Brute 252

Chapter 252 

ATASHA’S POV 

I took my hand off my father’s wrist and exhaled slowly, grounding myself before looking up at Cassian 

“What do you think?” he asked. 

“I should be able to heal him,” I said. “But it won’t be simple.” 

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I placed my hand back on Alpha Collin’s pulse point, then moved my other hand to his chest. His skin felt colder than it should have. I closed my eyes and let my ability sink inward. 

The moment it slipped past the surface, I felt it. 

The damage inside him was severe. This made me frown. This wasn’t the same damage that I saw when I checked him days ago. I clearly heard William say something about administering the poison during the full moon. That means, he was only able to give him the poison once since I arrived. 

This was not a single poison. It was layered, woven into his body over time, clinging to his organs like it belonged there. His heart was weakened, his blood sluggish, his nerves dulled in places that should have been responsive. There were scars inside him that no blade could have left behind. 

And beneath all of it sat something worse. 

The poison was unique. 

It carried something twisted with it, something that did not behave like normal venom. It felt hostile, almost aware, like it had learned his body and adapted itself to survive every attempt to purge it. A residue of malice clung to it, faint but unmistakable. 

A curse. 

I opened my eyes. 

“This isn’t ordinary poison,” I said. “It was designed to stay. To rot him slowly. And there’s something attached to it.” 

Cassian’s jaw tightened. “Can you remove it?” 

“Yes,” I said. Then, after a brief pause, I added, “But it will fight back.” 

Cassian stepped closer to the bed immediately. “Then I’ll stay here.” 

I looked at him. 

“I’m not leaving,” he continued. “Not until this is done.” 

I nodded. That was enough. 

I focused again and let my power move deeper, no longer testing, no longer cautious. I pushed forward, forcing it to spread through my father’s veins, through his damaged organs, through the places the poison had claimed as its territory. 

The reaction was immediate. 

Something resisted. 

The moment my ability touched the core of the poison, it recoiled, then surged back like it had been waiting for this. Pain rippled through my arms, sharp enough to make my breath hitch, but I did not pull away. 

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10:52 Fri, Jan 23 

Chapter 252 

Not this time. 

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I remembered what it felt like months ago. How fragile my control had been. How easily my strength burned out, how quickly healing turned into collapse. 

If this had happened back then, there was no chance I would have survived it. 

But I was not that person anymore. 

I pressed harder. 

The poison twisted, lashing against my ability like a living thing. It clung to my father’s heart, wrapping itself tighter, as if threatening to crush it just to spite me. I felt the curse stir, trying to push back into my channels. 

“No,” I whispered, teeth clenched. 

I forced my power around it, not just trying to remove it, but to surround it, to isolate it. The moment it realized what I was doing, it surged violently. 

My father’s body jerked. 

His breathing stuttered, shallow and uneven, and for a split second, his pulse vanished under my fingers. 

Cassian moved instantly. “Atasha.” 

“I’ve got him,” I said, though sweat had already broken out along my spine. “Don’t touch him.” 

I shifted my focus, tightening my control, pulling the poison away from his heart inch by inch. It resisted every step, tearing at my senses, trying to break my concentration. 

I met it head–on. 

I did not try to overpower it with force alone. Instead, I unraveled it, breaking apart the layers that had been fed into his body over years. Every strand peeled away revealed another beneath it, each one more stubborn than the last. 

Time blurred. 

I felt my strength drain and refill again, stronger than before, steadier, more controlled. My breathing slowed even as the effort intensified. 

Then something changed. 

The resistance weakened. 

The poison began to collapse in on itself, its structure failing as my power stripped away what sustained it. The curse attached to it thrashed once more, then fractured, breaking apart like something that had lost its anchor. 

My father gasped. 

His chest rose sharply, air tearing into his lungs like he had been pulled back from somewhere far away. His pulse slammed back under my hand, fast and uneven but real. 

I opened my eyes just as his eyelids fluttered. 

Then they opened fully. 

For a heartbeat, he stared up at the ceiling, unfocused, breathing hard, confusion written across his face. Then his gaze 

shifted. 

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10:53 Fri, Jan 23 D 

Chapter 252 

And locked onto mine. 

His lips parted, and his voice came out hoarse, barely more than a breath. 

“Atasha…?” 

His voice barely formed my name before his body reacted to what years of poison had done to him. 

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Collins chest heaved. His throat worked like it was trying to drag something up from deep inside, and then he lurched to the side with a sharp cough. 

Blood spilled from his mouth. 

I moved instantly, one hand bracing his shoulder and the other supporting the back of his head so he did not choke on it. 

“Easy,” I said, steady and firm. “You have been sick for a long time. You cannot rush your body.” 

Collin coughed again, smaller this time, the kind that made it clear his lungs and stomach had been forced to endure too much for too long. His breathing came uneven, eyes narrowed as if he could not decide whether he was in pain or confusion. 

He looked at me again, and there was something strange behind his gaze. Then his eyes shifted past me. 

Toward the side of the room. 

Toward Cassian. 

Collin’s expression changed, confusion tightening his features. His brow furrowed. His gaze swept Cassian from head to toe, lingering on the shadowed posture, on the power in the way he stood, on the fact that he was here at all. 

Collin’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, trying to speak through the blood taste still clinging to his mouth. “What… what is he doing here?” 

Cassian did not move or made any effort to respond. He simply watched. 

I kept my hand on Collin’s shoulder. “I healed you enough to be conscious,” I said. 

Collin blinked slowly, as if he did not understand the sentence. 

“Conscious,” he repeated, voice rough. “What do you mean by that?” 

I did not answer him. 

Instead, I reached for the pitcher on the side table and poured water into a glass. The sound of it filling was loud in the room, too ordinary for a moment that felt anything but. 

I brought it to his lips. 

“Drink,” I said. 

Collin hesitated, eyes still flicking between me and Cassian, but his body was weak and thirsty and confused. His hand reached for the glass with a tremor he could not hide. He drank like a man who had been dying for years and only now realized how dry his throat had been. 

He finished it in one go. 

When he lowered the glass, his breathing steadied slightly. The panic in his eyes did not disappear, but it sharpened into something more controlled. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing blood across his skin, then stared at the stain like it offended him. 

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10:53 Fri, Jan 23 D. 

Chapter 259 

He swallowed again. “Atasha,” he said. “What is going on?” 

I met his eyes and held them. 

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When I said nothing, Collin’s voice lowered. “Tell me what happened,” he demanded. “Why am I here? Why are you here? Why is the North in my house?” 

I watched him carefully, not missing the way his fingers curled around the empty glass, not missing the way his jaw tightened like he was forcing himself not to show weakness again 

Then I spoke. 

“Nightfall Pack has fallen,” I said. 

立 

AB 

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