ALPHA'S LYCAN'S POINT OF VIEW.
I hovered in the air, watching the crowd below me … wolves I once called brothers and sisters, now trembling beneath the weight of my return.
Their eyes avoided mine as no one dared speak of Diana and no one dared look too long. Fear had seized them like a chokehold as they knew that I was ready to fire my strength on them.
I lifted my hand, black mist swirling at my fingertips, ready to unleash terror again. If they wouldn't give me answers, then they would taste pain.
But just as the power surged up my veins, something soft yet firm touched my hand.
It was her, Aisha.
She flew beside me, her cloak billowing like a second shadow. Her fingers, delicate yet cold with power, wrapped around mine.
"Stop," she whispered gently, her voice threading through my rage.
" Just look around, these are your pack members if you don't know, they're the reasons you want to be an Alpha that you want to rule so tell me, If you destroy them all… who will you rule?"
I stared at her, breathing hard, power crackling along my skin. The black mist danced like flames trying to break loose. Her eyes locked with mine, and for a moment, the chaos within me paused.
She was right, she always was and I didn't waste time as I lowered my hand.
The anger faded instantly as it made more sense of what she had just said and come to think of it, I may be stupid some times because I didn't think of these. Anyway that's why I'm blessed with such a beautiful lady.
Then Aisha reached into her side satchel, and pulled out something ancient…something pulsing with the energy of the underworld itself. The crown.
Black as midnight, forged in flames not of this world. It oozed smoke that curled and hissed, forming faces that vanished as fast as they came.
I was given the crown when I went to the underworld as I didn't waste time to reject anything purposely given to me in order to have the power I have now and I realized that it was worth it.
I mean look at me, looking so good and powerful, my aura felt different.
The moment she lifted the crown toward me, the sky darkened further.
A low wind howled through the trees and then, she began to chant.
Her voice dropped into something deep and unnatural…an echoing rhythm that shook the bones of the earth itself.
"By ash of bone and blood of flame,
I call the night, I speak thy name.
Through shadow's breath and cursed stone, rise, true Alpha…take your throne.
From brother's fall and Luna's cries,
Let power bloom where mercy dies.
Smoke of ruin, crown of fate,
Bind his soul, unlock the gate.
By ancient oath, by moon turned black,
Let none who kneel dare take it back.
With claw and curse, your rule begins
Alpha Lycan, the nightwind's king!"
As the final word left her mouth, the crown rose into the air between us. The smoke from it snaked toward me, weaving around my head like the tendrils of a living thing.
And then ...clink…she placed it on my head.
Lightning tore across the sky at that moment. The earth groaned beneath us. A blast of dark wind swept across the pack grounds.
I could feel it, power as all of it.
Rushing into my veins like a flood unchained. The dark crown burned against my scalp but I did not flinch. I embraced it, welcomed it. This was my destiny.
I looked down at the crowd below…dozens of wolves on their knees, heads bowed in terror and reverence.
In a voice not entirely mine, I commanded, "Bow to your Alpha!"
They didn't hesitate and every head touched the dirt.
Even the ones who once mocked me.
I turned to Aisha, still hovering beside me. I grabbed her hand, raised it high, and shouted, "This is your new Luna! Aisha, Queen of the Crystal Pack!"
The crowd roared in fear … not in celebration, but it was music to my ears all the same and I enjoyed every bit of it.
Then I declared, "Whoever finds my niece, Diana, will be richly rewarded. A seat at my side, honor, power and those who protect her…"
My smile turned wicked.
"…will share the fate of her parents."
We descended slowly, landing before the entrance of what was once Dinero's home. My home now.
I turned to Aisha, gesturing at the doors. "Come, my queen. This is our kingdom now. Let's enjoy it."
She walked beside me, her steps slow. Graceful. But there was something in her eyes. A cloud I didn't expect.
"What is it?" I asked as we entered the grand hallway. The walls still smelled like Dinero's scent. It made my teeth grind.
Aisha looked at me. "It's… the heirloom," she said softly.
I stopped walking.
"The one Dinero wore," she continued. "The moment he died, it vanished. It didn't just fall and stayed there as it was when you're about to pick it that it vanished as it supposed to be at the spot but it didn't It. It just… disappeared."
I turned fully to her as the air in the room stilled and I needed no one to tell me the reason she had remember the heirloom as it very important in this mission of mine in becoming the Alpha of crystal pack.
My fingers clenched.
"That heirloom," I murmured, "was more than just a symbol."
She nodded. "It was connected to the prophecy, Lycan. You remember what the Moon Priestess said years ago, don't you? Even the ancient demon warned us about the heirloom"
I did, damnit of course I did.
I felt it then a chill, not from fear…but from something deeper.
So the crown was mine, the title was mine. The pack was mine.
But the heirloom…the true mark of power…had vanished.
And with it… the last tie to the goddess's favor.
A pit opened in my stomach.
I was Alpha now. But for how long?
And where the hell was that fucking useless niece of mine called Diana? And I smiled evilly
to myself as I knew what to do already. I know how to get her.