Page 110 of Taming the Alpha's Daughter

Celeste's village is fortified with shimmering wards, erected to shield her people and, more importantly, her daughter from Hades's wrath. These wards are renowned for their strength, designed specifically to repel the God of the Underworld. However, they haven’t accounted for the reaper wolves, creatures of both the mortal and the divine, birthed from the souls of the fallen, yet stripped of humanity. They only know how to destroy, rape, and kill.

As the wolves approach, the wards vibrate with a resonant hum, casting arcs of bright, ethereal light into the night.

Men, women, and children scramble in panic, gathering weapons, preparing defenses, and seeking refuge. Celeste, her form radiating a calm yet powerful aura, emerges at the village center. Her eyes, full of determination and a hint of desperation, scans the horizons for signs of Hades. Yet, it is not him but his monstrous creations that she sees descending upon her sanctuary.

“These aren't ordinary wolves,” she whispers to Kaif. “They are extensions of Hades himself.”

“What are they?” Kaif asks. Yet, Celeste doesn’t have a name for them. However, she can sense Hades's power all over them.

But Celeste, drawing upon her immense power, fights back. With every wave of her hand, bursts of energy repel the beasts, turning some to ash and sending others retreating with scorched fur. Yet, there are too many, and for each that fall, two more seem to take its place.

After a while, the reaper wolves grow bored. Her village has been destroyed and her human half-brother has been killed.

However, after the first week of his reaper wolves' continued attacks on Celeste, Hades begins to see the error of his creation. When they are killed, they rise again. Clawing at the earth in which they were buried, they are never truly dead. And no matter how many times Celeste kills them, they always return.

Hades realizes he messed up, and that the people he turned into the reaper wolves are an abomination, one not even he can fathom. He tries killing them himself yet finds the more he tries, the stronger they get, the more savage and the smarter they become.

The silver lining in the dark cloud of reaper wolves becomes increasingly thin as the beasts’ persistent revivals become evident.

The scene morphes, showing Celeste's failed attempt at creating her Lycans. However, when it doesn't work, and she too makes the mistake of creating yet another monster, her face is taken over with hopelessness. Her desperation leads her to order Bain to search for Hades's twins — her potential leverage against the God of the Underworld.

Unbeknownst to Hades, who has been working tirelessly trying to find a way to destroy his own creation and correct the balance, he follows his reaper wolves across the country. Yet nothing he does can stop them, nothing he tries works until he stumbled across a village deep in the forest.

It is a cruel irony — a God trying to undo his own creation, only to see it defy him in the most horrific way possible.

What shocks me even more is realizing that the origin of the werewolf myth was not as I'd believed. Celeste, whom I had always considered the creator of the Lycan lineage, was not the true creator. Before her Lycans, Hades’s reaper wolves roamed the earth, setting the stage for a legacy of blood and carnage.

Even Gods have their regrets, it seems, and the reaper wolves are his. Struggling to cope with the havoc wrought by his creation, I watch as Hades's steps lead him to a secluded village deep within the forests, its atmosphere laden with the scent of fear and anticipation.

The villagers, desperate, have put out a call for help, looking for a hunter to help slaughter the feral wolves. Little do they know that the hunter that would come to help them, is no hunter but a God. Hades knows if he can’t stop the Reaper Wolves, the Fates will come down hard on him. So in a desperate attempt to kill the very monsters he created, he makes another.

The village elder, an aged man with lines of worry etched into his brow, approaches Hades, hope glinting in his eyes. They are desperate. Their pleas for help against the thieving feral wolves have summoned not a mortal hunter, but a deity. And in their darkest hour, this god makes them an offer.

Yet, Hades is not willing to make the same mistake this time, so he gives them the power to kill the reaper wolved. But it comes at a price.

“To rid your lands of these beasts, I will give you the strength, and might, you need? But remember, with great power comes a cage. Once you accept my gift, you cannot leave these woods until every last reaper wolf is annihilated.”

The desperation is palpable. The elder, speaking for his terrified people, consents, sealing their fate. And at that very moment, I witness the birth of the were-bears — immense, powerful creatures with a singular purpose. They are Hades's new weapons, designed specifically to tackle the reaper wolves. Their fearsome appearance was complemented by a venomous bite, lethal only to the reaper wolves.

ChapterSeventy-Nine

Yet, once again, Hades fails. The fail-safe he put in place to ensure they couldn’t leave the forest backfires. While the creatures can kill the reaper wolves, they’re still locked in a cage of forest.As the bears begin their hunt, another cruel twist of fate reveals itself. Their confinement to the forest means that the reaper wolves, once they move out of this terrain, are simply beyond reach, leaving the were-bears trapped in their prison.

From where I stand, the tragedies unfolding provide a revelatory stream of new information coming to light. For so long, I believed the were-bears were of Celeste’s creation. Yet, it makes me think of my mother’s words when they begged for her help, convinced she could save them. Her reply:“Not my circus, not my monkeys.”Maybe some part of her knew they weren't for a Moon Goddess to fix, but that of another God.

Hades, in trying to rectify his previous mistakes, has only layered on another. The burden of playing God has become evident in his visage, and I can’t help but feel a small pang of sympathy.

The vision starts to wane, the edges blurring. But the implications of what I'd witnessed are firmly imprinted in my mind. The webs of creation, each action and reaction, paints a picture of gods and mortals trapped in an intricate dance, driven by desires and consequences.

So while Hades tries to correct his mistakes, Celeste ensures he pays for them. I soon realize why demi gods are actually more dangerous. That mortal part of them is led by emotion, emotion, and power, which serves as a deadly combination. Once again, the vision moves, and I watch the scenes I witnessed in the fountain of life play out once more, only now we are getting the missing puzzle pieces.

Bain, having left and run off with Seline after he failed to catch Stellara, to Celeste trying to steal the power of Hades's twins. I can understand why Hades tried so hard to kill her and take Luna; she was unhinged, just as the next memory shows.

The edges of the previous memories dissolve, giving way to a new, stark setting. A dimly lit chamber, filled with the scent of old incense and cold stone, becomes clear. Celeste, in her usual confident demeanor, stands at the center, her attention focused intently on two figures: the twins, Stellara and her brother.

Their faces are a mirror image of one another, but it's their eyes that captivate me. They hold a depth, a connection, as if they see beyond the physical realm, connecting their souls. Celeste’s voice breaks the tense silence, her incantation resonating through the chamber:

“By the power of the moon and stars,From realms both near and far,Grant me the essence of the twins two,To wield their strength and start anew.”

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