Kael's POV
"The howl that rose that night wasn't a call… it was a scream."
My pulse thuds in time with the drums. Moonlight spills over the clearing. Faces… wolves and humans, tilt upward, expectant, reverent.
Beside me, Elira's fingers brush mine. She glows in my vision, pale silver hair catching light. I feel her heart. Our bond hums like an ancient tune. "Alpha Thorne," the High Priestess intones, stepping forward with the ceremonial dagger. "By moon and blood, we stand ready."
My eyes find Elira's. I slope in close, my voice low: "Are you ready, moonfire?"
She smiles, soft and certain. "With you."
Around us, the pack bows. The Moon Goddess's blessing is more than ritual… it is prophecy fuel: war approaches, darkness gathers. Tonight, we were to be fortified… Kael's strength reinforced, Elira's sight sharpened.
A tremor ripples through the ground. A collective gasp. Torches waver. Elira's gaze drifts.
"Did you feel that?" I said, but her focus shifts to the clearing's edge. A tall figure in a mask stands just beyond the torchlight.
"Alpha… something's wrong," she breathes. Her voice had a tremor. I step forward. "Light the flares." The pack stalls. On cue, torches flare brighter. The figure vanishes.
I swallow tension. "It's ceremony time," I command, forcing calm. "Priestess?"
Unmoved, she raises the dagger. My heart fights wild at her fingers on bone. That's when I notice Darren's hands shaking, betraying him. The Beta we raised. His gaze slides off our ritual. I hold Darren's shoulder. "Everything all right?"
He nods too quickly. We begin the blessing.
High Priestess plunges the dagger into my palm. I let drop a single drop of blood into the chalice. Elira does the same.
"By goddess and moon," she whispers. Our blood meets the wine. Her thumb presses into mine. Our bond pulses power.
I lift the chalice. "To what we build." I drink. The wine is sharp, metallic. I frown, swallow again. Elira follows. She winces. "Kael…?" I blink at her. "Do you feel…?"
The world jolts. Darren's eyes are suddenly darker. He steps forward. "Alpha… we must act."
"What?" My horn thrums. I cough.
The High Priestess lowers her dagger in shock. A roar… a signal. Dozens of masked wolves leap forward.
Chaos erupts. Elira's scream splits the night. I stagger back. "Elira!" My voice cracks.
She's pushed away. I see her fall to her knees, hands splayed, chest heaving.
"How dare you!" I yell at Darren, grabbing him. He shrugs, his expression cold. "It's for the pack."
The High Priestess moves to me. "Alpha, stand down!" I hurl her aside and shift… silver fur blooms across my arms.
A bark of confusion. I run for Elira. A masked wolf intercepts me, claws shredding my shoulder.
I stagger. My wolf senses scream betrayal. Elira fights her captors. She tears free of one. "Kael!"
I break through the crowd, blood searing down my forearm. But suddenly, pain slices through my spine. My wolf's howl is strangled.
The ritual power inside me fractures. I crumble to my knees.
"I will…" I rasp, lunging forward. But the world blacks out. On the ground, my vision splinters. I see Elira's porcelain face. Her silver eyes swim with confusion.
"Kael!" she begs.
My voice is a rasp. "Elira…"
Someone drags her away. I struggle to rise. My wolf half fights… it wants to leap, to tear the pack apart. But the other half is human, vulnerable, alone, and drowning.
"Don't… you…" I choke. The pack's chant swells, distant and mocking. Elira's face… the last thing I see… tilts toward me. Her mouth opens, but she doesn't scream. She's lost, scared. My heart pounds against my ribs in betrayal.
"Alpha… no…" she whispers. My name cracks like glass, and then she's gone. I claw at the earth. The moonlight seems to pull away from me. The deity's curse seeps into my bones.
My howl stutters, lifeless. Darkness clutches at my mind. I shift painfully, trying to call upon the Moon Goddess, trying to rise, but I feel nothing. She won't answer.
Instead, a low voice echoes in my head. "You were never meant to survive." I grit my teeth. Try to stand. Fail.
My vision blacks. My whole world tumbles into darkness, and then… A guttural whisper. "You were never meant to survive." My soul howls.
I lay broken beneath the blood moon, half-wolf, half-ghost, my bond with Elira shattered like glass. And in the witching dark, a voice promised:
"You were never meant to survive."
The words slithered through the trees like a snake's hiss. Inside my skull, they echoed, wrapping around the places where my thoughts used to be. I tried to shift again, but pain lashed through me. My bones snapped in protest, like my wolf no longer knew what I was.
The moon, once a guiding force, stared down at me as a stranger. Cold. Silent. "Elira…" Her name was ash on my tongue. I didn't know if she still lived. But I felt the hollow where our bond had been. Not broken. Not even severed. Just… empty. Like it had been devoured by something ancient and wrong.
Footsteps approached. I dragged my eyes toward them. Darren stood over me, no longer masked. His face held no shame.
"I never hated you," he said calmly. "But you made it too easy. Trusting everyone. Believing the Goddess had a plan."
I bared my teeth weakly, a growl rumbling in my throat. He crouched. "You think this was about envy? No. This was about survival. You would've led us into a war we couldn't win."
"You sold us to the dark," I rasped. Darren's smirk tightened. "I did what the Moon couldn't… evolve."
He dropped something in front of me. My pendant… etched with Elira's seer mark. Bloodied. I lunged, barely lifting my head. "What did you do to her?"
He tilted his head. "She's alive... for now. But her gift is too valuable to waste. She'll see what the deity needs her to see. She'll serve, whether she wants to or not." I tried to scream. Only a broken snarl escaped.
"Don't fight it, Kael," he said as the shadows behind him thickened, forming shapes. "Let go. You're not Alpha anymore." Then, a cold hand touched my temple… inhuman. The rogue deity's presence slammed into me, like ice in my marrow.
I saw flickers. Elira, chained in a temple, eyes blank with forced visions. My warriors, my brothers… turned into soulless hounds.
My face, twisted, feral… forgotten. The deity whispered again. "Sleep now, Alpha. When you wake… everything you love will be gone."
I howled… raw and guttural… but it came out silent, and then, blackness, but in the last moment before the void took me completely… something shimmered in my mind.
A flicker of silver light. Elira. Whispering through the bond… not strong, not full… but there.
One word. "Fight." Then I fell Into the dark. Into the beginning of my ruin.