MARKED BY THE ALPHA'S HATE

The trees around them froze in place. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

The black figure stood ten feet away, its form rippling like smoke, but heavier. Wrong. It had no face only slits of molten red where eyes should've been. Its limbs were too long, dragging claws over the earth like it was tasting the soil.

Selene backed up, her fingers clutching the hilt of the sword like it was the only real thing left.

Darius moved in front of her. "Don't move."

She didn't.

Not because he told her to, but because she couldn't. Her body locked down. Her breath caught. The bond between them sparked, frantic and panicked, like it recognized what was coming before she did.

"What is that?" she whispered.

Darius's voice was tight. "Something that shouldn't exist."

The creature took a step forward and the ground cracked beneath its feet. Roots died. Air thinned. Birds in the trees dropped from the branches without a sound.

Selene gritted her teeth and stepped beside Darius. "We can't outrun it."

"We're not running."

The Obsidian lunged.

Darius shoved Selene aside as its claws raked the spot where she'd stood. Bark exploded from the trees as the creature snarled if the sound it made could even be called that. It was like metal screaming.

Darius shifted mid-air. The crack of his bones came with the ripple of fur and muscle. His claws met the creature's with a flash of silver. Sparks flew.

Selene stumbled back, heart in her throat. She could barely track them Darius a blur of fury and motion, the Obsidian moving with impossible speed.

It wasn't just fast. It was precise. It didn't waste a single step.

And it was after her.

"Darius!" she shouted, but he was already locked in a brutal clash, blood spattering from a gash on his side. The Obsidian didn't bleed. It didn't slow down.

It knocked Darius across the clearing like a ragdoll. His body hit a tree hard enough to snap bark.

Selene didn't think. She ran forward, sword raised. The blade her mother's blade glowed faintly as she swung.

The Obsidian turned.

Its hand caught the blade mid-swing.

Selene gasped as her entire arm vibrated from the force. The creature didn't flinch. It just stared at her with those molten eyes.

And then it spoke.

Not with words. With pressure. With presence.

"Moonblood," it breathed, voice layered with others. "Chosen."

Selene didn't respond. Couldn't.

The sword flared brighter.

The creature recoiled not from the blade, but from her.

Darius groaned behind her, trying to stand.

The Obsidian turned back toward him and Selene snapped.

She stepped in front of it and shouted, the sound raw and pulsing from her core.

The sword responded.

Light erupted from it, silver and violent, searing through the Obsidian's arm.

The creature hissed a real, pained sound and stumbled back.

Selene didn't let up. She swung again, and this time, the blade carved a line across its chest. Smoke poured out. Not blood. Just black smoke.

The creature screamed.

And vanished.

Gone. No flash. No exit. One moment it was there, and the next it was not.

Selene collapsed to her knees, breath heaving.

Darius was at her side in a heartbeat, limping but alive.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said, voice raw.

"I wasn't going to let it kill you," she snapped.

"I'm not worth more than you."

"I'll decide that."

They stared at each other, the heat of the fight still between them. Neither said it, but both knew:

That thing wasn't gone.

It was just waiting.

Victor Crane sat in his underground chamber, watching the scene through a glass orb filled with black mist. The connection had snapped a moment ago.

He didn't react.

"The blade is active," he said.

Talon stood beside him, jaw clenched. "She fought the Obsidian and lived. That shouldn't be possible."

Victor smiled. "It means she's more valuable than I thought."

"She's more dangerous."

Victor didn't argue. "She just became the most wanted being on this continent. And the packs don't even know it yet."

Talon didn't respond. He was watching the black mist curl inside the orb.

Victor turned. "Gather the hunters. Every bounty chaser, rogue, mercenary who owes us blood."

"Orders?"

Victor's smile widened.

"Bring me her head. And bring him back in chains."

***

Selene washed blood off her hands in a nearby stream. She wasn't sure if it was hers or Darius's.

The forest was still. Too still.

"I don't understand," she said quietly. "That thing it called me Moonblood. It knew what I was."

"Not what you are," Darius said. "What you're becoming."

She looked at the sword resting beside her. "I don't feel different."

"That's how it starts," a voice said.

They both turned.

Neris stood there, eyes glowing faintly under the moonlight.

"That sword has a will," she said. "It's not just metal. It's a key."

"To what?"

"To the prophecy. To the blood that sleeps inside you."

Darius stepped forward. "Can we stop the thing Victor released?"

Neris tilted her head. "Not anymore. That wasn't a summoning."

Selene's stomach twisted. "What was it?"

"A release," she said simply. "He broke the seal on something ancient. Something that was meant to stay buried."

"So what do we do now?"

Neris stepped closer to Selene and placed a cold hand on her cheek.

"You run," she said. "Until you stop being the hunted."

"And then?"

"Then you become what they fear."

Back at the ruins of Hollowspire, smoke clung to the earth like a dying thing. But under the surface, beneath the cracked stone floor where Selene had drawn the sword, something else pulsed.

A heartbeat.

Faint.

Then stronger.

The Obsidian's body reformed from the shadows, rising slowly. But this time, it wasn't empty.

It had her scent.

And it had orders.

Find her.

Break her.

Bring her back dead or not at all.