Lost To Alpha Kael

Chapter 1

LYRA

The night felt wrong.

I didn’t know how to explain it, but I felt it deep inside. The hairs on my skin stood as my chest tightened. The moon was high and red, like spilled blood. Wolves were howling somewhere in the distance, but the sound wasn’t normal. It wasn’t a sound of celebration. And it definitely wasn’t a warning either. They sounded scared. And if the wolves were scared, I knew something was really off.

I stopped mid-froze as I walked through Bloodfang’s inner woods. My heart was already racing faster than my thoughts. I kept looking around, scanning every tree, trying to find something — anything. Just anything that would explain the feeling crawling under my skin.

But nothing was moving. The forest looked completely still. And yet, every instinct in me was screaming that something was there. Something I couldn’t see. And I hated that I couldn’t point it out, even though it felt so real.

“What is this?” I whispered. “Why does it feel like the ground is breathing?”

My hands began to tremble as my fears heightened. My heart pounded even faster. I could feel fear crawling over me, and it wasn’t stopping. I reached out with the little power I knew. The sensing technique my mother taught me.

“Mama?” I called out, my voice already shaking. “Mother, where are you?”

But silence was the reply I got. And it only worsened the already heavy feeling.

I turned toward the healer’s hut where Mother should have been. She was probably mixing her herbs or saying prayers to the Moon like she always did. Maybe she would have an explanation for this strange atmosphere. So I picked up the race again, running with the expectation to receive answers. But once getting there, the hut was empty. This time, I could feel my ears standing as cold sweat dropped on it.

“Mother!” I shouted louder and broke into a run.

And just as I thought, even though I had wished it were different this time, the silence was all the reply I got.

The deeper I ran into the forest, the more I panicked. The darkness around was beginning to choke me . I could barely breathe. Tears stung my eyes because I didn’t know what to do or where to go. “This isn’t normal,” I muttered, trying to steady my voice. “This isn’t normal.”

Mother always warned me never to draw power from fear. She said fear made magic wild and uncontrollable. But how else was I to draw magic when fear was the only thing I felt? And I needed to salvage the situation in the best possible way I could. I reached deeper inside myself, pulling at the faint energy in my chest and shaping it into a warding circle, just like I had practiced.

“By moon and fang, I call the light—”

A sharp shock hit my upper arm, just before I could complete the chants. The circle shattered mid-air and vanished like it had never been there.

“No, no, no…” I hissed, trying again. “By moon and fang, I—”

This time the shock came stronger. It slammed into my chest and threw me to my knees. I gasped for breath, panting hard. My powers were too weak. And whatever this was, I knew a basic ward wasn’t going to stop it.

“Mother, please!” I screamed, my voice shaking with panic. But still, nothing answered me.

Just then, the forest visibly began to move. Even the ground shook where I stood. And it felt like everything had begun crying at the same time. Followed by a low, deep grow, like that of a beast.

Dread took over and I resumed my race on a faster move this time. I ran deeper into the woods, even though my heart felt like it had both stopped and was racing too fast at the same time. It pounded harder with every step I took. And I didn’t stop until my breath gave out. And just when I had stumbled into a clearing near the sacred stones, I froze.

Mother was there. She was standing at the center of a glowing sigil, her eyes closed, lips moving silently. Silvery threads of light were wrapped around her arms. But the air around her felt heavy; too powerful for me to understand. It felt like something was about to explode, and she was fighting to stop it.

“Mother!” I cried, running toward her despite the way my heart slammed against my chest. “What’s happening? Talk to me!”

She didn’t look up. She didn’t even flinch.

“Mother, please, you’re scaring me!” I shouted again, tears stinging my eyes. “Tell me what’s going on!”

The only response was the howling wind swirling around her. My heart hammered painfully. I didn’t understand the sigils. I didn’t even know the language her lips were forming. But I could feel the darkness pressing harder now. I had to do something. Anything.

“Okay. Think, Lyra, think,” I muttered to myself, pacing in circles. “A stabilizing rune? A seal? No, too weak. Too weak…”

I dropped to my knees beside the sigil, drawing shaky lines into the dirt. It wasn’t perfect. My training was quite basic and clumsy. But maybe if I added a binding mark, it would help. Maybe it would give her a little more strength.

The ground shook violently, like something huge had slammed into it. I screamed as a blast of dark energy burst from it, throwing me backward. My back hit the ground hard. I winced as the pain s**t through me.

“No… no, no, no!” I cried, scrambling to my feet. “Mother! I can’t hold it! It’s too strong!”

She still didn’t move. And even if she was saying anything audible, the loud roar of darkness surrounding us was enough to subdue her voice. The light around her began breaking apart, each thread snapping one after another.

I clutched my chest to subdue the ache I felt from the freight that held me. “I have to help her. I have to do something. Anything,” I whispered, trying to pull together any strength I had left.

I gathered every drop of power I had and hurled it toward the sigil. The air screamed as my energy collided with the darkness. For a second, everything stopped. And the very next second I was about to exhale an air of relief, there was an explosion. The sigil shattered. Mother’s body jerked violently like something invisible had hit her.

“Mother!” I screamed.

The light vanished. She swayed for a moment and then crumpled.

“No!” I lunged forward and caught her before she hit the ground. “No, no, no… Mother, please!”

My hands shook as I held her close. Her head rested against my shoulder, eyes closed, lips pale.

“Mother, wake up!” I cried, shaking her gently. “You have to wake up. Please. Please, I didn’t mean to. I was trying to help!”

But there was no response. Everything was still and silent, like a normal night.

“Don’t do this to me,” I sobbed. “Please, don’t do this. I’ll fix it, I promise, I’ll fix it, just wake up…”

The darkness was gone now. The air was still again. But it had taken her with it. My mom. The woman who was my whole world.

I pressed my forehead against hers and screamed.

“Please…” I begged, tears soaking into her hair. “Please come back. Please.”

I brushed her hair away from her face with trembling hands. Her skin was still warm. Warm enough to make me believe she could come back. Maybe she was just unconscious. Maybe I could still save her.

“Okay… okay, think,” I whispered, my breath short and shaky. “There has to be something. A healing rune… a pulse channel… something.”

I pressed my hands against her chest, trying to channel the little healing energy I knew. “Come on!” I screamed, slamming my fists into the ground. “Why isn’t it working?! Why isn’t anything working?!”

The last few minutes replayed over and over in my head.

“Wait, did I do this?” I whispered, horror washing over me.

“No… no, I was trying to help,” I cried harder. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. I was trying to stop it. I was trying to help.”

“Please… please come back… Come back, Mother!” I screamed in agony.

I rocked back and forth, holding her like I could somehow pull her soul back into her body. My tears soaked her clothes, but none of that mattered.

“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered over and over. “I was trying to stop it. I didn’t mean to…”

“Moon above…” someone said, and I froze. My body went still as I turned toward the voice.

They were there. The council members. The very people who couldn’t stand me.

“Is that… Maren?” one of them asked. At that instant, their eyes widened with horror, as they turned to look at me. Already, I could feel the heat of the accusations.

“I felt something,” I said quickly, my voice breaking as I tried to stop crying. “Something dark… it was here. It was here! And Mother, she was… I tried—”

My words collapsed into sobs. I pressed my forehead against hers again. “Please… I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to…”

The council didn’t speak. They didn’t need to. They just stood there, frozen, staring at me. The blood-red moon hung above us. While I, the daughter of the pack’s most respected healer, sat trembling in the dirt, rocking my mother’s corpse in my arms.