Claimed By My Three Alphas
Chapter 178

AMERY'S

POV

In that split moment of commotion, that single second where everything shifts. I think fast.

Looking around me, I spot the healer's blade abandoned on the concrete. He's scurried to safety.

I pick it up just as I see Casper reach for me in my peripheral. I swing the weapon blindly, slashing at the open' palm of his hand. He hisses, grabbing the injury. Levi dashes towards us.

I grab the dagger at the hilt, using all the force I can muster to lodge it into the side of Caspers's knee. He growls out in pain.

A soldier blocks Levi's path, swinging a silver rope with a spiked ball tip at his head. Levi ducks, yanking at the silver chain. It burns the skin of his hands, but it's as though he doesn't even feel it. He pulls the man to him by the chain, gripping his head between both hands and snapping his neck.

Casper pulls the blade from his knee, rearing back and throwing it at Levi. He ducks, and the blade burrows into the man charging behind him. Lodging into his neck.

I watch, in slow motion, as King Kilian falls off his horse, grasping at his throat. I stifle a cry.

Levi doesn't have the same reaction as me, no. He has a goal. Casper charges towards Levi as he picks up the silver chain. Rearing it like a lasso, he whips it at Casper. The King raises his hands defensively, but the massive chain wraps around his throat, thrice. Levi pulls, dropping Casper to his knees as he gasps for breath. His neck sears, the skin melting as he tries to loosen the force on the chain. But Levi has already let go of it. He walks up to Casper, picking up an axe discarded on the floor. Casper doesn't even have a moment to feel fear.

Lifting the weapon above his head with both hands, Levi crashes the axe into Casper's head, splitting his skull in two.

Blood sprays, coating Levi's entire body like he's just taken a shower in red. His chest heaves, fury and despair, coating every inch of his features. I see it, even through all the crimson. I feel it too. We've lost everything.

He closes the distance between us, grasping my face in his coated hands. "Are you alright?" He asks, "Are you hurt?"

I can only shake my head. He turns to my mother, "Are you okay?" She merely nods.

My hands press against his chest, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"It's okay." He pulls me into him, not caring that he's getting blood all over me, "It's going to be okay."

He says that, but I hear tremor in his voice.

"Do it." I whisper.

"What?"

My eyes meet his, "Do it."

He studies me, and then realization hits. His eyes sadden, red coated brows pulling his face taut. He doesn't ask if I'm sure, he just nods.

Pulling my hair to the side, his fingers graze across my neck. "I'm so sorry." He whispers.

I feel his canines elongate, stretching past his lips. His breath tickles my skin, anticipation making me hold my breath, before he sinks his teeth deep into the base of my neck.

I can't explain what happens next.

My body surges with energy, unlike any of the times I ve harnessed my powers. Levi's teeth are lodged in my skin, as he groans.

In pleasure? Pain? I can't tell.

I feel like I'm floating, my body's overheating. I press my hands to his chest, trying to ground myself. He's burning to the touch.

What the hell is happening?

It feels like my veins are burning, I feel strong, potent with energy. Bolts of lightning flash through the midnight sky, the sounds of thunder unnatural.

The force of it's echo vibrating the ground, the cemented walls of the alter.

He pulls his teeth from my skin, his eyes meeting mine.

"Your eyes," I gasp

Burning pools of grey. Like glowing concrete orbs. Coloured lines mar every inch of his skin, I look down at my hands, biting back a gasp at the sight of the visible energy flowing through my veins. "What..?" Levi stares down at his own self, just as lost as I am.

"Did you feel that?" He asks.

I nod fervently, "What do you feel?"

"I don't know," he says, "I can't explain it. It felt like massive amounts of energy coursing through my body."

I hold his stare for a moment, just a moment, basking in this moment before I let reality hit. And when it does, I break.

Dead bodies, scattered everywhere.

Asher.

Quincy.

King Killian.

Levi looks around the devastation of his family, his eyes darting from body to body. He doesn't even know where to begin. "Mom."

Levi shifts to her, pulliag the cloth from her lips and untying her wrists. She starts crying harder.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say, How do I make this better, when I feel like I'm drowning in sorrow myself?

The only reason I'm able to stand on my own two feet is because of this new found energy fueling me.

I pass by the pools of blood, the numerous bodies, stopping at the one's meant to break my heart.

The deaths I caused. I drop to my knees on the soaked ground.

They're don't look peaceful, they didn't die painlessly.

It hurt.

It's etched on their faces. Their vacant eyes wide with their last moments.

Levi stands over his father's corpse, his head hanging low.

Theres so much grief in the air, it's difficult to breathe.

The aftermath of war. The remaining soldiers are too injured to move, or to grateful to be done fighting, I don't know.

I don't care

Levi makes his way towards me, kneeling next to the bodies of his dead brothers.

"This was all my fault." I whisper.

His mouth twists.

"I should have known it was a trap. I should never have left.

"You did what you thought you had to."

"And now your family is gone!" I cry.

My body folds over their still forms. I weep into their bloody. limbs. My hand pressing against Quincy's chest, the other cupping Asher's bloody cheek. "I'm so sorry!" I cry, "I'm sorry! I love you! I didn't get to say goodbye!"

"Amery-" Levi's voice breaks. It just makes me sob harder.

"This was all my fault!" My tears mix with the blood on their skin, their lifeless bodies so close together, "I did this! I wish I could take it back."

I wish they could come back to me.

I'd do anything to hold them, have them hold me.

Hear their voices one more time

"I love you, both." My words are muffled on Quincy's chest.

Levi cups the back of my head, running a hand through Asher's black hair.

Please come back.

Come back to me.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

My chest heaves as I gasp, rising to my knees. There's no oxygen, and I'm hyperventilating, my shoulders rising and falling as I try desperately to breathe properly.

My fingers dig into their skin, a broken growl rumbling low in my chest, making Levi flinch.

I didn't get to say goodbye.

I toss my head back with a guttural cry. It rips through the dark night. Like every inch of me has been coiled together, every drop of emotion wound tight into a potent ball and forced from my lungs.

The earth fissures from where I'm kneeling, spiderweb cracks breaking through the caked sand.

An invisible gust of energy ripples through the clearing, sending the lingering soldiers airborne, their bodies slamming into the trees edging the Forrest. Their barks sway, splintering and breaking, leaves fluttering from their branches like they're being sucked away and up into the air.

I feel like I've been cracked open. None of the energy I felt earlier remains in my bones. I feel weak, shattered. Torn open and left hollow.

Empty.

And then I break down in tears.

Weep like I never have in my entire life.

"I thought... we agreed,"

It's so quiet.

The words so strained, that I almost don't hear them.

"No more worrying, Princess."