Chapter 167 Below Crescent Valley

Chapter 167 Below Crescent Valley
Kai’s POV

Nobody spoke for three full seconds after Selene said it. They wake it completely.
The words settled over the room like a death sentence and outside, another helicopter thundered low across the neighborhood, its searchlights slicing through the darkened streets. Somewhere farther downtown, gunfire erupted again.

Crescent Valley was collapsing faster by the hour. And now the military had reached the underground chamber. Exactly where the seal had broken and exactly where we could not let them go. “We have to move,” I said immediately.

Selene nodded once. “For once, we agree.”

Ethan scoffed bitterly from near the doorway. “Amazing. The psychopaths are finally cooperating.”

I turned toward him sharply. “You don’t get to talk about responsibility.”

The symbols under Ethan’s skin flickered darkly and wrong and every instinct I had reacted badly to them. The thing influencing him was getting stronger.
But Luna stepped between us before the argument could escalate. “Stop it.”

Her voice carried unnatural force now. Not Alpha exactly, it was something older. The room instinctively obeyed. Even Luna and I noticed that too.
And hated it immediately. Fear flickered across her face before she buried it fast.
“I need answers,” she said quietly. “Now.”

Grandma Ashford closed her eyes briefly, as if she’d spent years dreading this moment. Then slowly…She sat down.
“You were never supposed to awaken this early.”

Luna crossed her arms tightly. “I figured that part out already.”

“The seal was weakening for decades,” Grandma continued. “But your mother kept it stable.”

Selene looked down silently and Luna noticed. “You were there,” she realized.

Selene’s expression hardened slightly. “Yes.”

My chest tightened and something about this entire conversation felt dangerous in a way fighting never did. Truths changed people permanently.
And Luna was about to hear one that might destroy her. Grandma looked directly at her. “Your mother wasn’t just part of the bloodline, Luna.”

The room seemed to be still. “She was the last Guardian.”

Cold spread slowly through my chest.

No.

Luna frowned slightly. “What does that mean?”

Grandma’s eyes glistened faintly. “It means the seal was tied to her life.”

Silence. Then realization hit all at once. Luna went pale instantly.
“No.”

Grandma nodded once. “When she died…”

“The seal started failing,” Luna whispered.

The pain in her voice nearly broke something inside me, then Selene stepped forward carefully. “Your mother sacrificed herself to contain it.”

Luna looked at her sharply. “You expect me to believe that?”

“It’s the truth.”

“My mother died in a car accident.”

Nobody answered and that silence said enough. Luna staggered back slightly.
“No.”

Grandma’s voice cracked softly. “We lied to protect you.”

The wolf inside Luna surged violently. I felt it through the bond instantly.
Rage, grief, and betrayal. The windows rattled dangerously and the furniture shook. “Luna,” I warned carefully.

But she wasn’t hearing me anymore. “You all knew,” she whispered.

Her claws extended fully. “You all knew my entire life.”

The lights exploded overhead and the house trembled violently. Outside, wolves began howling again and responding. Always responding to her now.
Ethan stepped toward her carefully.
“Luna, calm down…”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” The force behind her voice threw him backward hard into the wall and everybody froze. Luna froze too and horror crossed her face instantly. “I didn’t mean…”

Then suddenly…Pain slammed through the bond between us sharp and violent. I grabbed my chest instantly and something below the town moved.
It actually moved. A deep pulse shook Crescent Valley hard enough to crack the street outside and every wolf howl stopped immediately.

Then came the scream. It was not human and not an animal, it was ancient.
The sound erupted from somewhere underground and rolled through the entire town like thunder. Luna collapsed to one knee gasping as blood ran from her nose again and Selene’s face lost color immediately. “That’s impossible.”

“What?” I snapped.

“The military activated something.”

The ground shook again. Far worse this time. Then all at once…Every phone in the house buzzed simultaneously.

Emergency Alert: IMMEDIATE EVACUATION FAILED. ALL UNITS RETREAT FROM SUBLEVEL ACCESS. CASUALTIES CONFIRMED.

Luna’s breathing became ragged as images flooded through the bond instantly. I saw flashes through her eyes: soldiers underground ancient stone doors, silver markings, and blood everywhere…And something was waking behind them.
Massive silver eyes open in darkness. I staggered slightly.
“What the hell is that thing?”

Grandma Ashford whispered the answer like a prayer she feared speaking aloud. “The First Wolf.”

Silence. Even Selene looked shaken now and Ethan frowned. “That’s a myth.”

“No,” Selene said quietly.

“It’s what the myths were based on.”

Cold dread spread through me. The original beneath Crescent Valley wasn’t dead. It had been sleeping. And now humans have entered its prison. Outside, the sirens across town abruptly stopped. One by one. Then the helicopters disappeared from the sky. They were not flying away, they were falling.
We heard the crashes moments later and distant explosions lit the horizon red.

Luna slowly lifted her head and her golden eyes were glowing brighter than ever now. “It’s calling me.”

Every instinct inside me reacted instantly. Danger. “Don’t answer it.”

“I don’t know how not to,” she said.

The house trembled again. Stronger and cracks spread across the walls.
The forest outside surged unnaturally toward the neighborhood like something alive below the roots and Selene looked toward the window sharply.
“It’s spreading too fast.”

Ethan grabbed the ritual blade at his side instinctively. “We end this before it fully wakes.”

Luna looked at him immediately. “No.”

Everyone turned toward her and her breathing steadied slowly now. But the wolf in her eyes remained fully visible. “It doesn’t want destruction,” she whispered.

Selene stared at her carefully. “How do you know that?”

Luna looked terrified by her own answer. “Because I can hear it.”

Silence crashed over the room. Then softly ... .Far below Crescent Valley, there was something enormous that answered her back.