Chapter 179

Chapter 179: Chapter 179

"All men are the same."

She walked toward Amelia. When she stopped in front of her, she bent slightly, bringing their faces closer together.

"The only reason your mates kept you alive in the first place was because of the connection they thought you had with the Underworld."

Amelia held her gaze despite the ache spreading through her body. "I knew you would have found a way to make them kill me much earlier. Why didn’t you?"

"Because I need my specimen alive until I’ve used every last drop of her." Zelda straightened, looking almost offended that Amelia needed an explanation. "How else do you expect my quest for world domination to take shape? You don’t even realize how powerful you are, Amelia, but I do. And unlike you, I know better than to let that kind of power go to waste."

Amelia’s mouth tightened. "You can’t control my mind like last time."

A slow smile spread across her face, and the sight of it made Amelia’s stomach sink. "Who said anything about controlling your mind?"

"Then what are you planning?"

"Something much better."

Zelda turned toward the man she had kicked earlier. Grabbing him by the collar, she hauled him back to his feet and shoved him upright. He stumbled, barely managing to steady himself before she tightened her grip on his clothing.

Amelia glanced between them, suspicion creeping into her expression.

"What does he have to do with this?"

Zelda looked over her shoulder, her smile widening.

"I’m going to make sure you break the mate bond you share with those three." She gave the man a rough shove toward Amelia. "And I’m going to do it with the help of this sore loser."

Amelia’s eyes narrowed.

"You really think you can make me turn against them?"

"I don’t have to make you do anything." Zelda leaned closer, her expression almost playful. "I just have to give you a good enough reason to do it yourself."

***

Back at the military base, hours of interrogation had produced nothing but dead ends.

The three Ellington brothers and Amy sat around a table in one of the meeting rooms, waiting for the next update. Empty cups had been pushed aside, and the clock on the wall seemed to tick louder with every passing minute. No one had managed to find a lead on Amelia, and the longer they remained there without answers, the more difficult it became to sit still.

Reid leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. His fingers tapped impatiently against his biceps as he glanced toward the closed door.

"These recruits are taking their precious time. Who do they think they are?"

Amy, sitting opposite Dean, gave him a dry smile.

"Apparently, they’re important enough to keep us waiting."

"Important enough?" Reid repeated, raising an eyebrow. "They’d better have something useful to say when they finally get here."

"You know, between them and the three of you, I’m not sure who has more pride." Amy glanced at the brothers, amusement creeping into her eyes. "From everything I’ve heard about the Ellington brothers, your reputation is considerably worse."

Dean’s mouth twitched. "I’m glad our reputation is still as great as ever."

Reid turned to her with an innocent expression that fooled absolutely no one.

"We’re perfectly pleasant."

Amy stared at him.

"We’re pleasant when we feel like it."

"Which is almost never," Dean added.

Before Reid could respond, the door opened.

Caleb entered first, followed by five people—two women and three men. Their presence changed the atmosphere of the room almost immediately. There was something heavy about the aura surrounding them, an unmistakable sense of power that would have made most people uncomfortable.

The Ellington brothers barely reacted.

Enzo remained seated, his eyes moving over the newcomers with quiet attention. Reid’s impatient tapping stopped, though his expression remained thoroughly unimpressed. Dean simply lifted his gaze from the table, studying the five strangers without bothering to conceal his lack of interest.

Caleb stopped at the head of the table.

"Everyone here already knows who the Ellington brothers are." He turned toward the newcomers. "For those who haven’t met them personally, these are Enzo, Reid, and Dean Ellington."

"We know who they are," one of the men remarked.

"Good. That saves us some time." Caleb gestured toward the two women. "This is Vespera and Nyra. The three men are Lucien, Draven, and Silas. Together, they’re known as the Moonfist Vanguard."

Reid let out a short snort. "That’s such a terrible name."

Nyra’s eyebrows rose, while Draven turned his head toward Reid with a look of mild amusement.

Lucien looked the brothers over, his expression settling into something between disappointment and disbelief.

"They don’t look as impressive as I thought."

Draven hummed. "True. Next time, don’t say it in front of them. You might hurt their egos."

The comment earned him no reaction whatsoever.

Lucien glanced between them, apparently irritated that his remark had failed to produce the response he wanted.

"Nothing to say?"

"Were you expecting applause?" Reid asked.

Caleb rubbed a hand over his face before gesturing toward the empty seats.

"Sit down, all of you. This is an emergency, and we need every hand on deck. If you’re finished measuring each other’s egos, we can get to work."

That finally brought an end to the exchange.

The Vanguard took their places around the table. They all sat opposite the brothers.

Caleb waited until everyone was seated before continuing.

"The Vanguard mentioned that they uncovered information about the Underworld Territory during their recent missions."

Nyra inclined her head.

"That’s correct. We’ve already shared the information with the council, so I’m curious about why we’ve been called here."

"Because Underworld subjects infiltrated this place with disturbing ease," Caleb replied. His expression grew more serious as he placed both hands on the table. "They got past our security, reached our grounds, and managed to take Amelia without anyone realizing what was happening until it was too late. We need to understand how they did it."

Vespera exchanged a brief glance with Nyra.

"You think our information will help you identify the method they used?"

"I think anything you know about their abilities, their movements, or the way they operate could be useful." Caleb looked around the table. "If they have a way to bypass our security, we need to know what it is before they use it again."

Silas let out a short snort.

Enzo’s grey eyes settled on him. "What’s funny?"

Silas leaned back in his chair, looking from Enzo to Reid and then to Dean. A mocking smile tugged at his mouth.

"All of this..." He gestured vaguely around the room. "The emergency meetings, the interrogations, the entire military base scrambling to find one woman. It’s hilarious watching the so-called powerful devilish brothers get this desperate over a single person."

The room grew noticeably quieter.

Silas seemed to take that silence as encouragement.

"Is she that good in bed?"

The pressure in the air thickened instantly. It rolled off the three brothers in a cold, crushing wave that made every one of the five Vanguard members tense. Small shivers ran through them despite their training.

The Ellington brothers were pissed.

Dean’s voice came out low and lethal. "Say that again."

Silas’s mouth opened, then closed. Looking at their faces, he had the distinct feeling that repeating himself would end with his head being ripped clean off his shoulders.

Caleb raised both hands quickly. "Please. Chill. This is not the time. Amelia is still in danger."

Those words cut through the tension enough for the brothers to rein themselves in. The crushing pressure eased, though the cold fury in their eyes remained.

Enzo spoke flaty. "If you want to know why we will go this far for her, it’s because Amelia is our fated mate."

Shock rippled through the room. Even Caleb’s expression froze for a second.

Amy recovered first. "Fated mates are extremely rare. How do you know?"

Reid didn’t bother softening his tone. "We just do. We’re not wasting any more time. Start talking."

Caleb cleared his throat. "Alright. Who wants to go first?"

Vespera lifted her gaze. Interest flickered across her face, replacing the earlier tension.

"I heard you already met Zelda," she said. "She has the ability to create dimensions. That’s almost certainly how she took Amelia so easily. No one else in the military base would have noticed a power like that even if it opened right in front of them. The three of you would have sensed it... which is exactly why you were intentionally distracted."

She paused, then continued.

"There’s one thing I can help with. I heard you’ve already bonded with your divine beasts. I can teach you how to create your own dimensional portals."