Chapter Eleven

THE MOON BLESSING

Suddenly, Lyra woke up and began groaning gently, while her eyelashes fluttered uncontrollably. The silver light that was dancing around her disappeared, and she opened her eyes slowly.

At first, everything looked blurry to me and I blinked severally before I could see people that stood around me clearly.

“What’s going on Alpha Magnus?” I asked softly.

Magnus shook his head slowly, then he asked me “how do you feel?”

I sat upright slowly, while my hands were all over my body like I felt something unusual somehow.

Lyra started talking in a barely audible voice, “I don’t even know how I feel, but I can remember vividly that I fell asleep”.

I paused to look at how everyone in the room paid rapt attention to my explanation, then I inquired “did anything happen?”

No one responded to her immediately, before elder Cedric stepped forward and answered, “my lady, do you remember anything unusual that happened to you?”

Lyra paused to reflect on what Cedric said, then she nodded slowly, “I remembered that I had a dream…”

“What kind of dream?” Magnus interrupted immediately.

“I saw a woman that wore a white dress, her hair silver then she smiled at me and touched my forehead” Lyra muttered softly.

“Did she tell you anything?” Elder Cedric demanded.

Lyra continued, “she told me not to be scared of the blood inside me”.

Silence settled him in the room, Magnus and Cedric could not help but exchange glances with each other, like they knew that this is getting far bigger than a strange healing gift.

Later in the evening, Magnus stood alone in one of the balconies in the Blackthorne fortress staring into the darkness outside. The cold wind from the mountains brushed through his skin. 

His commander walked briskly to him and bowed, “my Alpha”, but Magnus didn’t even turn to look at him, instead his gaze was still fixed in the darkness outside.

“Did our spies find anything?” Magnus inquired.

“Not really, but they confirmed that the assassins entered Moonfang kingdom through secret routes that only the royal family knows about. It’s probably someone inside the royal palace that told them about the route”, his commander explained carefully.

Magnus nodded slowly and muttered, “so the palace had declared war”.

“There’s something else, Alpha”, the commander said.

“And what is that?” He responded harshly.

“Prince Rowan has sent spies to Blackthorne fortress, so we have to be careful with whoever we’re dealing with now”, his commander muttered calmly.

Magnus finally turned to look at him while he responded, “then let them come, they’ll only see or hear what I want them to”.

The commander chuckled, “as expected of my Alpha”.

Magnus turned towards my room and whispered, “but anyone who dares to touch my wife will die”.

******

Rowan stood still by a large window in the silvercrest palace, whipping around and his wolf became so restless since.

The glowing silver mark on his wrist burned severely, since Lyra left with Magnus for Blackthorne fortress and he clenched his teeth tightly.

Suddenly, a knock sounded on his door but he didn’t respond immediately.

Reluctantly, he muttered “come in”.

The messenger hurried inside panting like he was on a long race and bowed, “we just received a news from Blackthorne”.

Rowan turned towards him immediately, and demanded “and what’s the news?”

“I was told that lady Lyra saved a warrior who was at the verge of dying, and they also said there was a strange silver light that surrounded her”, the messenger explained.

For a few seconds, Rowan stared at the messenger without saying a word, then he bursted into a cold laugh.

“Lyra is just an omega”, Rowan said.

The messenger bowed again, “your highness, that’s what everyone thinks”.

Rowan looked at the mating mark on his wrist, and for the first time he felt a painful regret settle in him. 

“Did the moon Goddess actually give me someone extraordinary? And why did I throw it away to someone else?” Rowan asked himself rhetorically.

******

Later that same night, a tall figure that was dressed in dark clothes climbed the outer wall of Blackthorne fortress.

The intruder got to the roof within seconds and he turned to look at Lyra’s room with his golden eyes. 

“The silver wolf has awakened finally and the master will be pleased”, the intruder chuckled under the black hoodie he wore, while he pulled out a dagger beneath the cloak.

He walked closer to her room and her bedroom window creaked open. Suddenly, the door burst open and Lyra screamed.

The intruder hurried inside the room with a silver blade raised above his head, before he could reach for her neck, a strong force hurled him aggressively, and he hit himself against the wall.

Lyra stared at him in shock with her palm pressing hard on her chest because of how she was panting. Magnus stood in between the intruder and Lyra, his eyes were no longer silver-gray, but they had turned black, and his wolf took over.

“Try to touch her again, and I’ll tear you apart”, Magnus growled.

The intruder tried to push himself up slowly, then three extra men bursted in through the broken door, but Magnus didn’t even move instead he just kept staring at them.

One of the men lifted their swords pointing at me, “take the girl immediately”.

Magnus' lips curved into a dangerous smile and he said, “just try to touch her first”.

One of the men stepped out to attack, but Magnus met with him before he even reached halfway. 

Clang!

Their swords collided with a loud metallic sound, and Magnus grabbed his wrist tightly, while he twisted his body. Magnus hit him in the chest with his elbow, and he fell to the floor immediately.

He turned slowly to grab his sword, but Magnus kicked it away. Another intruder came from behind to attack Magnus, and I yelled “Magnus!”

The moment he turned towards her, a sharp blade missed his shoulder. He grabbed the attacker's wrist aggressively and hit him against the stone wall.

The attacker groaned severely, and Magnus asked “who sent you here?”

The attacker didn’t respond, and he tightened his grip on his wrist. He threw him towards the other attacker and both of them fell to the floor instantly.

The third attacker hurried towards me with a sharp blade in his hand. I stood still on that spot, like my feet were glued there, and the attacker was close to me with a blade.

Immediately, something inside me snapped and a powerful growl burst from my throat. The attacker froze instantly and my eyes turned silver. 

The whole room shook violently and the assassin became so frightened.

“What?” The attacker gasped.

I felt something enormous moving inside me, like it had been sleeping for years, then my hands began trembling and I screamed “don’t you dare come close to me”.

The attacker raised his sword again, while he took a few steps close to me.

“I said don’t come close to me!” I screamed the second time and suddenly, a wave of silver energy exploded from my body.

A force flung the attacker against the wall, and he fell on the broken door, rolling to the hallway. A strange silence stretched between Magnus and I. 

He kept staring at me, and I began to feel a bit uncomfortable so I looked at my hands carefully before I whispered “did I just do that?”

Magnus took a few steps closer to me, then he started “Lyra”.

I cut in immediately, “I’m sorry my Alpha, I didn’t mean to do that, I don’t just know what happened”.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to feel bad about it, because he sneaked in here to kidnap you“, Magnus mouthed.

I looked at the man in the hallway, still lying unconscious, and I covered my mouth with my soft palm.

“I almost killed him”, I gasped.

Magnus shook his head slowly, then he said “don’t say that, he got what he deserved”.

I froze instantly, and turned to look at him with tears gathered around my eyes. 

“Something is definitely wrong with me”, I whispered.

Magnus turned towards me and countered, “there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you, Lyra”, then he held my hands softly.

The warmth from his hands made my nerves calm, the strange power inside me became silent, and my eyes returned to normal.

Magnus lowered his eyes to join our hands together, then he muttered “your power responds quickly to your emotions”.

My eyes widened and I quickly inquired, “what do you mean?”

He exhaled before he replied, “what I’m trying to say is that, someone sealed your wolf for a reason”.

I stared at him completely lost, then he cleared his throat and I snapped out of my thoughts. “Please can you help me?” I asked calmly.

“Yes of course”, he answered immediately.

Suddenly, tears welled up in my eyes and probed, “why?”

He looked into my eyes deeply before he whispered, “because you’re my wife and I can’t watch anyone hurt you”.

I opened my mouth several times to speak, but no one slipped out because I was too stunned to utter a word.

Suddenly, I heard heavy footsteps stomping down the hallway, I looked out of the broken door and it was Karl, Magnus commander outside with several warriors around him.

Karl stepped forward and bowed, “my Alpha”.

Magnus turned and instructed, “secure the fortress”.

“How about the attackers?” Karl questioned softly.

“I guess they’re alive?” Magnus hissed and looked away.

“One more thing Karl, I want a positive response as to who sent them and how they got in here”, Magnus instructed.

Karl and the warriors bowed before they left, but one of the warriors stopped the moment he noticed the glowing mark on my wrist.

“My lady, your wrist…”, the warrior muttered with tremor in his voice.

I responded immediately, “What's wrong with my wrist?”

“It’s glowing silver”, the warrior panicked.

I pretended not to hear him and I looked away immediately. Magnus noticed my expression and also the fear spreading across the warrior’s face, “leave” he instructed with his deep commanding voice.

“I’m sorry, my Alpha” the warrior bowed and followed the others.

“Suddenly, they’re now scared of me”, I sighed and crossed my arms on my chest.

“No Lyra, they’re just scared of what they don’t understand”, Magnus shook his head before he slowly reached for my hand.

“And I don’t think that makes me feel comfortable”, I responded almost immediately.

“You should feel comfortable, Lyra,” he whispered.

My eyes scanned through the hallway before I asked, “why?”

“Because fear can be taught, but respect is earned and you’ve earned theirs already” he explained with a soft tone.

A few hours later, the fortress warriors caught intruders and they were brought into the fortress dungeon. 

The attackers were chained to the wall and Magnus walked towards them. He noticed that one of the men had a deep cut on his forehead with blood dripping profusely.

He folded his arms gently and inquired, “who sent you all here?” But none of them responded to him.

One of them yelled “let us go”, while looking at Karl, but he didn’t even seem to look like he paid any attention to what the man said.

Karl turned towards Magnus and bowed, “my Alpha”.

“You can go now”, Magnus instructed without even waiting to hear what he was about to say.

The commander obeyed and left quickly. A dreadful silence fell in the dungeon, but only his heavy footsteps echoed, and he walked towards the first attacker.

“You have the temerity to sneak into my fortress to attack my wife, and kill my men too. I’ll give you just one more chance to tell me who sent you”.

The attacker let out a dry laugh, “you think I’ll be frightened by your threat?”

He glared at him dangerously, then he gave a simple reply “Oh come on, it’s not a threat”. Magnus took a few steps closer to him and added, “but a deadly question”.

The attacker’s smile faltered immediately, before he could utter any word, he held him tightly by the throat “will you speak up or not?”

“We got the order from the silver crest palace”, the man murmured.

Magnus' eyes widened and he chuckled dangerously, “who gave the order?”