Contract Marriage With Alpha Snow - Chapter 512

Chapter 512: The Ritual 2: Raiding Shadow Clave

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CHAPTER 512

~Zara’s POV~

Jupiter’s voice buzzed again. “Snow, I’ll be on aerial recon through your lens and Golden God’s feed. I’ll keep an eye on anything the drones can’t track.”

“Understood,” I replied. “Everyone, listen up.”

I paused, drawing in a steady breath before I continued.

“This isn’t just a retrieval mission. This is an extraction under possible enchantment barriers. You see Zara, you don’t assume she’s herself. You wait. You confirm. You move on my call.”

“Affirmative,” came the replies.

Golden God added, “No friendly fire. And no hesitation. They’ve got witches, maybe some possibly undead. And gods know what else.”

I turned slightly, speaking quietly to the comm. “If you find her… and I’m not the one to reach her first… don’t let her go. Whatever they’ve done to her, whatever spell she’s under—bring her back. We’ll have her cured.”

Davion, behind me, finally spoke again, this time without edge.

“We will. She’s not theirs to keep.”

I didn’t turn. But I nodded once.

For a brief moment, I let my eyes close. Let the hum of the engines, the murmur of the team, and the faint crackle of magic in the air root me.

“Zara. I’m coming. I don’t care what hell you’ve been dragged into—I’ll burn through it to get to you.”

“Alright,” I said, opening my eyes again. “We move in five. Get into position.”

Everyone moved like clockwork. Doors slammed shut. Engines purred to life.

And I stepped into the lead vehicle, fingers already moving across the touchscreen, marking our trajectory, syncing the last of our location sharing with Golden God’s grid.

Jupiter’s voice echoed one last time. “The map is clear. The abandoned garden perimeter still cold. You’re good to launch, Alpha.”

I nodded to myself and muttered, “Let’s bring her home.”

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

~Zara’s POV~

The air in the chamber had thickened, humming with tension that scraped at the skin.

Raw and ancient magic dripped from the ceiling like condensation, gathering in puddles of dread beneath the altar where I lay.

My limbs remained bound, not just by the heavy iron cuffs at my wrists and ankles, but by the magic soaked into the symbols etched beneath me.

The circle pulsed red now.

The salt had turned crimson. The runes glowed darker with every chant uttered.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t breathe properly.

Ten witches stood around me once again, hands raised and voices low, reciting verses that twisted the very air.

The language was old, sharp like broken glass against the inside of my ears. My head throbbed with each repeated word.

Above me, the candles’ flames rose unnaturally high, flickering black at the tips. The dome echoed with power, a building storm that had only one goal—my unravelling.

This was it.

The beginning of the end.

I could feel it. The heat in my chest—where my magic had once responded to my call—now trembled under an invisible grip.

My body was rejecting the spell, but not fast enough. Whatever this ritual was, it wasn’t meant to be a clean separation. It would tear me open.

And then Luna Slaton appeared in my periphery, robes flowing like liquid shadow as she walked toward the altar.

Behind her, Vera followed, expression gleaming with anticipation. She stood just at the foot of the dais, her eyes scanning me like a collector examining a rare artefact finally within reach.

“Start the preparation,” Luna Slaton said coolly.

Vera smirked. “Already underway, mother. She’s holding well… for now.”

I clenched my fists, biting back a sound that was more pain than defiance. The moment I flinched, a witch to my right flicked her fingers—and pain laced through my spine like lightning.

“Do not move,” the woman hissed, her eyes black with shadow.

I wanted to scream not just in pain but in rage, the chains and the goddamn magic.

But because I knew Snow was out there somewhere.

Because I felt the bond pulling taut like a string between us.

He was coming. I knew it. I felt it.

But the question that clawed at my heart was—would he get here in time or not?

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

~Snow’s POV~

The trees stood tall, silent, like sentinels as the convoy rolled to a stop just outside the coordinates Golden God had pinged.

Beyond the treeline stretched the forgotten garden—overgrown, hollow, covered in mist that shimmered faintly with warding magic.

Nothing about this place looked alive anymore. The flowers had rotted into pale husks. Vines clung to dead walls like veins around a corpse.

I stepped out of the lead SUV and was instantly struck by the weight in the air.

It was heavy and pressurised like the calm before a supernatural storm.

Zade emerged beside me, loading a weapon at his hip while scanning the treetops. Behind us, Jupiter monitored the feed from the drone still circling overhead. Golden God swept his scanner across the perimeter, his face grim.

“This place is sealed,” he muttered. “Wards etched into the ground. Old magic.”

I nodded, already feeling it. It pressed against my skin, dulling my senses.

“We break it,” I said.

That was when Davion stepped forward.

He said nothing. Just stared at the shimmer of air directly in front of us—a barrier, invisible to human eyes but glowing softly in magical perception.

I could perceive it as well…

Davion inhaled and then he lifted one hand.

In that moment, his aura expanded outward, massive and suffocating. A dragon’s presence that vibrated with power, centuries old. The earth beneath our feet cracked, the trees groaned, and the air trembled.

His two-coloured silver hair whipped back in the wind of his own making.

Then he spoke—words I didn’t recognize, in a tongue I knew wasn’t meant for my kind.

Within minutes, the barrier shattered like glass.

The sound echoed through the trees in a single, clean crack and a world we had no idea existed right there stood before us. Jupiter swore softly through the comms. “What the hell was that?”

Davion lowered his hand, stepping back. “Entry’s open.”

At once, Zade whistled in appreciation. “Remind me never to piss you off. And thanks for this big step in finding Zara.”

“At least someone is thankful,” Davion teased and patted Zade on the shoulder.

I didn’t laugh. I couldn’t.

Because I felt something the moment that barrier fell.

Zara.

A pulse.

A scream—not audible, but soul-deep. My bond to her buzzed violently for a split second before cutting off again.

“Aaaaaarrrhhhhh.”

My heart thudded fast and it took all my willpower not to charge in there blindly.

Glacier surged within me, ready to take over on my command as all my senses became extra sharp. “They’re doing something to her,” I announced, keeping my voice tight.

Golden God checked his scanner. “Multiple life forms detected deeper in. That dome ahead—probably underground access. That’s our point.”

I nodded. “We move fast. No second chances. Kill anyone not Zara on sight,” I changed my earlier order.

Davion stepped beside me, quiet for a beat. “Your heart just spiked.”

“She’s hurting,” I muttered. “I felt it.”

“I know but do not be reckless… we are dealing with witches, which means… illusion magic can be at play here. So you don’t end up killing Zara, rather than saving her when you want to kill your enemy.”

“I won’t.”

Then I turned to the team, my voice sharp.

“Secure the perimeter. On my lead. No hesitation.”

Weapons clicked into place. Gear was adjusted. Aira and Tempest’s backup unit waited on standby beyond the secondary ridge.

And with one last look at the cursed dome on the horizon, I moved forward.

I’m coming, Zara. Hold on. Just a little longer.

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

~Zara’s POV~

It had started with a sting, that flicker of heat just behind my ribs. Small and harmless.

But then it exploded.

It spread through my chest like molten metal poured into my veins, eating through every nerve, every memory, every last shred of control I had left.

I screamed.

Or at least—I tried to.

But nothing came out. My mouth opened in a silent howl as the air was ripped from my lungs. My spine arched violently off the altar as something inside me pulled.

Light.

Blinding white light erupted from me—my eyes, my fingertips, the spaces between my teeth, from my ears, from the soles of my feet, from beneath my nails.

I felt the very power that had kept me flowing out of me like my body was no longer my own to control.

The witches’ chants rose to a fever pitch around me, swirling like a hurricane of dark sound.

Their robes flapped, caught in a wind that didn’t belong to this world. The circle beneath me pulsed again—red turned to white, then to black, then to a sickly glowing gold.

Pain, unlike anything I’d ever known, surged through my chest, spreading to my limbs, my heart, my head.

My powers… they were being pulled out forcefully, dragged and torn.

My body convulsed, wracked with tremors so violent I could hear my bones crack. My skin glowed with that same white fire, as if my soul had caught flame and was burning outward.

The pain continued, and suddenly I could see nothing but white.

Bright, blinding light through my eyes, veins and screaming.

I wasn’t just being emptied.

I was being gutted.

Memories flooded and vanished—ripped from my core.

Flashes of Snow. Of Ella. Of little Storm giggling in my arms. Of Siona’s lessons. Of my first shift. Of Snow’s lips on mine. In our bedroom. Of—

No!

I screamed again—finally finding my voice—but it was hoarse and broken, ripped raw from my throat as the magic surged again. My wrists blistered under the cuffs. My fingertips sparked and sizzled.

My back slammed into the stone as my limbs jerked violently against the restraints.

They were killing me.

Piece by piece, starting with my soul.