Chapter 150 Damien's POV

Chapter 150 Damien's POV
They come with the setting sun.
I see them from my position on the eastern rampart, a dark mass moving through the forest like a plague. 
Rogues in wolf form, hunters with silver weapons, and scattered among them, figures in dark robes bearing the Purist symbol.
Two hundred strong. Maybe more.
"Positions!" I shout, and wolves scramble to defensive lines.
Through pack bonds, I coordinate with my father at the main gate, with the heirs positioned at strategic points, with the allied pack reinforcements on the western flank.
I feel Riley beside me, her Luna-born power already building like silver fire under her skin.
"Stay close," I tell her for the hundredth time.
"Always," she responds, and I feel her determination through the bond.
The enemy reaches the tree line and stops. For a moment, there's eerie silence, two armies facing each other across blood-soaked ground that hasn't seen war in decades.
Then a figure steps forward from their ranks.
Axel Vandal. Kaelen's father. The rogue Alpha.
He's massive even in human form, his amber eyes glowing with predatory hunger. Behind him, moving with deadly grace, is Selene Draven, the Silver Huntress. 
Her silvery-white hair gleams in the fading light, her icy-blue eyes cold and calculating as they scan our defenses. She carries her signature bow, arrows already nocked, and flanking them both…
Seraphine Duskbane and Elder Selwyn Voss.
The traitors, revealed for all to see.
Through pack bonds, I feel Cassian's anguish as he sees his grandfather standing with enemies. The final confirmation that everything we accused him of was true.
"Silverwood!" Axel's voice carries across the field. "You harbor corruption. You embrace abomination. 
You allow Luna-born filth to poison your bloodlines. Today, we cleanse that corruption. Today, the old ways return!"
Cheers erupt from the enemy ranks. Howls. Battle cries.
"Today," my father's voice cuts through the chaos, Alpha authority making even enemies pause, "you face wolves who choose strength over fear. Progress over stagnation, and love over hatred. Come then. Show us the power of your precious purity."
The rogue Alpha's eyes find Riley, and I see naked hunger in them.
"The girl," Axel says, pointing. "Bring me the Luna-born girl, and the rest of you may live. Refuse, and we burn Silverwood to ash."
"Go to hell," Riley shouts back, and through the bond I feel her fury. "I'm not going anywhere."
Axel smiles. "Then you'll die where you stand."
He raises his hand, and chaos erupts.
The rogues charge.
The hunters loose silver-tipped arrows, and the battle for Silverwood begins.
"Wards!" Professor Liora shouts, and the magical barriers flare to life, deflecting the first wave of arrows.
But the wards can't hold forever. Already I see them flickering under the assault.
"Archers, return fire!" Jaxon commands, and our own hunters send volleys into the charging rogues.
Wolves fall. Both sides. Blood soaks into earth, and then the rogues hit our defensive line.
The world becomes teeth and claws and violence.
I shift mid-leap, my Alpha wolf exploding forward to meet the first wave. Through pack bonds, I coordinate attacks, direct reinforcements, identify weak points.
But the enemy is organized. Disciplined. This isn't a rabid mob, it's an army.
Through the bond, I feel Riley engaging, her Luna-born power flaring as she fights alongside Professor Liora. 
Silver light cuts through shadow, and I hear rogues screaming as her power burns them.
Stay together, I remind her through the bond.
I'm trying! she sends back, and I feel her fear spike as hunters target her specifically.
Three rogues break through our line, heading straight for Riley.
I intercept two, tearing through them with spectral wolves that manifest in golden fury. But the third…
Riley's power explodes outward, and the rogue disintegrates mid-leap, consumed by Luna-born light so intense it leaves afterimages.
Through the bond, I feel her shock at her own power, and underneath that, the tiny shadow fragment that survived the Chasm, coiling protectively around her core.
Riley, the shadow…
I know, she sends back. It's helping. Fighting with me, not against me. I don't understand it, but I'll take it.
A hunter's arrow whistles past my ear, silver-tipped, meant for Riley. I dodge and leap, taking the hunter down with brutal efficiency.
But there are too many. For every enemy we drop, two more press forward.
Through pack bonds, I feel casualties mounting. Guards falling. Allied wolves wounded. We're holding, but barely, and then I see her.
Seraphine Duskbane, moving through the chaos with predatory grace, her icy-blue eyes fixed on one target.
Riley.
"RILEY!" I shout through the bond. "Seraphine, your six!"
Riley spins just as Seraphine launches an attack, not physical, but mental. Illusions slam into Riley's consciousness, and through the bond I feel her stagger.
Professor Liora intercepts, throwing up mental shields, but Seraphine is powerful. A master of mind arts, and she's not alone.
Elder Selwyn appears at her side, his hawk-like features twisted with contempt.
"Hello, grandson," he calls out, and Cassian freezes mid-fight. "Ready to choose the winning side yet?"
Through pack bonds, I feel Cassian's heart breaking all over again.
"You're not winning," Cassian says, his voice hollow. "You're destroying."
"I'm saving," Elder Selwyn corrects. "Saving Silverwood from wolves like her." He points at Riley. 
"From corruption that wears a pretty face. From the lie that outsiders can ever truly belong."
"She belongs more than you do," Cassian snarls, and I see him make his choice.
He attacks his own grandfather.
The two clash, beta fighting beta, strategy against strategy, student against teacher.
And it's brutal.
Through pack bonds, I feel every strike Cassian lands on the man who raised him. Feel every wound he takes in return. Feel his anguish at what he's been forced to do.
But he doesn't stop. Can't stop, because Elder Selwyn is fighting to kill, and Cassian is fighting to save Silverwood.
Seraphine, seeing her ally engaged, redoubles her assault on Riley.
Illusions flood the battlefield. Copies of enemies. False threats. Mental attacks that make Riley doubt what's real.
But Riley doesn't fight alone.
Professor Liora anchors her, providing clarity through the chaos, and the shadow fragment inside Riley seems to recognize illusions for what they are, burning through false images with shadowy fire.
Together, I remind her through the bond, fighting my way toward her position. Your power and mine. Like Kaelen said.
Understanding floods through the bond.
Riley's Luna-born power surges. My Alpha corruption rises to meet it. And instead of fighting each other, instead of repelling like opposing magnets…
They merge.
Silver and gold. Light and shadow. Luna and Alpha.
The explosion of combined power ripples across the battlefield, and I feel something snap into place. Something that's been building since the mate bond first formed.
We're not just fighting beside each other. We're fighting as one.
Through the bond, I channel my corruption to her. She channels her Luna power to me, and together, we become something neither of us could be alone.
Stronger. Faster. Unstoppable.
Seraphine's illusions shatter against our combined presence. We see through them, burn through them, and when Riley and I move together, wolves flowing as one, we tear through enemies like a force of nature.
The rogues sense it. Fear it. Start to fall back.
But Axel Vandal isn't ready to retreat.