The Forbidden Heiress At The All Male Alpha Academy-Chapter 188: One, two...Gone.

Theo felt it before she understood it.

A tearing sensation so primally intense and wrong ripped through her chest as Sylas’s body went still in Cain’s grasp. There was no pain at first, just this weird feeling of absence. Like something vital had been yanked out of her without warning.

Her breath stalled. No... 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

No, that wasn’t possible.

The pendant lay cold against her skin, heavy and suppressive, doing what it had always done. It was silencing the mate bond, and she couldn’t feel Sylas the way she should have.

But something inside her screamed anyway. An agonizing heart wrenching scream she never knew could come out of her mouth.

Cain loosened his grip, and Sylas’s head sagged, tipping at an angle that made Theo’s stomach convulse. For a moment, Cain still held him there, as if deciding whether the body deserved even the dignity of gravity.

Then he released him, and Sylas hit the ground.

The sound was soft, and the way he landed was stiff. His silver eyes held neither calm nor anger, just plain emptiness.

That was what broke her.

"No—!" Theo lurched forward, crawling on hands and knees, dirt scraping under her palms as she dragged herself toward him.

Her legs refused to work, her body trembling violently as if it knew something she still couldn’t accept.

Sylas still didn’t move.

The shadows lay dead around him.

Something snapped deep inside her chest, sharp and irreversible, and the pendant burned like a dam cracking under pressure it could no longer contain.

And suddenly, she felt it.

The bond.

Not awakening, but dying instead. It’s the first time she would actually feel the weight of the mate bond, no matter how little, and it had to be its dying embers.

A vast, hollow echo surged through her soul, a severing so absolute it stole the air from her lungs.

Her vision blurred as her mind rejected the truth even while her heart understood it perfectly.

Sylas was gone.

"No..." she whispered, shaking her head violently. "No, no, no...he’s—he’s just—"

Cain looked down at the body, then he exhaled in satisfaction, "One," he said.

Theo’s head snapped up.

Zeke!

He was still on his knees, his body barely showing any signs of life. His heart had become too weak, and blood covered his legs where he had vomited till there was nothing left to throw up. His hands clenched so tightly they shook, and he was barely holding himself upright.

He forced himself to look up and found Sylas’s body.

Or rather, Zevon.

Moon moaned with grief inside of him, and Zeke’s eyes watered.

The moment Cain started to approach Zeke, Theo surged forward with everything she had left.

She didn’t think. She just ran.

Or tried to.

But Cain’s strides were long and powerful. He caught up to Zeke before she did.

Pain exploded through her body as she stumbled, falling hard against Cain’s leg. She wrapped both arms around it, clinging like a desperate child, nails digging into fabric and flesh.

"Please!" she sobbed, her voice breaking completely, "Please don’t—don’t kill him—please—!"

Cain didn’t move.

She pressed her forehead to the ground again, shaking, choking on her own breath, "I’ll do anything," she begged, "Anything. I’ll come back. I’ll obey. I’ll stay. I won’t run again. I swear—just—just don’t—"

Her words dissolved into sobs.

Cain didn’t listen to her the first time. He wasn’t going to listen now.

Zeke lifted his head, and looked at her, "Hellcat," he rasped.

She twisted toward him, tears streaming unchecked, "I’m here," she cried, "I’m here—I won’t let him—I won’t—"

Cain reached down, and she tried to drag his hands away, but it was futile, no matter how much she hit and shoved. His hands closed around Zeke’s throat, and she screamed again, "No! NO—!"

She clawed at Cain’s arm again and again, striking him, biting, tearing at him with every ounce of strength left in her body. It was still useless, it was like attacking a mountain.

"Please—please—please—!" Her voice shattered completely, "Take me instead! Kill me instead! I’ll die—just let him live—!"

Cain finally looked down at her. It still looked at her like she was trying to be amusing.

"I told you before, it doesn’t matter,"

His grip tightened, and Zeke gasped, choking violently as his hands flew to Cain’s wrist and gripped Cain’s wrist. His feet dragged uselessly against the ground as Cain lifted him with terrifying ease.

One could see the pain in Zeke’s eyes, the light leaving his eyes as he kept struggling.

Theo felt it then.

The second bond.

Another rupture tore through her chest, hotter this time, an unbearable pressure similar to the first that collapsed inward. She felt Zeke slipping, the bond fraying, and unravelling thread by thread.

Her body convulsed.

She screamed his name.

Cain twisted his wrist, and then came a sickening crack.

Zeke’s body jerked once, terribly, and then he went slack.

Then, Cain threw Zeke’s body away and it landed beside Sylas.

Her world faded then, and the pain hit her all at once. It was a tidal wave of grief so immense it stole her ability to breathe. It wasn’t just loss. It was recognition. Instinct. Truth carved into her very blood.

Her mates were dead.

Her heart knew it.

Her soul knew it.

She refused to.

"No," she whispered, rocking forward toward them, "No... you’re still here. You have to be. I—I can feel you—"

But what she felt wasn’t presence.

It was emptiness.

Cain straightened back, then dusted his arms like he had just finished touching something so filthy, "Two," he said.

She reached out to touch their bodies, her aching head shaking in disbelief that they weren’t dead. They couldn’t be. How could they be?!

But Cain didn’t even give that much. He simply lifted a hand, and fire erupted on the lifeless bodies.

Theo’s scream tore out of her, raw and animalistic as the flames swallowed Sylas and Zeke’s bodies. Heat washed over her face, the light searing into her eyes as she crawled forward, still trying to reach.

"I’m here!" she sobbed. "I’m right here...please—!"

The fire roared even more, and she cried and screamed even louder.

"NO--NO--NO--...."

Then, she dove forward without a care. But Cain was faster. He snatched her up by the arm before she could reach the flames, and inch away, and yanked her aside.

She tried to crawl back, tears and pain hitting the back of her skull but someone came from behind and held her down.

"LET GO OF ME!" She screamed, scraping the ground, "NO! NOOOOOOO!!!!"

Cain watched everything, the amusement gone. The reflection of the burning bodies lit his eyes as he waited.

Theo remained held back, screaming until her voice gave out, until all that remained were broken, soundless sobs shaking her entire body.

Only when the flames died down, only when nothing remained but charred, unmoving forms did Cain finally move and nod.

He was fully satisfied.

*************