บททั้งหมดของ Lunar Lake: บทที่ 91 - บทที่ 100

91 (Tyler’s POV) The ritual circle around the grave was almost finished. Wolfsbane and mountain ash had been mixed with iron filings and spread in a wide perimeter. Salt lines were reinforced with sacred glyphs carved into stone markers at the cardinal points. Celia, shoulder to shoulder with Carson’s witch, muttered a final incantation that made the air buzz and the earth shudder. I stood with Kate just outside the circle, watching the final seal set like concrete hardening in place. Her fingers were laced with mine, but her grip wasn’t strong. It was too light, like she was saving her strength. I didn’t comment there was too much riding on this moment. Camerin paced near the southern line, eyes flicking constantly toward the forest. He trusted the magic as much as any warrior would, which meant not at all. Micah stood guard on the northern line, having the same doubts as Camerin. The witch pressed her palms into the ground. Wind picked up from nowhere. The trees moaned. Then t

93 (Kathryn’s POV) Lena arrived not long after the guards took their posts outside the tent. She didn’t waste time with small talk. “Sit,” she ordered, already rolling up the sleeves of her jacket and digging in the leather pouch slung over her shoulder. I sat on the edge of the cot, arms crossed. “You’re looking for a mark?” “Something like that,” she murmured, pulling out a vial of dark red liquid, a small silver disk etched with runes, and a stick of chalk that smelled faintly of sage. Tyler stood behind her, arms folded, watching like a hawk. Celia lingered near the tent flap, clearly trying to stay out of my line of sight. Lena poured a single drop of the red liquid into her palm and rubbed it between her hands until it shimmered faintly. “Give me your hands.” I hesitated, then extended them. She gripped them firmly, tracing her thumbs over my skin, up my forearms, and then along my jawline. Her touch was clinical, searching for something I couldn’t feel. “Any burning, t

95 (Tyler’s POV) We didn’t go straight to the others. Not to the pack, not to the council. This wasn’t news for curious ears or loose tongues. Kate sat beside me at the small table in Lena’s private tent, her fingers wrapped tightly around mine. I could feel the tremor in her hand even though her face stayed composed. Lena’s sisters stood opposite us, flanking her like a wall of power. All three of them radiated the same quiet strength, their magic humming faintly in the air. Lena was the first to speak. “So?” Kate didn’t waver. “Yes. I’m pregnant.” For a moment, the air seemed to still. The sisters exchanged quick glances not of surprise, but calculation. Plans being made without a word. The tallest of the three, Mara, stepped forward, her voice calm but edged with something sharper. “Then this changes everything.” I leaned forward. “Explain.” Lena folded her hands, her gaze locked on me. “If the creature’s attention has already been drawn to Kate, and now she’s carrying yo

97 (Lena’s POV) The moment Tyler led Kate out of sight, I turned to my sisters. “Circle,” I ordered. We moved fast, spreading out in the patch of open ground we’d cleared behind the supply tents. The younger of the three, Sera, carried the satchel. She knelt first, pulling out the components one by one iron nails blackened by fire, a vial of thick red oil, and a bundle of herbs bound so tightly the stems had bruised. “This is dangerous,” she murmured without looking at me. “So is letting that thing keep breathing,” I shot back. Our middle sister, Mara, was already carving the runes into the dirt with the tip of her blade. The earth hissed faintly where the steel touched it, a warning that the magic we were about to call wasn’t pure. “We’ll need her blood,” Mara reminded. “Tomorrow,” I said. “We take it when she’s sleeping. Just a drop. She’ll never feel it.” The wind shifted suddenly, cold and sharp, as though something had just noticed us. Sera’s head snapped up. “It’s c

99 (Tyler’s POV) The air in camp was thick with tension. Patrol reports kept coming in faster than I could process fresh tracks in the west, unfamiliar scents carried on the wind, distant howls moving in patterns that spoke of coordination, not chaos. Jaxson’s wolves were on the move. I had Camerin double the perimeter guards, shifting them into tighter rotations. Warriors who had barely slept in two days were being told to keep going. My gut said we didn’t have the luxury of fatigue not tonight. But every time I thought about heading back to the center of camp, my focus snagged on the memory of the witches’ tent. I knew Lena and her sisters were working their magic there, something dangerous and precise, meant to cut into the heart of what Jaxson had unleashed. I also knew they didn’t want me hovering, but that didn’t mean I liked being kept away. “Alpha,” Micah called as he jogged up beside me, eyes scanning the dark tree line. “We spotted movement of three, maybe four wolves,