Moonbound

The smoke was everywhere. Thick. Heavy. Choking. Like a blanket.. Lucien ran faster than he had ever had to in his life. Branches whipped his face, tore at his arms, roots tried to trip him, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he ran. So he ran as fast as he could. The smell hit him first. Sharp. Choking. The smell of burning wood, bricks. And something worse. Flesh. “No. No, no,” Lucien’s voice broke in his throat. The trees parted, and the world was on fire. The pack-house was gone or almost gone. Just fire now. Burning so bright, it lit the whole bayou like it was daytime. The lodge. The altar stone. The training field. All of it rendered to ash. People screamed. Wolves shifted and howled. Chaos. Lucien’s heart bottomed out. He saw Derek at the edge of the flames, hauling someone out of the fire’s reach. Lucien sprinted toward him when something slammed into him. The breath got knocked out of him as he fell. “Lucien, stop!” Derek’s voice, rough in his ear. “You can’t go in!” “My family’s in there!” Lucien howled, throwing punches. Kicking. Thrashing. “My mother’s in there!” Derek didn’t let go. Took every hit. Somewhere, another pair of hands grabbed him, too. Elias. The old seer’s face was streaked with soot. His eyes were steady and bright. “Lucien,” he said, calm as a still pond. “Listen.” “No!” Lucien jerked hard, trying to break free. His wolf shrieked inside him, a raw, frantic sound. His whole body was shaking. “You’ll die,” Elias said. Quiet. Solid. “If you die, your pack dies.” “I don’t care!” Lucien spat, shaking. “What’s a pack without family?!” Elias stepped closer. “A second chance.” Lucien froze. The fire roared. The smoke burned his lungs. He couldn’t see straight. Couldn’t think. Inside the flames— He saw the pieces. His father’s journal, burning. The portrait from the hall, melting. His mother’s shawl, half-hidden by fallen wood. Gone. Gone. Gone. Derek let go. Elias let go. Lucien just stood there. Shaking. Nails cut into his palms. Then— a loud groan. And the second floor collapsed. The fire leaped higher. Swallowed everything. Lucien dropped to his knees. Nothing left. No breath. No sound. Just pain. Two days later. The moon barely showed its face. No bodies. Just fragments. Scraps. Dust. Three urns. Too small. Too light. Elias spoke. Derek said nothing. Lucien… didn’t have anything left to say. He didn’t cry. Couldn’t. There was nothing inside him, nothing but rage and guilt. A cold, clear hunger for revenge. He stood at the clearing’s edge. Alone. Staring at the ruins. Black earth. Cracked altar stone. The smell of smoke still hung in the trees. Derek found him eventually. Said nothing for a while. Then: “She saved you.” Lucien didn’t look at him. “I saw her,” Derek said. Your mother. She shoved you out. Before it all went under.” Lucien closed his eyes. “She screamed at me to run,” he whispered. “You did.” “I didn’t want to,” Lucien said. His voice broke. “I wish I hadn’t.” Derek didn’t argue. Didn’t try to fix it. He just stood there. Lucien dropped, his fingers brushing the cold stone. “He said it was just a meeting,” he muttered. With Remus Rivera. Said he didn’t need guards. Just a talk.” Derek’s jaw tightened. “That bastard killed them.” Lucien’s hands curled into fists. “He didn’t set the fire himself.” “No,” Derek said. “But he gave the order.” Silence. Nothing but the wind and the faint crackle of dying embers. Then— There was slight movement in the trees. Lucien stiffened. His eyes narrowed, cutting through the shadows. There. In the trees, a woman with pale hair was dragging something wrapped in cloth. It… moved. Lucien pointed. “Someone’s there.” Derek tensed. “I don’t see it.” “Someone’s there, look,” Lucien said, already stepping forward, but Elias appeared from the treeline. Blocking him. “Lucien, how are you faring?” the seer said. Lucien’s fists clenched. “How do you think?” “I know your rage burns,” Elias said. “Let the embers cool.” Lucien’s jaw locked. He looked back one last time at the blackened bones of what had been his home. His life. The moon was gone. The pack was gone. His family… gone. But he wasn’t, and neither was the fire inside him. “When the embers cool,” Lucien said quietly, determination in his eyes. “I’ll serve my revenge.”