Darius's POV
The night was heavy with mist and moonlight. The kind of night that carried whispers, voices of the dead, secrets of the cursed, the scent of blood.
Lucian and I moved through the forest in silence. The full moon burned above us like a white fire, its light so bright it painted every leaf, every stone, every shadow in silver. It was so surprising that Lucian hasn't shift to his wolf form, maybe because of his wound.
We had not spoken much since leaving the witch's shop. He had insisted on returning to the pack house, though his wounds were still fresh and his strength not fully returned. I could feel his unease long before he said it.
He slowed his pace, his eyes darting toward the sky, and his voice came rough and low.
"Darius… something is wrong."
I looked at him sharply. "What is it?"
He pressed a hand to his chest. "It feels… as if fire is crawling beneath my skin. My blood is boiling, my heart feels like it is burning from the inside."
My breath caught. The air around him was trembling, alive with strange energy. The scent of his blood had changed, no longer the familiar alpha musk, not the type of feelings when the full moon is up, but something older, sharper, almost divine.
I stepped closer, my hand half raised. "Could it be… the witch? Did she do something to you?"
He shook his head, though his breathing was already ragged. "No. This is not her doing. This… this is something else."
Before I could speak again, his body jerked violently. A guttural growl ripped from his throat, echoing through the trees like thunder. His eyes rolled back, his hands clawed the ground.
And then, it began.
His bones cracked, loud and awful, shifting beneath his skin. His muscles stretched, tearing and reforming. His back arched, his skin shimmered with silver veins. The change was nothing like the usual shift, it was monstrous, ancient, divine.
His eyes snapped open, glowing like molten gold laced with silver, bright enough to blind.
He threw back his head and roared, a sound so powerful it shook the leaves from the trees. The very earth trembled beneath his paws as his body expanded, fur bursting forth in waves of black streaked with white fire.
The curse had awakened.
Before me stood not the Alpha I had sworn to follow, but a beast born of moonlight and blood.
He turned those blazing eyes toward me, his lips curling back to reveal fangs long enough to pierce steel. The air was thick with his aura, ancient, suffocating, divine. My heart pounded. Every instinct screamed to run.
Instead, I dropped to one knee, baring my neck. "Alpha," I whispered. "It's me, Darius."
He froze, nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air. Then, with a sound that rumbled through the ground, he looked away and started to move, faster than any creature I had ever seen.
In a blink, he was gone.
I shifted, my bones breaking, my fur rising, my claws sinking into the soil. My wolf form, Kiel leapt forward, chasing him through the moonlit woods. I could barely keep up, he was a blur of shadows and fire, every stride shaking the forest floor.
He was heading toward the old pavilion, the place where the human king had ambushed us.
I tried to mindlink him, to ask what he was searching for, but my thoughts hit an invisible wall. There was no connection, no thread between us. He was beyond it now, beyond pack, beyond blood.
The moonlight grew brighter, almost blinding, as if the goddess herself watched.
Then, he howled.
The sound tore through the world, a cry of pain, fury and power. It echoed through the mountains, through the villages, through the hearts of every wolf that still lived.
And then came the replies.
One by one, a faint howls rose in answer. We saw some of the loyal warriors and gamma in search for us. Lucian stopped, gnashing his teeth, i quickly told "they came for us, they are your people." Lucian turned and bolted toward home.
I and others followed, our paws pounding the ground, my heart hammering in my chest. The path opened before us like the moon itself was leading the way, its silver light marking every step.
When the walls of Moonfang came into view, I nearly stumbled.
The packhouse fence rose before us, twenty feet high, reinforced with silver and stone. But Lucian didn't stop. He leapt.
He soared over it as if gravity itself bowed to him.
I and the others who had followed took the north gate. The guards, all traitor warriors frozed at the sight of the massive wolf standing in the pack house. His eyes glowed with celestial fire.
Without warning, he attacked.
He tore through them like shadows, his claws flashing, his fangs gleaming with blood. The sound of bones cracking filled the air. I joined the fray, ripping through the traitors, their screams lost beneath the howls.
Some tried to mindlink Caius, that coward.
He came running with his traitor warriors, his sword drawn, his scent thick with fear. He did not know who the beast was.
When his eyes met Lucian's, he went pale as death.
"Kill it!" he shouted. "Kill that thing before it kills us!"
Lucian's growl shook the sky. He lunged, faster than lightning, tearing through Caius's men one by one. Blood splattered across the ground, steaming in the cold night air. Caius turned and ran, his screams fading into the distance.
The Alpha's courtyard fell silent.
Lucian's fur was soaked with blood, his breath coming in deep, furious growls. Then, he stopped, his ears twitching, his nose to the air. He sniffed, once, twice… and then charged toward the old morgue.
We followed him through the narrow streets. The morgue attendants, the Deathkeepers, we called them, screamed and scattered as he burst through the doors.
He sniffed each room, his snout brushing doors and walls until he stopped before one door in particular.
"Alpha," I whispered, shifting back into human form. "She's not here, is she?"
One of the terrified Deathkeepers spoke quickly, trembling. "The Luna… she's here. Caius forbade us from burying her. He said her death would serve as a warning."
Lucian's howl shook the walls.
The ground trembled, dust falling from the ceiling. Every wolf within miles felt it, the cry of a son who had lost everything.
He stepped forward, nudging on the door, the Deathkeepers opens the door and brought out the lifeless body of luna seraphina, Lucian stepped forward, grand gently lifted her lifeless body onto his massive back.
Then, without a sound, he turned and bolted through the doors.
The pack scattered as he thundered through the streets, Luna Seraphina's pale hair flowing behind him in the moonlight. I shifted again and ran after him, but he was faster, far too fast. I followed his scent, his trail of silver energy, but before long, it faded into the wind.
I stopped, gasping, staring into the dark woods beyond the village. He was gone.
When I returned to the packhouse, word had already spread like wildfire. Wolves crowded the courtyard, eyes wide, hearts pounding.
"The Alpha lives," they whispered. "The Cursed Alpha has returned."
One of the pack nurse told me about my mate, how colour has drained from her, how she cries everyday and doesn't eat.
Hearing everything, i bolted to the pack hospital, right as i was about to enter, i saw her talking to herself, saying "I know my love is not dead, he will come back to me safely."
I called her "Alora, my love" she smiled saying "now, am definitely running mad, my hearing things" i ran to her and hug her, telling her sje is not mad, "I am alive truly, babe" she looked at me and i kissed her.
Then i told everything that happened while we were gone. And she told me everything that happens in the pack also, how Caius lock up Lyra, Lancelot and Danny in the pack dungeon.
And somewhere in the shadows, Caius trembled, knowing the moon had chosen its true king once more.