*The Alpha’s Step Sister*

Chapter Eight: The Blood Moon

For a second, nobody moved.

The word rogue hung in the air like a death sentence.

Then, the treeline exploded.

They didn't look like the wolves I had seen before. Victoria had been a sleek, terrifying beast, but these... these were monsters. They were massive, mangy, with foaming mouths and eyes that burned with a mindless, feral red. There were dozens of them, pouring out of the dark woods like a tide of teeth and claws.

"Defensive formation!" Richard roared, his voice finally losing that cold mask, cracking with panic. "Protect the elders! Seraphina, get behind me!"

The clearing erupted into a symphony of violence. Enforcers shifted in mid-air, their clothes shredding as they collided with the rogue wolves. The sound of snapping bones, tearing flesh, and agonized howls filled the night. It was a bloodbath, painted in the sickly red light of the blood moon.

The two enforcers holding me immediately dropped me, their instincts taking over as they shifted to defend the Alpha. I hit the dirt hard, my head spinning. The emptiness in my chest was a gaping black hole. The mate bond was gone. It didn't just hurt; it felt like a part of my soul had been amputated. I couldn't feel his warmth. I couldn't feel his anger. I couldn't feel him.

I looked up, desperate, and found Klaus.

He was still on his knees in the center of the ash circle. His hands were bleeding, clawing at the dirt. He wasn't shifting. He wasn't moving. He was just staring blankly at the spot where our blood had mixed, his shoulders shaking with silent, dry sobs. The mighty Alpha heir was completely shattered.

"Klaus!" I screamed.

He didn't hear me.

A rogue wolf broke through the defensive line, lunging straight for my mother, who was screaming and trying to run.

"Mom!" Panic, pure and animal, gave me a sudden, violent surge of adrenaline. I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the searing pain in my chest, and sprinted toward her.

I threw myself at her, tackling her to the ground just as the rogue’s jaws snapped shut over the space where her head had been. The wolf skidded, turning back toward us, its red eyes locking on.

I closed my eyes, wrapping my body over my mother, bracing for the impact.

It never came.

Instead, a sound like a thunderclap echoed through the clearing. A massive, pitch-black blur slammed into the rogue wolf, sending it flying into a tree trunk with a sickening crunch.

I opened my eyes.

Klaus stood over us. He had finally shifted. He was monstrous, even bigger than before, his black fur bristling, his golden eyes blazing with a terrifying, unhinged fury. But his movements were jerky, uncoordinated. Without the bond, he was fighting blind, relying purely on raw, agonizing instinct rather than the supernatural awareness of his mate.

"Run!" The voice in my head was a weak, fading echo of the bond. It wasn't a mental link anymore, just a desperate, human shout. Klaus turned his massive head to me, his snout bloody, his eyes begging. "Take your mother and run! To the cars!"

He didn't wait for me to answer. He lunged back into the fray, tearing into another rogue with a viciousness that was hard to watch. He was fighting like a man who had nothing left to lose.

"Christabel, come on!" My mother grabbed my arm, pulling me up.

We ran. We dodged fighting wolves, slipping on blood-soaked grass, the sounds of war echoing around us. Dorian was there, fighting off two rogues at once, his silver eyes wild. It was absolute chaos.

We made it to the edge of the clearing, to the dirt road where the Blackwood SUVs were parked. My mother was fumbling with the keys she had grabbed from the enforcer's pocket, her hands shaking too badly to unlock the door.

I looked back.

Through the chaos, I saw him. Klaus was fighting the biggest rogue, a massive grey beast. But he was losing. The rogue was smart, ruthless, and Klaus was fighting wounded—his soul was bleeding.

"No," I breathed.

"Christabel, get in the car!" my mother screamed.

I couldn't. I couldn't leave him. I didn't care about the broken bond. I didn't care about the pack. He had given up everything for me, and he was about to die.

I grabbed a heavy, rusted tire iron from the ground near the car and ran back toward the fight.

"Christabel, no!" My mother’s scream faded into the background.

I didn't know what I was doing. I was a human. I was slow. I was weak. But I ran straight at the massive grey rogue that was currently pinning Klaus to the ground.

Klaus was on his side, his black fur matted with blood, whining, trying to get up. The rogue reared back, jaws wide, ready to deliver the killing bite.

"Hey!" I screamed, raising the tire iron.

The rogue's head snapped toward me. Its red eyes narrowed. I swung the iron with every ounce of strength I had. It connected with the rogue's snout with a sickening crack.

It didn't kill the beast, but it hurt it. It stumbled back, whining in pain.

"Chris..." Klaus shifted back to his human form, lying naked and bleeding on the ground, looking up at me with sheer, unadulterated horror. "What are you doing? Get out of here!"

Before I could answer, the grey rogue let out a furious roar. It lunged at me.

I swung the tire iron again, but the beast was faster. It swatted it out of my hand, its massive claw catching my arm, tearing through my sweater and my skin. I screamed, the pain white-hot and blinding.

I fell to the ground, clutching my bleeding arm. The rogue stood over me, its hot, rancid breath washing over my face.

But then, the clearing went silent.

The rogue didn't kill me. It stepped back, its ears flattening. The other rogue wolves stopped fighting. They all turned, their heads bowed, as a figure walked out of the dark treeline.

It was a man. Tall, muscular, with silver hair and a brutal scar running down the side of his face. He was wearing a long black coat, but his eyes... his eyes were the color of blood.

He walked slowly, casually, right through the middle of the battle, as if he owned the place. He stopped in the center of the clearing, looking down at Alpha Richard, who was bleeding on the ground, surrounded by fallen enforcers.

"Hello, Richard," the scarred man said, his voice a dark, velvet rumble. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Marcus," Richard gasped, his face pale with absolute terror. "You're dead."

"You left me for dead," Marcus corrected, a cruel smile twisting his lips. He looked around the clearing, his red eyes landing on Klaus, and then on me. "I heard a rumor you were breaking a mate bond. A fated mate bond. Such a waste."

Marcus walked toward me. Klaus let out a guttural, animalistic roar, desperately trying to drag his broken body toward me.

"Don't touch her!" Klaus snarled, his voice raw and desperate.

Marcus stopped a few feet away from me. He looked down at the blood seeping through my fingers from the claw marks on my arm. He looked at my pale face.

"You're a fragile little thing," Marcus mused, his voice holding a dark amusement. He knelt down, reaching a hand toward me.

I flinched, closing my eyes.

Instead of hurting me, he grabbed my bleeding arm. He lifted it to his face, inhaling deeply.

His eyes widened. The cruel amusement vanished, replaced by a look of absolute, terrifying shock.

He stared at me, then looked at Klaus, then back at me.

"The Moon really does have a twisted sense of humor," Marcus whispered. He let go of my arm, standing up. He looked at his rogue pack.

"Bring them both," Marcus ordered, his voice echoing through the silent clearing. "Bring the boy and his human. We're leaving."

"No!" Richard screamed from the dirt. "You can't! She's nothing!"

Marcus didn't even look at him. He just smiled, a terrifyingly cold expression.

"She's not nothing, Richard," Marcus said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper that carried across the clearing. "She's the only thing in this world that can unlock the Moonstone. And you just broke her connection to it."