Derek's POV - Alpha
I broke the silver bands around my wrists like they were made of paper, my alpha rage giving me strength I didn't know I had. Marcus and his rebels had made one big mistake - they'd tried to chain me while my son was lost and my mate was in danger.
"Stand down, Marcus!" I roared, my alpha order hitting every wolf in the clearing. "That's an order!"
But Marcus didn't submit like he should have. Instead, he smiled coldly and pulled out a small silver gadget.
"Your alpha commands don't work anymore, Derek," he said, pressing a button.
Pain burst through my body as the device sent wolfsbane-laced electricity through my system. I dropped to one knee, gasping.
"What is that thing?" Maya cried, running to my side.
"Insurance," Marcus answered. "A little invention from our witch friends. It blocks an alpha's ability to lead his pack."
I tried to stand, but my legs felt like water. The device was pumping poison into my system, making my wolf weak and confused.
"You're working with witches now?" I spat. "That's treason, Marcus."
"What's treason is putting this pack in danger for one omega," Marcus shot back. "Do you know how many of our people died tonight fighting Shadow Wolves? All because you couldn't let her go!"
The words hit harder than the wolfsbane. Marcus was right - pack members had died tonight. Good wolves who'd followed their alpha into fight and never came home.
"The Shadow Wolves would have come anyway," Maya said furiously. "They were after Jamie, not me."
"Jamie who exists because Derek couldn't control himself around you," Marcus snapped. "A Moon Child brings nothing but danger. We should be glad he's gone."
That broke something inside me. I lunged at Marcus despite the poison in my system, but three of his fighters tackled me to the ground.
"Don't talk about my son like that," I growled.
"Your son?" Marcus laughed bitterly. "The child you've never even met? The one you abandoned for three years while you played house with Sarah?"
Each word was like a knife twisting in my chest because they were true. I had abandoned Jamie. I had chosen duty over love, politics over family. And now my son was gone, possibly forever.
"Derek," Maya said softly, kneeling beside me. "We have to find him. Nothing else matters right now."
But Marcus shook his head. "Nothing's going to matter if the Shadow King breaks free. Elder Rosa, tell them what that eclipse means."
The old woman's face was grim. "When the moon goes totally dark, ancient seals weaken. Things that were locked away millennia ago can escape."
"What kind of things?" Sarah asked, though she looked like she didn't want to know.
"The Shadow King was the first of his kind," Rosa stated. "More powerful than all other Shadow Wolves united. He was imprisoned by the original Moon Children thousands of years ago, but the prison needs moonlight to stay strong."
I felt the blood drain from my face. "And with the eclipse..."
"The prison is breaking," Rosa confirmed. "But here's what's really scary - eclipses don't just happen. Someone with incredible power has to call them."
Through the pack link, I felt that same dark signature again. Ethan's power, but twisted and wrong.
"He's not protecting Jamie," I realized with growing fear. "He's using Jamie's power to break the Shadow King's prison."
Maya went white as paper. "But why? Why would Ethan do that?"
"Because he's not really a Moon Guardian," a new voice said from the darkness.
We all turned to see a figure coming from the trees - tall, pale, and radiating power that made every wolf present step back in fear. But the most shocking thing wasn't the stranger's power.
It was that he looked exactly like Ethan.
"Who are you?" I demanded, though my alpha senses were screaming danger.
The man smiled, and his teeth were too sharp. "I'm Ethan's younger brother. The one your family thought they killed twenty years ago."
The world turned sideways. "Ethan doesn't have a twin."
"Ethan doesn't know he has a twin," the man amended. "Our parents split us when we were babies. Sent me away to be raised by Shadow Cultists while golden boy Ethan got to play hero with the Moon Guardians."
Sarah stumbled backward. "Shadow Cultists? Those are just stories!"
"Are we?" The man's eyes turned totally black. "We're humans who serve the Shadow King willingly. Who gain power by feeding him the light of others."
Maya's hand flew to her throat. "You're the one who's been controlling Ethan!"
"Not controlling," the man said kindly. "More like... influencing. Whispering in his dreams, planting suggestions, making him think his obsession with you was normal."
My heart stopped. "What obsession?"
"Oh, Derek," the man laughed. "You really don't know, do you? Ethan didn't save Maya out of kindness. He's been in love with her since you first brought her to pack meetings. He's been watching her, wanting her, hating you for having what he could never touch."
"That's not true," Maya whispered, but I could smell her fear.
"Isn't it? Think about it, Maya. How convenient that Ethan found you right when you needed saving. How exactly he played the gentle rescuer to Derek's cruel abandoner. How he convinced you that you were mates when you clearly weren't."
The pieces clicked into place with disturbing clarity. "The fake mate bond. You taught him how to make it."
"I taught him many things through their dreams," the twin revealed. "Including how to use Moon Child power to break ancient prisons."
Marcus lowered his weapon, finally understanding the real danger. "We have to stop him."
"Too late," the twin said happily. "The rite is almost complete. Soon, the Shadow King will be free, and this world will belong to darkness."
But then something unexpected happened. Lily, who'd been silent through the whole fight, suddenly stepped forward.
"You made one mistake," she said to Ethan's twin.
"What's that, little wolf?"
"You assumed Ethan would go through with it." Lily's eyes were bright with hope. "But I know Ethan. Really know him. And no matter how much he wanted Maya, he'd never hurt a child to get her."
The twin's confident smile wavered slightly. "You're wrong."
"Am I?" Lily pulled out her phone, showing us a text message. "He just sent this."
I read the message over her shoulder, my heart pounding:
"Tell Derek I'm sorry. The rite went wrong. Jamie's power is too strong - I can't stop it. The Shadow King is breaking free anyway, but not how we planned. Something else is happening. Something worse. Find the Moonstone Temple. It's the only way to save him now."
The twin's face went deadly pale. "Impossible. The boy is just three years old!"
"Jamie isn't just any Moon Child," Rosa said suddenly, understanding dawning in her eyes. "He's the child of true mates - an Alpha and his chosen omega. That makes his power exponentially stronger than normal."
"Strong enough to do what?" I asked.
Rosa's voice was barely a whisper. "Strong enough to accidentally tear open holes between dimensions. The Shadow King isn't just fleeing his prison, Derek. Your son is accidentally bringing through troops of monsters from other worlds."
The twin began backing away, his confidence completely gone. "This wasn't supposed to happen. We only wanted the Shadow King!"
"Well, you're about to get a lot more than you bargained for," Marcus said grimly, pointing at the sky.
The black moon was starting to crack. Actually crack, like glass breaking, with light spilling through the cracks. But it wasn't normal moonlight.
It was the sickly green glow of something that certainly didn't belong in our world.
Through the cracks, we could see shapes moving. Massive, terrible forms that made Shadow Wolves look like puppies.
"What are those things?" Maya breathed.
Elder Rosa's face was white with ancient fear. "Void Demons. Creatures from the space between worlds. They eat reality itself."
As the first monster started pushing through the cracks in the moon, a new sound filled the air. Not screaming or roaring, but something worse.
A little boy crying.
Jamie was still living, somewhere in the chaos Ethan had created. But he was scared, hurt, and accidentally opening doors that could end our world.
"We have to reach the Moonstone Temple," I said, getting to my feet despite the wolfsbane in my system.
"Derek, you can barely stand," Maya complained.
"Then you'll have to help me," I said simply. "Because I'm not losing my son twice."
But as I spoke, the first Void Demon finished pushing through the crack in the moon. It was the size of a house, with too many eyes and teeth that looked like they could bite through solid stone.
And it was looking right at us.
"Run," Rosa whispered. "Everyone run. If those things reach Earth..." The Void Demon opened its mouth and let out a sound that made reality itself shiver. Around us, trees began to fade away like someone was erasing them.
We had minutes, maybe less, before these things devoured everything we'd ever known.
And somewhere in the chaos, my three-year-old son was the key to either saving the world or ending it forever.