"Killian?" Faith whispered, reaching out to touch his arm.
He didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He stood tall, his muscular chest heaving, but the warmth she always felt from his touch was gone. It was replaced by a cold, regal pressure. His eyes, those beautiful, golden Alpha eyes, were now a terrifying, solid violet.
"The Nightshade lineage was always a hybrid," King Valerius called down from the balcony, his voice smooth and triumphant. "Why do you think your father was so successful, Killian? Because he carried the Royal dormant gene. You weren't just an Alpha, you were a backup. A vessel for the Crown's consciousness if the bloodline ever grew too thin."
"Hey look at me! Killian, look at me!" Faith screamed, grabbing his face. "This isn't you! Don't let him in!"
Killian's hand moved. It was fast, faster than any shifter she'd seen. He grabbed her wrists, his grip like iron. He didn't hurt her, but he held her with a clinical, detached strength.
"The Catalyst is active," Killian said, but it wasn't his voice. It was a hollow, layered echo of the King's. "The bridge is open. We don't need the mother anymore. The girl is the key to the final shift."
Faith looked up at the balcony. Sarah was struggling against her guards, her eyes wide with terror. "Faith! The 'Lullaby' frequency! Use the internal code! He's using a psychic link through the obsidian dust!"
Faith looked down at the shattered remains of the pillars. The black dust was stirring around Killian's feet, glowing with a faint violet light. It was a conductor. The King was using the obsidian to broadcast his will directly into Killian's brain.
"I won't let you have him," Faith hissed.
She closed her eyes, reaching deep into that silver fire in her blood. She didn't think about blueprints or equations. She thought about the boutique, the way Killian had looked at her in that midnight-blue dress. She thought about the way he'd squeezed her hand at the Academy gates.
I am not an investment, she thought, her silver light flaring. And he is not a vessel.
She slammed her hands onto the sand, sending a huge pulse of silver energy through the floor. It wasn't a blast of destruction, it was a cleansing wave.
The obsidian dust didn't just fly away, it disintegrated. The violet glow vanished.
Killian let out a strangled, agonizing roar. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head as the psychic link snapped like a whip. He vomited blood into the sand, his body convulsing as his eyes blinked violently between gold and violet.
"Killian!" Faith pulled him into her arms, ignoring the royal guards leaping from the balconies to seize them.
"The girl is unstable!" Vane screamed from above. "Kill them both! Destroy the Catalyst before she wipes the palace!"
No! Leo's voice rang out.
The Prince leaped from the drainage grate above,landing in the sand between Faith and the approaching guards. He drew a silver-edged sword, his violet eyes flashing with a rebellion that had been brewing for a lifetime.
"The King is a parasite!". Leo shouted to the assembled nobles. "He would sacrifice our own blood to become a god! I am the rightful heir, and I say the Catalyst is free!"
The Arena flared into chaos. Half the Royal Guard lowered their weapons, confused by the Prince's command. The other half, the King's zealots, charged.
Killian finally looked up. The violet was gone. His eyes were a burning, molten gold, darker and more intense than ever before. He looked at Faith, and for the first time, he didn't look like a protector. He looked like a Mate.
He stood up, his Alpha aura expanding until it filled the entire Arena, forcing the charging guards to their knees. He didn't shift into a wolf. He didn't have to. His human form was radiating enough power to crack the marble walls.
You tried to take her mind, Killian said, his voice a low, terrifying growl that reached the King's ears. "You tried to turn me against my own heart."
He looked at the King, and the floor of the Arena began to rise. Literally. Killian was using his Alpha command to manipulate the very earth of the palace.
"Faith," Killian said, extending his hand to her. "The Grid. Give me the frequency. Let's show them what a 'Dud' and a 'Vessel' can do together."
Faith took his hand. As their fingers intertwined, a pillar of blinding white-gold light exploded from the center of the Arena, shooting straight through the roof of the palace and into the night sky.
The moon, which had been pale and distant, suddenly turned a brilliant, glowing silver.
Every shifter in the city, every wolf, every Beta, every Alpha, stopped in their tracks. Their eyes turned silver. For the first time in history, the "Dud" frequency was broadcasting to the entire world.
But as the light faded, Faith felt a sharp, cold blade pierce through her shoulder from behind.
She turned, gasping, to see Maya standing there, her face twisted in a mask of pure madness. She wasn't holding a rifle. She was holding an ancient, black-glass dagger.
"If I can't be an Elite," Maya whispered, twisting the blade, "then there won't be a world left to rule."