Blood Of The Sun

Chapter 9

Anna’s P.O.V.

Dawn spilled gold over Dios del Sol, but it did nothing to quiet the storm in my chest. Sleep hadn’t come the boy’s words echoed in me like a curse.

Names have power. If I gave you mine, you’d never sleep again.

By the time the pack mansion stirred awake, I was already slipping across the grounds, boots whispering over stone and dirt. The healers’ hut sat apart from the house, crouched beneath twisted mesquite trees, smoke curling faintly from its chimney.

Doña Isolde was waiting, seated in the doorway as if she’d been expecting me. Her milky eyes tracked me without seeing, her voice rasping low as gravel.

“You carry questions, niña. And you carry something else too something you’re not ready to name.”

I froze, heat climbing my neck. “I need answers.”

“Then give me your palms.”

I hesitated only a heartbeat before holding them out. Her fingers, cool and dry as ash, traced the lines carved into my skin. Sparks tingled where she touched, the air thickening with incense and old magic.

Her expression sharpened, her mouth drawing into a thin, knowing line.

“What do you see?” I pressed, sharper than I meant.

Doña Isolde hummed, a sound like smoldering coals. “I see fire and shadow, twined together. Blood that does not belong, yet fits as though it always has. A bond that will either burn this world clean or drown it in ruin.”

My heart pounded, too fast, too loud.

Her blind gaze lifted, piercing me all the same. “The Blood of the Sun meets the Blood of Night. The child of Luna and Sol bound to the child of destruction. This prophecy was buried long ago. But it has risen again and it begins with you.”

The words hit like a blade to the ribs.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “You don’t understand. He’s the enemy. He’s”

Her voice cut through mine, sharp and merciless. “He is yours.”

The world tilted. The sunlight outside the hut felt wrong when I stumbled back into it too hot, too heavy, pressing down until I could hardly breathe.

And yet, beneath the fear, beneath the chaos, something deep inside me whispered the truth I didn’t want.

Mine.

I needed to see him again my feet were taking me back to the place I knew I should not be.

The White Room was colder than I remembered. Its walls, spotless and sterile, reflected the faint lanternlight so that even the shadows looked cruel. I shouldn’t have been here my mother would kill me if she knew. But the prophecy burned in my veins, louder with every step.

He sat chained against the far wall, head bowed, wrists raw where the silver bit into his skin. His stillness was deceptive like a predator waiting for the right moment to strike.

His head lifted as if he’d sensed me long before I entered. His lips curved in a ghost of a smile, though his eyes were sharp, watching me like he could peel the thoughts from my skull.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, voice low, velvet edged with steel.

I stepped closer anyway, the sound of my heartbeat pounding in my ears. “I just want to know” My throat tightened. “Why?”

He tilted his head, considering me as if I were a puzzle. Then his mouth twisted with something between arrogance and amusement. “Why what? Why I breathe? Why I fight? Why your blood sings when I walk in the room?”

My breath caught. His words struck too close, too deep.

“I didn’t ask for riddles,” I snapped, forcing steel into my voice. “I want the truth.”

He leaned back against the wall, chains clinking softly. “The truth is dangerous, little Alpha. And once you hear it, there’s no going back.”

I swallowed hard, every nerve on fire. The prophecy echoed in my mind, the weight of it pressing down on me. I should walk away. I should run.The silence stretched between us, taut as wire. My pulse was loud in my ears, drowning out the drip of water and the scrape of his chains.

“Then start with your name,” I demanded. My voice sounded steadier than I felt.

For a long moment, he only watched me, eyes dark and unblinking. Then, with a slow lift of his chin, he gave it to me.

“Carter,” he said, the syllables smooth but weighted. He paused, lips curving faintly before finishing, “Carter Lykoudis.”

The name struck me like a brand. Not just a word something heavier, something dangerous. My lips parted, repeating it under my breath as though it burned on my tongue.

He smirked faintly at my reaction. “Satisfied?”

“No.” My voice cracked, but I pushed forward. “Do you do you know about the prophecy?”

For the first time, real confusion flickered across his face. His brow knit, his shoulders tightening against the chains. “Prophecy?” he echoed. “No. I don’t waste time with fairy tales.”

That flicker of uncertainty vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by iron. He leaned forward, chains rattling as his gaze locked on me.

“But I do know this my father will come for me. And when he does, no prophecy, no walls, no army of wolves will stop him. Tell your parents to let me go before blood stains these floors.”

The threat in his voice cut through me like a blade, but beneath it, there was something else something I wasn’t ready to name.

I should have turned away. I should have left him there in the dark. Instead, I whispered, “You don’t understand. You’re already part of it.”

His eyes narrowed, searching my face. “Then tell me.”

I shook my head, heart hammering. “Not yet.”

He leaned back against the wall, smirk returning like armor. “Then we’re both keeping secrets, little Alpha.”

And just like that, I knew—this was only the beginning.

I had I to tell my parents I ran through the house and it’s long hallways up to my fathers office where he was already speaking with my aunts and mother

CARLSO P.O.V

Anna’s lips trembled as she spoke, though her voice didn’t waver.

“His name… is Carter. Carter Lykoudis.”

The room went still. Her mother froze. Her aunts exchanged sharp, knowing glances. But it was I her father, who reacted most violently my chair scraping back as i rose to my feet, a dark fury settling in my eyes.

“Lykoudis?” I repeated, the name dripping with venom.

“Yes,” Anna whispered, though the air in the room made her chest ache.

I quickly dismissed her with a curt wave, my gaze already hardening as the weight of memory settled in. “Go. Leave us. This is no place for children.”

Anna hesitated, but Christa’s hand touched her shoulder, firm and final. She went, but the echo of that name burned in her ears.

When the door shut behind her, I turned to the gathered adults , the aunts, the ones who had lived through blood and fire. I could feel my jaw set like stone.

“The name Lykoudis,” I began, “is not just a name. It is a curse. The boy carries the blood of the first and only Lycan king.”

I paced slowly, eyes locked on nothing and everything at once. “That king’s mate was human. She died tragically, and far too soon. Grief drove him to madness. He went to a witch, begging for her life. The witch agreed, but her price was blood his own brother’s life. He slit his brother’s throat without hesitation. The witch kept her word, but the woman who returned was not the same. She was cursed with hunger blood, flesh, destruction.”

Serenity inhaled sharply, Aaliyah’s hand gripping her arm. I

I pressed on.

“Together, the Lycan king and his cursed mate bore a child the first hybrid. That child spawned others. They killed and slaughtered without remorse, turning wolves against vampires in a war that nearly erased us all. Our ancestors united to wipe them out. Every record, every survivor, hunted down until the line was believed to be dead and buried. Nearly extinct.”

I leaned forward, voice low, commanding.

“And now, a boy with that name a boy who belongs to a family that should not walk this earth sits under my roof.”

No one dared speak. The air felt charged, heavy with fear and fury.

I straightened, eyes flashing.

“I need to see him. With my own eyes. I need to know how far down the family tree this boy falls before we decide what must be done.”