Chapter 45 THE BLOOD MOON AWAKENS
Chapter 45 THE BLOOD MOON AWAKENS
THE BLOOD MOON AWAKENS
SERAPHINE'S POV
This was the fourth day since Azrath had taken me out of the cave and brought me to the chamber. When I woke up, I realized I had dreamt of the silver wolf again.
It always began the same way. I would see myself running through a forest made of ash and moonlight, my feet barely touching the ground. Ahead of me, the wolf ran without fear. Every time it turned its head to look at me, its eyes burned with knowing, as if it recognized me even when I did not recognize myself.
I chased it until my lungs burned, until my heart began to beat so hard it felt like it would tear through my ribs. Then the roar came. It sounded like a dragon’s roar rolling through the dream like thunder, it caused the ground to shake and the moon above to crack with red lines.
The wolf stopped chasing and that was when I woke up, my body was drenched in sweat. My hands trembled, clutching the rough sheets of my bed.
My heartbeat was still racing, matching the distant echo of that roar somewhere deep inside Drakoria. I pressed my palm to my chest, trying to slow my breathing, but the rhythm refused to calm. It felt as if something inside me was stretching, testing the limits of my skin.
This had been happening every night for four days. I stopped sleeping properly after that. Fear followed me through the day, clinging to my thoughts. I felt like someone or something in the shadows was watching me.
Three days and nights later, the blood moon rose.
Its light spilled through the high stone windows of my chamber, painting the walls red. The air grew heavy and thick enough to make breathing hard. I sat up in bed, my head pounding with intensity.
Pain hit without warning.
I gasped and doubled over, clutching my stomach as something twisted violently inside me. It felt like my bones were cracking, and grinding against each other. I screamed, the sound tearing out of my throat before I could stop it. My back arched as fire ripped through my spine, and I collapsed onto the floor.
I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears.
My hands began to change first.my fingers stretched, my nails sharpened into claws that dug into the stone floor. I cried out again as terror flooded me while my arms grew heavier. My muscles burned as they expanded, ripping through skin that could no longer hold them. Warm and slick blood pooled beneath me.
I begged it to stop. I didn’t know who I was begging but the pain did not listen.
My senses exploded. I could hear every sound in the mountain, the crackle of distant flames, the echo of wings shifting far above. The wolf from my dreams was no longer ahead of me. It was inside me.
The last thing I remembered before losing control was the feeling of something tearing free, a scream that was not entirely human, and the certainty that I was breaking apart.
When awareness returned, I lay in a ruined chamber.
The floor had split by force, I didn’t understand what was happening. Blood soaked my skin, my hair, the remains of shredded fabric clinging uselessly to my body. Every breath hurts. My limbs shook as if they no longer belonged to me.
I saw Azrath from the corners of my eye standing a few steps away.
He watched me in silence, his massive form outlined by the red glow of the blood moon. His eyes burned brighter than the fires behind him, fixed on me with an intensity that made my chest tighten.
I tried to push myself up and failed. My body screamed in protest, collapsing back to the ground.
“Please,” I whispered, though I didn’t know what I was asking for. Mercy or death. Anything to end the pain.
Azrath’s lips curved into a slow smile. A kind of smile that looks kind but still looks cruel at the same time “So it is true,” he said, his voice calm, almost pleased. “The world has been wrong for a very long time.”
I struggled to focus on him as my vision was swimming. “What… what did I do?”
He stepped closer, his presence pressing down on me like heat. “You awakened.”
The words meant nothing to me, but fear flared anyway.
“You are not an omega,” Azrath continued, crouching in front of me. His gaze swept over my bloodied form, sharp and assessing. “You never were.”
My chest heaved as I fought to breathe. “Then what am I?”
His eyes met mine, and something ancient stirred behind them.
“The Last Lycan Queen.”
The title hit me harder than the pain I was feeling.
I shook my head weakly. "So it's true. You knew what I was turning into all this while yet you kept it hidden away from me"
He kept silent and just kept on staring at me like I was speaking gibberish.
Another wave of agony tore through me, and I cried out, my body jerking. I could feel power boiling under my skin, wild and uncontrollable, like fire trapped in bone.
Azrath straightened, watching as I writhed on the floor. There was no rush in him, no concern....only interest.
“Look at you,” he murmured. “Even when broken, you are still dangerous.”
Hot rage surged through me, I didn’t think, I didn’t plan, I just moved. With a roar that tore my throat raw, I launched myself at him. The world blurred as I flew through the air, outstretched my claws, every instinct screaming to tear, to destroy him. For a heartbeat, I felt unstoppable.
Azrath caught me easily.
His hand closed around my torso midair, the impact jarring the breath from my lungs. He swung his arm and flung me aside like I weighed nothing.
I hit the ground hard.
Pain exploded through my back, for a split second, everything went dark. Somewhere distant, I heard Azrath’s breath hitch, just once, as if even he had feared he’d thrown me too hard.