Chapter 132 

_Rylan’s POV 

Kael’s shout cut through the trees while the phone was still in my hand. 

“There she is!” 

The woman on the line went dead. Static hissed and then, there was complete silence. I dropped the phone and it hit the ground with a soft thud. For a second, I stood very still. The knife at my belt felt like it burned into my skin. 

Avarok growled low in my chest. He wanted out. He wanted to tear the night and find her. I felt him like a second heartbeat. I tried to slow him. I tried to slow myself. 

“Move!” Kael snapped. His men sprinted. Torches flared like small suns through the dark. 

I ran too. My lungs felt too small for the cold. Branches slapped my face. The trail slipped under my boots. The white dress flashed ahead and then was gone. My head filled with a single bright want. Find her. Bring her home. 

We pushed through scrub and pines. Jared and Alex spread right and left. Kael was a dark shape cutting the line. Morana kept close. Her voice was quiet as she chanted under her breath. The compass was swinging steadily in her hand. It pointed the way like a heart tugging a string. 

The figure kept appearing and vanishing. I cursed under my breath. Each time she showed, my hope lifted. Each time she slipped away, the hope dropped like a stone. 

When I finally caught sight of her again, she was moving down a low rise toward the old fence. The shadowed line where the Shadowrune territory began. Her nightdress was white under the moon. The fabric skated over the grass. 

My throat tightened. I had seen her in a thousand small and careless moments. Her laugh in training rings. How she liked to place her hands in mine. Her fear the night we nearly lost her. All of it flashed in me now and slammed into the blankness on her face. 

“Lisa!” I called. I wanted to run the last yards. I wanted to take her to me and feel her solid and warm and real. Avarok pushed. He smelled her on the air and wanted to be with her. 

She turned her head when I shouted. Her face looked at me. It was the same curve I knew. But it held none of the soft edges. Her eyes were calm the way a statue’s eyes are calm. No quick pupils. No blink of surprise. No emotions. 

That wrongness was a blade in my gut. 

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Chapter 132 

+25 Points 

Morana came up beside me. She narrowed her eyes. “Something is not right,” she whispered. “Be cautious, Rylan. Don’t rush.” 

Then, the forest shifted. From between the trees, figures began to appear. Cloaked shapes and faces pale in the torchlight. They were warlocks; Fenric’s men. They moved with quiet purpose, forming a dark arc behind Lisa, just a few paces from the Shadowrune boundary. 

The one in front gave a short bow. It was a mockery of respect. “Alpha Rylan,” he said softly, his voice smooth as smoke. “You should not have come so close.” 

My wolf answered with a hot snarl. I could feel every hair lift. “Let her go” I said. I tried to make my voice steady but it sounded too thin. 

Lisa did not flinch when they drew near. She let their hands touch her. She let one man guide her wrist. She did not pull away. Her body moved as if pulled by a string. 

The warlock smiled like he kept a secret that could burn a man. “We mean no harm, Alpha. Let her come with us, and you and your men may walk away untouched.” 

A laugh rose in my chest that was more pain than humor. He was taking me for a fool. I looked at Lisa again. She did not look afraid. She did not look like the Lisa who tangled her fingers in her hair when she was nervous. She looked….strange. She was calm and composed. Like someone else lived in that body and dressed it for a night. 

I stepped forward a little. I wanted to see her closer. I wanted to burn the blankness out of her face with recognition. My voice came low. “Lisa.” I used the name like a rope. “Lisa, come 

here.” 

For half a breath, her eyes seemed to reach at me. A flicker crossed them like a bad film. I thought I saw something small….an almost smile that did not fit. Then she bent her head like someone listening to an order. She took another step toward the gate. 

Morana’s hands clenched at her sides. “No…” she hissed. “They’ve done something to her. I can feel it. Dark magic coils around her like chains.” 

“Lisa!” she cried suddenly, her voice breaking. “Lisa, fight it! It’s not you!” 

Her steps were light, steady and deliberate…..as if guided by invisible strings. The warlocks moved closer, one of them resting a hand on her shoulder. 

My stomach twisted. I wanted to believe this was her, that somehow she was just lost or afraid. But that blank face… it wasn’t Lisa. 

“Lisa,” I tried again, softer this time. “Come here. Come back to me.” 

For a heartbeat, she stopped walking. The torches flickered, their flames stretching tall as the 

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<Chapter 132 

wind shifted. Then she turned toward me. 

+25 Points 

A smile touched her lips. Not the soft kind I knew; the one that used to melt the edges of my 

anger. 

This one was cold, crooked and cruel. 

Her eyes gleamed with a sharp light that made my stomach twist. It wasn’t Lisa’s warmth. It was something else. Something wrong. 

Avarok growled deep inside me. That’s not her, he warned. Her scent is right, but the soul feels wrong. 

I swallowed hard, forcing my voice past the tightness in my throat. “Lisa?” 

She smirked. It was a slow and mocking curve that sent a shiver crawling up my spine. Then, she turned away and kept walking toward the warlocks. Her bare feet were gliding over the grass as if she were being pulled by invisible strings. 

Kael’s growl rolled beside me like thunder. “She is crossing the border,” he hissed. “I’ll stop them myself.” 

“Kael, wait…” I started, but he had already drawn his blade. 

The warlocks raised their hands in perfect rhythm. Black light shimmered at their fingertips like veins of molten shadow. The air grew tight. 

“Launch!” I shouted. My men surged forward. The forest erupted. There were boots pounding, snarls breaking and the sharp hum of magic ready to strike. 

And then…. 

“Stop!” 

The voice came clear and commanding. It was a ‘woman’s voice. 

Every sound shattered into silence. The warlocks froze mid–step. Even Kael halted, blade poised in the air. 

I turned toward the sound. My pulse hammered hard. 

From behind a cluster of thorny bushes, a figure stepped into the torchlight. Her cloak was torn. Her hair was tangled and streaked with dirt. She looked frightened and unsteady. 

It was Katherine. 

My eyes widened. For a second, my mind didn’t catch up. 

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What was she doing here–hiding, instead of standing with Fenric’s men? 

Kael’s voice came low and sharp. “What kind of game is this?” 

Morana’s expression shifted from anger to confusion. “Why would she be there?” she murmured, more to herself than to us. “She should be with them.” 

+25 Points > 

I stared between the two…..Lisa’s body, standing calm and cold beside the warlocks… and Katherine, trembling and covered in dirt behind the bushes. 

None of it made sense. 

Was this a trick? A trap? Had Fenric sent her here to distract us? 

Katherine looked up then, her voice shaking. “Please… don’t let them take her!” she cried. 

My heart stopped. Take her? What did she mean? 

Across the border, Lisa’s smile widened. She turned slightly, enough for the moonlight to catch her eyes. There was no trace of fear there. Only satisfaction. 

A chill slid through me like ice water. 

“Rylan…” Morana whispered, stepping closer, her voice tight with alarm. “Something’s wrong. Terribly wrong.” 

I couldn’t even speak. 

Because the woman in white…..my Lisa, or whoever she had become… was smiling at me as if she had already won. 

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