Page 55 of The Alpha's Lunar Crown

My head snaps toward the sound, and my vision narrows. Every part of me pauses, narrowing my concentration till the battle cries drown and I can single out exactly where the cry is coming from.

I run, my feet hitting the ground in hard, fast strikes till I enter the building.Damon is standing in the center of the room with Ronan in his grasp. A blade is pressed against his tiny throat. My son's wide, terrified eyes lock onto mine.

"Mom!" Ronan cries, kicking against Damon's grasp.

My heart shatters.

"Let. Him. Go." Lucien's voice fills the room, hard and authoritative. I didn't notice him following me.

Damon's eyes shift to the spot beside me, his lips curling into a malicious smirk. "If it isn't the man of the moment."

Lucien let out a growl, taking a step forward. "I said, let him go."

Damon responds by pressing the blade tighter, my breath hitching with the contact. "One step closer, and he dies.""Damon, please. He's just a boy." My voice is weaker than I intended, but I don't care. Seeing that knife so close to my baby's neck has stripped me of every rage. One wrong move from either him or Damon will make a clean cut.

Something flickered in his expression—hesitation. Just enough, but it disappears as fast as it came.

"Call off your wolves, or the boy dies.""Damon—""Aurora, stay out of this." His voice is sharp and courteous, meeting me like a slap in the face, but I don't relent. If I have to beg to get my son out of here alive, then so be it. I'll definitely get back at Damon, but I need to get Ronan away from him first.

The battle around us intensifies, but it doesn't take much to tell who is winning. The screams, the growls, and the snapping of bones are a testament to lives given for the sake of what each wolf believes in.

A warrior walks into the room, whispering something in Damon's ears, and the cold, murderous look he had earlier returns to his face.

"Call it off.""You can't win this." Liam steps in, Selene hot on his trail. "More than half of your warriors are dead, and what is left of them won't take much to finish off. Let the boy go."

Damon let out a dry laugh. "You don't get it, do you? I can always raise a new set of warriors, but him," his eyes move to Ronan, "you will never replace the loss."He straightens, locking his eyes on Lucien this time. "I would advise you to choose wisely this time. I hear you have a history of making the wrong decisions."

Lucien's eyes narrow, and his hands roll into a fist, clenching hard. The veins in his body are pronounced, and his jaw is taut from how hard he's grinding his teeth.

"He's bluffing," Selene says, studying Damon.

Damon smirked, tightening his grip on Ronan. "Are you willing to bet his life on that?"

My stomach twists. I take a step forward before I even realize what I am doing. "Damon," I say, my voice steady despite the terror gripping me. "Please."

Damon let out a slow, exaggerated sigh. "I had plans for us, you know. I didn't expect to like you, but you turned out to be quite fascinating."

I feel my stomach churn in disgust. "I was never yours."

His expression hardens, something sinister flashing in his gaze. "No. But you were useful. Using you to lure him out of his pack while we struck and sticking around you to get some intel. You contributed to my success, darling."A disgusting smirk stretches his face, and I find the urge to hurl a projectile of vomit at him. That is why Lucien was late to save me. It would also explain Damon turning up without a call, but I was too angry at Lucien to pay attention to all of it. The strategic appearance at my house shortly after I came back from Blackwood. All of it to access the situation of things. In all of these, one thing stood out to me. Lucien. He came to me straight from a battle with an injured leg.Understanding dawns like a sickening weight in my chest. "You used me." I always had suspicions, but hearing it from him was different.

A flicker of something—regret, maybe—passes over his face, "Not entirely."

I seize the moment, taking another step forward. "So, what was the exception? Was there anything that would've changed your mind?" I don't know what my end game is, but I can tell the conversation has distracted Damon a little. His grip on Ronan loosens.

"You should've been mine. Together, we would've easily taken him, but you chose him over me," Damon spat, looking at Lucien with disgust.

"Look at him. He's so weak and pathetic he can't even access his wolf or keep you safe."

"I would rather die than ever be yours." The words leave my mouth before I can stop, and I instantly realize the gravity of the mistake I've made.

Damon's face twists in fury. "Then you can watch as your son dies."

Everything happens in a blink. Damon's arm moves, and a sharp glint of his knife flashes under the golden ray of the evening sun, its tip pressing against Ronan's throat.Ronan whimpers, his tiny body trembling, and a scream builds in my chest. My wolf tears through my flesh and releases herself in a flash.

A few wolves I never noticed hiding in the background rush into the space, heading straight for Selene, Lucien, and Liam.

Lucien moves first, but his movement is slowed by the lack of his wolf and the slight limp in his leg, which gives Damon a chance to switch the blade to his other hand and slice through Lucien.

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