Triple Moon Rising: An Omega's Destiny

Chapter 145: Caleb’s Dedication

CALEB POV

I threw the old book across the room, pages fluttering like dying birds. Nothing. Three days of research and I had nothing to show for it except bloodshot eyes and a building sense of panic.

"There has to be something," I muttered, pulling another dusty book from the shelf. "There has to be a way to save her."

The pack library felt like a jail. I’d been locked in here since the Devourer took control of Lily, desperately looking for any information about dimensional anchors or possession by ancient entities. So far, I’d found absolutely zero helpful answers.

My hands shook as I opened the book. I couldn’t stop thinking about Lily’s face when the thing took over. The way her eyes went completely black. The way she’d begged us to run before she became something dangerous.

"Caleb?" Aiden’s voice came from behind me. "You need to eat something."

"I’m not hungry," I said, not looking up from the page.

"You haven’t eaten in two days."

"I don’t care."

Aiden sat down across from me. "This won’t help her if you collapse."

"Nothing I’m doing is helping her," I said sadly. "She’s locked in the basement, fighting a monster inside her head, and I’m up here reading useless books."

"The books aren’t useless," Aiden said. "You found information about dimensional bases. That’s more than anyone else knew."

"I found one paragraph," I amended. "One paragraph that basically said dimensional anchors are impossible and anyone who tries to become one will die horribly." "But Lily didn’t die."

"No," I agreed. "She became something worse. She became a doorway for that thing."

I thought about the last time I’d seen her. She’d been strapped to a chair in the basement, her body shifting between solid and transparent. Sometimes she looked like my Lily, desperate and scared. Other times, something else looked out through her eyes. Something hungry and old.

"The Devourer is using her," I said. "It’s feeding off her connection to the other dimensions, getting stronger every hour."

"Then we stop it," Aiden said. noveldrama

"How?" I asked. "I’ve read everything we have about dimensional magic. I’ve studied every book about possessions and ancient entities. There’s nothing here that can help us."

"Then we look somewhere else."

I laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. "Where? This is the most full magical library in three states. If the answer isn’t here, it doesn’t exist."

"Maybe it’s not about finding the answer in a book," Aiden said carefully. "Maybe it’s about understanding Lily herself."

"What do you mean?"

"She’s not just a dimensional anchor," Aiden said. "She’s our Lily. The girl who saved baby birds and healed injured pack members. The one who could calm crying children just by singing. Maybe her humanity is stronger than we think."

I wanted to believe that. I wanted to believe that love could conquer ancient cosmic horrors. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw Lily’s face changing into something else. Something that wanted to eat everything.

"It’s not that simple," I said. "This thing isn’t just possessing her. It’s rewriting her. Soon there won’t be any Lily left to save."

"You don’t know that."

"Yes, I do," I said quietly. "Because I can feel it through our mate bond. Every day, there’s less of her and more of it. She’s going, Aiden. And I don’t know how to stop it."

The mate bond had been both a gift and a curse. It let me feel Lily’s emotions, her pain, her struggle. But it also let me feel the thing inside her getting stronger. Like a cancer eating away at everything that made her who she was.

"There has to be something," I said, opening another book. "Some spell, some ritual, some way to separate them."

"What if there isn’t?" Aiden asked gently.

"Then I keep looking," I said firmly. "I don’t give up. I don’t stop. Not ever."

"Even if it kills you?"

"Especially if it kills me," I said. "She saved all of us. She gave everything to stop the Void Walkers. I won’t let her suffer alone."

Aiden was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "She wouldn’t want you to destroy yourself trying to save her."

"Too bad," I responded. "She doesn’t get a vote anymore. That thing inside her does."

I turned the page and froze. There, in faded ink, was a sign I recognized. Three interlocking rings with strange writing around them.

"Aiden," I said, my voice tight with excitement. "Look at this."

He leaned over to see. "What is it?"

"It’s a binding circle," I said, reading quickly. "Used to separate spiritual entities from their bodies. But the writing is in Old Celtic. I can barely read it."

"Can you translate it?"

"Maybe," I said. "If I had time. But look at this part." I pointed to a part that was written in English. "It says the ritual needs three participants. One to bind the entity, one to anchor the host, and one to give their life force to power the separation."

"Sacrifice their life force?" Aiden repeated. "That means..."

"That means someone has to die," I finished. "Someone has to give up their life to save Lily."

"No," Aiden said instantly. "We’re not doing that."

"We might not have a choice," I said. "If this is the only way to save her..."

"There has to be another way."

"What if there isn’t?" I asked. "What if this is our only option?"

Before Aiden could answer, the lights went out. Emergency lights kicked in, casting everything in red. From somewhere below us, I heard a sound that made my blood freeze. Lily was screaming.

But it wasn’t a human scream. It was something else. Something that sounded like reality itself being torn apart.

"It’s happening," I said, jumping to my feet. "The Devourer is breaking free."

We ran toward the bottom, but the building shook like it was in an earthquake. Windows cracked. Books fell from shelves. The very air seemed to pulse with wrongness.

"Caleb!" Brock’s voice came over the radio. "Get down here now! She’s changing!"

I ran faster, the old book clutched in my hands. The binding ritual might be our only chance, but it would take perfect timing and someone willing to die.

As we reached the basement stairs, I felt the mate link stretching like a rubber band about to snap. Lily was slipping away from me, becoming something else entirely.

"Hold on," I whispered, though I didn’t know if she could hear me anymore. "I’m coming."

But when we reached the basement door, it was glowing with black energy. Through the reinforced glass, I could see Lily drifting in the air, her body crackling with dark power. Her eyes were totally black now, and when she turned to look at us, I saw nothing human left in them.

"Too late," she said, but it wasn’t her voice. It was something old and hungry. "The little anchor is gone. Only I remain."

The door exploded outward, and the thing that had been Lily stepped through the smoke, ready to eat everything I’d ever loved.