Chapter 258: Side Story Five

Victor's POV

I never discriminated against humans—until I became the Morgan family heir.

That day, my father consulted Elder Selene to divine my destined mate. Fortunately, she was precisely my age and a daughter of the Bourbon family—a werewolf who matched me perfectly in every way.

"Victor, this is your destined mate," my father said, squeezing my shoulder, his eyes gleaming with expectation. "A marriage alliance with the Bourbon family will cement our position in society."

I maintained a polite smile while feeling an inexplicable resistance rising within me. My heart already belonged to Shelly, a captivating human whose eyes crinkled adorably when she laughed and whose fingers felt warm and soft against mine.

With her, I could almost forget I was the Morgan heir, forget the responsibilities and expectations weighing on my shoulders.

But fate never bends to personal desires.

The first time I met Elena Bourbon, I experienced the full power of a destined mate bond. This wasn't like what I had with Shelly. No. After meeting Elena, I realized that what I'd felt before couldn't even be called love, because every touch with Elena felt like our souls colliding. This intense connection I'd never experienced before made my wolf nearly leap from my skin.

"Do you feel it?" Elena asked the first time she took my hand, her eyes reflecting the same shock I felt.

"Yes," I swallowed hard, feeling the heat rushing through my bloodstream. "I feel it."

My heart tore in two—deep feelings for Shelly on one side, the magnetic pull toward Elena on the other. I knew I had to choose, and as the Morgan heir, I had no real choice at all.

"Have you been busy lately?" Shelly asked when I canceled our date for the third time, her voice heavy with barely concealed disappointment.

"Yes, family matters," I replied coldly, avoiding her eyes. "I think we should... not see each other for a while." As I said those words, I felt a part of myself die.

Her silence hurt more than any tears could have, and I practically fled from her presence.

I gradually distanced myself from Shelly after that, though my heart ached whenever I thought of her. But being with her was impossible now, and crushing her hopes early seemed kinder than letting her discover news of my moon ceremony with Elena later.

I began responding to her messages more slowly and meeting her less frequently until she disappeared from my life completely.

After forgetting those love-filled eyes, I focused on my new life. Elena was the perfect mate, Alexander an excellent heir, my career flourished, and the Morgan family prospered under my leadership. These were the happiest years of my life.

Until my father's deathbed, when he summoned me.

"Victor," his voice was weak but determined, "there's something I must tell you—a secret passed down through generations of our family."

He handed me an ancient wooden box carved with runes, containing a silver-gleaming dagger and a yellowed piece of paper.

"This knife is called the Moonlight Blade, created specifically to kill the Lunawolf."

I stared at my father, wide-eyed. "The Lunawolf? Isn't that just a legend?"

Father painfully shook his head. "No, it's real, and one appears in every generation."

He gestured for me to open the paper. My hands trembled slightly as I unfolded it to reveal a list of names written in crimson ink, with only the last two names written in black. A sense of foreboding washed over me.

"What is this?" I asked, confused.

Father struggled to sit up, and after a violent coughing fit, explained, "This is a list of every Lunawolf's parents throughout generations. Your task is to find these two people and prevent them from having the Lunawolf child. If you fail, you must use the Moonlight Blade to kill the Lunawolf before it can shift. Otherwise, the positions of werewolves and humans will be reversed, and werewolves might face extinction."

I clutched the knife, shaking. "This is absurd! You want me to kill someone? An innocent child?"

"This isn't murder!" Father suddenly became agitated, his eyes flashing with fanatic light. "This is protecting our race! Protecting our future!"

Before I could respond, his eyes bulged, his body convulsed violently, and then he stopped breathing forever. But his hand still gripped mine tightly, as if burning this terrible responsibility into my soul.

I kept the box, sleepless and increasingly fearful. I even began questioning my father's mental state and the truth of it all—until I noticed the Moonlight Blade's glow fading.

"Why isn't it glowing anymore?" I examined the dagger carefully.

Then I turned over the list of names and discovered a small line of text: To empower the Moonlight Blade to kill the Lunawolf, it must be regularly bathed in the blood of half-breed children.

My stomach instantly churned, nausea rising in my throat. This was too cruel, too insane! But if the prophecy was true, if the Lunawolf truly threatened our existence... this terrible thought haunted me constantly.

Perhaps because I hadn't found the two people named on that paper, I grew increasingly anxious. Even Elena couldn't soothe this anxiety. I became irritable and sensitive, suspicious of everything around me.

"What's wrong with you lately?" Elena asked with concern. "You never sleep well anymore."

"Just work pressure," I deflected, not daring to tell her the truth. "Nothing serious."

Just then, shocking news arrived from the human district: I had a child there! This news struck me like lightning, turning my world upside down again.

"Impossible," I stared at the report on my desk. "This must be some kind of scam."

Until I saw the mother's name: Shelly.

My heart nearly stopped. Shelly had given birth to my child? How was this possible? I immediately sent people to investigate, and the results confirmed this incredible fact.

"You have an illegitimate child?" Elena furiously confronted me after learning the truth. "And with a human?"

"That was before I met you," I tried to explain. "I didn't know she was pregnant."

"You've ruined this family's hopes!" Elena's eyes filled with tears. "How could you do this to me? To Alexander?"

We had a massive argument, and finally, I decided to go to the human district myself to verify the truth. When I arrived, I found Shelly and a boy called Marcus surrounded by a threatening crowd.

"Stop!" I shouted, and the crowd immediately fell silent, looking at me in terror.

I saw Shelly kneeling on the ground, clutching a small boy tightly. He had obvious werewolf features—pointed ears and a furry tail—but he couldn't even control these traits yet, far behind Alexander's abilities.

A twinge of disappointment rose in my heart, but more than that, a strange emotion—this was indeed my child, my blood.

"Victor..." Shelly looked up at me, her eyes filled with fear and a glimmer of hope.

"Is this your child?" I asked coldly.

"Y-yes," she answered trembling, "he's your son too, Marcus."

Looking at Shelly begging before me—the woman who once made my heart race, now kneeling so pitifully—I suddenly conceived a plan.

"What do you want?" Shelly carefully asked, holding Marcus tightly. "Please don't hurt him."

"I won't harm my own blood," I said. "But I have a proposal."

Since the Moonlight Blade's glow began to fade, I'd been searching for ways to reactivate it. Now, I'd found a group of half-breed children not recognized by the major werewolf families. However, placing these children in the werewolf district always carried risks. The human district before me seemed a good option, as Shelly and Marcus had hidden here undetected for so long.

"I need you to care for some children," I told Shelly, "just as you've cared for Marcus. In return, I'll let Marcus stay with you and provide everything you need."

Shelly looked at me in surprise. "What kind of children?"

"Children like Marcus," I answered. "Half-breeds."

She hesitated briefly, but seeing Marcus's fearful expression, finally nodded. "Alright, I'll take care of them."

I now had leverage with Marcus, my son with werewolf blood who rightfully belonged to the Morgan family. I could use this to control Shelly.

What I hadn't expected was how quickly Shelly would become suspicious about the children who were taken away.

"Where did those children go?" she called me one day, her voice filled with fear. "Why is every child who turns fifteen taken away?"

"You don't need to know," I coldly replied, seeing no need to hide anything from her—everything she had was under my control.

"Tell me!" her voice suddenly rose. "What have you done to those children?"

I was silent for a moment, then decided to tell her the truth: "These half-breeds are the most wicked, useful only to forge something—that's their final value."

"Forge something?" her voice trembled with shock. "You mean... you killed them?"

I laughed coldly. "You're too clever, Shelly. That's not good for you."

The phone went silent for a long time before she finally spoke with a determination I'd never heard before: "I won't let you take any more children."

Then I discovered fewer and fewer children were coming from Shelly's side—she'd even stopped sending new ones. How dare she? I never imagined this weak, submissive woman would dare to defy me!

"You think you can stand against me?" I went to her place myself, burning with rage. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"I'm protecting those children!" She stood bravely before me, her eyes flashing with resolve I'd never seen. "You can't use them anymore!"

"Who do you think you are?" I grabbed her throat, feeling her struggle. "A pathetic human, daring to disobey my orders?"

"Please... please..." she gasped for breath. "Spare the children..."

Watching her eyes gradually losing their light, my rage broke through the restraints of reason. When I came to my senses, Shelly had left this world forever.

I dropped her body with trembling hands, then took Marcus home. I told myself this was all for a greater purpose, to protect our species.

Surprisingly, Elena calmly accepted Marcus's arrival. Her tolerance surprised me, though her attitude toward me gradually became distant, and she even refused to share our bedroom.

Then there was Alexander, who hated Marcus and grew increasingly silent. I could feel his estrangement and resentment toward me.

But I didn't care about any of this. The responsibility of maintaining the family's honor had fallen entirely on my shoulders the day my father died, and I would continue forward, carrying the sealed secret of the Lunawolf.