Chapter 11: Blood Moon Rising
942 Words
Rhiannon's POV
The attack came early.
We'd predicted three nights. The rogues came in two.
I woke to screams and the smell of blood.
"Soren, up!" I barked, already shifting into my armor. "Stay behind me."
He scrambled out of bed, his eyes wide with fear. "Mama—"
"Do exactly as I say." I grabbed my weapons, strapping blades to my thighs and back. "We're going to the safe room. Now."
The hallway was chaos. Wolves running. Warriors shouting orders. The sound of combat echoed from the outer walls.
Marcus appeared, blood on his face. "They breached the east gate! Sera's holding the line but we need everyone—"
An explosion rocked the building.
Soren screamed.
I grabbed him, shifting into my wolf form and letting him climb onto my back. "Marcus, rally the Claws! I'm getting my son to safety first!"
I didn't wait for his response.
I ran.
The packhouse was a maze of corridors and stairs. I knew them by heart—muscle memory from years spent scrubbing these floors, invisible and silent.
The safe room was three levels down, reinforced steel doors guarded by—
Nothing.
The guards were gone.
My blood went cold.
"No no no—"
I shifted human, Soren clinging to me. The door was open. Not breached. Opened from the inside.
Voices echoed from within. Children crying. Omegas sobbing.
And one voice, cold and familiar.
"Where is the Alpha's mate?"
I set Soren down. "Hide. Don't come out until I say."
"But—"
"Hide. Now."
He disappeared into the shadows, his Chimera instincts taking over.
I stepped into the safe room.
Twenty omegas and children huddled in the corner. Standing over them were five rogues, their eyes wild and hungry.
At their center was a woman I recognized.
Isolde.
"Looking for someone?" I said.
Every head turned toward me.
Isolde's eyes widened. Then narrowed. "The Phantom. How noble. Come to save the weak?"
"Come to stop a traitor," I said coldly.
The rogues snarled, moving to flank me. But I didn't take my eyes off Isolde.
"You opened the door," I said. "You let them in."
"I did." She smiled, bitter and broken. "Darius wants to play hero? Let him watch his pack burn."
"This isn't about Darius. This is about innocent people."
"There are no innocents here!" Her voice cracked. "This pack took everything from me! My mate. My future. My choice!"
Ah.
"You had a fated mate," I said quietly. "And the pack forced you to reject them."
Her face twisted. "They said it was for the good of the alliance. That my feelings didn't matter. So I rejected him. And he died three months later." Tears streaked her perfect face. "They killed him. With their politics and their power games. Just like they'll kill everyone else."
I understood her rage.
Gods, I understood it.
But this wasn't the way.
"Killing children won't bring him back," I said.
"No." She wiped her eyes. "But it will make them hurt. Like I hurt."
The rogues lunged.
I shifted mid-leap—panther, fast and lethal. My claws raked across the first rogue's throat. The second I caught with my jaws, shaking until his neck snapped.
The third got past me.
Heading straight for the children.
"NO!"
I shifted again—bear this time, massive and powerful. I caught the rogue mid-stride, throwing him into the wall with enough force to shatter bone.
The fourth and fifth hesitated.
"Run," I growled.
They ran.
I shifted back to human, breathing hard. Blood dripped from my claws. My armor was shredded.
Isolde stared at me, her face pale. "You're... you're Chimera."
I said nothing.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
I reached up.
And removed my mask.
Isolde's scream echoed off the walls.
"No. No, you're dead—"
"Surprise," I said flatly.
The omegas gasped. One of them—an older woman I vaguely remembered—started crying.
"Rhiannon," she sobbed. "You're alive."
"I am." I looked at Isolde. "And you're going to surrender. Now."
She laughed—high and broken. "So you can what? Turn me over to Darius? Let him execute me?"
"So you can live." I stepped closer. "I know what this pack took from you. I know that pain. But these people—" I gestured to the terrified omegas, "—didn't do it. Don't make them pay for someone else's sins."
Isolde's face crumpled.
She sank to her knees, sobbing.
"I just wanted him back," she whispered. "I just wanted it to stop hurting."
I knelt beside her. Placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It never stops," I said quietly. "But you learn to carry it."
Darius's POV
The battle was a nightmare.
Rogues everywhere. Blood on the stones. Warriors falling. We were being overrun.
"FALL BACK!" I roared. "Protect the safe room!"
Cade appeared at my side, his sword dripping red. "The Phantom's Claws are holding the east wall but we're losing ground—"
An explosion.
I turned.
The doors to the underground safe room were blown open.
My heart stopped.
"ISOLDE!" I screamed.
I ran.
Down the stairs. Through the smoke. Into the room where—
I froze.
Isolde knelt on the ground, her hands bound.
The Phantom stood over her, mask in hand.
And the face beneath—
The world stopped.
Silver hair. Gray eyes shot with gold. The same face I'd seen in my dreams for five years.
Older. Harder. More beautiful than I remembered.
"Rhiannon," I breathed.
She looked at me.
And in her eyes was a rage so deep it could burn the world.
"Hello, Darius," she said. "Miss me?"
- Writer
