20. Mira - Lucien’s Truth
1139 Words
The climb to the Northern Tower felt longer than it ever had. Each step echoed too loudly in my ears, my wolf pacing and hackles raised. When I emerged onto the platform, the cold night air hit my face—and so did Ryan’s stare.
He frowned the moment he saw me. “Why aren’t you—” he began.
I shook my head once. Firm. He stopped immediately, jaw tightening, eyes searching my face for answers I wasn’t ready to give. Instead, he just nodded—accepting for now but we’ll talk, his look promised.
Below us, the forest line rippled and then I saw them. At least fifty deranged wolves stood just beyond the northern boundary, arranged with terrifying stillness. No pacing. No growling rush. Just… waiting.
A chill crawled down my spine.
Their eyes burned red—unnatural and wrong. Saliva dripped freely from their snarling mouths that are locked in permanent hunger. These weren’t wolves ready to hunt. They were weapons awaiting command.
Chandra’s voice lowered to a whisper inside me. “This is bloodlust held on a leash. This is not wolf magic.”
Then the pack parted. DanPa stepped forward and beside him Silas stepped forward. The moment he appeared, every single hybrid head snapped toward him in perfect unison. My heart dropped.
Chandra growled. “They recognize him” Then she asked worriedly, “Is he a target or is Vampire blood is calling to vampire blood?”
But, Silas didn’t falter. His voice carried across the clearing, calm and commanding, laced with something ancient.
“You have been turned into vampires,” he said. “That places you under my rule.”
A ripple of snarls answered him.
“Stand down,” Silas continued. “And your lives will be spared.”
The hybrids hissed, saliva hitting the forest floor. And then the air shifted.
A figure appeared above them, just floating above the enemy wolves, as though gravity was optional. Black from head to toe. A ninja-like silhouette blending into shadows. Only his eyes were visible—deep red-brown, burning with something feral and starving. I could just make the outline of his ribs in his tight dress, he was too thin. As if he hadn’t fed properly in a long, long time.
Silas inhaled sharply. The sound carried even to the tower. “LUCIEN” The name landed like a curse.
The figure laughed—low, cracked and bitter. “So you do know who I am… baby brother.”
Silas stepped forward despite DanPa’s hand brushing his arm.
“Yes,” Silas said steadily. “Our father told me about you and how much he wanted you in his life. How he waited for you. Missed you. Why didn’t you ever come to meet us?”
The clearing went still. Lucien froze. For a moment—just a heartbeat—his eyes flickered with something dangerously human. Then his jaw clenched.
“Lies,” he spat. “Our father never wanted me. He despised me for being half fae—half low life. All I ever wanted was his love. His acceptance. And he couldn’t even give me that.”
Silas’s voice softened. “If you wanted his affection… then why did you kill him?”
Lucien roared, the sound tearing through the forest. “It was an accident!”
The hybrids shifted restlessly.
“I went to him to prove myself,” Lucien continued, voice raw. “To tell him I had power. Enough power that no supernatural could ever stand above me again. But he—” His eyes burned. “He looked at me like I was something broken. He said that I=they turned me into a monster.”
Silas shook his head. “You are not a monster, Lucien. I know that. We found your journal in Grand Canyon Village. I know what they did to you. You are a victim.”
His voice cracked then—just slightly. I am sure no one would have noticed it, but it didn’t escape my attention.
“Let these wolves go,” Silas pleaded. “They are innocent. And we can help you. I will help you. We can both finally live together, the way we were meant to be, like brothers.”
Lucien snorted “Brothers?” His eyes hardened into stone. “My birth father didn’t want me,” he said coldly. “My adoptive father used me—then bound me with fae magic as I killed him. No one ever chose me. They hated me for what I was.”
He laughed hollowly. “I didn’t ask to be born.”
Chandra’s voice trembled. “He is drowning in grief and to protect himself he has turned it into poison.”
Lucien spread his arms. “Now I will destroy them all. The Accord and every lie it stands for.”
Silas stepped closer. “Then fight those who hurt you. Fight the fae who experimented on you. Fight the systems that failed you. Why are you terrorizing these wolves?”
Lucien’s lips curled. “Finally. A good question.”
He pointed downward. “There is a fairy hidden on this land,” he said. “A powerful one. Her energy weakened my prison beneath Mount Rainier. I was bound there for three hundred and forty-four years.”
My blood went cold.
“Hand that fae to me,” Lucien said lightly, “and I’ll leave. You have my word, no harm to these wolves.”
DanPa’s voice thundered. “There is no fairy in our territory.”
Lucien laughed. “Oh, Alpha Daniel. You are mistaken.”
He closed his eyes for a moment as if trying to sense something, then his gaze swept the land, and finally it lifted. Straight to the tower. Straight to me.
“There is a fairy among you,” he said softly. “The ninth generation of the most powerful line. And the power has awakened.”
Silas’s head snapped toward the tower. Toward me.
“No, you are lying. She is a wolf, not a fairy.” Silas said, voice deadly calm. “And, you will never touch her.”
Lucien’s eyes flared. “Oh, is she yours to protect?”
Silas stepped fully in front of DanPa, power rolling off him like a storm. “She is under my protection” then he added as an afterthought “like everyone else in this pack.”
Lucien smirked “She is the key to breaking the Accord, I will have her.”
Silas spoke, in low calm but strong voice “No, you won’t. I will kill you myself before you hurt her or use her.”
Lucien snarled then screamed “ATTACK!”
The hybrids lunged as one and hell broke loose.
- Writer
