Chapter 15 – The Summoning

[Selene's POV]

The ancient howl cut through the night, a raw, primal sound that resonated deep in my bones. It was not the sound of a predator hunting. It was the howl of a king answering a summons, a dark, powerful creature acknowledging a challenge. It was his reply to my desperate call, a sound that spoke of eons of slumber and a terrifying, awakened wrath.

The air itself vibrated, a low, ominous hum that felt more like a physical sensation than a sound. The howl lingered, a long, drawn-out note of power that spoke of a presence so ancient, so vast, it defied comprehension. It was a sound that had been forgotten by time, and now it was back.

The Alphas heard it too. Their heads snapped up, their faces a mixture of fear and awe. The sound was not a part of their world. It was something ancient, something forgotten, a magic so powerful it shook the very ground beneath our feet.

A deep, primal fear settled in their souls, the kind of fear their wolf ancestors had felt when they first saw the moon and understood its power.

"That's him," Orion said, his voice a low, strangled whisper. "That's his wolf." He didn't sound like a leader anymore. He sounded like a warrior who had just heard the battle horn of an enemy he knew he couldn't defeat, a tactical mind overwhelmed by an impossible force. The carefully constructed walls of his logic had just been torn down by a sound that defied all reason.

I felt a surge of exhilaration, a fierce, cold joy. He had heard me. He was coming. My power, the shadow magic in my veins, sang in response, a silent chorus that only I could hear. I was no longer an omega hiding from a dark king. I was a queen who had just called her consort, and he had heard her.

Draven, ever the most emotional, was shaking his head in frantic denial. "No. That's not a wolf. It's a demon. It's something evil." His words were a desperate plea, a final attempt to pull me back from the path I had chosen, to convince me to listen to his fear. He was seeing the destruction of a world he loved.

I didn't listen. My mind was already a step ahead, my thoughts a ruthless, strategic map. The Council was coming. Malachi was coming. The world was on a collision course, and I was at the center of it all. I had to take control. I had to make the next move.

"We can't just wait," I said, my voice low and steady. "We can't let him come to us. We have to summon him."

The Alphas’ faces went ashen. They stared at me as if I had just declared I wanted to burn myself alive. "Summon him?" Damien repeated, his voice laced with disbelief. "Selene, that's forbidden magic. It's the kind of power that rips souls apart, that drives the summoner insane."

"Our souls are already torn apart," I said, my gaze sweeping over their faces, each a testament to a different kind of pain. "We're exiles, a dying pack, hunted by the Council, claimed by a king who is a myth. We have nothing left to lose." My voice was a cold, hard fact, a truth they couldn't argue with.

"You have yourself," Draven pleaded, his voice cracking. "You have us. Don't throw all of that away for a king who is only a ghost." His eyes, a soft, pleading brown, begged me to see the love in his heart, to choose him, to choose them, to choose a different path.

I scoffed, a dry, humorless sound. "A ghost who just answered my call? A ghost who commands the same magic that lives in me? No, he's very real. And he's our only chance." I felt a sense of cold detachment from their emotional pleas. This was not a moment for feelings. This was a moment for survival.

My plan was dangerous, and I knew it. A summoning ritual was a precise, delicate, and often deadly piece of magic. It required a sacrifice. A connection. A deep, powerful pull on the very fabric of existence. It was not something a novice should ever attempt. But I was not a novice anymore. I was a goddess, a queen, a vessel of power.

I walked to the center of the clearing, the ruined earth a sacred space where my power had first erupted. I needed a connection to the shadows. I needed a conduit. I needed the primal essence of my own dark magic to call to its king.

"What do you need?" Orion asked, his voice filled with a desperate resignation. He had given up trying to stop me. He was now a pragmatist, a leader who understood that a desperate plan was better than no plan at all, no matter how terrifying. He was already a general, looking for a way to win.

"Blood," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "And shadow. A lot of shadow."

I drew the ceremonial dagger from my belt, the same one Orion had used to send his message to the Lost King. I held it in my hand, its sharp, cold blade a terrifying promise of what was to come.

Draven recoiled, his eyes wide with horror. "No, Selene. Don't." He moved to stop me, his Alpha instincts screaming for him to protect me from myself.

But Damien held him back, his arm like an iron band across Draven's chest. "Let her," he said, his voice a low, pained command. "She's already decided. This is her choice."

My gaze met Draven's, and in his eyes, I saw not just love but a deep, profound sorrow. He was watching me cross a line from which there was no return. He was watching me become a queen of shadows, not a queen of wolves.

I didn't hesitate. I pressed the blade to my palm, my blood, the blood of the Shadow Queen, welling up from the cut. It was a dark, crimson color, almost black in the moonlight. I let it drip onto the ground, each drop sizzling as it hit the earth, a hiss of dark energy meeting the soil.

I began to chant, the words not a language I had learned, but a language I had been born with. It was the language of shadows, of ancient power, of the forgotten gods. The words flowed from my mouth, a low, guttural melody that resonated with the very air around me, vibrating in the Alphas' chests.

The shadows, my loyal companions, began to stir. They stretched and twisted, flowing from the trees and the bushes, swirling around me like a dark, living cloak. They were hungry, eager to obey my command, to serve their queen.

The Alphas watched in horrified silence. They saw my power, my resolve, and a chilling transformation they had no power to stop. They saw me, the omega they had once known, becoming something else entirely. Something terrifying. Something magnificent.

I felt a pull, a powerful, magnetic force that emanated from the shadows I was summoning. It was a pull that felt like home, a force that called to a part of my soul that had been dormant for centuries. I was calling to the Lost King, and he was answering, his presence a palpable weight on the very fabric of reality.

My blood was still flowing, a steady, rhythmic offering to the ancient power. My voice was rising, my chant a desperate, powerful prayer to the darkness. I was a beacon, a lighthouse, a gateway to a world of shadows, and I was inviting its king to walk through.

"Selene, please," Damien whispered, his voice cracking. He was watching me disappear, watching the girl he loved become a myth. He was helpless. They were all helpless, trapped in a moment they could only witness, not change.

The shadows around me began to spin faster, twisting into a vortex of pure blackness. The air grew cold, a freezing, unnatural cold that burned the lungs. The ground beneath me began to shake, a low, ominous rumble that echoed the ancient power I was awakening.

My heart was hammering in my chest, a frantic drumbeat of terror and triumph. I was doing it. I was summoning him. I was calling the Lost King from his ancient exile. I was bringing him back to the world of men.

A single, brilliant, crimson bolt of lightning tore through the sky, striking the center of the vortex. The shadows solidified, becoming a churning, living mass of darkness. The ground stopped shaking, replaced by a deep, powerful hum, the sound of a universe shifting on its axis.

The Alphas watched in stunned silence, their jaws hanging open. They saw the end of their world and the beginning of a new one.

And then, a form began to emerge from the swirling vortex. A powerful, ancient presence, a king of shadows, a creature of myth and legend, began to walk through the gateway I had opened.