THE LUNA THEY BURIED

Chapter 7: The Impossible Rescue

"We have to leave. Now," Lucien said, his voice hard as tempered steel as he stared at the silver Aether medallion in his palm.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I shot back, stepping between him and Marianne, though my knees were still shaking from the shockwave I had unleashed minutes earlier. "This is my home. I'm not running away into the night with a man I met yesterday."

"Briar Cove is compromised, Elara," Lucien growled, stepping closer, his grey eyes locked on mine. "Those weren't street thugs. They were marked trackers, and more are coming. You cannot stay here."

"I said no!"

Before I could finish, the low, unnatural howling began outside.

It wasn't a single dog or a distant lone wolf. It was a chorus of guttural, bloodthirsty roars encircling the house. The air inside the room turned thick, heavy with the suffocating pressure of dozens of wolves closing in. Shadowy shapes glided past the shattered living room windows, low to the damp ground, their molten gold eyes burning through the fog.

Marianne whimpered, backing into the kitchen counter.

"Too many," Lucien muttered, his jaw setting tightly.

"What?" I choked out.

Lucien didn't answer me. He stepped in front of me, placing himself directly between the broken front doorway and where Marianne and I stood.

Then, right before my eyes, reality tore apart.

A sickening c***k echoed through the house, the violent, crunching sound of snapping bones. Lucien’s broad shoulders expanded, the seams of his jacket straining as his spine elongated with terrifying speed. His grey eyes flared into a vivid, terrifying ice-white. Sharp, lethal fangs lengthened over his teeth, and thick, jet-black fur erupted across his skin.

I staggered back, clutching my throat, unable to scream.

In a fraction of a second, the man was gone. Standing in his place was a creature straight out of a nightmare, a massive, monstrous black wolf nearly the size of a bull, radiating a violent, ancient authority that pressed against my chest like iron weights.

Monsters are real.

The realization slammed into my mind with brutal clarity.

Three attackers burst through the wooden wall, tearing away the porch frame in a spray of splintered cedar. They were mid-transformation themselves, half-beast horrors with clawed hands and dripping fangs.

Lucien didn't hesitate.

He lunged. The massive black wolf moved with a speed that defied physics, a dark blur of lethal muscle and tearing teeth. He slammed into the lead attacker, throwing the creature across the yard, before pivoting instantly to snap the neck of a second. The roar that tore from his throat shook the house to its foundation, deafening and absolute.

Two more attackers sprang over the kitchen threshold, circling around his flank toward me.

Even in the chaos of blood and shadows, Lucien noticed. He threw his massive body backward, blocking the doorway with his own frame.

A voice reverberated directly inside my mind, low, command-heavy, and echoing with Alpha authority:

Stay behind me.

My shock wavered, replaced by a sudden flare of defiant heat. I reached sideways, my fingers closing around the heavy iron leg of a broken kitchen stool.

"I'm not a child!" I yelled back, raising the improvised weapon as one of the gold-eyed wolves lunged over Lucien's shoulder.

I swung with everything I had, cracking the iron leg directly across the creature's snout. The beast yelped in pain, staggering sideways just long enough for Lucien to turn and clamp his massive jaws around its shoulder, hurling it out into the rain.

For three agonizing minutes, the house was a warzone of snapping jaws, tearing wood, and guttural snarls. Lucien fought with a terrifying, calculated brutality, meeting every blade and claw with unyielding force.

Finally, the remaining attackers broke. Realizing they were outmatched, the surviving wolves scrambled into the fog, their panicked footfalls fading down the street.

Silence fell back over the ruined kitchen.

The massive black wolf stood amidst the wreckage, his heavy chest heaving with deep, ragged breaths. Then, the bone-snapping realignment began again. The dark fur receded, the massive frame shrank, and within seconds, Lucien was human again.

He stumbled, his hands pressing against the edge of the splintered counter.

His clothes were torn, and across his left side, three deep, jagged claw marks ripped through his sweater. Fresh, dark blood poured from the gash, staining his ribs. The wound wasn’t healing. Whatever had cut him had left something behind, something black and acrid that seemed to crawl beneath his skin, choking his flesh.

My instincts took over before my caution could stop me.

I dropped the iron table leg and stepped toward him. "You're hurt."

"It's fine," Lucien rasped, forcing himself upright, though a sharp flinch betrayed his pain. "We need to move..."

"Shut up for five seconds," I snapped gently, stepping right up to his side.

Without thinking, I reached out and pressed my bare hand directly over the bleeding wound on his ribs.

The instant my palm touched his flesh, something remarkable happened.

A soft, ethereal silver glow flared beneath my skin, warm and humming like a gentle pulse of electricity. Heat flowed from my chest, down my arm, and straight into his body. Right under my fingers, the blackened, torn skin began to knit together. The bleeding stopped instantly, the deep gash smoothing into flawless, unblemished skin within seconds.

Then the toll hit me.

A violent spike of agony drove behind my eyes, and my vision swam with dark spots. My knees buckled beneath me as the silver light died, a sudden wave of nausea and crushing exhaustion draining every drop of energy from my muscles.

Lucien caught me before I hit the floorboards, his strong arms wrapping around my waist to hold me upright.

Both of us froze, our breathing intertwined in the dim light.

I gasped for air, leaning heavily against his chest while trying to blink away the dizzy haze.

Lucien looked down at his unblemished side, then raised his head slowly. His cool grey eyes met mine, wide, blown open with sheer shock, reverence, and a deep, terrifying awe.

He reached out, his fingers brushing the side of my face with incredible gentleness.

"What are you?" he whispered.