Page 88 of Broken Forced Mate
“Do whatever you can,” I tell her.
Behind me, the valley shows signs of the battle that nearly destroyed it. Scorched earth marks where magical weapons fired. Bodies of both allied and enemy fighters await burial or evacuation. But the infrastructure remains intact, the civilian shelters are unbreached, and the community is preserved.
Raegan will be happy.
I carry Raegan inside and place her on the prepared medical table as healers from multiple traditions begin their work. Witch healers, Llewelyn medical specialists, and pack medics collaborate in ways that would have been impossible before this crisis forced cooperation.
The immediate threat has ended. Thornridge’s magical weapons lie destroyed, their forces scattered, and their commander defeated. Our alliance held together under pressure, our tactics succeeded, and our community remains intact.
The question now is whether Raegan survives this at all. Whether I saved her from Bastian's poison only to watch her die from exhaustion on a battlefield and if the last time I held her conscious in my arms will be the last time I ever get to hold her.
I can't think about losing her. Won't think about it. She has to survive this. She has to.
Chapter 24 - Raegan
I wake up three days after the battle with my psychic abilities humming at a completely different frequency.
“How do you feel?” Wyn asks from the chair beside my bed. The dark circles under his eyes tell me he’s been keeping vigil since they brought me here.
“Different.” I sit up slowly, testing my mental capabilities. The hollow sensation is gone, and in its place is something that feels both familiar and completely new. “Stronger, but also more controlled. It’s like the overload reset something.”
Sage comes through the doorway carrying a steaming cup. “The magical buffering I provided seems to have stabilized your abilities at a new baseline. You should be able to use them without the dangerous surges that nearly killed you.”
“What about the weapons? Did we destroy them all?”
“Every single one,” Wyn confirms. “But we learned something interesting from Mordaunt’s interrogation.”
“He actually talked?”
“Eventually. Turns out the weapons weren’t just for conquering territories. He was planning to sell them to foreign governments.”
I suck in a breath, and my eyes go wide. “What?”
“Turns out he needed our Amanzite mine to scale production for international markets.”
Theodore enters, and he removes his hat as he nods at me. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve identified buyer networks in at least six countries. This operation was much larger than a territorial conquest. I thought you’d like to know right away.”
“So, we weren’t just fighting for our valley,” I realize. “We were stopping international arms trafficking.”
“Exactly,” Theodore confirms. “The scale is staggering.”
“What happens to Mordaunt now?”
“The matriarch is coordinating with other territorial leaders about prosecution,” Wyn explains. “This goes beyond pack justice and into international supernatural law.”
“And Bastian?”
“Still missing. But we’re tracking him through intelligence networks across multiple territories.”
I test my psychic abilities again, reaching out carefully to sense the emotional signatures of everyone in the room. The feedback comes cleanly, without the chaotic interference that used to accompany my attempts.
“The power feels totally different,” I tell Sage.
“That’s what we hoped for. The traumatic overload seems to have burned out the unstable pathways and established new ones that can handle much greater capacity.”
“Will it last?”
“As far as we can determine, yes. Your abilities should remain at this enhanced level indefinitely.”
