Lucas's POV
The pack was restless again. I could feel it in the air before I even stepped into the yard that low buzz of irritation, the kind that meant trouble was coming.
They thought I didn't hear them. Wolves forget I have sharper hearing than most. The whispers were quiet, but not quiet enough.
"She doesn't belong here."
"Lucas is losing his grip."
"First a stranger, now a Luna from nowhere."
Same talk. Different day.
I didn't stop walking. If I did, they'd know I cared, and I couldn't give them that. Alphas don't show cracks. Not in front of a pack that's already breaking apart from the inside.
When I reached the edge of the field, I saw them — groups of wolves pretending to train but mostly gossiping. The same circle of mouths that had been stirring chaos since Ella arrived.
Lyra was standing near them, arms folded, that fire already burning in her eyes. She'd heard the talk too.
"Why don't you all say it louder?" she said, voice sharp. "You're cowards if you can only whisper."
A few wolves looked away, pretending to focus on drills. Others just smirked.
One, a thick-headed warrior named Kian, muttered, "We're just talking facts. A Luna without a mark is no Luna at all."
Lyra stepped toward him. "You think marks make loyalty? You follow because he tells you to, not because you believe. That's worse."
Kian's face flushed. "You watch your tone—"
"That's enough."
My voice cut through before it went further. The whole yard went silent. Heads turned.
Lyra glanced at me, half relieved, half annoyed. "They're starting again, Alpha."
"I heard," I said simply.
I looked around the circle — at every single one of them — until they dropped their eyes. No one held my stare for long. They never could.
"You think I don't hear what's being said in my pack?" I asked. "You think I don't know who's loyal and who's just waiting for a reason to challenge me?"
No one answered.
"Then listen closely," I said. "You can question me, but you won't question my decision. Ella stands where I put her. End of discussion."
Still silence.
Lyra muttered under her breath, "Should've said that sooner."
I ignored her. She was right, but I wouldn't admit it.
The crowd slowly thinned, everyone pretending to go back to their duties. But I knew the talk wouldn't stop. They'd move it to corners, to firesides, to quiet rooms where they thought I couldn't hear.
That's what wolves do — they obey in daylight and plot in the dark.
When the last of them left, I turned to Lyra. "You don't need to keep jumping in. You'll make enemies."
She shrugged. "Already got a few."
"Not a good answer."
"Neither's silence," she said, meeting my eyes. "You think keeping quiet keeps peace? It just gives them space to grow bold."
I stared at her for a moment, then looked past her toward the hall where Ella had gone earlier.
Chapter 10 Whispers in the Dark
Lucas's POV
For a moment, the world didn't move.
The forest, the wind, even my wolf everything went dead quiet after that glow faded from Ella's skin. It wasn't normal. It wasn't healer energy. It felt ancient, like the earth itself recognized her and decided to wake up.
She was still shaking, looking at her hands like they didn't belong to her. "Did you feel that?" she whispered.
"Yeah," I said, too low for her to catch the edge in my voice.
I did feel it. Every bone in my body did. It wasn't just power it was a call, and something out there answered.
"Get inside," I said.
Lucas
"Now, Ella."
She didn't argue this time. Good. Because if she'd stayed a second longer, I'm not sure what would've come out of those woods.
When she disappeared into the house, I stayed out there, staring into the trees. The shadows looked thicker now, like something was watching, waiting. My wolf stirred uneasily inside me.
You shouldn't have brought her here, he growled.
Maybe he was right. But it was too late for that.
By the time I walked into the packhouse, the hallways were quiet except for the creak of the old floorboards. Beta Wood was waiting for me by the staircase, arms folded like a patient parent watching his kid do something stupid again.
"You look like hell," he said.
Good. I'm aiming for worse.
He smirked, but it didn't last. "The southern patrol reported a surge near the border. Said it felt like a flare. What the hell are you hiding?"
I froze. A flare?
He nodded. "Yeah. Like something old woke up. The same kind your father used to warn us about."
I rubbed a hand over my face. "It wasn't a flare."
Wood tilted his head. "Then what was it?"
Silence. I didn't have an answer I could give him without sounding insane.
Finally, I said, It came from the woods. It's… connected to her.
Ella?
I didn't reply.
He sighed. "Lucas, I'm saying this as your Beta, not your friend you need to get a handle on her. The elders are already whispering about how fast you claimed her as Luna, and now the land's reacting? It doesn't look good."
That hit harder than I wanted it to.
The fake Luna thing it was supposed to be simple. A cover. A distraction so I could buy time to keep the pack from tearing itself apart. I didn't mean to drag Ella into it. I didn't mean to make her the target of every suspicious stare in Atlas.
But she was in it now.
Because of me.
"Tell the elders to mind their damn business," I muttered.
"They are minding it," Wood said quietly. "That's the problem. You've got half the pack thinking she bewitched you, and the other half wondering if you're losing control."
I looked up sharply. "Who said that?
He hesitated. "One of the warriors Marcus. He said he saw her heal that rogue last week without herbs or chants. Just light."
That made my blood run cold.
The same light I'd just seen.
Twist one. The secret wasn't a secret anymore.
"Marcus talks again," I said slowly, "and I'll make sure he remembers who runs this pack."
Wood didn't flinch. "Lucas, this isn't about fear. You can't threaten your way out of this one. People talk when they're scared. And right now? They're terrified."
He wasn't wrong.
I could already hear the whispers in the dark halls, the Luna with strange power, the Alpha losing control, the scent of ruin in the wind.
Atlas was becoming a powder keg, and Ella was the spark.
Later that night, I stood by the window in my office, staring out at the forest. The moonlight spilled across the floor, silver and cold. I could feel her downstairs, her energy moving through the house like a pulse I couldn't shut out.
I'd told myself it was just duty. Protection. Guilt.
But the truth?
I wanted to keep her safe because the thought of losing her made something in me break open.
And that wasn't part of the plan.
I heard the door creak open. "You should be resting," Wood said behind me.
"I'm fine."
"You're not." He came closer, setting a folder on my desk. "These are reports from the northern border. Something's been crossing the scent lines. Big. Fast. Untracked."
I didn't need to open it to know what it was connected to.
"How long before the patrols start asking questions?" I asked.
"They already are," he said. "And Lucas there's something else. Marcus is dead."
My head snapped up. "What?"
"They found him near the edge of the woods. No tracks. No blood trail. Just gone."
My stomach dropped. The timing was too perfect. The same day he ran his mouth about Ella, he ends up dead? That wasn't coincidence. That was a message.
"Cover it," I said immediately.
Lucas
"Do it, Wood. Say it was rogues. Say whatever the hell you need to. Just keep Ella out of it."
He hesitated. "You think she had something to do with it?"
"No," I said too quickly. Then, quieter, "At least… I hope not."
After he left, I sank into the chair, staring at my hands. My wolf was restless, pacing, snarling. He wanted to claim her, protect her, tear down anyone who looked at her wrong. But another part of me, the Alpha, knew what that power meant.
If the land was responding to her, if that light was what I thought it was…
Then Ella wasn't a healer. She was something else.
Something that shouldn't exist.
Twist two came just after midnight.
A second flare brighter this time lit up the sky beyond the forest. I ran outside, my heart hammering. The ground trembled under my feet, a deep hum rising from beneath the soil.
"Lucas!" a warrior shouted from the gate. It's coming from the east ridge.
The same place Marcus was found.
And this time, it wasn't just light. A roar followed low, ancient, vibrating through the trees like the world itself was waking up again.
I didn't wait. I shifted halfway, letting my eyes glow silver, my wolf snarling inside my head. The air smelled of lightning and fear.
Whatever was in those woods it had found her.
And I'd be damned if I let it take her.
By the time I reached the ridge, the glow was fading. Smoke curled from the trees, the scent of burned leaves thick in the air. No tracks, no movement. Just silence again.
Except… one thing.
In the dirt, half-buried under the ash, was a mark an old rune. Not pack-made. Not human.
And right in the center of it was a single white strand of hair.
Ella's.
My throat went dry. I pocketed the strand and stared into the dark, every nerve in my body screaming one thing
This isn't over.
And somewhere behind me, carrying on the wind, I swore I heard a whisper soft, female, and old as the forest itself.
She was never yours to save, Alpha.