[Emma's POV]
The air in the Blackwood manor was thick with the scent of ozone, sweat, and desperate resolve. In the wake of Damon’s spectral taunt, the brothers had become a whirlwind of fortified defense. Jaxon moved through the halls like a force of nature, his hands slamming against doorframes and windowsills, his Alpha power a tangible, golden wave that reinforced the physical wards until the very stone of the mansion seemed to hum with defiant energy.
Cain was a ghost in the library, his voice a low, constant chant as he wove layers of more esoteric protection—shields of mirrored light to deflect scrying, webs of silence to baffle psychic intrusion.
Downstairs, Maddox deployed his men with cold efficiency, turning the grand old home into a brutalist fortress, their hard eyes and h
