For the next few hours, it was quiet inside the Portland safe house.
Lucy sat at the kitchen island, sipping her tea and mentally bracing herself for the drama that was about to happen.
Lexi, totally unbothered by the Gemini coven, was lounging on the couch.
Her booted feet were propped on the coffee table, and she was lazily tracing circles on Aleksander’s palm.
Aleksander sat next to her, completely still with his eyes closed.
He looked like he was just resting.
But Lucy and Lexi could feel the faint buzz of electricity in the air.
It meant his mind was reaching far past the house, connecting directly to the earth and the magic around them.
The Gemini coven was famous for hiding things.
In fact, right at that moment, Joshua Parker had cast their strongest cloaking spell over his group in the driveway.
He completely believed they were invisible and totally silent to anyone inside the house, giving them the perfect cover to discuss their plans.
But no amount of magic could hide a person from the actual ground they walked on.
Suddenly, Aleksander’s eyes snapped open.
The room instantly felt heavy and cold.
Outside, the wind stopped completely, leaving the woods in a creepy silence.
Aleksander didn’t just sense them through the earth—he effortlessly tore right through their famous cloaking spell.
He gave Lexi’s hand a gentle squeeze, passing a warm spark of his magic to her.
Instantly, the magical barrier vanished for her, too.
With the cloak lifted, Lexi’s vampire hearing easily picked up the crunch of gravel and the steady heartbeats of the group outside.
She swung her legs off the table, sitting up fast and getting ready for a fight.
Lucy set her teacup down and stood up, smoothing out her clothes.
Aleksander didn’t rush.
He stayed on the couch, a cold smirk on his face.
“They’re here,” he said quietly, his voice full of warning.
“And Joshua didn’t come alone. He brought his council and the twins with him.”
Outside in the cool air, the Gemini group had stopped on the driveway.
He was a tall man in his early sixties with gray hair and dark eyes.
He didn’t smile, and he looked like a man used to giving orders.
Beside him were eight of the coven’s council members, looking angry and insulted.
Right behind them were his three kids: Jo, who still looked pale and shaken up, along with her younger siblings, Luke and Liv.
“How dare he blame us for what that freak did?” one of the older council members hissed, glaring at the house they thought couldn’t hear them.
Another elder nodded.
“Exactly. He’s taking the monster’s side. We made a mistake giving him the Title of Avatar of Nature. Jo said he showed up here with a vampire! He’s hanging around a creature that goes against nature, but he thinks he can judge us?”
Behind them, Luke and Liv stayed quiet.
Liv, a pretty blonde girl in her early twenties, kept her usual serious look.
Normally, she’d have a sarcastic comment ready, but not today.
Beside her, Luke looked just like a normal college kid in a sweater and jeans, but he looked deeply troubled.
Both twins had almost been killed by Kai.
Their whole lives, they were told their older brother was just born evil.
But hearing what Jo told them—that their father and the coven had abused him as a child until he finally snapped—changed everything.
Even Liv, who was deeply loyal to the coven, was having a hard time accepting that they did such horrible things in the name of tradition.
Joshua ignored how quiet his kids were being.
He never really put his family first; he only cared about the coven’s survival.
He was the one who treated his oldest son terribly just because he lacked magic, had the twins just to replace him, and then locked Kai away in a Prison World forever.
“We’ll deal with this upstart,” Joshua said, his voice rough and commanding.
Jo opened her mouth, wanting to beg them to stop.
She wanted to warn them that Aleksander wasn’t someone they could just bully, but she was too scared to speak.
Instead, it was Luke who stepped up.
He was always more open-minded and caring, and he thought this whole plan was crazy.
“Is it really a good idea to march up to someone this powerful looking for a fight?” Luke asked.
Joshua turned and glared at his youngest son with pure disgust.
Luke immediately backed down, looking at the dirt.
“Even if he’s strong, he can’t beat all of us at once,” Joshua said, too stubborn to see the danger they were in.
He looked back at the house with a mean look on his face.
“We’re going to teach him some respect. And we’ll show him what happens when he insults this family by going after his little vampire girlfriend.”
Back in the living room, they heard every single word.
Joshua really thought his cloaking spell was keeping their conversation a total secret, but Aleksander’s magic made it as clear as if they were standing in the same room.
Lexi burst out laughing.
She didn’t sound nervous at all.
It was the laugh of an ancient predator listening to a mouse threaten a lion.
“They’re crazy arrogant,” Lexi said, shaking her head.
She leaned back on the couch, totally fine with the fact that nine angry witches were planning to use her as a punching bag.
If anything, she looked excited for a fight.
Aleksander didn’t find it funny at all.
The second Joshua talked about hurting Lexi, the room got freezing cold.
The air buzzed with so much magic that the hairs on Lucy’s arms stood up.
Aleksander’s eyes didn’t glow this time—they just went totally dead and blank.
The warmth he’d just shown Lexi was gone, replaced by the cold look of an executioner.
“People are only that arrogant when they’re hiding how insecure they are,” Aleksander said quietly, his voice dangerously soft.
“Joshua Parker has been a big fish in a small pond for so long, he actually thinks his coven runs the world. He really believes a cloaking spell and a title given by regular people mean more than the Nature itself.”
Aleksander finally stood up, moving slowly and calmly.
He gently let go of Lexi’s hand, brushing his thumb over her knuckles in a silent promise that no one was going to touch her.
Lucy watched him stand, feeling the heavy weight of his magic pressing on the house.
She knew exactly what that look on his face meant.
“Open the door, Lucy,” Aleksander said softly, staring straight at the front door.
“I think it’s time we gave them a reality check.”