Chapter 12 – An Unlikely Proposal

[Selene's POV]

The world stopped. The thunderous roar of my rage, the shattering of the camp, all of it ended in a deafening, unnatural silence. I stood in the eye of the storm I had created, my body trembling with a power that felt both alien and terrifyingly intimate. 

Ancient trees lay splintered around me, their trunks shredded into kindling as if a giant fist had crushed them. The sturdy camp shelter, a place of tenuous safety, was reduced to a mangled ruin of canvas and wood. 

My magic had not just destroyed; it had twisted the very earth, leaving deep, jagged fissures in the ground that shimmered with a dark, ethereal energy.

A wave of exhaustion, so profound it was like a physical blow, washed over me, threatening to pull me into the newly formed chasms. The silver fire that had burned in my eyes receded, leaving my vision blurry, the world an indistinct haze of grays and blacks. 

My mind, once a maelstrom of furious anger, was now a quiet, hollowed-out space. My throat was tight, choked with a terror so raw it felt like a physical thing, a jagged stone caught in my windpipe.

I saw them then, lying scattered amongst the debris. Damien was on his knees, his hands braced on the cracked earth, his face pale and streaked with dirt and blood. Draven was sprawled on his side, a deep, bleeding gash on his arm, his eyes wide with a mix of shock and a primal fear. Orion was a few feet away, pushing himself to a sitting position, his face a grim mask of shock and awe.

They were hurt. And it was because of me.

My power, the thing that was supposed to make me strong, had made me a monster. It was an uncontrolled, dangerous force, a primal scream of a creature I didn't know I was. 

My rage had been a catalyst, a key that unlocked a door to a power I was utterly unprepared to wield. The whispers of the Lost King felt closer now, a chilling reminder of who this power truly belonged to, a constant thrumming in the back of my mind.

Damien was the first to move, his muscles screaming in protest. He pushed himself to his feet, his gaze fixed on the destruction around him, on the splintered trees and buckled earth. His usual confident stride was replaced by a hesitant, cautious walk as he approached me. He didn't look angry. He looked... awestruck, and terrified. He was seeing the true extent of my power for the first time.

"Selene," he said, his voice low and strained, tinged with a new, sober respect. "What was that?"

I could only shake my head, my throat too tight to form a word. I didn't know. The power had erupted from me without my permission. It had been pure fury, a devastating release of the betrayal and anger I had felt for my entire life, for generations of my bloodline.

Orion and Draven slowly made their way towards us, their movements stiff, their bodies bruised and aching. The usual scent of their pack bond, the deep, reassuring aroma of Alpha strength, was now tainted with the unmistakable scent of fear. Their fear was not a challenge to me, but a primal, desperate reaction to the force I had become.

"We were right," Orion said, his voice flat, devoid of its usual arrogant edge. He was staring at my forearm, at the broken crescent mark that was still faintly pulsing with a silver light. "The Council's curse didn't suppress you. It caged you. And now the cage is broken."

Draven, his eyes still wide with the memory of the force that had thrown him, finished the thought. "You're not an omega anymore. You're something else entirely. Something… ancient."

Their words, meant to be a revelation, only fed my fear. I had shattered a clearing, nearly hurt them, and had no control over it. I was a bomb, waiting to explode. A weapon in my own right, now that the Council's leash was gone.

"You said you had answers," I said, my voice trembling with a cold rage that had replaced my terror. "You told me the truth about the curse. And now... now you're afraid of the result. Of me."

Damien stepped closer, his hand raised, but he didn't touch me. He seemed to be weighing every move, every word. "This isn't just fear, Selene. It's... a realization. We're out of our depth. This power... It's not wolf magic. It's something ancient. Something forgotten. Something we have no frame of reference for."

Orion nodded, his grim expression unwavering. "This power, this prophecy... It's beyond our understanding. The only one who might know is..." He trailed off, the words unspoken but understood. The one who had claimed me with his voice. The one who spoke to me from beyond the veil.

"The Lost King," Draven finished, his voice a low, gravelly whisper, thick with dread.

A cold dread coiled in my stomach, a snake of ice. "You want to find him? After everything? After what the seer said?" The prophecy was clear. He would come for me, and when he did, all would tremble. He was a threat, not an ally. He was a predator, and I was his prey.

"We have to," Damien said, his eyes filled with a desperate pragmatism. "That power… what you just did… it was a call. A signal. He knows you've awakened. He knows where you are. He's coming for you."

His words confirmed my worst fear. My explosion of power had been a beacon. A terrifying, beautiful lighthouse in the dark. A direct invitation, a summons.

Orion looked at me with a calculating intensity, his mind racing through possibilities. "We can't fight him, Selene. Not with this kind of magic. And we can't let him take you without understanding who he is. We need knowledge. We need a way to control this."

"Control it?" I scoffed, a new wave of anger replacing the fear. "You think you can control this? After what the Council did? After a lifetime of lies?" My voice rose with each word, becoming a low growl. "You want to use him to control me?"

My question hung in the air, a venomous accusation. The Alphas shifted uncomfortably, their gazes dropping to the ground. It was the truth. They saw a weapon, a source of immense power that could either save them or destroy them. And they wanted to find a way to make it do the former.

"We need a way to stop this," Damien conceded, his voice tight, his jaw clenched. "Before you... Before this power destroys us all. We need an alliance. A deal. A way to buy us time, to find a weakness, to find a solution."

"With a king who has been exiled for centuries?" I asked, my voice dripping with cynicism, my disbelief boiling over. "A king who just claimed me as his queen? Are you insane? Do you even know what you're proposing?"

"We're desperate," Draven admitted, looking at the wound on his arm, a stark reminder of my untamed power. "We need to know what he is. What are you? We need his knowledge. And we need to make sure he doesn't just... take you from us." His voice held a note of possessiveness, a primal instinct that warred with his fear.

"So you want to propose an alliance," I said, my voice cold, hard. "To a king who already sees me as his. A king, you think you can negotiate with."

The three of them looked at me, their faces a mixture of desperation and resignation. They saw no other option. They were out of their depth, standing in the rubble of a power they could not comprehend. And their only hope was the source of that power.

"You want a king," I said, my voice low and dangerous, each word a venomous dart. "Or do you want a weapon?"

My question hung in the air, a cutting accusation that resonated with the ruined landscape around us. I could see the conflict in their eyes. They didn't have an answer. They didn't know what they wanted. They only knew they were terrified of what I had become.

Orion, ever the pragmatist, was the first to act. He walked to the edge of the clearing, his jaw set in grim determination. He drew his ceremonial Alpha dagger, a blade carved with ancient runes, and with a swift, decisive motion, he cut a deep gash into his palm. A single, golden drop of his Alpha blood fell to the ground, sizzling as it hit the dirt, a sacred, powerful offering to an ancient entity.

"He's ancient," Orion explained, his voice strained. "He'll feel it. He'll know."

He began to speak, the words not a language I recognized, but a series of low, guttural tones, a primeval chant that vibrated through the air. They resonated with a primal magic, a call that was older than any of them. The ground shimmered with the energy, and the shadows around us seemed to deepen, to gather and coalesce into a thick, swirling vortex.

He was sending a message. A desperate plea for an audience. An offer of an alliance to a forgotten king who had just claimed their "omega."

The air grew heavy with a suffocating anticipation. We waited in a tense, silent huddle, the only sound the faint, wet dripping of blood from Orion's hand. Draven was pacing, his wolf barely contained beneath the surface of his skin, a low growl rumbling in his throat. Damien was staring at the ground, his face a mask of regret. I watched, my heart hammering against my ribs, a mixture of dread and a twisted, terrifying curiosity.

I was a queen, a curse, a weapon, a call. And now I was bait.

A sudden, chilling cold swept through the clearing, a cold that bit at the skin and sank deep into the bones. 

The shadows, which had been gathering, now moved with a terrifying speed. They swirled and twisted, forming a single, inky black column that rose from the ground. It was a manifestation of pure power, a raw, primal magic that bent the light around it. It was a reply.

A whisper of a voice, as cold and ancient as the grave, slithered through my mind. It was the voice of the Lost King. The same voice that had spoken to me just moments ago, and in my visions.

The shadowy column coalesced, its form taking the shape of an ancient, runic script. It shimmered with a dark, ethereal light, an unholy glow against the dim light of the moon. The air grew colder still, and the words glowed, a chilling message burned into the very air.

The Alphas stared at the glowing runes, their faces etched with a profound fear. I looked at the message, and my blood turned to ice.

The shadowy response arrived, its form briefly illuminating the ruined clearing. The glowing runes simply stated: "She will come to me."