Chapter 64

Chapter 64
Rowan’s POV

The storm hit on the third night.

Not rain.
Not thunder.
But war.

I felt it before I heard it, the tremor in the earth, the shift in the wind, a deep vibration that rippled through my bones like a warning drum. I was in the war room with my commanders, mapping the border lines, when every candle in the room flickered violently and went out at once.

Silence dropped.

Then—
BOOM.

A deafening explosion split the night sky, rattling the windows.

“Alpha!” a warrior burst through the door, panting, eyes wide with terror. “The northern gate... rogues... hundreds... Kaiden... he’s HERE!”

My blood turned to fire.

Kaiden.
He’d finally come.

I didn’t need more words. My instincts took over.

“Sound the main alarm,” I commanded. “Evacuate the pups and elders to the inner circle. Warriors to the northern wall... NOW.”

The warrior bolted. The castle erupted into chaos.

I grabbed my blades and tore into the hallway.

The walls shook again, a second explosion, closer this time. Dust fell from the ceiling. Screams echoed from the far courtyard. The storm outside roared like a living beast, wind howling, lightning tearing the sky apart.

The attack had begun.

Footsteps raced toward me. Lyla’s scent hit me before she did.

“Rowan!” she cried, sprinting around the corner.

Her hair was wild, her cheeks flushed, her apron still dusted with flour, she’d clearly been in the bakery when the alarms went off. But her eyes… her eyes burned with something fierce and bright.

“Stay close,” I told her. “Don’t leave my sight.”

She nodded, breath sharp. “I’m here.”

Another explosion rocked the walls, this one so powerful the stones beneath our feet trembled. Warriors ran past us, half-shifted, grabbing weapons, shouting orders. Smoke seeped from the far stairwell.

A sentinel skidded to a stop. “Alpha, Kaiden’s wolves breached the eastern side too!”

“How many?” I demanded.

“Too many to count.”

A chill slid down my spine.

Kaiden wasn’t raiding.
He was invading.

And Damon...
I swallowed fury. I would deal with him tonight.

“Where is Beta Damon?” I barked.

The sentinel hesitated. “He… hasn’t reported, Alpha.”

Coward.
Traitor.

“Find him. Bring him alive,” I hissed.

The sentinel nodded and ran.

Lyla touched my arm. “Rowan. Something feels wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head, breath trembling. “I don’t know… I just—” Her eyes narrowed suddenly. “Dalia.”

And right on cue, her voice drifted down the corridor; cold, elegant, poisonous.

“Well, isn’t this beautifully dramatic.”

We turned.

Dalia stood with two rogue wolves at her sides, her silver dress shimmering like moonlit ice. Blood dotted her sleeves. Her hair blew wildly from the storm wind entering through the shattered hallway windows.

“Dalia,” I growled, stepping forward.

She smiled sweetly. “Rowan. Darling. You look tense.”

Lyla moved in front of me before I could answer, protective, instinctive. My wolf surged with pride and something far deeper.

Dalia’s gaze slid to her. “Ah. The little baker girl. Still alive.”

Lyla’s voice was calm. “Move before I make you.”

Dalia laughed, a high, sharp sound. “Oh, my dear, you are adorable when you pretend to be brave.”

Lyla didn’t flinch.
She stepped forward.

“Try me.”

Before Dalia could speak, another enormous boom exploded outside. The walls groaned. Something massive slammed into the northern gate, a battering ram.

The pack was seconds away from being overrun.

I turned to the nearest warriors. “Get her out of my sight. Now.”

But before they could reach Dalia, she flicked her hand.

A burst of black smoke erupted around her, witch-binding powder.

“Rowan!” Lyla shouted.

I lunged.
But the smoke blinded me.

By the time it cleared...
Dalia was gone.

The hallway was empty except for a faint, mocking laugh echoing through the stone.

I cursed violently. “She’s gone to Kaiden.”

Lyla looked up at me, heart pounding so hard I could hear it. “Then we go too.”

I took her hand.
“Stay behind me.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she whispered fiercely.

And with the roar of warriors rushing past us and the echo of war growing louder, we sprinted toward the northern courtyard—

into the fire of battle.

The courtyard exploded into chaos the moment we broke through the archway.

Rain slammed down in sheets, turning the stone slick and the air electric. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating hundreds of wolves; some Blackwood, some Darkmoon, clashing in a frenzy of fur, claws, and blood.

The howl of an Alpha shook the night.

Kaiden.

I felt Lyla flinch behind me. My wolf snarled so violently it burned through my veins. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind a toppled carriage just as a rogue wolf lunged from the left.

I shifted mid-air.

My bones cracked, my muscles tore, fur ripping through skin, the change fast, vicious.
My wolf took over with a roar.

The rogue didn’t even have time to blink before my jaws closed around its throat. I tore it aside and leapt forward, shielding Lyla’s position.

“Stay behind the barricade!” I growled through our mind-link.

She nodded, breathless, but I saw her eyes glowing faintly gold, her dormant Alpha power surfacing in fear and fury.

Another rogue leapt over the barricade.
Three warriors tackled it, dragging it down.

The sound of steel and screams filled the air. Blood sprayed against the rain. The scent of burning wood mixed with wet fur and iron. Wolves slammed into each other with bone-crunching force.

The northern gate shattered completely.

Kaiden entered.

Huge. Silver fur matted with battle scars, eyes burning with murderous triumph. His presence alone sent a ripple of terror through my warriors.

Behind him:

Dalia.
Unharmed. Smirking. Standing in the rain with her silver dress swirling like a viper’s coil.

Behind her... Damon.

Shifted. Bleeding. His eyes wild and hollow.
He looked at me then at Lyla, with something broken.

Kaiden’s wolf growled, deep and rumbling.

“ROOOOWAN!”

His challenge cracked through the storm like thunder.

I stepped forward, fur bristling, my own roar ripping through the sky.

“KAIDEN!”

He charged.

I met him head-on.

Our bodies collided with the force of two falling mountains. Wolves scattered around us. The stone beneath our paws shattered. His claws raked across my ribs, slicing deep, my teeth sank into his shoulder, tearing muscle, bone.

We rolled across the soaked ground, biting, clawing, ripping.

Kaiden was strong.
Stronger than before.
Rage fed him like fire.

He clamped his jaw around my neck, I twisted, slamming him into the wall hard enough that stones cracked and fell.

He staggered.

I lunged again, ready to tear his throat out... but something made me freeze.

Lyla screamed.

“ROWAN!”

I whipped my head toward her.

Dalia had her.

She’d grabbed Lyla from behind, pressing a blade dipped in black venom to her throat. The sight sent a murderous growl tearing from my chest.

Kaiden laughed, a cruel, thunderous sound and slammed into my side, knocking me several feet back across the courtyard.

My wolf skidded across the mud, blood splattering around me.

Focus. Protect her. Get up!

I shoved to my paws, snarling, but pain shot through my ribs.

Kaiden stalked toward me, slow and certain.

Behind him, Dalia shoved Lyla to her knees, gripping her hair tightly.

“Rowan!” Lyla gasped. “Don’t... don’t come closer!”

Her eyes glowed gold again, brighter this time, lightning reflected inside them.

My heart stopped.

She was shifting.
Not physically... her power.

Dalia didn’t see it.
But Damon did.

His wolf froze mid-battle. His ears flattened.
Fear.

Then his voice broke through the storm:

“KAIDEN, KILL HIM NOW! DO NOT LET HER—”

A blast of energy exploded from Lyla.

Gold.
Blinding.
Silent but deafening.

Everyone froze.

Dalia’s eyes widened. "What... WHAT ARE..."

Lyla’s aura erupted, golden light blasting outward in a shockwave that sent Dalia flying backward like a ragdoll.

Rogues were thrown off their paws. Warriors tumbled. Even Kaiden staggered, bracing himself.

I stared.

Awe.

Fear.

Recognition.

My wolf bowed to her instinctively.

True Alpha.

She stood trembling, breath shaking, golden energy crackling around her like lightning, her hair whipping around her face.

The entire battlefield stopped.

Kaiden stared at her, fury twisting his features.

“A True Alpha?” he snarled. “You hid this from me... YOU HID THIS FROM ME!”

He lunged at her.

I broke.

I shot forward with a roar so monstrous it tore my throat raw. I slammed into Kaiden before he reached her, both of us skidding through the mud again.

He snapped at my muzzle... I tore into his side, ripping a chunk of flesh free.

Lightning cracked above us.

Kaiden threw me off him and shifted back to human form, panting, bleeding, grabbing a blade from the mud.

“YOU STOLE MY MATE!” he roared at me.

I shifted back too, teeth bared.

“You HUMILIATED her in front of your entire pack,” I spat. “You let her sister be taken. You left her to DIE.”

“She was MINE!”

“She. Is. NOTHING. TO. YOU.”

We clashed again, this time in human form, blades sparking, fists slamming into ribs and jaws.

His punch split my lip.

My blade sliced his forearm.

He kicked me hard. I hit the wall and collapsed to one knee.

Kaiden raised his sword, screaming:

“DIE, RO—”

A blur of gold slammed into him.

Lyla.

She moved faster than I’d ever seen, a streak of light, a flash of claws, a crack of bone. She tackled Kaiden so hard they rolled across the ground.

He tried to rise...

She didn’t let him.

She pinned him.
Golden light flared from her palms.
Kaiden screamed as the power burned into him.

“I am not yours,” she breathed, voice shaking the air.

“I NEVER WAS.”

Kaiden writhed beneath her, choking on his own breath as that golden light poured from Lyla’s palms. The same light I had felt once before… but never like this.

He clawed at her wrists, screaming.

“STOP... STOP... LYLA... LISTEN..."

She didn’t.

Her voice was quiet, but the ground itself thrummed beneath it.

“I begged you,” she whispered, tears gathering in her lashes. “I begged you to listen. I begged you to see me. I begged you to protect Maya.”

The air pulsed.

Kaiden coughed violently, blood spilling from his mouth. “I... I tried..."

“No,” Lyla breathed.
“You didn’t.”

A shockwave rippled from her body,  golden, violent, beautiful cracking the stones beneath Kaiden’s back. His spine arched off the ground, a raw, broken howl ripping from him.

“Lyla!” I shouted, stumbling toward them. “Enough! You’ll kill him..."

Her head snapped toward me.

Her eyes were glowing.

Not gold.
Not amber.

Alpha-gold.
True Alpha.
The kind only whispered about in myths.

“Rowan,” she whispered, voice trembling, “he took her. He knew. He knew all along Maya was alive.”

My breath froze.

Kaiden coughed again, voice shredded. “Your… your sister— the Shadow Crescent... they... they—”

He couldn’t finish.

Lyla’s glow intensified, flickering like wildfire on her skin.

“Tell me where she is,” she commanded, power vibrating in every syllable. “Tell me or I end you.”

Kaiden screamed and writhed beneath her, but the light held him down like invisible chains.
She wasn’t using strength.
She wasn’t using claws.

She was using authority.
Divine authority.

His body bowed under it, bones cracking.

“STOP!” I roared, grabbing her shoulders.

For one terrifying second, her power shoved back against me. The force knocked the air from my lungs.

Then she blinked, the glow faltering.

“Rowan…?”

Her voice cracked; small, fragile.

Kaiden slumped beneath her like a discarded rag, gasping raggedly, half-conscious, trembling violently. His skin smoked where her palms had burned him.

I sank to one knee beside her, cupping her face. “Lyla. Look at me.”

Her breathing came in sharp bursts, panic rising. “I didn’t mean to... I just... He took Maya... Rowan, he took her..." 

“I know.” My voice was low, steady, firm. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Her hands were still glowing faintly;  warm, dangerous.
She stared at them in horror.

“What am I?” she whispered.

“You,” I said, brushing my thumb along her cheek, “are everything he feared. Everything he tried to crush. Everything fate hid from us.”

She trembled, chest heaving, still half-feral with power.

Behind us, Kaiden dragged in a shaking breath.

“You think this is over…” he rasped. “You think you’ve won… but Damon... Damon’s coming and he’s bringing—”

He didn’t finish.

A deafening snarl split the air.

We turned and saw Damon hurtling across the courtyard in full wolf form, massive, black, eyes burning silver with madness.

He wasn’t running toward Kaiden.

He was running straight at Lyla.

“LYLA, MOVE!” I roared, shoving her aside.

Damon slammed into me mid-shift, claws ripping across my ribs, fangs sinking deep into my shoulder as we crashed into the stone wall.

Pain exploded through me.

I shifted mid-fall, colliding with him in a spray of dust and shattered rock. We rolled, claws tearing, jaws locking.

Damon was laughing, actually laughing between snarls.

“She’s MINE!” his voice thundered through the mind-link.

I snapped at his throat, barely missing. “She was NEVER yours!”

“She trusted me,” he snarled, slashing deep into my flank. “She LOVED me and YOU... you stole her the way you stole the Alpha seat and tonight I TAKE HER BACK! I TAKE EVERYTHING BACK!"

I slammed him into the ground.

“YOU ABANDONED YOUR PACK!” I roared.

He bit down on my forearm, twisting hard. White-hot agony shot up my arm.

“And YOU,” he growled, voice thick with rage and obsession, “ABANDONED HER!”

We collided again, blood spraying across the stones.

Lyla screamed.

“STOP!”

Her power rippled out again, involuntary, a golden shockwave that threw us both apart like children. Damon skidded across the courtyard, smashing through a pillar.

I hit the opposite wall, breath knocked from my lungs.

Before I could stand, Damon was already rising.
Shaking.
Foaming.
Eyes glowing a violent, sick silver.

“That power…” he hissed. “That POWER... she’s the TRUE Alpha and she BELONGS WITH ME.”

He lunged...

Straight for her.

“NO!” I roared, sprinting on instinct.

But Lyla didn’t run this time.

She stood.

Hands glowing.

Eyes blazing.

Her wolf shadow rising behind her like a golden phantom.

“Damon,” she said, voice fierce enough to shake the battlefield. “I am NOT yours.”

She raised her palm, power gathering, air trembling and Damon froze mid-leap.

Suspended. Crushed by invisible pressure. Howling in blind, rabid terror.

Lyla’s aura poured over him like molten light.

“Lyla...” I gasped, reaching her. “You have to control it..."

“I am,” she whispered.

Her golden gaze stayed locked on Damon.

“You chose betrayal. You chose blood. You chose to hurt everyone I loved.”

She stepped closer.

“And now you face ME.”

Damon’s eyes widened fear finally breaking through his madness and Lyla’s light swallowed him whole.

For a moment, the entire battlefield went silent.

Damon’s scream tore through the courtyard, high and feral then suddenly choked off as Lyla’s golden aura wrapped around him like chains forged from light itself. His body twisted unnaturally, suspended mid-air as the power crushed him from every direction.

“Lyla—!” I reached for her, but the force radiating from her nearly burned my skin.

She didn’t even look at me.

Her gaze was locked on Damon, expression carved from grief and fury, the perfect mask of a True Alpha.

Damon’s legs buckled under the invisible pressure. His claws scraped helplessly against nothing. His bones strained audibly, tendons snapping one by one.

“Lyla... PLEASE..." he howled, tone cracking into agony. “STOP... PLEASE...I LOVED YOU—”

“You loved power,” she said, voice cold as winter.
“You loved control.” Her light brightened. “You never loved me.”

The courtyard shook.

Damon shrieked, then the sound twisted into a wet gurgle as the golden force threw him backward. His body slammed into the wall with enough impact to crack stone. He collapsed, shifting back into human form, bloody and broken, gasping like a dying animal.

He tried to crawl.

“Lyla…” he whispered, reaching out. “Help… me…”

She stepped back, trembling, tears glistening in her lashes. “I already did. I saved you once. I won’t save you again.”

I moved forward and placed myself between them. “Damon,” I growled. “Your betrayal ends here.”

His eyes flicked to me; full of hatred, jealousy, and something like pathetic longing.

“You took everything from me,” he spat weakly.

“No,” I said.
“You threw it away.”

He lunged.

I didn’t hesitate.

My blade flashed once;  a clean, swift strike.

Damon collapsed at my feet, finally still.

Lyla inhaled sharply grief, relief, shock all crashing through her at once. I turned and caught her before her knees buckled. She pressed her forehead into my shoulder, body trembling.

“It’s over,” I whispered.

But it wasn’t.
Not yet.

A low growl rumbled across the battlefield.

Kaiden.

He dragged himself up from the ground, half-conscious but fueled by stubborn malice. His eyes were wild, lips curling.

“You think this is over?” he hissed. “I still have an army.”

As if on cue, more rogues surged through the shattered gate, fangs bared, howling in bloodlust.

I pushed Lyla gently behind me.

“Stay with me.”

She wiped her tears and nodded fiercely.

“I’m not leaving.”

I shifted full wolf power blazing through every limb despite the wounds tearing my skin. Lyla stood to my right, golden aura pulsing. Warriors from my pack rallied behind us, some bleeding heavily, others limping, but all ready to die for the Blackwood name.

“BLACKWOOD!” I roared through the mind-link.

A thunderous answer rose:

“BLACKWOOD FOREVER!”

And we charged.

The clash was chaos.

I ripped through the first rogue, claws slicing deep into his throat. Lyla moved beside me like a storm made flesh, light flaring with every strike, wolves thrown aside like paper.

My warriors slammed into Kaiden’s men with renewed fury, blades clashing, wolves tearing into wolves. Blood soaked the stones, screams mixing with snarls.

Kaiden shifted again and lunged at me, jaws snapping. We collided mid-air, rolling across the courtyard in a blur of claws and blood.

He bit into my shoulder. I tore into his flank.
He lifted me by the throat.
I slammed him against the rampart.

He snarled, “You’ll NEVER keep her. She was MINE!”

“No,” I growled.
“She was NEVER yours.”

I threw him to the ground.

But before I could finish him...

Dalia stepped out from the smoke.

Her dress was soaked in blood some hers, some not but she still carried that wicked, poisonous smile.

“Well isn’t this touching,” she sneered. “The Alpha and his precious little miracle.”

Lyla stepped forward, golden eyes burning.

“Dalia,” she said quietly. “Run.”

Dalia laughed. “Or what? You’ll blind me with glitter?”

Lyla lifted her hand.

The courtyard hummed.

Dalia’s smirk faltered.

“You have NO idea what you’re dealing with!” she snapped, raising a vial of black powder, witch-binding venom.

Before she could throw it... Lyla unleashed a burst of light so swift, so blinding, every warrior shielded their face.

Dalia screamed.

The vial shattered in her hand, the venom burning her skin. She stumbled backward, falling to her knees, sobbing and clutching her melted fingers.

“You… MONSTER!” she shrieked at Lyla.

“No,” Lyla said softly.
“You are.”

Then she flicked her wrist.

Dalia was thrown into the courtyard wall, unconscious.

I turned back to Kaiden.

He was barely standing, blood pouring from wounds, trembling, furious, terrified.

“This isn’t possible,” he rasped. “She… she can’t be… a True Alpha…”

“She is,” I said.
“And you just lost to her.”

His eyes widened.
“No… she was nothing… NOTHING—”

“She is EVERYTHING,” I said.

And with one final strike, I ended him.

The courtyard went silent.

Rain fell softly over the battlefield. The last rogue dropped. My warriors gathered, bruised and exhausted, but alive.

Lyla walked to me, breaths shaky, eyes still glowing faintly.

“It’s over,” she whispered.

I took her face in my hands.

“Yes,” I said, pulling her close. “It’s over.”

Or so I thought.

Because then...

A faint voice drifted across the courtyard:

“Lyla…?”

Lyla’s entire body went rigid.

We turned.

Through the smoke… through the ruin… through the broken gate…

A girl stepped forward.

Thin. Pale. Barefoot.
Wrapped in torn Shadow Crescent robes.
Hair matted.
Eyes glowing the same golden hue as Lyla’s.

Her voice trembled.

“Lyla… is that really you?”

Lyla gasped, hand flying to her mouth.

“M—Maya…?”

Her sister.

Standing on the battlefield.

Tears spilled down Lyla’s cheeks.

“MA—”

She didn’t even finish the name.

She ran.

Maya ran too.

They collided in the center of the courtyard, a broken, sobbing embrace years overdue.

My chest tightened. My throat burned. Relief and fear twisted inside me.

But the shock wasn’t over.

Because behind Maya…
in the shadows of the shattered gate…

Something else moved.