The Lunar Prime's Awakening

Chapter Four

The Silvermoon border was in chaos when we arrived. Bodies of rogues littered the ground, but more kept coming, waves of them with those sickly green eyes and enhanced strength.

"Formation seven," Damien commanded his warriors. They moved like a lethal dance, each wolf knowing exactly where to be.

I saw Ethan first, his gray wolf form fighting three rogues at once. Veronica was nowhere to be seen, probably hidden somewhere safe while others died for her.

Then I saw Lily, cornered by two massive rogues, her small omega form trembling with exhaustion.

I shifted without thinking, my Lunar Prime form exploding into existence. The silver light that emanated from me made every wolf, friend and foe, freeze for a moment.

I cleared the distance in two bounds, silver fire erupting from my jaws as I tore through the first rogue. The second tried to flee, but I was faster, my claws raking through it and turning it to ash.

"Aria?" Lily's voice was barely a whisper.

I nodded, then turned as more rogues approached. But these hesitated, recognizing what I was even if they didn't understand it.

Damien's black wolf appeared beside me, and our combined presence, cursed Alpha and Lunar Prime, sent the remaining rogues into retreat.

But it wasn't over. From the forest emerged a figure that made my blood run cold, a massive wolf, twice the size of an Alpha, with fur that seemed to absorb light and those same green eyes, but intelligent, calculating.

"Dire wolf," someone gasped. "That's impossible. They're extinct."

The creature's eyes fixed on me, and it spoke, actually spoke, through our mind link. "The Moon's daughter. Viktor said you would come."

It lunged, faster than anything that size should move. Damien intercepted, but the dire wolf swatted him aside like a pup. The curse's shadows erupted, trying to contain the creature, but it walked through them unaffected.

I faced it alone, my silver light clashing with its darkness. We collided with the force of a thunderclap, and I realized with horror that it was stronger than me. My newly awakened powers were raw, untrained.

Its jaws closed on my shoulder, and I screamed, not in pain, but in rage. How dare this abomination touch me?

The silver light exploded from me, but this time it was different. Symbols appeared in the air around me, ancient runes that I somehow understood. They spoke of judgment, of cleansing, of the Moon's wrath.

"No," the dire wolf actually looked afraid. "You're not trained. You can't…"

I spoke the words that appeared in my mind, words in a language that predated modern wolves. The runes blazed to life, and the dire wolf began to dissolve, not into ash, but into nothing, erased from existence itself.

The effort dropped me to my knees, my wolf form flickering. Damien was there immediately, pressing against me despite the danger to himself, lending me his strength even as our opposing natures clashed.

I shifted back, naked and shaking, and he shifted too, wrapping his jacket around me before I could protest.

"The drain…" I started.

"Worth it," he said firmly, though I could see the toll in the lines around his eyes.

Ethan approached, still in wolf form, then shifted. His face was a masterpiece of shock and confusion. "Aria? What... what are you?"

"The mate you rejected," Damien said coldly, pulling me against him. "And my Luna."

"That's impossible. She's wolfless…"

"You mean you were too blind to see what was right in front of you," Veronica said, finally appearing now that the danger had passed. But her calculating eyes were fixed on me with something like hunger. "A Lunar Prime. Do you know what this means?"

"It means she's under Bloodstone protection," Selene said, flanking us with several warriors.

"She was our omega first," Veronica said sweetly. "Perhaps we were hasty…"

"You banished me," I said, finding my voice. "Six hours ago, you stood there smirking while Ethan threw me away like garbage."

"A misunderstanding," Ethan said quickly. "The rejection... it can be reversed…"

Damien's growl shook the ground. The shadows around him expanded, and this time, I didn't try to suppress them. "You rejected her. Publicly. Permanently."

"But she's a Lunar Prime," Ethan said, as if that explained everything. "She belongs with…"

"She belongs with her true mate," I said, leaning into Damien despite the fever building in my blood. "The one who saw my worth when I had nothing to offer."

"You're making a mistake," Veronica said, dropping her sweet act. "The Bloodstone Pack is cursed. He's cursed. He'll destroy you."

"Maybe," I admitted. "But at least he'll do it while treating me as an equal, not a possession."

Marcus, Ethan's beta, stepped forward. "Aria, please. The pack needs…"

"The pack needs nothing from me. You made that clear when you banished me." I looked at each of them, the wolves who'd watched my humiliation in silence. "We came because innocent lives were at stake. That debt is paid."

"You can't just leave," Ethan said desperately. "You're the first Lunar Prime in centuries. Your place is here…"

"My place is wherever I choose it to be." The power flared in my voice, making several wolves bare their necks in submission. "And I choose him."

Lily ran forward, hugging me carefully. "Be happy," she whispered. "Be free."

As we turned to leave, Ethan called out one more time. "This isn't over. The Council will hear about this. A Lunar Prime can't just…"

"Watch me," I said without looking back.

The journey back to Bloodstone territory was quiet. I could feel the fever rising, my skin too hot, my bones aching. Beside me, Damien's shadows writhed more violently than usual, reacting to his proximity to me.

"That was foolish," he said finally. "Alienating them completely."

"They alienated me first."

"They'll cause trouble. The Council listens to packs like Silvermoon."

"Let them try." I stumbled slightly, and he caught me, sending another spike of fever through my system. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing for existing." His voice was fierce. "We'll find a way to fix this."

"And if we can't? If Viktor was telling the truth?"

He stopped walking, turning to face me fully. In the moonlight, with his shadows dancing around him, he looked like a dark god. "Then we'll find another way. I'm not losing you, Aria. Not when I just found you."

"Even if touching me kills you?"

"Even then."

The certainty in his voice made me want to cry. How had I gone from being rejected and worthless to being someone worth dying for in the span of a single day?

A howl interrupted my thoughts, not a wolf, but something else. Something that made every instinct scream danger.

"What was that?" I asked.

Damien's face was grim. "Theo. That's the emergency call."

We ran, despite our exhaustion, despite the fever and the drain. The pack house came into view, and I gasped.

It was surrounded by a shimmering barrier, like a dome of sickly green energy. Inside, I could see pack members frozen in place, caught mid-motion like statues.

"A stasis spell," Damien snarled. "Viktor."

But it wasn't Viktor who stepped from the shadows. It was a woman, beautiful in a terrifying way, with long black hair and eyes that held madness.

"Hello, my cursed wolf," she purred. "I'm Morgana. I believe you killed my son."

The witch. The one who'd cursed Damien.

"I've come to collect what's owed," she continued, then her eyes fixed on me. "And what perfect timing. The Lunar Prime who could break my curse... or complete it."

She raised her hand, and green fire erupted toward us. Damien pushed me aside, taking the hit. He screamed, his shadows going wild, lashing out in all directions.

"Stop!" I shouted, my light flaring. But when it hit the green fire, it didn't extinguish it, it fed it, making it burn brighter.

Morgana laughed. "Oh, this is delicious. Your light makes his curse stronger. You're not his salvation, little moon. You're his d

amnation."

"You're wrong," I said, but doubt crept in. Everything we touched seemed to make things worse.

"Am I? Look at him."