Chapter 14
1231 Words
The crimson seeped from the moon like a wound torn into the heavens. It dripped in slow, heavy streams, staining the clouds and casting Moonspire in a hellish light. The silver glow that had always comforted them was gone—replaced by a sickly, violent red that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Every wolf on the field felt it. Lilah could see it in their eyes—the panic, the disbelief, the raw grief. The moon’s magic wasn’t just their source of power. It was their tether to each other, their history, their gods. And now it was bleeding out.
The Forsaken’s voice rolled over them again, deeper now, almost reverent.
“Do you feel it? The slow death of your world?”
Kael didn’t look up. His focus stayed on the creatures spilling from the fissure ahead, their forms shifting and writhing like oil in firelight. “Ignore him,” he said, every word an order. “We keep them from the gates. Every second we hold—”
A scream cut him off. One of the Luna’s Circle—Nerissa—collapsed mid-incantation, clutching her chest as her silver aura shattered into sparks. More followed, falling to their knees, their magic draining into the air like smoke pulled toward the bleeding moon.
Lilah’s own strength wavered. She gasped, clutching at the pendant against her chest. No. Not now. Not when we’re so close. She forced her eyes open, searching for Kael’s face, anchoring herself in the fire burning there.
The first wave hit.
Shadows surged toward them in a black tide, their eyes glowing violet, their limbs bending at unnatural angles. Kael’s sword flashed silver in the bloody light, cutting them down faster than they could reform. Beside him, Lilah threw her power into a wave of Moonfire, the flames burning white-hot at their center—but it took everything not to falter.
Her breath came ragged. “Kael—my magic—”
“Then use mine,” he snapped, stepping into the space in front of her, his body a wall between her and the creatures. “We fight together or we don’t fight at all.”
His power slammed into her, raw and consuming. It wasn’t gentle—it was war given form. Her vision sharpened, the battlefield snapping into brutal clarity. Every movement, every threat, every chance to strike lit up in her mind.
They moved as one.
Steel and flame cut through shadow. Roars and howls filled the air. But for every monster that fell, three more climbed from the fissure, their bodies glistening with the same red light that dripped from the moon.
And then—
The ground shook harder than before, nearly throwing them off their feet. Lilah turned just in time to see a piece of the moon tear free, a jagged shard of glowing stone tumbling from the sky. It fell like a meteor, slamming into the northern wall of Moonspire. The impact was a sunburst of rubble and dust, and the screams that followed told her more than sight ever could.
The wall was gone. The city was open.
Kael’s head whipped toward the breach. “We can’t hold both fronts—”
The Forsaken’s voice slid between them like a blade.
“You can’t hold anything, Alpha King. Not your city. Not your people. Not her.”
Lilah’s blood ran cold. The pull toward that voice—toward him—was back, stronger than before, wrapping around her like invisible chains.
Kael must have felt her stiffen, because his hand found hers, squeezing hard enough to hurt. His voice was low, meant for her alone.
“I don’t care if I have to burn through the gods themselves, Lilah—you’re not leaving my side.”
She met his gaze, and in that instant, with the moon bleeding out above them and the city cracking below, she knew—if they lost here, there would be no coming back.
The next wave was already rising. And somewhere in the smoke, the Forsaken was stepping onto the field.
The mist parted like it was afraid of him.
The Forsaken walked slowly, unhurried, his steps silent despite the chaos. His presence pressed against the world, bending the air, turning every flicker of torchlight into something cold. The shadows around him didn’t just follow—they clung, curling up his arms like serpents eager to serve.
Lilah’s pulse hammered. Every instinct screamed at her to move, to fight, to run—anything but stand frozen in the pull of his gaze. His eyes caught hers, and the din of battle dimmed, the screams muffled, the heat of Moonfire dying to embers inside her.
Kael shifted, keeping himself between them, his sword up. “You’ve come a long way to die,” he said, voice like sharpened steel.
The Forsaken’s smile was a slow, deliberate thing. “You speak like a king, Alpha. But I can smell the fear under your crown.” His gaze slid to Lilah. “And hers…” His head tilted slightly. “Hers is different. She fears herself more than she fears me.”
Lilah’s nails bit into her palms. “You don’t know me.”
“I made you.” His voice was low, almost gentle, but it struck like a hammer. “The night your blood first burned, it was my power that answered. You’ve been mine since before you knew my name.”
The air between them rippled—an invisible thread tugging hard enough that her knees nearly buckled. Kael caught her, his grip bruising, his growl vibrating through his chest.
“Break it,” Kael snarled to her. “Now.”
She tried—Mother, she tried—but the pull was like a riptide, dragging her toward the Forsaken. Every heartbeat, it got harder to breathe. Her pendant seared against her skin, the chain cutting into her neck as if resisting the call.
The Forsaken extended one hand—not reaching for her, but opening his palm to the sky. The bleeding Moon pulsed in answer. All around them, wolves collapsed, some howling in agony, others falling silent altogether as their magic was leeched away.
Kael didn’t wait. With a roar, he surged forward, sword flashing in the red light. The Forsaken barely moved, shadows coiling to meet the strike. Steel bit darkness—and stopped cold, as if caught in stone. The Forsaken’s other hand shot out, clamping around Kael’s throat, lifting him from the ground with inhuman strength.
Lilah’s scream ripped from her before she could think. Moonfire burst from her palms, white-hot, slamming into the Forsaken’s side. He staggered—just barely—but enough to drop Kael.
Kael landed hard, rolled, and came up ready again. Blood dripped from his lip, his chest heaving. “Stay back,” he barked at her, but she was already moving.
They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to. In that moment, with the city burning and the Moon bleeding above, they launched themselves at him together—steel and fire, rage and bond, love and war.
The Forsaken caught Kael’s blade in one hand, caught Lilah’s fire in the other, and for the first time… his smile vanished.
The ground split beneath their feet.
And the Moon shuddered in the sky like it was about to fall the rest of the way.
- Writer
