Alpha's STOLEN Mate (by Abigail Hayes) novel Chapter 182

Chapter 182

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The flower had been disturbed by the rocks shifting. As we watched, the bud began to tremble, responding to the movement, preparing to

bloom-

“This is a message,” I breathed, crouching down beside it. “Lysandra left this for us. But what kind of flower is this?”

Kaius knelt beside me, studying it intently. “I think… I think this is a Moonpetal Lily. Faelan mentioned it once when he was lecturing

about ancient magical flora. It matches his description perfectly.”

As we leaned closer, the bud suddenly unfurled.

The light it released was blinding-brighter than the moon itself, pure and cold and beautiful. The petals spread wide, revealing their crystalline structure, each one catching the light and refracting it into prismatic patterns across the cave wall.

But the center-the heart of the flower-that’s what made me gasp.

Instead of pollen or stamens, the flower’s core held suspended droplets of liquid light. They floated there, defying gravity, each one glowing with captured moonlight. Perfect. Pristine. Impossible.

“Fuck,” I whispered. “That’s it. That’s the Moonpetal Essence.”

“She knew. Kaius’s voice held equal parts amazement and respect. “Lysandra knew they were coming. And she knew we would come looking for this.” He pulled out the collection vials from his pack. “She’s not just a master of magic-she’s a master cultivator. She left us

exactly what we needed, hidden in plain sight.”

I carefully extracted the vials and began collecting the floating droplets one by one. They fell into the glass with tiny musical chimes,

each drop precious beyond measure.

“Lysandra’s either a genius or she’s prophetic,” I murmured as I worked. “Maybe both.”

The moment the last droplet fell into the final vial, the flower began to change.

The transformation was horrifying.

From the base of the stem, black corruption spread like spilled ink. Thorns-twisted, cruel, wrong-erupted from the flower’s roots and began climbing upward. They wound around the pristine white petals, constricting, strangling. The thorns pierced through the delicate crystalline structure, and where they penetrated, black ichor leaked out instead of sap.

The flower writhed in its death throes, the white petals browning and curling as the thorns tightened their grip. Within seconds, the

entire bloom had been consumed by the corruption.

Then it simply… crumbled. Fell to dust. And was gone.

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19:47 Wed, Jan 14

Chapter 182

I stared at the empty space where the flower had been, my stomach churning with inexplicable dread.

“What the hell was that?” I whispered.

“Some kind of self-destruct mechanism, probably,” Kaius said, though his voice lacked conviction. “To make sure no one else could use it,

or to prevent Morgath’s wolves from finding it.”

But it hadn’t felt like a simple self-destruct. It had felt like a message. A warning.

A prophecy.

“Come on, Elowen.” Kaius stood, offering me his hand. “We have everything we need now. We’re one step closer to saving my father and all

the others Morgath has captured.”

I nodded and took his hand, but my eyes kept drifting back to where the flower had been.

A pure white flower, strangled by black thorns. Corrupted from within. Destroyed completely.

I opened a lightning rift, the familiar crackle of electricity pushing back against the oppressive atmosphere of the cave.

“Let’s go,” I said.

But as Kaius stepped through the rift, I hesitated. Turned back one more time to look at the cave entrance. At the bloodstains. At the empty space where that beautiful, doomed flower had bloomed and died.

My chest felt tight. Like something was constricting around my lungs, making it hard to breathe.

The image wouldn’t leave my mind-those black thorns wrapping tighter and tighter, piercing through white petals, choking the life out of

something pure and beautiful.

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19:47 Wed, Jan 14

Alpha’s STOLEN Mate