Chapter 196: Treacherous Shadow

Chapter 196: Treacherous Shadow
Brenda’s POV

There was anarchy on the battlefield. Shadows jumped, wolves fought, and shouts and roars rocked the ground. I was in the middle, holding the Moonstone aloft, its light like a sword cutting through the darkness.

"Remain on the line!" My voice echoed across the storm as I yelled. "Avoid letting them get through!"

The pack formed a wall of fur and fangs in obedience. Hope briefly ignited in my chest—until I laid eyes on him.

Darius. Second in command to me. My most trusted wolf.

The young wolves were hidden in the back, and he was heading there. However, he wasn't keeping them safe. Strangers, shadow-clad soldiers, were following him toward them.

My heart fell. No, it isn't possible.

With my boots banging on the floor, I chased after him. "Darius!" I yelled. "What are you doing?"

He turned slowly and froze. Instead of glowing silver like a real wolf, his eyes burned red in the moonlight.

He smirked and said, "Brenda, you see at last."

I gasped. "You... you cheated on us?"

He responded icily, "I did what I had to." "You believe you can guide us to success? You're not strong. Blind. You are not the owner of the moonstone.

"It's part of the pack!" I tightened my hold and snapped. "We fight not out of greed but for our future!"

The sound of his nasty laughter made my stomach turn. "The future? Under you, there is no future. But I will dominate all the packs with them—" he said, gesturing to the black warriors.

Anger flared in my chest. "For power, you would betray your own family?"

"They are no longer my family," he hissed. "You became Alpha and stole everything from me."

With tears in my eyes, I shook my head. "I gave it all to you. I had faith in you!

"And you made that error," he continued.

The warriors of darkness drew closer. Raising the Moonstone, its light flashing bright, I took a step back. "Darius, you won't prevail. Not this evening.

Grinning, he drew a weapon from his belt, a poison-glow black blade. "Oh, I have it already."

He lunged before I could move. The blade sliced across my arm as I barely managed to dodge it. White-hot pain rushed through me. Although I stumbled, I didn't fall.

"Brenda!" Lila hurried to my side and shouted in my direction. "You're bleeding!"

Grasping the wound, I snarled, "I'm fine." My eyes remained fixed on Darius. "This will cost you money."

He didn't respond, though. He turned and dashed into the fire and smoke, vanishing into the darkness.

"Avoid him!" It was too late when I let out a scream.

Lila took hold of my shoulders. "What are we going to do?"

My eyes shifted from the battleground to the shadowy horizon where Darius disappeared. Fear and anger hammered at my heart.

"He's left for Damian," I said. "He'll kill him."

In my hand, the Moonstone pulsed, alerting me to danger. I felt nauseous.

With a shaky voice, I said, "Lila, this changes everything."

"What do you mean?"

I looked at the dark smoke rising in the distance and the blood on my arm.

"It implies..." I took a deep breath. "The actual conflict has only just started."

A roar shattered the night, so loud that the trees shook, and the ground shook fiercely. It wasn't a wolf. Something darker was involved. Something old.

I took Lila's hand in mine. "Dear Moon... What have we let loose?

Aching from the chains that had almost crushed him, Damian stumbled across the flaming woodland. His troops were scattered or dead. He had just about made it out alive.

He wasn't finished, though. Not quite yet.

He pursued the smell of blood and smoke until he discovered Darius, standing in the clearing and talking to a black-clad figure.

Darius grinned and remarked, "I brought her the message." She is afraid. Feeble. Like I previously stated.

Damian felt his blood boiling. You are a traitor.

His voice sounded like thunder as he emerged from the darkness. "DARIUS!"

The traitor turned, and his eyes narrowed into a chilly stare after briefly enlarging. "Damian. I see you're alive.

"Hardly," snarled Damian. "But enough for your death."

Darius chuckled. "Vibrant remarks for a man near death."

Before Darius could say another word, Damian charged. With jaws snapping and claws slashing, their bodies crashed like smashing hurricanes. As they rolled across the mud, each blow trembling the ground, sparks of rage illuminated the night.

"You deceived her!" With a yell, Damian gave him a forceful blow to the jaw.

"She was the first to betray me!" Darius kicked him off after spitting blood. "She gave me nothing." I ought to have been Alpha.

Damian growled, "You don't deserve the title." "You ought to die."

With their teeth digging into flesh and blood splattering on the ground, they went at one another once more.

The black sword that had sliced Brenda was then drawn by Darius. Its poison radiated a fiery glare.

The heart stopped in Damian.

Darius aimed for his heart with a swing. The sword sliced Damian's side as he twisted. He continued despite the explosion of pain. He snatched Darius's arm and gave it a horrible crack as he roared.

The sword dropped out of Darius's hand as he shouted.

Blood was streaming from Damian's wound as he stood over him, his chest heaving. He snarled, "You'll never touch her."

However, the cloaked figure moved forward as quickly as lightning before he could deliver the last blow. Damian was yanked back as a dark chain swung out and wrapped around his throat.

"Damian!" Darius laughed weakly and coughed. "You believe that you are the hero? You are nothing.

Damian's vision blurred as he choked and clutched at the chain. The voice of the figure was deep and inhuman.

It growled, "We will have the Moonstone." "And your tiny Alpha will scream as he dies."

Damian's eyes were blazing with rage. He tightened his teeth and rasped out a single word:

"Never."

His claws ripped at the chain, releasing it just long enough to pick up the black blade from the dirt.

Everything turned black after that.

I sensed it during the struggle, far away. The connection. Shattering.

"Damian?" With my knees buckling, I said quietly. "No, no!"

I yelled into the darkness as the Moonstone pulsated frantically, like a heart in distress.