The forest was silent except for the sound of his heavy steps.
Lucian carried his mother's body across the glade, the moon above him burning like a thousand silent eyes. Her silver hair flowed over his arm, glimmering faintly in the light. The air around them shimmered, charged with divine energy.
He stopped at the heart of the Moonfang woods, a place sacred to his bloodline. The soil was soft and dark, the roots of the old lunar trees twisting like veins across the earth. Here, generations of alphas had been buried beneath the light of the full moon.
He laid her down gently upon the grass.
For a long time, he simply looked at her, the face that had once smiled for him, the hands that had held him as a child. Memories burned through him like fire: her laughter, her voice, her arms protecting him when the curse had first begun to show.
He remembered the night she had cried beneath the same moon, whispering prayers to the goddess for a son who would not suffer.
Now she slept beneath its light forever.
Lucian fell to his knees beside her body. His chest heaved, his breath fogging in the cold air. The beast inside him roared, a sound that came from his soul, not his throat.
"I failed you, Mother," he whispered. "I failed them all."
The wind stirred the branches. For a moment, he thought he heard her voice, soft, like a memory carried on the wind.
No, my son. The curse does not break you. It makes you what you were born to be.
His eyes burned. The beast inside him stirred again, pushing against the fragile walls of his will. His veins glowed faintly, pulsing with golden light.
Darius found him there an two hours later, kneeling beside the shallow grave. His friend did not speak at first. He stood quietly, watching the circle his Alpha carve into the soil with his claws, a circle marked by old runes, shimmering with the moon's touch.
When Lucian finally spoke, his voice was quiet, but it carried through the trees like thunder.
"This blood… my blood… has cursed this land for centuries. I will end it, Darius. Even if it costs me everything."
Darius swallowed hard. "Alpha, what are you planning?"
Lucian looked up at him. His eyes were no longer the soft silver of before, they were pure molten gold, alive with moonlight.
"The Blood Oath."
Darius stiffened. "No. That ritual was forbidden after the War of the Veil. You'll bind your soul to the curse itself. You might not survive it."
Lucian smiled faintly a sad, fearless smile. "I died once already."
He drew his dagger, the same blade his mother had given him when he first took the Alpha mark. He pressed it to his palm and sliced deep. Blood fell to the earth, glowing faintly as it touched the soil. The scent was sharp, metallic and holy.
Then he spoke the ancient words.
"By the moon that bore me, by the blood that binds me, by the curse that haunts me, I swear upon my life and death, no wolf shall fall to this darkness again. I take the burden. I take the fire. Let it consume me and through me, free them."
The ground trembled. The air thickened with power. The moon turned crimson for a heartbeat, then flared white again.
Darius stumbled backward as light burst from Lucian's body, silver veins racing across his skin like lightning. His back arched, his breath came ragged and his blood floated upward in glimmering streams, wrapping around his mother's body like threads of light.
The curse answered.
It surged from the depths of his soul, wild and untamed. His eyes widened as the beast's voice echoed in his mind, not as a monster now, but as something ancient and sacred.
You have bound us, Alpha. Flesh and spirit, blood and moon. You are no longer merely wolf.
Lucian gasped, his hand trembling as the energy subsided. When the light finally faded, the clearing was still. His mother's body was gone, her form dissolved into silver dust that shimmered in the moonlight before drifting toward the stars.
Lucian stood slowly. His body was covered in faint glowing marks, runes that pulsed softly like embers.
Darius stared at him, wide-eyed. "What are you now?"
Lucian looked toward the moon, his expression unreadable. "The curse's vessel… and its end."
He turned, his gaze hardening as the wind shifted, carrying the scent of smoke and blood from the village below.
Lucian's voice was low, steady and cold. "Gather the warriors who are still loyal to the throne. Tonight, the moon will see judgment."
Darius bowed his head. "Yes, my Alpha."
As Lucian walked from the clearing, the moonlight followed him, not falling from above, but rising from the ground itself. The wolves who saw him later would swear his shadow burned with silver fire.
And those who betrayed him would remember the night the Cursed Alpha rose from death, bound by blood and vengeance, his howl echoing across the realm.