Chapter 166 The Heir’s Pull

Chapter 166 The Heir’s Pull
Luna’s POV

I stopped sleeping after the lockdown. Not because I couldn’t. But because every time I closed my eyes…I heard them.
The wolves.

Not actual voices, but instincts. Pain, fear, violence and hunger.
All bleeding into my head from somewhere beyond the town. The seal breaking connected us somehow. And the connection was getting stronger every hour.

By the third night, Crescent Valley barely looked human anymore. Smoke drifted across the streets from abandoned cars and military drones circled overhead constantly.

Emergency curfew sirens echoed every few hours and the forest had spread across entire neighborhoods now. Roots burst through houses.
Trees grew impossibly fast overnight and nobody trusted anyone anymore.
Not after the moon sickness started spreading. The infected changed unpredictably, aggression, glowing eyes, violent instincts. animal behavior and partial transformations.

Some survived it and some didn’t. The lucky ones only lost control temporarily and the unlucky ones tore themselves apart from the inside.
I stood near the shattered living room window staring at soldiers patrolling the street below.

One of them looked up suddenly and our eyes met. And immediately…His fear hit me. Sharp and overwhelming. He knew.
Maybe not consciously. But instinctively. It was a predator.
I stepped back from the window automatically. Behind me, Kai watched carefully from the hallway. He barely left my side anymore.

Not because he didn’t trust me. But because he did. Too much.
The bond between us had changed him too. I could feel his protective instincts constantly now. Like a second heartbeat beside my own.
And honestly….That scared me almost as much as the transformation itself.
“You need to eat,” Kai said quietly.

I didn’t turn around. “I’m not hungry.”

Lie.

Immediately. My wolf reacted at once and Kai sighed softly.
“You’re getting worse at lying.”

“I’m trying not to think about the fact I can smell blood from three streets away.”

That shut him up briefly. The silence stretched. Then carefully…
“Kai,” I whispered.

He stepped closer instantly. “What?”

I finally turned toward him. “I don’t think I’m human anymore.”

The words hurt more spoken aloud and Kai’s expression shifted immediately with pain and protectiveness. And something deeper.
“No,” he said quietly. “You are.”

“You hesitated.”

His jaw tightened. “I’m trying to answer honestly.”

That almost made me laugh. Almost. Instead, I looked down at my hands.
The claws weren’t retracting fully anymore.
Silver-black markings spread faintly under my skin now too.
Alive somehow and moving when my emotions spiked. Kai moved closer carefully. “You’re still Luna.”

“But for how long?”

Silence. That silence answered enough. A sudden crash echoed outside.
Then screaming. Then my wolf reacted instantly and every nerve in my body sharpened violently. Danger was close. Kai moved toward the window immediately.

Two soldiers sprinted down the street below chasing a teenage boy whose eyes glowed silver.

Moon-sick. The boy slammed into a parked car hard enough to dent metal.
Not human strength anymore. One soldier raised his weapon shakily.
The boy growled. Actually growled. And suddenly….Something inside me snapped. “No!”

The word exploded out of me instinctively and power surged through the house.
Every window shattered again. The lights burst. And outside…
The moon-sick boy froze instantly. So did the soldiers and everyone froze.
Like the command hit deeper than sound and Kai stared at me horrified.
The boy slowly turned toward the house. Then lowered his head submitting.
My breathing became uneven immediately. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

Selene’s voice answered from the staircase. “But you did.”
God, I hated when she appeared silently.
Selene descended calmly into the living room wearing black like she belonged in the apocalypse.

Maybe she did.
“The hierarchy connection is strengthening faster than expected,” she observed.

Kai stepped protectively closer to me immediately and Selene noticed.
Of course she noticed.
“The Alpha instinct is stabilizing her,” she said lightly.

“I’m not part of this conversation,” Kai replied coldly.

Selene ignored him. “You’re resisting reality.”

“And you enjoy this too much.”

Her silver eyes flicked briefly toward him. “Not as much as you think.”

Interesting. But before I could focus on that, pain slammed through my skull violently. I gasped and images exploded through my head instantly.
The forest. Underground tunnels. Ancient stone.
And something enormous moving under Crescent Valley watching and waiting. My knees nearly gave out and Kai caught me immediately.
“Luna!”

“It’s awake,” I whispered.

Selene went still instantly. “What did you see?”

I looked up, breathing hard. “There’s something under the town.”

Selene and Kai exchanged a look. Not good.
“You both knew.”

Kai answered carefully. “We knew something was sealed there.”

“No,” I whispered shakily. “This thing is alive.”

Silence.
Then Grandma Ashford spoke quietly from the kitchen doorway.
“It always was.”

Everyone turned toward her and she looked exhausted tonight and older somehow. Like the seal breaking aged her too.
Grandma stepped slowly into the room holding an old photograph in trembling hands.
“Your mother saw it once,” she said softly.

My chest tightened immediately. “You knew my mother?”

Selene stiffened slightly at that. Interesting again.
Grandma handed me the photograph carefully. It showed a younger woman with silver hair standing beside Crescent Forest.
And beside her….A younger Selene Drake and my breath caught instantly.
“What the hell?”

Selene looked away first. Which told me everything.
“You knew my mother.”

Kai stared at Selene sharply. “You never said that.”

“She didn’t ask.”

“That’s not an answer,” I snapped.

The wolf growled under my voice automatically. Furniture trembled slightly around the room and Selene met my eyes carefully now. For once, no manipulation and no mockery. It was only honesty. “She was my friend.”

Silence crushed the room. Impossible silence.
My mother and Selene. Friends?
“That’s impossible.”

“No,” Grandma whispered sadly. “It’s the reason this town survived as long as it did.”

My pulse thundered painfully. Everything kept changing too fast.
Every truth led to something worse underneath it, then Kai’s phone suddenly buzzed loudly. He checked it once. And his face immediately darkened.
“What?”

Kai looked up slowly. “The military found the underground chamber.”

Selene swore under her breath instantly. That terrified me more than the news itself. “What happens if humans reach the seal?”

Nobody answered immediately. Then finally….Selene looked directly at me.
“They wake it completely.”