CHAPTER 135 — THE GOLD IN HIS EYES WAS NOT SALVATION
CHAPTER 135 — THE GOLD IN HIS EYES WAS NOT SALVATION
The gold in Asher’s eyes should’ve comforted me.
It didn’t.
It burned.
Radiant, blinding, ancient—too ancient. Like something that had slept for centuries and was now staring at the world through him.
“Asher…” I whispered, my breath catching in my throat.
He pushed himself upright slowly, each movement deliberate, controlled—too controlled. His breathing steadied unnaturally fast. His spine straightened like a shadow shedding its humanity.
And that gold kept burning.
Not light.
Not warmth.
Power.
Raw, untamed power.
He blinked once, and the world around us responded.
The trees bowed.
The air thickened.
The earth vibrated faintly beneath our feet.
My pulse stumbled.
“Asher?” My voice broke. “Talk to me.”
He looked at me then.
Really looked.
And for one terrifying second, I saw two versions of him behind those golden eyes—the man I loved… and something else standing behind him, watching me through him like a creature examining its new vessel.
He reached toward me, slow and gentle, but I flinched before I could stop myself.
His hand paused in the air.
A flicker of pain—real, human pain—crossed his face.
“Luna,” he said softly. “It’s me.”
But his voice wasn’t the same.
It carried a deeper resonance, like two layers speaking at once even though I only heard one.
“What did the curse do to you?” I breathed.
He closed his eyes, jaw clenching. “Nothing. Not anymore.”
He opened them again.
Golden fire flared.
“It woke what was already inside.”
My heart hammered painfully. “Inside you?”
He nodded.
But before I could ask what that meant, the forest stirred.
Branches snapped.
Wind spiraled.
The shadows hissed like frightened animals.
Asher’s head tilted, the gold in his gaze sharpening. “It feels me.”
“What feels you?” I demanded, my voice trembling.
“The curse,” he murmured, standing fully now. “Or… what remains of it.”
He turned his face toward the dark treeline.
And whispered:
“It’s afraid.”
Afraid.
Of him.
My throat tightened. “Asher, what did we awaken?”
He looked back at me, and for a heartbeat that golden fire dimmed—softened—revealing the man beneath.
“The reason the curse wanted me,” he said quietly. “The reason it needed a vessel.”
He lifted his hand.
The air around us responded instantly, swirling with invisible force, bending toward his palm as if gravity obeyed him now instead of the moon.
“I wasn’t cursed,” he said.
“I was locked.”
A chill raked down my spine. “Locked… by who?”
His jaw tightened. “By the first Alphas.”
The world tilted.
“The founders?” I whispered.
He nodded. “They sealed something in my bloodline generations ago. A power stronger than any wolf should carry. Something they feared would tear the world apart.”
The forest darkened around us, reacting to his words.
“Asher…” I breathed. “What are you saying?”
He stepped closer—slow, careful, as if approaching a skittish animal.
“The curse wasn’t placed on me,” he said.
“It was placed around me.”
“But why?”
“Because if what’s inside me ever woke…” His chest rose, fell—steady, controlled. “…I wouldn’t just be Alpha.”
He reached out and touched my cheek.
The gold in his eyes softened again—but didn’t fade.
“I would be something no pack, no moon, no power could control.”
His thumb traced my jaw.
“And now… Luna… it’s awake.”
My breath hitched. “Is it dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured. “I don’t feel out of control. I feel—”
He searched for the word.
“Limitless.”
The wind surged around us.
Golden cracks of light flickered over his arms—like energy itching beneath his skin, begging to break free.
My chest tightened. “Asher… I’m scared.”
His face softened instantly—human, desperate, loving.
He held my face in both hands and pulled me against his chest. “Then let me be scared with you.”
I clung to him. The warmth of his body, the beat of his heart, the familiar scent of him—those grounded me. Those reminded me he was still mine.
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’m here. I’m still me.”
But the power in the air, the tension in the earth, the fear trembling through the forest—it all whispered the same truth:
He wasn’t the same.
Not anymore.
Asher pulled back slightly, cupping my face. “I won’t hurt you. Ever. You’re the only thing keeping me anchored.”
I held his wrists, shaking. “And what happens if you lose control? What happens if this power tries to consume you?”
His golden eyes darkened—not black, but deeper, molten, dangerous.
“Then you pull me back,” he whispered.
“I always will,” I said, voice breaking.
Something in him softened.
He leaned in and kissed me—slow, burning, desperate. A kiss that tasted like fear and fate and love and power too big for either of us.
But the moment our lips met—
The forest shook.
The darkness beyond the trees writhed.
The curse screamed.
And the trees bowed violently around us as if something enormous was creeping closer.
Asher ripped away from the kiss, chest heaving.
“It’s coming,” he whispered.
“What is?” I gasped.
His golden eyes glowed brighter.
“The thing the founders feared.”
He turned slowly toward the darkness.
“And it knows I’m awake.”