacked again.

I fought back,blocked, dodged, moved. But I couldn't strike him. Couldn't hurt him.

He was faster. Stronger. Wrong.

He grabbed me. Pinned me against the cold stone wall.

His hand wrapped around my throat.

I looked into his eyes.

Empty.

Dead.

Gone.

"Dorian..." Tears streamed down my face. "Please..."

His grip tightened.

I couldn't breathe.

Couldn't fight.

Couldn't

"RAYA!"

Mira's voice.

Light exploded in the chamber.

Dorian screamed. Stumbled back. Clawed at his eyes.

Mira stood in the doorway, hands blazing with witch fire. "NOW, RAYA! RUN!"

I couldn't move. Couldn't leave him.

Jax appeared beside me. Grabbed my arm. "She said RUN!"

He dragged me out of the chamber.

Behind us, the King roared. Vampires screamed. Dorian... Dorian was silent.

We ran.

We burst out of the fortress as the walls crumbled behind us.

Mira's magic. She'd brought the whole thing down.

We ran until the forest swallowed us. Until the fires faded. Until we couldn't run anymore.

We collapsed in a clearing.

Gasping. Shaking. Alive.

But barely.

Jax was the first to speak. "What the hell was THAT?"

Mira leaned against a tree, pale and exhausted. "That was the King's control. He's got Dorian completely."

I sat on the ground, staring at nothing.

His face. His empty eyes. His hands around my throat.

He would have killed me.

He WOULD have killed me.

"He's still in there." My voice was barely a whisper.

Mira looked at me. "Raya"

"I felt it. Through the bond. He's fighting. He's still in there." I looked up at them. "I can save him."

Jax stared at me. "Save him? Raya, he almost KILLED you!"

"He didn't mean it. The King…"

"The King controls him! That's not going to change!" Jax grabbed my shoulders. "You need to stay AWAY from him!"

I pulled away. Stood.

"I'm not giving up on him."

Mira stepped forward. "Raya, listen to yourself. He was your enemy. He was sent to capture you. And now he's the King's weapon. At what point do you stop risking your life for someone who…"

"Because I love him!" The words exploded out of me.

Silence.

Tears burned my eyes.

"I love him. And I know he loves me. I felt it. Before the King took him, I felt it." I pressed my hand to my chest. "The bond doesn't lie. And neither does he."

Mira and Jax exchanged a look.

Old Tom's voice echoed in my memory: "The bond doesn't lie, child. Even when everything else does."

"We're going back to the bar," Mira finally said. "We rest. We heal. And then..." She sighed. "Then we figure out what to do."

I nodded.

But in my heart, I already knew.

I was going back for him.

No matter what it cost.