Raised Among Alphas

70 - Lorcan Lineage

Valerie POV

Our escape was harder than I thought. I wasn't expecting the vampires. And when I felt the power of Alora drifting away with her, I knew I had to interfere.

She couldn't die. I had to do something. I searched in my mind for that forbidden spell that the magic in me once showed me. Perhaps it was for this precise moment. I chanted the words that are prohibited for any light witch and I became a vessel for the magic to flow. It was the magic itself the one that pushed its way out of me to bring her back.

Magic wanted her here. Magic wanted her back. It needed her. Alora's time here wasn't done. She had so much more to live for.

It was through that flow of magic that it talked to me. It told me the price to pay. The price to bring her back. The price to maintain the balance.

Alora's life came back to her. In exchange for her blood today, magic was taking her blood from the future. The Lorcan lineage would die with her... She will bear no children.

Alora took the first breath of her second life and with it the last Lorcan was reborn.

I left her in the arms of her mate while my own took my attention. He was life, he was a new beginning, he was the promise of happiness. He was mine.

In his naked body, I saw a mark. A tattoo. A symbol I had seen before, very recently. In Alora. They bore the same lovers mark, in the exact same spot. Kasthor, my mate. He loves her. She is important to him.

Alora faded out, her body giving up against the exhaustion. She had to recover. The men in the room left to set a perimeter outside the war room. Kasthor and Alpha Ithax remained in here with us. Ithax so grown now, was ferociously guarding his mate. I had to assure him several times she was fine and all she needed was to rest and recover.

I felt it necessary then. I had to tell them what only I knew. Alpha Ithax, had to know the price that was demanded by magic. And my mate, he cared for this woman. And if she loved him as much, she would need his support.

"In magic, there's always a give and a take... life was given, life must be taken..." I raised my voice, making sure to have both of their attention.

Alpha Ithax turned to me, his arms still holding the frail frame of Alora.

"What do you mean?" Ithax asked me, his tension spiking.

"Magic always demands a price to maintain the balance Alpha Ithax. The life of your mate didn't come free of charge" I continued.

Ithax's chest rose, a warning growl brewing deep in him. Kasthor took a step forward positioning himself between me and the Alpha.

"What you do want?" He asked me as if it was me the one setting the price.

"Not me. The magic I used. The magic sets the price." I told him, gently. I knew he was hurt, but he had to hear this.

"What did you do?" He growled at me not hiding his annoyance.

"In exchange for your mate's life, her future lineage was taken from her... Your mate won't be able to bear any children. That was the price." I said it clearly and softly, expelling a cloud of ease away from me to shelter him. To make the blow less hurtful.

Alpha Ithax didn't say anything. He clenched his jaw and held on closer to his mate. He buried his face in her chest and although I didn't see anything, I knew he was shedding tears, mourning the future that was taken from them.

I felt the pain coming from my mate bond. Kasthor was pale. Frozen. Fighting in his head against a sorrow I couldn't take away from him.

"I am sorry. It was the only way I could save her." I told them both, feeling sadness dragging me down. This mate bond was strong. 

"Is there anything that can be done? Any other spell?" My mate asked me, his voice rough.

"No." It hurt me to say it but I had to be honest. I couldn't give them any false hope.