Chapter 14 – The Hunter's Bait

[Selene's POV]

The scream died in my throat, a ragged, raw sound that left my lungs burning. I knelt in the dirt, my body trembling not with fear, but with the aftershocks of a vision that was both terrifying and intoxicating. 

My eyes felt like twin stars, glowing with a cold, ominous light. I could feel the Alphas' shock, their fear, washing over me in waves, a heavy, suffocating scent. The air itself seemed to recoil from the power radiating off me, growing thin and frigid, the very shadows trembling at my back.

Damien was the first to reach me, his hand hovering over my shoulder as if unsure whether to touch a creature of shadow and light.

"Selene, your eyes..." he whispered, his voice laced with a profound dread. "They're glowing. It's the same light..." He trailed off, the unspoken name of Malachi, the Lost King, hanging heavy in the air between us.

I blinked, the light in my vision slowly fading as I forced myself back to the reality of the ruined clearing. I looked at him, and then at Orion and Draven, their faces pale and etched with a terrifying realization. 

They were no longer looking at the Selene they knew. They were looking at the queen, the one Malachi had claimed, the one I had just seen ruling a kingdom of shadows.

"What did you see?" Draven demanded, his voice thick with a raw, primal jealousy that warred with his fear. His gaze was fixed on me, searching for any flicker of the girl he had once loved. 

But she was gone. The old Selene, the terrified omega, had been burned away by the fury and the power, leaving behind only the cold, hard shell of a survivor.

I didn't answer. I didn't have to. The vision was a secret between me and the Lost King. It was a promise, a destiny. It was a path to power, a path to control. And it was a path I was now determined to take, no matter the cost. My silence was a new, powerful weapon.

My mind, once a maelstrom of confusion, was now a calm, cold pool. The fear was gone, replaced by a ruthless clarity. The Council, the Alphas, the Lost King—they were all players in a game. And I was done being the piece they moved. I was going to be the one who controlled the board.

The quiet was shattered by a new sound, a sound of dread and desperation. Orion's pack phone, a secure, runic device, chimed with an urgent message. He snatched it from his belt, his thumb swiping across the glowing screen with a speed born of panic. His face, already pale, went ashen, and a deep, guttural growl rumbled in his chest.

"What is it?" Damien asked, his voice low and tight. He moved closer to Orion, trying to read the message over his shoulder.

Orion looked at us, his eyes wide with a cold, sick horror. He didn't have to say a word. I could feel the dread in the air, the scent of a trap. 

"The Council," he said, his voice a low, strangled whisper. "They've issued a decree. They've found the location of our temporary sanctuary, a place where our pups and elders are hiding. And they're going to burn it to the ground."

A cold, visceral fear ripped through me, a fear that was not for myself, but for the innocent lives that were being threatened. The Council was no longer hunting me in the shadows. They were using my people, my kind, as bait. They had found the one thing I couldn't bear to lose.

"They know," Damien said, his voice flat with a chilling finality. "They sensed my power surge after I bonded with you. They've been hunting us for weeks, and now they've found our weakness. They know we're with you, Selene. They know we're protecting you. And they've decided to make us pay the ultimate price." His hand clenched into a fist, his knuckles white with a helpless rage.

A profound, sickening realization washed over me. The Council, my captors, my abusers, they were not just a distant threat. They were a hunter, and I was its prey. My power, my freedom, had not been a shield. It had been a homing beacon, and now everyone I cared about was paying the price.

My body trembled, but this time it was with a cold, controlled fury. The Council had not just threatened me. They had threatened everyone I had ever cared about. They had taken the fight from a personal one to a cosmic one. And they had made a grave mistake.

"We need to get there. Now," Draven snarled, his wolf form threatening to break through his skin. "We need to save them. We need to save our family." His hands balled into fists, his knuckles white with a rage that mirrored my own.

"We can't," Orion said, his voice full of a weary, devastating defeat. "That's what they want. They'll be waiting. They'll have a legion of warriors, all of them prepared. It's a trap, Draven. A trap to catch her, and to destroy us all." His words were laced with a brutal realism that cut through Draven’s furious hope.

My mind worked furiously, a cold, ruthless logic taking over. The Council had forced our hand. They had made a move in a game they thought they controlled. But they didn't understand the player they were dealing with. They didn't understand that the omega they had abused was gone.

I stood, my back straight, my gaze fixed on the Alphas. "We're not running anymore," I said, my voice low and steady, a declaration that felt more like a vow. "The game is over. We're fighting."

The Alphas looked at me, their eyes filled with a desperate, heartbreaking hope. "We're ready to fight," Damien said, his voice thick with a fierce determination. "But we can't win. Not against them. Not against their numbers, their magic. We're only three against a legion."

"And you have me," I said, my voice a low, confident whisper. My power, the dark, sentient magic of the shadows, hummed beneath my skin, a willing partner in my plan. "They're not just fighting three Alphas. They're fighting a goddess."

The words hung in the air, a breathtaking statement of my newfound identity. I was no longer a victim. I was a weapon. And I was going to use my power to make the Council pay for every single lie, every single hurt, every single betrayal.

"They're not just fighting a goddess," I said, a dangerous smirk playing on my lips. "They're fighting a queen."

The Alphas were stunned into silence. They saw the shift in me, the chilling, confident darkness that had replaced my fear. They were looking at a leader, not a pawn.

"We're not going to their trap," I said, my gaze sweeping over their faces, locking onto each of them in turn. "We're going to create our own. We're going to draw them out, and we're going to end them. All of them."

My plan was simple and insane. We would not wait for the Council to make the next move. We would make our own. We would use the very thing they were hunting to draw them out. We would use my power, my Shadow Queen energy, to lure them to us, to a place of our choosing.

"We'll do it," Orion said, his voice rough with a grudging respect. "We'll do it your way. But you're right. We can't do this alone." He looked at me, a silent question in his eyes.

I looked at him, and then at Damien and Draven. They were my protectors, my mates, my Alpha pack. But they were not enough. I needed more. I needed the power that the Council had feared for centuries. I needed the Lost King.

I walked to the center of the ruined clearing, the jagged fissures in the earth a symbol of my fractured past and my terrifying future. I closed my eyes and reached out, not with my voice, but with my mind, with the raw, primal energy of the shadows that now flowed through me.

I reached out to the Lost King, the one who had claimed me, the one who had shown me a vision of our kingdom. I was not asking for help. I was not pleading. I was making a demand. A call from the queen to the king.

I was telling him, with every fiber of my being, with every ounce of power that flowed through me, that I was coming for him. That I was coming for our kingdom. And that I was bringing the battle to him.

My call was not a whisper. It was a roar. A command. A furious, beautiful, terrifying declaration of war.

The air grew heavy, thick with a magic that was ancient and dark. The shadows around me swirled and deepened, a silent, powerful confirmation. I felt a pull, a connection, a link across time and space.

And in the distance, a sound broke the silence. It was not the howl of a normal wolf. It was a deep, guttural, ancient sound, a sound of power and death. It was the howl of a creature of myth, of legend. A dark, ancient wolf howled in the distance, answering my call.