Rejected And Reborn As The Alpha King's Luna

Chapter 46: Blood Moon Countdown

"What's wrong?" Luna asked.

"The corruption. It's pushing hard right now." I closed my eyes, fighting for control. "Give me a moment."

Inside my mind, Morgana pressed against my consciousness.

Why fight me, child? We could be magnificent together. All my power, all your potential. We could reshape the world.

"Get out of my head," I whispered.

I'm not in your head. I am your head now. We're merged, you and I. Two souls sharing one body. And soon, very soon, I'll be the dominant one.

"No."

Yes. You're already weakening. I can feel it. Every emotion you experience feeds me, makes me stronger. Your love for that boy? Delicious. Your fear? Even better. You restored your feelings to fight me, but you've only made it easier for me to consume you.

I opened my eyes, breathing hard. The dark veins had spread further up my arms, crawling toward my shoulders.

"Forty-eight hours," I said to the group. "That's all I have. Maybe less. We need to move faster."

We pressed on through the afternoon. The landscape grew more desolate, the trees twisted and dead. We were approaching the Blighted Lands, where Morgana's influence had corrupted the earth itself.

That's when I felt it. Another presence, powerful and focused, tracking us.

"We're being followed," I said.

Everyone went tense. Theo and Xavier scanned the treeline while Luna prepared defensive magic.

A figure emerged from the shadows. A man in his mid-thirties, tall and lean, his body covered in scars. He wore the gray leathers of the Wolf Council's special forces and carried a silver sword that hummed with magic.

"Thelma, daughter of James and Catherine." His voice was rough, emotionless. "You're under arrest by order of the Wolf Council. Surrender yourself for execution."

"Execution?" Theo stepped forward. "Who the hell are you?"

"Kael Storm. Witch hunter." His cold eyes never left me. "I've been tracking Morgana for five years. When the Oracle's cave lit up with dark magic last night, I knew she'd made her move. And when I arrived to find you," he pointed his sword at me, "wearing her corruption like a second skin, I knew what had to be done."

"I'm not Morgana's puppet," I said.

"Not yet." Kael's expression didn't change. "But you will be. I've seen it before. Dark magic always wins in the end. Better to end you now, quickly, than wait for the corruption to take full control."

"Try it," Xavier growled, moving between us. "You'll have to go through me first."

"And me," Theo added, his Alpha power flaring.

Kael looked at them with something like pity. "You love her. I understand. But love won't save her from what she's becoming. I've executed seventeen corrupted wolves in my career. Some were good people, people I cared about, before the darkness took them. Your mate, your sister, she's already gone. You just don't see it yet."

"She's standing right here," I said. "Still in control. Still fighting."

"For now." Kael raised his sword. "But the Council's orders are clear. All vessels of dark magic must be destroyed. No exceptions."

"The Council can go to hell," Theo snarled.

We stood in a tense standoff, Kael on one side, our group on the other. I could feel the dark magic inside me responding to the threat, eager to be unleashed. It wanted to kill him, wanted to show him exactly how powerful I'd become.

I fought the urge down, but barely.

"Wait," Luna said suddenly. "Kael Storm. I know that name. You're the hunter who lost his family to Morgana twenty years ago."

Something flickered in Kael's expression. Pain, quickly suppressed. "They were corrupted. I did what had to be done."

"You killed your own family," Elena whispered, horrified.

"I ended their suffering before they could hurt others." His grip on the sword tightened. "And I'll do the same for her, if you'll let me. It's a mercy."

"Like hell it is," Xavier said.

Kael shifted his stance, preparing to attack. Theo and Xavier moved to intercept. The air crackled with violence about to erupt.

Then a new voice cut through the tension.

"The witch hunter is not your enemy."

We all turned. The Oracle, Cassandra, had followed us from her cave. Her blind eyes were grave.

"Morgana has already begun her ritual," she continued. "She's not waiting three days. She's doing it tonight."

"Tonight?" Luna's face went white. "But that's impossible. The ritual requires—"

"Blood of the innocent. Yes." Cassandra's voice was heavy. "And her first sacrifice is ready. She's captured the Silver Moon pack's children. All seventeen of them."

The world stopped.

Xavier made a sound like he'd been gutted. "No. No, my pack, the children—"

"She took them two hours ago," Cassandra said. "While you were all here, dealing with Thelma's corruption. Morgana's forces swept through Silver Moon territory and stole every child under the age of twelve. They're at the Blood Moon Temple now, waiting for the ritual to begin at midnight."

"That's only eight hours from now," Theo said.

"Yes." Cassandra looked at me. "Which means your timeline just shortened considerably. You have eight hours to reach the temple,

stop Morgana, save those children, and purge the corruption from your body. And you'll need all the help you can get."

She turned her blind gaze to Kael. "Including his."