Alpha’s Glitch: The Dragon Architect’s Revenge

Chapter 7: Root Access

The physical world—the suffocating room, the crushing iron, the agonizing lack of oxygen—ceased to exist.

I didn't just breach his mind; I crashed through his mental architecture like a meteor striking a glass cathedral. The violent transition from physical asphyxiation to pure, digital-like consciousness left my senses reeling for a microsecond before my architect’s instincts took over.

System environment: Hostile. Emotional interference: Extreme. Identifying power source…

Xander’s mindscape was a terrifying, violent masterpiece. It wasn't a static room or a memory; it was a raging, perpetual blizzard of crimson and silver. Jagged mountains of raw, unfiltered instinct jutted into a sky burning with Alpha dominance.

And standing at the epicenter of the storm was the Beast.

It was Xander’s Lycan soul—a massive, spectral wolf made of starlight and blood, radiating a kinetic energy output so massive it defied my logical parameters. It snarled, baring teeth the size of broadswords, instinctively rearing up to destroy the foreign entity invading its domain.

But I didn't cower. I didn't run.

In this space, without the physical constraints of the High Council’s iron collar, my true form wasn't suppressed.

The Beast’s snarl faltered, dying in its throat as the storm clouds above it violently parted.

I projected my soul into his sky. I was no longer the fragile, soot-caked Fringe rat. I manifested as the Phantom Dragon Architect—a colossal, awe-inspiring entity of shimmering, translucent gold and obsidian scales. My wingspan blanketed his entire mental horizon. Even here, massive spectral chains of green High Council magic bound my form, but my presence was undeniable.

I looked down at the Alpha’s soul with blazing, predatory golden eyes.

“I need your kinetic output,” my voice echoed, not as sound, but as a telepathic shockwave that vibrated the very foundations of his mindscape. “The collar’s eradication protocol is executing. If you don't give me root access to your energy right now, my physical body dies in three seconds.”

The massive Lycan beast stared up at me. The violent, feral aggression in its crimson eyes melted into absolute, cosmic reverence. The Mate bond—a thick, electric tether of pure white light—connected its heart directly to my chained chest.

It didn't fight me. It bowed its massive head and offered me the storm.

Access granted.

I didn't hesitate. I acted as a conduit, violently siphoning the raw, atomic power of an Alpha Lycan and rerouting it through the Mate bond back into the physical world.

*** Physical Reality ***

2 seconds to brain death.

The toxic green light radiating from the collar was blinding, the iron crushing my windpipe to the thickness of a straw.

Then, the glitch took effect.

The massive surge of Xander’s Alpha energy slammed into my nervous system, bypassing my blocked magical nodes entirely. I weaponized his power, forcing it outward into the collar’s archaic motherboard.

The High Council runes hadn't been programmed to process the raw, unfiltered energy of an Alpha Mate actively destroying his own claim to save the prisoner. The logic loop was fundamentally flawed.

System Overload. Error. Error. ERR—

CRACK.

A sound like a lightning strike detonated inside the Alpha's bedroom.

The toxic green magic violently shattered like cheap glass. The iron collar didn't break—the physical metal was too dense—but a massive, jagged fissure split the surface of the metal right over my vocal cords. The lethal suppression protocol short-circuited.

The iron instantly released its crushing grip, returning to a dormant, rusted state.

The forced consciousness link severed.

I gasped, a horrific, wet sound, as oxygen violently rushed back into my collapsed lungs. I collapsed against the floor, convulsing as my physical body desperately tried to reboot its autonomic functions.

"Sereia!"

Strong, trembling arms caught me before my head could hit the mahogany floorboards. Xander hauled me into his chest. His heart was hammering against my cheek like a war drum. He was gasping for air as if he had been the one suffocating, his face pale, sweat beading on his forehead from the sheer trauma of having his energy forcibly drained.

I lay there, my vision slowly swimming back into focus. My throat was on fire, bleeding sluggishly from where the metal had bitten into the flesh, but the immediate threat of death was gone. The collar was cracked. The kill switch was dead.

I looked up at Xander.

The Alpha arrogance was completely gone. He was staring down at me, his crimson eyes wide with a mixture of profound shock, terror, and an intoxicating, consuming awe. He had seen the dragon. He had seen the chains. He knew exactly what he was holding in his arms.

"You..." Xander breathed, his voice barely a whisper, his hand shaking as he gently cupped the side of my face, his thumb carefully avoiding the cracked iron. "You're a Goddess-damned Architect."

I swallowed hard, tasting blood, my analytical mind already re-engaging to assess our new dynamic.

"I told you," I rasped, forcing a cold, b****y smirk. "I'm the glitch in your system. And you just helped me crash their firewall."

Xander let out a low, vibrating breath, resting his forehead against mine. The scent of winter pine washed over me, but this time, it didn't feel like a threat. It felt like a shield.

"The High Council is going to hunt you," he murmured, his Alpha aura slowly condensing around us, transforming the bedroom into an impenetrable fortress. "The second that collar cracked, they felt it. They will send the entire Vanguard to tear my territory apart to get you back."

I closed my eyes, my draconic instincts finally finding a rhythm that aligned with his.

"I know," I whispered, the cold logic returning to my veins. "Let them come. We have a lot of structural weaknesses to exploit."