MasukTonight was another night for her dream to rule her mind. She couldn't sleep, as always and she was tired of waking up tired and feeling dizzy at work. Most especially this period the pack was at war, injured Betas were coming in every second and she couldn't afford to be unprepared and distracted anymore.
Tonight, she decided to go watch the stars, she felt it could help her. Outside was cool, the air was more than calm, it captured her soul. The beautiful stars, her best friends, all out in the sky, smiling blissfully at her. However, she saw Caelum, Theron's personal guard patrolling alongside other Betas in charge of securing the area. “What are you doing outside, Nyx?” He called from afar. She was very tired and didn't have the energy to start yelling back at him so she just allowed him to walk to her. “Midnight stroll, eh?” “Better than burning alive in my own bed.” He chuckled softly and sat by her side, “what do you mean? Like are talking literal heat or…” He looked into her eyes and leaned in with a whisper. “Alpha level tension?” She pushed him away, smiling sheepishly, “fuck off, Cal. Don't push it.” The characters in this pack were amusing to her. She rolled her eyes at him but still decided to walk with him through the trees. She was more than happy she had found him, even though he was very annoying, but he was the best stress relief she could ever get tonight. He had organized the boys to bet on when she'll make out with Theron. She never knew, he just revealed it to her as they walked. “...You're not exactly calm, and neither is he. Sparks fly every time you're in the same room.” She felt like whooping his ass right now. He was a thorn in her flesh, an enjoyable one though. But she also felt Theron had a hand in this. “Let me guess, Theron put you up to this right?” “Theron would rather chew glass,” he giggled. But it wasn't funny to her. Suddenly, she felt a shift in the air. She heard strange movements, rustling leaves. Slowly, she lowered her head, she wasn't with her dagger anymore, Theron had warned her to stop carrying it around, promising her she was safe. “Did you hear that?” He put her behind his back. “Stay down,” he whispered, their hearts pounding already. “Shift behind me. Now.” Fear enveloped her, she didn't argue and shifted immediately to wolf form and he followed suit. The once laughing jerks were now rugged wolves, ready to devour. But they were not so lucky tonight. They were surrounded by six rogues that revealed themselves from the shadows, their fangs bared, ready to show no mercy. “The King's bitch. Just what we need,” one of them growled. It pained her that he called her a bitch, she wanted to slit his throat, Caelum held her back and circled around her. He whispered to her, ‘don’t be scared. It's going to be alright. I'll kill them all.’ But it was crystal clear nothing was going to be okay. They were outnumbered, how was he planning to kill them all? He cemented his promise with a reassuring smile and then sternly looked at them. “Touch her and I'll rip your fucking throats out!” She knew this madness of his wouldn't last for long. Her heart thundered in her chest. She knew she had to do something before it became too late, she would never go back to Evander. Tears rolled down her cheek and one of them lunged at her, but Caelum dived at him and dealt with him. She looked right into the face of the one that called her bitch and slit his throat. The joy she got from his sickening death cry was more than expected and while he was still busy living in the moment, feeling it was under control, one of them grabbed her from behind and tied a silver chain around her neck, burning her skin. “Bastards! Get off me…” He was too strong and choked her and forced her to the ground. She slashed his arm and tried to run, but another pinned her down. They began to drag her away, they had surrendered Caelum and held him down. Her wolf couldn't hold it anymore. The silver was burning her and digging into her skin and she shifted back, her skin oozing with blood as she gasped for air. “Let me go! Let me go!!” They cuffed her with Evander's enchanted irons and dragged her away. “NYX!!” Caelum fought hard to break free, but he couldn't. He was tackled by two wolves to pin him down and watch her cry and struggle. The memories all came back, the nights of torment, the pain, the scent of burning silver, the pain of his whip, his hand on her hair, his cold smile, she couldn't go back there. She cried out to his mind through the mind link. ‘Theron!!! Help me!!’ “Evander sends his regards, sweetheart.” He snarled with a scorn and continued dragging her away. Suddenly, a deep roar shattered the air and froze time. They all froze as the roar echoed in their ears. Death sang in their ears they knew it and Nyx just smiled at the doomed fellows. However, it continued, more than usual, they couldn't understand who it was now. Caelum froze too. They all let go of themselves, blinking hard through the dark woods, trying to catch a glimpse of who it was. She felt his presence, she knew his scent. It was none other, but him, her night mare. No…The council chamber was filled when Nyx and Theron entered it that morning.Every Alpha was seated and waiting, their faces showing various degrees of sympathy and political calculation. Nyx felt their eyes on her as she took her seat beside Theron’s throne, and through the bond she felt his steady presence anchoring her.Darius stood when everyone was settled, his expression carefully neutral.“Alpha King, Luna,” Darius said. “The council extends its deepest condolences for your loss. We know this is a difficult time.”“Thank you,” Theron said, his voice flat and emotionless.“However,” Darius continued, choosing his words carefully, “the matter of succession cannot be delayed indefinitely. The Northern region needs stability. It needs to know that the Alpha King’s line will continue.”“Then it will be disappointed,” Theron said coldly. “Because the Luna and I are not producing more children.”The chamber fell into heavy silence. Several Alphas exchanged glances, clearly not expectin
Morning came three days after Aria’s burial, and Nyx woke knowing she had to return to the grove. She’d barely left their rooms since the funeral, couldn’t face the corridors of the residence or the eyes of the wolves who lived in Ashville or the weight of everything that had happened. Theron had stayed close, neither of them speaking much, just existing in the space where their daughter should have been. Through the bond she felt his grief matching hers, felt him trying to hold himself together while falling apart at the same time. But the grove was calling to her, the three small graves beneath the oak tree pulling at her like a physical weight, and she knew she couldn’t avoid them any longer. “I need to go back,” Nyx said quietly, and Theron nodded without asking where she meant because he already knew through the bond. “I’ll come with you,” Theron said. They dressed in silence and walked through the residence toward the forest. It was early enough that few wolves were awake,
Night fell and Nyx couldn’t leave the grove.Theron had tried to get her to come back to the residence after they’d finished filling in Aria’s grave, had told her gently that she needed rest and food and time away from the three mounds of earth that held everything they’d lost. But Nyx couldn’t make herself move, couldn’t make herself walk away from her children even though she knew staying wouldn’t change anything.“Please,” Theron said quietly as the last light faded from the sky. “Come back with me. We can return tomorrow.”“You go,” Nyx said. “I need to stay here a little longer.”Through the bond she felt his reluctance to leave her alone, felt him weighing whether to insist or to give her the space she was asking for. Eventually he nodded and stood, telling Caelum and Elara to return to the residence while he stayed with Nyx.When they were alone, Theron sat down beside her and they both looked at the graves in silence. The moon was rising through the trees, casting pale light o
Nyx held Aria’s body for hours after she died, unable to let go even though she knew she should.The small form had grown cold in her arms, the warmth that had radiated from her feverish body during the night fading until there was nothing left but the terrible stillness of death. Aria’s face was peaceful, her tiny features relaxed, and if Nyx didn’t look too closely she could almost pretend her daughter was just sleeping. But the chest that had struggled so hard to breathe didn’t rise and fall anymore, and the small hands that had clenched into fists when she cried lay open and motionless.Theron sat beside her on the bed, one hand on Nyx’s shoulder, and through the bond she felt his grief matching hers. It was different from the grief they’d shared after Lyra and Kael, sharper somehow, more devastating because they’d had Aria. They’d held her while she was alive, had fed her and soothed her and loved her for eight days. Eight days of hope and fear and the desperate belief that maybe
By nightfall, Aria’s condition had worsened. Her temperature continued to climb despite the cooling cloths Elara applied, and her breathing became more labored with each passing hour. The strange high-pitched crying had given way to weak whimpers, and Nyx held her daughter close, feeling the heat radiating from her tiny body and knowing with horrible certainty that they were losing her. “What’s happening to her?” Theron asked, his voice raw with fear and helplessness. “I don’t know,” Elara said honestly, her hands moving over Aria’s small form with practiced efficiency. “Her lungs sound congested, like she’s fighting some kind of infection. But she was fine this morning. Babies don’t decline this fast from normal illness.” “The curse,” Nyx said flatly. “This is the curse. The moon goddess said any child born of my body would be tainted. This is how it’s manifesting.” Elara didn’t argue, just kept working, preparing herbs and tinctures that might help with the fever and the breath
The first day with Aria was the longest day of Nyx’s life. She held her daughter almost constantly, afraid that putting her down would somehow jinx whatever miracle had allowed her to be born breathing. The baby nursed weakly at first, her tiny mouth struggling to latch onto Nyx’s breast, but Elara helped guide them both through it and eventually Aria figured it out. When she did latch properly, she fed with surprising determination for someone so small, her little fists clenching and unclenching against Nyx’s skin. “She’s doing well,” Elara said after examining the baby thoroughly that first afternoon. “Breathing is steady, heart rate is good, color is healthy. Everything looks exactly as it should for a full-term baby.” “Finally,” Nyx said, and felt Theron’s hand tighten on her shoulder. Through the bond she felt his relief matching her own, felt him wanting to believe that finally meant they were safe, that the curse had been defeated. But Nyx couldn’t quite let herself believe
They dragged her through the forest like she was already dead. Nyx’s boots carved twin furrows in the earth as Evander’s warriors hauled her between them, her body still weak from the dark magic that had pinned her to the ground at Thornridge. The trees blurred past, their ancient branches reachin
He was alone, as promised. But Nyx could sense the others hidden in the trees surrounding them, guards, warriors, probably half a dozen witches maintaining spells and barriers.Evander smiled as she approached, but there was no warmth in it. Only cold calculation and barely restrained fury.“Nyx Kn
The forest swallowed Nyx whole, its darkness a welcome shroud after the blazing lights of the Black Keep. Her boots pounded against earth still damp from earlier rain, each stride carrying her farther from the scene of her father’s death. She ran for hours, her body moving on instinct while her mi
The Luna’s RevengeChapter 33: The Devil’s desperationThe northern forest was nothing like the territories Evander had spent decades building his empire in.It was older here. Wilder. The kind of forest that had never been tamed or claimed or marked by any pack because something in the ancient tre







