Chapter 204 Kaden's POV

Chapter 204 Kaden's POV


We approached the abandoned cabin with twenty warriors, moving silently, weapons ready.

The building was exactly as Kira's map had shown old, decrepit, barely standing. Perfect hiding place for something that didn't want to be found.

I signaled the team to spread out and surround the structure and cut off any escape routes.

Marcus positioned snipers in the trees. Kira moved to my left, her eyes focused and deadly. Elara stayed back as I'd insisted, protected by four guards.

"On my mark." I whispered into the comm. "Three. Two. One. Go."

We breached the cabin from three sides simultaneously and walked straight into an ambush.

Rogues, dozens of them pouring out from hidden positions in the trees. From underground tunnels we hadn't been detected from everywhere at once.

"It's a trap!" Marcus shouted. "Fall back!"

But there was nowhere to fall back to. They would surround us completely.

The rogues attacked with coordinated precision. These weren't random outcasts. They were trained, organized and led by someone with tactical knowledge.

I shifted mid-run, my wolf form tearing into the nearest rogue. Felt claws rake across my shoulder. Tasted blood as my jaws closed around my throat.

Around me, my warriors fought desperately. We were outnumbered at least two to one.

Kira fought like a demon possessed. She moved through rogues like death itself, her fifteen years of torture fueling every strike the very kill.

"The children!" She screamed, slashing at a rogue's face. "You killed children! Innocent children!"

The rogue laughed. "Just following orders, nothing personal."

"I will make it personal!" She drove her claws through his chest.

More rogues kept coming, wave after wave we were being overwhelmed.

I caught sight of Elara through the chaos. She was still protected by her guards, but she looked wrong. Her nose was bleeding, her eyes had gone completely white.

"Elara!"

She didn't respond and didn't seem to hear me. The lunar pulse was activating, building to something.

One of the rogue leaders noticed her too. "Get Luna! She's the real prize!"

Five rogues broke away from the main fight, charging toward Elara. Her guards intercepted three but two got through.

I tried to reach her,tried to fight through the mass of enemies between us. Too far i was too far, the rogues were almost on her when it happened.

Elara's eyes blazed with blue-white light. Blood poured from her nose in a steady stream.

And power exploded from her body, a wave of pure lunar energy erupted outward. Visible, tangible, devastating.

It hit the charging rogues first, they didn't just die. They burned, from the inside out, their bodies igniting with divine fire.

Then the wave kept expanding. Hitting more rogues, more enemies.

"Everyone down!" I shouted to my warriors. "Get down now!"

We hit the ground as the lunar pulse washed over us. I felt it pass through me burning, searing, but not lethal it recognized us as a pack as allies.

The rogues had no such protection.

They screamed all of them screaming as the lunar pulse burned through them, cleansing them and destroying them.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air. The sounds of agony were deafening then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

Silence fell broken only by the crackling of flames and the groans of wounded warriors. I looked up bodies everywhere, all rogues, all burned beyond recognition.

Not a single one had survived Elara's pulse.

But we hadn't escaped unscathed either. My warriors were hurt. Burns and scratches where the pulse had touched them. Not fatal, but painful.

I ran to Elara and she collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Blood is still trickling from her nose.

"Elara! Can you hear me?"

No response, her breathing was shallow, her skin was too hot.

"We need to get her back to Damian. Now!"

Kira appeared beside me, covered in blood, some hers, most not. "I will help carry her and let us move."

We ran back to the pack house, half-carrying, half-dragging our wounded. Leaving the burning bodies behind.

Damian was waiting at the medical wing entrance. He took one look at Elara and immediately ordered her onto an exam table.

"What happened?"

"The Lunar pulse eruption wiped out thirty rogues. But it has hurt her so she won't wake up."

Damian worked quickly checking vitals. Starting IVs. Running tests.

"Her temperature is dangerously high, the pulse burned through her as much as through the enemies." 

He grabbed cooling packs. "We need to bring her temperature down before it causes permanent damage."

I stood there, useless, watching him work. Watching Elara lie unconscious on the table.

"The children," I said suddenly.

"The rogues, who admitted to killing the children, said they were following orders."

"Whose orders?"

"They didn't say they died before I could get more information."

Kira appeared in the doorway, bandaged but functional. "I recognized some of them from the Dark Moon Pack cave, they were prisoners who'd been fully converted to Erebus's cause."

"But Erebus is dead."

"His followers aren't and someone is still leading them giving them orders using them to attack us."

Marcus entered next. "Alpha, I have casualty reports, five warriors dead and twelve wounded. But we eliminated all the rogues and none escaped."

Five dead five more names to add to the list of people who'd died under my leadership.

"Prepare funeral arrangements. Full honors for the fallen."

"Yes, Alpha."

The next hours were a blur treating wounded. Organizing defenses comforting families of the dead. But I kept coming back to the medical wing. Checking on Elara, she still hadn't woken up.

Damian ran test after test, his expression growing more troubled with each result.

Finally, I cornered him. "What is it? What aren't you telling me?"

He pulled out several blood sample reports. "Look at these all taken from Elara over the past week."

The results were wildly different. Some showing the lunar pulse clearly. Others showing... something else.

"What is that?" I pointed to dark readings on several tests.

"Dark magic traces of it in her blood. But not consistent. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not." 

Damian ran his hand through his hair. "It is like she is carrying both divine power and dark magic simultaneously which should be impossible."

"Could it be from fighting Erebus? Some kind of contamination?"

"Possibly but Kaden, these traces don't match Erebus's dark magic signature. This is different, older and more primal."

"What are you saying?”

"I'm saying Elara is carrying some form of dark magic I have never seen before. And it is interacting with the lunar pulse in ways I don't understand." 

He showed me another report. "Look at this. When the dark magic is present, the lunar pulse weakens. When the pulse is strong, the dark magic disappears and they are competing inside her body."

"Is that what caused the eruption?"

"Maybe. If the two powers clashed violently enough, it could cause an uncontrolled release." 

He set down the reports. "But there is something else that worries me more."

"What?"

"The dark magic traces are getting stronger. More frequent like whatever is causing them to grow."

Ice ran through my veins. "Is she in danger?"

"I don't know, I have never seen anything like this. I don't know if the dark magic is a threat or just a side effect of the pulse.”

“I don't know if it's hurting her or if the pulse is keeping it in check."

"Then find out and do whatever tests you need to. Consult with other healers and other experts. Whatever it takes to understand what's happening to her."

"I will buy Kaden, you need to prepare yourself, this could be serious, really serious."

"She's survived everything else. She will survive this too."

"I hope you are right."