22. Tayla

Chapter twenty-two

Tayla

Jaxon's eyes gleamed with dark excitement. "Figured it out, did you?"

My stomach churned. "The children. You need them for the ritual."

"Smart girl." His voice chilled me to the bone. "And you won't stop me."

Rage coursed through me. I wanted to lash out, to wipe that smirk off his face. But I couldn't risk it. Not with the children still here.

Where was Asher? We were supposed to face this monster together.

Jaxon's lips curled. "Looking for your Alpha? He's... preoccupied."

Ice gripped my heart. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say he's... tied up at the moment."

My wolf surged forward, teeth bared. "If you've hurt him—"

"He should've thought twice before taking what was mine."

I tensed, ready to spring. The children or Asher – which way do I go?

“ He killed her.”

As I turned around, my heart sank into my stomach. There, I saw Aurelia struggling to put the children back into the cart as quietly as she could. The wound on her forehead was bleeding fast, but she didn't have time to attend to herself. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

Jaxon smirked, his eyes gleaming with malice, before raising his hand toward her. I watched in horror as she began to rise from the ground, her body painfully suspended in mid-air.

I shifted into my wolf form, and without wasting time, I charged towards Jaxon, but he was too quick. He raised his other hand, and I felt an excruciating pain in my neck. I tried to cry out, but my whimper was silenced as I fell to the ground, unconscious.

As I slowly opened my eyes, everything was blurry, and the world had turned upside down. I blinked several times, trying to clear my vision. I felt a searing pain in my neck that traveled throughout my whole body.

As I raised my paw to rub my neck, I heard the loud sound of the children as they screamed at the top of their little lungs.

I turned my head and saw Aurelia lying on the ground, bleeding from her nose and mouth.

Her body was not moving and her eyes were opened. What did Jaxon do to her?

I transformed back into my human form and crawled towards her, my heart racing with fear of what might have happened to her.

"Aurelia?" I whispered, shaking her. Nothing.

I tried again. Harder. Still no response.

Cold dread crept over me. No. It couldn't be.

I pressed my fingers to her nostrils. No breath.

A mournful cry tore from my throat. The children's screams intensified.

For a moment, I just held her. The weight of loss crushed me.

No…. No….this can't be true. Aurelia was not dead.

Tears streamed down my face. How would Asher react? Aurelia had been kind, promised to help me escape. Now she was gone.

I blamed myself. Rage at Jaxon boiled inside me.

The children's cries snapped me back. I gently laid Aurelia down and stood.

What I saw chilled my blood.

Jaxon held the children suspended, blood trickling from their noses and eyes.

His chant echoed: "From thee, I take your life blood..."

I had to act. Now.

With a loud growl, I shifted back into my wolf form and launched myself at Jaxon. But before I could reach him, the children's lifeless bodies fell to the ground like rain drops.

I froze, my mind reeling with thoughts. I was too late. I had failed. My eyes burned with tears as I shifted back into my human form. Jaxon vanished from sight, leaving me alone with the children's bodies. No. No. The silence was deafening, and my grief threatened to consume me.

Nora's soft voice spoke up behind me. "Ms. Tayla, I'm so sorry. I know how much you wanted to stop this..." I turned to face Nora, my eyes welling up with tears.

"I tried," I sniffled, the tears attempting to fall. "Asher is nowhere in sight, and Aurelia is dead." I pointed to Aurelia's body lying nearby, my voice cracking with emotion. I collapsed to my knees.

Nora's expression turned grim. "We need to get out of here, now, before Jaxon returns to complete the ritual…he may not be done with us or them,” she said as she motioned to the bodies.

But my knees felt heavy as if stuck to the ground. I couldn't bear the thought of leaving the children's bodies behind or not taking justice for Aurelia. I felt weak, and all I wanted right now was for everything to end. Was this some horrible dream? I pinched my cheek, attempting to wake myself up, but nothing happened. This was my terrible reality.

Aurelia was dead, and I didn't know what had happened to Asher.

I picked myself up off the ground just as Jaxon's loud voice echoed behind us.

“You can't escape me that easily, Tayla!"

My heart sank as I saw Jaxon standing next to a black coffin, its lid open, revealing the body of a pregnant woman covered in dried blood. She didn't look as if she had been dead for years. Her body still looked fresh—it was the magic sustaining her like this.

The air around us began to thicken oddly, and I felt a strange energy building up.

Nora raised her hand to cast a spell, but she stumbled backward, blood trickling from her nose.

"He's blocked every spell from reaching him," she gasped. "We need to get out of here, now, and find Asher."

But my feet refused to move, my gaze fixed on the coffin. Darkness swirled inside, consuming everything in its path.

Jaxon clapped his hands together, and I felt a strong pull forcing me to the ground. When I looked up, my eyes widened in horror.

The ritual was complete, and my heart felt like it had been ripped apart. We all stood there awaiting Esther to rise from the coffin, but…even after a few minutes, nothing happened. I turned to Nora, who also looked confused.

Did this mean the ritual didn’t work?

He knelt down to observe Esther, who was still lying unconscious, and his brows furrowed. When her body didn’t respond, he leaned into the coffin. All of a sudden, I saw one long, slender hand appear out of the coffin and wrap its hand around Jaxon’s neck.

Jaxon struggled to breathe as he tried to free himself from her grasp, but her hold on him tightened. She slowly rose from the coffin with her hand not leaving his neck, and I caught sight of the smirk on her face.

I couldn't tear my gaze away from her. Where was the baby bump? What happened to her child?

As she held him, she slowly raised him from the ground. He began to choke, his veins protruding out of his face in pain.

The words that Esther spoke to me the other day echoed in my head. She really wasn't interested in this man anymore.

“Wh—what?” He looked at her, confused.

“Sorry to say this, but your journey ends here,” Esther said, her eyes transitioned to black.

“What?” Jaxon looked at her with shock. “I…. I thought you loved me?” he choked out.

“I was only using you to complete the ritual. Now that I am fully risen, I do not need any distractions,” she said.

“Where is the baby?” He coughed as he stared at her stomach, which looked flat.

“She's dead. I absorbed her life energy,” Esther smiled. “Time to say goodbye, Jax.”

She then plunged her hand into his chest, and he groaned, his eyes bulging out, and she slowly pulled his heart out.