CHAPTER 100: THE COST OF ALLIANCE

Aiden POV

The vampire lord’s fangs missed my throat by inches as I rolled sideways across the bargaining table. Papers spread everywhere while supernatural leaders dove for cover.

"Enough!" I yelled, using my Alpha voice to fill the entire tent. "We’re here to save our world, not destroy each other!"

Dmitri wiped blood from his mouth where the stone giant had hit him. "Tell that to the rock-brain who called my clan ’blood-sucking parasites.’"

"You are parasites," rumbled Granite, the stone giant boss. "You feed on others to live. That’s exactly what bugs do."

I pressed my hands against my temples, feeling a headache coming on. We’d been trying to form a union for three hours, and every species kept finding new reasons to hate each other. Meanwhile, reality tears were opening faster than we could close them.

"Look," I said, standing on the damaged table so everyone could see me. "I know we all have problems with each other. But right now, the Void Walkers are winning because we’re fighting instead of working together."

A witch named Sage raised her hand. "The monster boy is right. While we fight, those things are feeding on our anger and getting stronger."

"Don’t call me ’boy,’" I snapped, then caught myself. Getting mad was exactly what the Void Walkers wanted. "Sorry. This is just... harder than I expected."

Prince Ash of the Fae nodded. "Leading always is. But we didn’t come here to make it easy for you."

That’s when the real talks started. Each group wanted something before they’d help fight the Shadow Council.

The vampires went first. "We want hunting rights in all territories," Dmitri declared. "No more hiding what we are."

"Absolutely not," I replied instantly. "We’re not giving you permission to hurt innocent people."

"We don’t hurt innocents," Dmitri said, looking offended. "We only feed on criminals and helpers. But we’re tired of being treated like monsters."

I thought about that. "What if we set up a system? You help keep the peace, and we make sure you have what you need without anyone getting hurt?"

Dmitri’s eyes narrowed. "You’d do that? Most werewolves would rather see us dead."

"Most werewolves haven’t seen Void Walkers trying to eat reality," I answered. "Times change."

The stone giants wanted something different. "We demand the mountain territories that were stolen from us two hundred years ago," Granite boomed.

My stomach dropped. Those mountains belonged to three different werewolf packs now. "I can’t just give away other people’s homes."

"Then you can fight the Void Walkers alone," Granite said, turning to leave.

"Wait!" I called out. "What if we worked out a sharing agreement? The mountains are big enough for everyone if we’re smart about it."

The witches were even harder. "We want access to all magical knowledge," said their leader, a woman with silver hair. "No more secrets between the species."

"Some secrets exist for good reasons," Prince Ash pointed out. "Fae magic in the wrong hands could be dangerous."

"And witch magic couldn’t?" the silver-haired woman shot back.

I held up my hands. "What if we start with sharing information about fighting Void Walkers? Once we trust each other more, we can talk about other things."

The Fae prince’s requests were the strangest. "We want one favor from each species. To be collected later."

"What kind of favor?" I asked suspiciously.

"Whatever we need, when we need it," Prince Ash smiled, and I didn’t trust that smile at all.

"That’s too general. What if you ask for something horrible?"

"We won’t," he said. "But we also won’t limit ourselves to small favors."

Every demand felt like giving away pieces of my soul. How was I supposed to agree to things that could affect werewolf packs I’d never even met? What if I was making bad mistakes?

But then a scream sounded from outside the tent. We all rushed out to see another reality tear opening, this one twice as big as any we’d seen before. Void Walkers poured through like water from a broken dam.

"Decision time," Dmitri said, already moving toward the tear. "Do we have a deal or not?"

I looked around at all the mysterious leaders. Vampires, witches, stone giants, Fae, and others I was still learning about. Each one could help save the world. Each one wanted something that might hurt my people later.

"Deal," I said quickly. "But if any of you use this alliance to hurt innocents, I’ll hunt you down myself."

"Agreed," they all said at once.

We rushed toward the Void Walkers, our combined forces finally working together. Vampire speed helped werewolf strength. Witch magic directed Fae illusions. Stone giant toughness protected everyone while we fought.

For a moment, I thought we might actually win. The Void Walkers were falling back, and the reality tear was starting to shrink.

That’s when I saw him.

My father, Alpha Marcus, stepped out from behind a group of trees. But something was wrong with his eyes. They glowed the same hungry darkness as the Void Walkers.

"Hello, son," he said in a voice that sounded like grinding stone. "Thank you for gathering all our enemies in one place."

Ice shot through my blood. "Dad?"

"Not anymore," the thing wearing my father’s face answered. "The Shadow Council has been looking for a way into vampire leadership for years. Your father was so worried about you, so eager to help. He made it easy for us to take control."

Behind him, more familiar faces appeared from the darkness. Pack members I’d known my whole life, all with those same dark, hungry eyes.

"How many?" I whispered.

"Enough," not-Dad smiled. "We’ve been planning for this moment. Every deal you just made, every promise you gave – we know about them all. We’ve been listening through your father’s ears."

The otherworldly leaders around me looked confused and betrayed. They thought I’d led them into a trap.

"I didn’t know," I said desperately. "I swear I didn’t know!"

"It doesn’t matter now," not-Dad said. "You’ve given us everything we need. The sites of every supernatural stronghold. The flaws of every species. The exact terms of your relationship."

He raised his hand, and the possessed pack members moved forward. "Time to end this sham. The Shadow Council’s patience is finished."

That’s when I realized the horrible truth. In trying to save everyone, I might have just given our enemies the keys to destroying us all.