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Smoke clung to Alex's skin like memory.
He stood at the edge of the ruined summoning circle, the once-glowing runes now charred and silent. The flames had died, but their heat lingered in the air—and in his bones.
Eira was at his side, her eyes scanning his face like she didn't quite believe he was real. "You shouldn't be standing."
"I don't feel like I am," Alex murmured, swaying slightly.
She caught him before he could fall, holding him close. Her grip was steady, grounding. "Kaelen?"
"Gone. Or… sealed. I don't know which."
Eira's jaw clenched. "He chose darkness. That was never going to end any other way."
"No," Alex whispered. "It was supposed to end differently."
He stepped away, glancing back at the circle. The silence felt final—but he couldn't shake the sense that Kaelen wasn't truly gone. That there was still a piece of him buried deep inside the line, waiting.
As they walked from the site, the forest remained quiet. Watching.
Back at the bunker, the rest of the pack waited—Scott, Lydia, Malia. Their expressions ranged from concern to awe. Alex wasn't just a shifter now—he was something more.
Lydia was the first to speak. "The seal you walked out of… that wasn't ley magic. That was alpha binding."
Eira looked at Alex sharply. "What?"
Lydia nodded. "Alex broke the pact not just with Kaelen… but with the Hale line itself. Whatever tethered their blood to Beacon Hills—he severed it."
Scott stepped forward. "So what does that make you?"
Alex took a breath.
"The beginning of something new."
But his voice trembled—because deep down, he wasn't sure if that was true… or just wishful thinking.
That night, while the others slept, Eira found him standing on the rooftop, eyes turned toward the stars.
"They're gone," he said. "The old voices. The dreams. Everything Kaelen stirred in me... it's quiet now."
She reached for his hand.
"Then maybe it's time you stopped chasing the past and started building the future."
Alex looked down at their hands, fingers laced together.
For the first time, the fire inside him didn't burn—it warmed.
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Chapter 20: The Forsaken Totem?