The Lost Alpha

Chapter 5

Lucas’ POV

The whispers followed me long after the Blood Moon ended.

I’d won the challenge, but not the trust. I’d seen it in their eyes fear. My pack had looked at me as though I was something wild, something dangerous. Not just their Alpha, but a beast.

And maybe they weren’t wrong.

The bargain still burned in my blood. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the night I made it the shadowed figure, the voice that promised survival in exchange for something I didn’t yet understand. I’d taken it, desperate to live, desperate to one day find my way back to Harper.

Now I feared what it had truly cost me.

“Lucas.”

Harper’s voice pulled me back. She stood in the doorway of my quarters, her arms crossed, her expression carefully neutral. But her eyes those storm-grey eyes were searching me, questioning me.

“You fought like a monster tonight,” she said quietly.

I flinched. “Do you see me as one too?”

Silence stretched between us. Finally, she sighed. “I see a man I don’t recognize anymore. I don’t know if that terrifies me… or if it terrifies me that I still want to trust you.”

Her honesty cut deeper than claws. I wanted to promise her she could trust me, that I’d never hurt her, never hurt this pack. But before I could, Ethan burst into the room, his face pale.

“She’s gone.”

My heart stopped. “Who?”

“Harper,” he rasped. “They took her.”

The world snapped into sharp focus.

It happened fast. Marcus Kane had struck back, his humiliation at the Blood Moon too much for his pride to bear. Under cover of night, his men had infiltrated Crescent Moon territory with the help of someone inside. A traitor.

The one who had betrayed me five years ago.

I followed her scent Harper’s through the woods, my wolf clawing to the surface with every step. Fury roared in my veins. Nothing mattered but getting to her.

When I reached the clearing, I saw her.

Harper stood bound in silver chains, her wrists bleeding, her head held high even in captivity. Marcus loomed beside her, smug, while half a dozen Ironfang wolves surrounded them.

“Blackwell,” Marcus sneered as I stepped into the moonlight. “You should’ve stayed dead. You brought this on yourself.”

“Let her go,” I growled, my voice carrying the weight of command.

He laughed. “No. Tonight, I end you, and Crescent Moon becomes mine.”

His wolves shifted, snarling. Mine surged forward from the shadows, Ethan at their head. The clearing exploded into chaos wolves clashing, claws tearing, howls splitting the night.

I shifted mid-run, my body erupting into fur and fury. My wolf crashed into the first Ironfang warrior, ripping him apart before he hit the ground. Rage drove me, but underneath it was something sharper fear.

Harper.

I tore through enemy after enemy, but Marcus stayed close to her, using her as a shield. Her eyes met mine across the chaos, steady, fierce, unbroken.

“Lucas!” she shouted, her voice cutting through the madness.

Then Marcus yanked her back, pressing a silver blade to her throat.

“Take one more step, and she dies,” he snarled.

The battle stilled. Wolves froze mid-fight, the air thick with blood and silence. My chest heaved, my wolf trembling with rage.

“Fight me,” I growled, my voice low and deadly. “No blades. No chains. Just you and me.”

His smirk returned. “Gladly.”

He shoved Harper aside. She hit the ground hard, chains clattering. Relief surged through me, but I couldn’t reach her yet. Not until Marcus was finished.

We clashed in a storm of claws and teeth, blood spraying across the clearing. Marcus was strong, but rage made me stronger. Every strike carried five years of loss, five years of chains, five years of pain.

Finally, I pinned him beneath me, my jaws at his throat. His eyes bulged, fear replacing arrogance.

“Yield,” I snarled through the bond of command.

“I yield,” he choked.

I released him, rising, my chest heaving. He scrambled back, broken, defeated. His wolves slunk away into the night.

The battle was over.

I turned, shifting back, blood dripping down my skin. Harper was still on the ground, chains cutting into her wrists. I fell to my knees beside her, my hands shaking as I tore the silver away.

She gasped as the bonds fell, her body collapsing into my arms.

“You came,” she whispered weakly.

“Always,” I said hoarsely. “I will always come for you.”

For a moment, the world narrowed to just us the bond flickering, fragile but alive.

But then, as I held her, my wolf stirred uneasily.

Because in the shadows beyond the clearing, I smelled it again.

The traitor.

Not Marcus. Someone else. Someone who had watched all of this unfold.

And this time, I knew they wouldn’t stop until they tore everything apart.

Lucas rescues Harper and defeats Marcus, but realizes the true traitor is still hidden in Crescent Moon watching, waiting, and closer than ever.