CHAPTER 143 — THE MOONBLOOD’S PRICE
CHAPTER 143 — THE MOONBLOOD’S PRICE
The world held its breath as Luna carried Asher back through the dark forest, his weight heavy but familiar against her chest. Every step hurt — not physically, but in the way her heart clenched tighter each time she looked down at his too-still face.
His skin was warm, but wrong.
His aura flickered like a dying flame.
His heartbeat wavered, soft and uneven.
“Asher, stay with me,” Luna whispered into the hush of the trees. “Don’t leave me. Don’t you dare.”
The silver light from the earth was gone, but she could still feel the echo of it trembling under her skin — the mark at her neck pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Not hers.
Not Asher’s.
Something older.
The First Wolf.
Its whisper still lingered like frost clinging to her bones.
Found you.
Her jaw tightened, fury slicing through her exhaustion. She shifted Asher’s weight and quickened her pace, branches whipping past her legs.
When they emerged from the tree line, the sky was just beginning to pale — that fragile gray between night and dawn. The pack house lights flickered in the distance, scattered through the settlement like fireflies.
But something was wrong.
Wolves stood outside in tense clusters. Warriors lined the paths, some half-shifted, some armed, all alert. They smelled the disturbance in the forest. They felt the tremor of ancient magic.
Beta Rowan was the first to spot her.
“Luna!” he shouted, sprinting toward her.
His eyes widened when he saw Asher limp in her arms. “What happened?!”
She didn’t slow. “Move. I need him inside now.”
Rowan obeyed instantly, barking orders. Wolves rushed ahead to open doors, clear paths. Murmurs spread like wildfire.
“Is the Alpha hurt?”
“He’s unconscious—”
“Was it the curse again?”
“What did she fight out there?”
“The forest shook— I felt it—”
Luna ignored them all.
She carried Asher straight into their room, laid him gently on the bed, and covered him with blankets, her hands trembling with the need to do something, anything, to make him wake.
Rowan hovered by the doorway, uncertain for the first time Luna had ever seen him.
“Luna… what happened?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
She sat beside Asher, brushing her knuckles down his jaw. His skin sparked faintly under her touch — the leftover residue of whatever magic had seized him.
Rowan stepped closer. “We felt something outside. Something powerful.”
Luna’s throat tightened. “It was older than powerful.”
Rowan stiffened. “The curse?”
“No.” Her voice cracked. “Something deeper than the curse. Something that’s been sleeping under the earth longer than any of us have existed.”
He swallowed hard. “Tell me.”
Luna finally looked up, eyes blazing with equal parts fear and rage.
“The First Wolf,” she whispered. “The one from the prophecy. The one the curse is tied to.”
Rowan paled.
“That’s a myth.”
Luna shook her head. “It isn’t. It spoke to me— through Asher.”
Rowan stumbled backward as if she’d physically struck him. “The First Wolf… spoke through the Alpha?”
She nodded once.
“And it’s waking,” she added. “And when Asher bled, the curse didn’t just react— it connected him to that thing.”
Rowan’s breath hitched. “Luna… if that’s true—”
“It is true,” she cut in sharply. “And there’s more.”
She pressed a hand to her mark.
“It knows me.”
Rowan blinked. “What?”
“It called me by name before ever seeing me. It said I carry Moonblood in my veins. That I’m—” she hesitated, the words foreign in her mouth, “—a descendant of the Moon’s original bloodline.”
Rowan stared at her as though she had grown wings.
“You’re telling me you’re…” He shook his head in disbelief. “Luna, that bloodline died out thousands of years ago.”
“So did the First Wolf,” she said coldly. “And he’s waking too.”
Rowan sank into a chair, burying his face in his hands. “This changes everything.”
Luna touched Asher’s cheek again, her voice softening.
“What changes everything is that he’s not waking up.”
Rowan looked up, worried. “Is he in danger?”
“Yes.” Luna’s eyes sharpened with deadly resolve. “But not from the curse. From what’s calling to him.”
She leaned forward, her forehead resting against Asher’s.
“He whispered to me through Asher’s lips,” she said softly. “Not Asher’s voice. His.”
Rowan shivered. “What did he say?”
Luna’s voice dropped to a broken whisper.
“Found you.”
Silence.
Heavy, suffocating, final.
Rowan’s expression hardened. “What do you need from me?”
Luna finally looked at him.
“Protection. Discretion. And every piece of history this pack has on Moonblood lineage and the First Wolf.”
Rowan nodded sharply. “I’ll get it.”
“And Rowan—” Her voice lowered dangerously. “If anyone tries to touch Asher, restrain him, use him, or speak of him like he’s a vessel—”
Rowan met her eyes. “I’ll rip their throat out myself.”
A slow, fierce gratitude warmed her chest. “Thank you.”
He left at once.
Luna turned back to Asher.
She took his hand in both of hers and pressed it to her heart.
“You’re not a vessel,” she whispered shakily. “You’re mine. And whatever ancient monster wants you— it’ll have to tear through me first.”
Asher’s fingers twitched.
Barely.
But it was movement.
Luna’s breath hitched.
“Asher? Asher, please— wake up—”
His lips parted.
But no sound came out.
Just a single tear, sliding down his cheek.
Luna’s throat closed.
He was trapped.
Alive.
Fighting.
But trapped.
She brushed the tear with her thumb, her voice breaking.
“I’m coming for you. I swear it.”
Outside, the sun finally rose—
and the world changed with it.