ALPHA DINERO'S POINT OF VIEW.
I didn't have much left in me…physically or mentally. But I did the only thing I could.
I prayed to the Moon Goddess to take care of my daughter Diana so she wouldn't be caught by my evil brother Lycan.
Please, I whispered in my mind, feeling the blood dry on my lips.
Moon Goddess… if ever I have served you faithfully… if ever I was worthy of the Alpha title you placed on me… save her. Save my Luna and my daughter.
But the sky didn't crack open.
There was no divine light, no rush of wind and no ancestral voice booming from the heavens.
There was nothing, as it was just the cursed silence of the courtyard…and the soft metallic hum of a dagger floating in the air, swirling around Irish.
It danced mockingly, its tip circling closer and closer to her throat, then darting to her heart, then her stomach. It was as though it was deciding where to strike first as it was controlled by the twisted fingers of my brother.
Lycan stood beneath her, one arm outstretched like a maestro conducting his final symphony. His dark eyes were locked on the floating blade, a cruel smirk twitching at the corner of his lips.
I tried to move…gods, I tried. But the spell he'd placed on me had sunk its claws deep into my soul.
My strength was gone, drained like water from a broken jug even my wolf was silent, caged by the black magic that clung to my bones.
I was forced to watch and also helpless and broken.
The dagger suddenly stopped moving.
My eyes snapped to Lycan, whose smirk had stretched into a grin of delight. He caught the dagger mid-air with a sudden swipe of his hand, and the blade is still glinting in the strange weather like it hungered for blood.
Then he turned to me slowly as his wicked grin didn't falter.
"I just remembered something," he said casually, as if we were discussing old memories over a drink.
"When I walked in here earlier… I asked a question. And no one gave me an answer."
He turned to Iris, who glared back at him, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Where… is my little niece?" he asked, sing-singing the words like a demented lullaby. "Where's the Diana of a girl, hmm?"
Neither of us answered as we wouldn't dare endanger my little daughter, Diana.
He wasn't worthy of even hearing her name.
His grin twisted into something darker.
"Don't worry," he said. "I won't harm my sweet little niece. Oh no… I'll let fate do that."
Still, we said nothing.
Lycan shrugged. "Fine. No one wants to talk?" He turned to Irish again. "Then you, Iris…or whatever your name is…you're leaving first."
He lifted his hand and before I could blink, before I could scream…Her feet turned gray.
Not pale as it was not cold, it was turning to stone.
"No…no…no, please…NO!"
It crept up fast, like ivy growing across her legs. Her knees. Her waist.
She struggled, arms flailing, mouth gasping…until her lower body was completely encased in stone.
Her eyes locked onto mine as if trying to tell me to be strong.
Those silver-blue eyes that had held me together through every war, every loss, every trial of leadership. The eyes that told me I was never alone.
Now they were filled with terror.
And I couldn't do a damn thing.
"IRISH!" I roared, using every last thread of strength in my chest. My voice cracked, raw and hoarse, as if I'd screamed from the depths of hell itself.
"STOP! Please, Lycan…stop!" But Lycan just laughed, not just any laugh but a bad one as he's enjoying every bit of it.
It was the laugh of a man who had long since torn his soul to pieces and now found amusement in the suffering of others.
"Look at you!" he howled. "Look at you! Crying like a little boy. The mighty Alpha Dinero… sobbing like a baby for his pretty wife."
He turned in a circle, arms wide, as if performing for an invisible audience. "What a pathetic sight! The great Alpha who banished me…now crawling, bleeding, begging for mercy!"
I bit my lip until blood poured into my mouth.
"You can't even save your Luna," he snarled. "How will you protect your daughter?"
My breath hitched.
"You won't find her," he added, eyes gleaming. "You'll never find her. But I will."
He said to me mockingly as he repeated everything I said and took a step closer.
"I bet you cannot and never will not find her… and even if you did find her, by the time you do, she'll be more powerful than you ever imagined. Maybe she'll even dethrone you someday," he chuckled, "but guess what?"
He crouched to my level.
"You won't be around to see it."Something in me snapped.
Maybe it was rage, maybe it was grief.
Or maybe it was the faintest whisper from the Moon Goddess telling me to speak the truth.
I forced myself to lift my eyes.
"She will find you," I said, voice trembling but certain. "And when she does… it'll be your end, Lycan. You won't be laughing then."
His smile faltered.
For the first time, I saw it…the look of fear in his eyes.
The doubt, that he tried to mask it, but it was there.
He stood up suddenly, with that twisted grin of his, returning out of prideful defiance. "Enough."
Without warning, he lifted his hand, claws unsheathing from his fingertips like black daggers.
I knew what was coming, and I didn't care.
I had said what needed to be said, the truth had been planted and let it bloom in blood if it must, he plunged his claws into my chest.
Pain ripped through me like wildfire. I felt the warmth of my own blood spilling down my shirt, soaking the ground beneath me.
And then…Darkness, but even as my vision faded, as the world spun away from me…
I saw her face, Diana…our daughter running to me.
And somewhere, far in the distance, I heard her voice…as her voice was faint and strong all at once and I said a little loud, talking to myself before falling to the ground dead… " Jaden should have taken her far away.''