The White Wolf's First Fight
722 Words
The silver glow in Lyra’s eyes wouldn’t die down.
She pushed herself up from the cold stone, limbs shaking, some new power pulsing through her that felt both wild and right. Moonlight seemed to bend and thicken around her, and those ancient carvings on the walls flared so bright they hurt to look at.
Darius gripped his silver blade tighter.
“So. The White Wolf wakes up at last.”
His crimson eyes narrowed into slits.
“Too bad for you this is where it ends.”
He lunged.
The blade screamed through the air, aiming right for Lyra’s chest.
“Lyra!” Kaiden’s voice cut through the rush.
Just before the blade struck, something inside Lyra broke open. Power burst from her in a blinding wave.
Boom.
Darius shot back like he’d been hit by a battering ram, smashing into a pillar. Stones crashed from the ceiling. The temple shook so hard the old walls groaned.
Silence.
Everyone stared at Lyra, and for a moment she felt more unreal than her own shadow.
“I...that wasn’t me. Was it?” She barely managed to whisper.
“No,” Kaiden said, his tone low, “That was your wolf.”
Lyra glanced down. Her hands still shimmered with a pale, ghostly shine.
“What am I?”
Kaiden stepped closer, keeping his eyes on hers.
“You’re the last White Wolf. First bloodline touched by the Moon Goddess. Every Alpha since then has dreaded this moment.”
Something in her twisted, like the floor was gone beneath her feet.
Before she could find words, Darius started laughing a raw, bitter sound.
“You don’t know anything yet.”
He wiped blood from his mouth and pushed himself up.
“Power’s worthless without control.”
He roared, and the sound vibrated through the broken stones. His body twisted and grew, fur black as midnight erupting over muscle and bone. Red marks leeched through his pelt. The monster towering before them glared down, eyes burning like coals.
Lyra took a shaky step back.
Kaiden changed beside her, shifting in a blur into his own massive black wolf. Now two Alphas faced each other, circling slow, eyes locked.
In a heartbeat, they clashed.
Their fight shook the temple. Stone flew. Claws raked walls and pillars. Kaiden locked jaws onto Darius’s shoulder, but Darius wrenched free, flinging him hard into stone. Kaiden crumpled, yelping in pain.
“Kaiden!” Lyra screamed.
Darius spun, lunging at her again.
“No one’s left to save you.”
He was almost on her.
She closed her eyes.
But the panic just...dissolved. Something warm spread through her chest, gentle and real.
A voice bloomed in her mind calm as moonlight.
Don’t fear your wolf.
Be one with her.
Radiance wrapped her up, lifting her off the ground. Her heart slowed. Everything sounded sharper her own breath, the stones settling, Darius’s guttural growls.
She opened her eyes, and they gleamed silver, sharp as blades.
Next to her shimmered a wolf made of living moonlight, magnificent and unreal. Not flesh spirit.
Every werewolf in the temple bowed their heads.
Even Darius froze.
Kaiden’s voice was shaky almost awed.
“The Spirit Wolf...”
The moonlit wolf met Lyra’s gaze.
Your journey’s just starting.
Follow your heart. Don’t run from fear.
The spirit burst into thousands of silver sparks, flooding into Lyra.
Fire lanced through her veins raw power, impossible to contain.
She didn’t think. She just moved. She lifted her hand.
From above, a stark pillar of white moonlight hammered down between Kaiden and Darius.
The blast knocked everyone to the floor.
The whole temple groaned and churned. Cracks ripped through the flagstones, and a huge set of doors behind the altar shuddered open, spilling out a wave of icy wind from the depths beyond.
Kaiden stared at the opening, face pale.
“No... The Vault of the White Kings...”
Despite the chaos, Darius smiled. Really smiled.
“So the stories were true.”
In the vault’s black heart, something stirred a pair of cold blue eyes, lighting up the dark.
A deep voice rumbled from the shadows.
“One hundred years... and the heir returns.”
Lyra’s heart stumbled in her chest.
Something had been waiting for her here, patient as the stones. Her real story was about to begin.
- Writer
