A Luna for the Lycan King

Allissa

I yanked against the chains, making my wrists slick with blood. I'd been fighting against the shackles, but they seemed impossible to break. I was hoping my blood would make my wrists slip through, but it was no use. Footsteps pounded above, then wildly ran down the stairs toward me. I was shocked to see Alfred's frantic face.

He raced toward me, his hands fumbling against the locks. "Lissa, we have to hurry," his voice sharp with panic. "I caused a disturbance. We have to run now."

He wrenched at the shackles with shaking fingers and they fell open, leaving my wrists raw and throbbing. I could hardly move. My legs had turned to water, the time I was in confinement weakened me. Alfred's eyes burned with desperation. He dragged me to my feet, half carrying, half pulling me toward the stairs. "We can't wait," he insisted desperately. The stone steps loomed ahead, cruel and steep. I gasped, breath ragged in my chest, each step a small agony, but Alfred wouldn't let me falter.

The old stone structure seemed endless, its walls closing in with a sense of grim inevitability. I fought to memorize it, to capture every detail in my mind. Darkened hallways, wooden beams, the ancient scent of dust and age-it blurred together as we moved. "Keep going, Lissa," Alfred urged. I was already stumbling, my

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body refusing to obey the desperate commands of my will. My swollen stomach felt like a lead weight dragging me down.

Up and up we climbed, my vision swimming. My legs barely held me but my own adrenaline was kicking in now. Alfred was relentless, pushing me forward. I fought through the pain that was radiating through my body, no doubt a symptom of whatever

poison they had used. My breath was little more than a series of shallow gasps. Finally, we reached a door, the final barrier to

freedom.

Alfred shoved it open, and the world exploded into chaos. The field around us blazed with fire, hungry flames licking the sky. Smoke billowed, thick and suffocating, filling my lungs and making me choke. Shouts and the vicious growls of beasts

echoed in the air.

"Lissa, we can't stop," Alfred yelled, and I didn't even realize I had. He pulled me forward, his grip the only thing keeping me from collapsing. I could barely keep pace, every muscle in rebellion. My rounded belly was an anchor, dragging me down, each movement a study in pain and persistence. I stumbled, feet raw against the rough earth, vision blurring with the effort to keep moving.

I felt myself slipping, the edges of my consciousness fraying. Alfred was tireless, persistent. His determination was a force of nature, pulling me onward. "Don't let them catch you," he insisted, his words a litany of desperation. He urged me on, and I

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had no choice but to obey. My world had narrowed to a single point, the burning need to escape, to survive, to protect the life

within me.

My lungs screamed for air, every breath burning my throat. The ground shifted beneath me, a treacherous landscape that threatened to consume my last shred of strength. I couldn't fall. I couldn't stop. Alfred's panic mirrored my own. He pulled me along, taking me against his chest and using his body as a shield to crash through the thorns.

"I'm going to get you out of here, Lissa. I'm going to save you." He looked at me for a moment and I could see that there was more he wanted to say. His hands rested on my arms as his eyes wasn't me, Lissa. None searched mine with so much emotion. "It of it was me, and yet I've lost so much. Our child ... I'll never be able to forgive myself. I was so excited and happy. I-" He shook his head. “I'm going to save you. No matter what. I have to." His hands slid down my arms and then he grabbed my hand. "I've got to get you out of here."

We were running again. He was leading me through the thick brush and then down a stream. His pace faltered, and he clutched his head as if to keep it from splitting apart. The anguish in his face tore at me, more brutal than the chains ever had. I reached fo him, but he was already slipping away, his mind a war zone, every breath a casualty. "Run," he pleaded, his voice edged with raw desperation. The command lodged in my gut like a knife, twisting

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as I resisted. He looked at me, his eyes a silent scream, the words failing him.

He doubled over, each gasp a testament to the pain gnawing at him. His agony was a physical thing, infecting the air between

1. us. "Don't tell me where you're going," he insisted, teeth clenched against the fight inside. "Just run." I stood frozen, caught between the instinct to survive and the need to save him.

Every moment I hesitated felt like betrayal, but leaving him was

unthinkable.

"Go!" he shouted, the sound tearing through me, leaving me raw and bleeding. "If you can get help," he panted, the words like stones he could barely lift, "come back and either save me or kill me. I can't live like this. I'm going mad." His admission pierced me, an unbearable truth that lodged in my soul.

I had shared so much with this man. And all the pain I suffered because of him wasn't his doing at all. I felt for him, and I couldn't help but imagine if it had been me. What if I had been brainwashed? What if he had found his mate and had his happily ever after while I was left with nothing? I couldn't go back to him. I loved Darren and my life with him, but damn if this didn't hurt. Alfred was giving it his all and risking his life to save me. I did care for him. It was a type of love, but nothing like what I had with Darren. I cared for him as a friend, as an important part of my past. How can I leave him and save myself?!

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"Run for your life," he begged, the tremor in his voice more desperate than any shackle. His plea was an echo, a wound that reopened with every breath. I was drowning in the need to stay, to hold on, but I saw it in his eyes-the knowledge that this was the only way. He wasn't asking; he was commanding, and his authority broke me. "Don't go east," he warned, his face a mask of agony. "It's ... dangerous." Each word came from a place I couldn't reach, where he was already being pulled.

The ground seemed to shift beneath us, the world upending as the choice loomed over me. His mind was slipping, a kite cut loose, and I was powerless to reel it back. "While I can still block the noise," he urged, voice hollow with urgency. "Please." The word was a finality, an end and a beginning, and it pushed me to the brink of decision.

"Thank you," I choked out, my voice a stranger's, foreign and weak. He gave me everything, even now, and the realization twisted inside me like a living thing. My legs refused to move, lead weights holding me to the spot where his life and my freedom diverged.

"GO!" he roared, his entire body twisting with the force that threatened to undo him. It was an explosion of sound, a flash of unbearable light, and it broke through my paralysis, sending me reeling into motion. I turned and ran, the world a blur of pain and breath and the loss of him.noveldrama

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I heard his voice. A fragile whisper. "I'm so sorry, Lissa. Please, escape. I love you." Were they really his words? Or was something trying to trick me? I couldn't look back. I didn't have a choice.

I stumbled into the forest, its shadows reaching for me like memories I'd rather forget. My heart was a frantic drumbeat, driving me forward even as it called me back. My steps were wild and uneven, matching the chaos inside me. The air was dense and suffocating, and each inhale was a ragged reminder of everything I was leaving behind.

He'd sacrificed his freedom for mine. They would know what he'd done. Would he be punished for freeing me? I was free, but the exchange felt hollow, the currency blood and sorrow. My feet pounded the earth, each impact a silent promise. I would come back. I would make this right. I would save him. The resolution fueled me, burned in my veins alongside the guilt and powerlessness.

A crack, too deliberate, sliced through the night, and the truth hit me like a predator's fangs. They were coming. I moved on instinct and adrenaline. The air changed, saturated with the metallic tang of vampires. I had to shift. It was my only chance outrun vampires. But the connection was static. The poison was blocking me from my lycan. Desperation seized me, a cold bite more relentless than any shackle. If I couldn't shift, all of this would have been in vain.

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Darren. Lyle. Yes, I had to make it back to them. I am a lycan. That is my true form, not this human body. Now SHIFT! I commanded myself, pushing past the block. My skin tore and reformed as the lycan took over, the shift brutal and liberating. I sped up, limbs elongated and raw with the energy of escape. I defied his warning,

veering east. If I could find what they feared, it might just keep

them from finding me.

The ground blurred beneath me, a wild, rhythmic pounding that matched the chaos in my chest. Pain and urgency were my world now, and they drove me beyond reason. I could hear them, their breathless pursuit too close for comfort. My belly, still round and heavy even in this form, stretched me thin, my endurance

a fragile

hope.

My heart roared as I pushed harder, the land rising in rougher formations, jagged rocks rising up to slow me. The vampires were faster than I'd expected, relentless, their footsteps were pounding closer. There were too many-more than I'd ever imagined.

I continued to sprint east, against all logic, a silent prayer that the unknown would

be my ally. If there were monsters in that direction, perhaps they'd find me unpalatable prey, leave me to my flight and turn on my pursuers instead. The shift had bought me some time, but the advantage was slipping, their unnatural speed and endurance eating the distance between us. And then it hit me: a new stench, sulfuric and vile,

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cutting through the forest air.

They weren't alone. My senses screamed in recognition of the demon's scent, a threat unlike any I'd faced. It seemed as unrelenting as the vampires, but its intentions were unknown. Would it destroy me, or would it buy me the time I so

desperately

needed?

I ran until the world lost meaning, until my paws bled against the unforgiving ground. Every nerve in me howled for rest, but rest was a luxury that belonged to

the dead. The rocky terrain was murder on my pads, each step a lesson in endurance and

defiance.

I wouldn't stop. I wouldn't let them take me. My heart and resolve were a single force, propelling me forward even though I knew I couldn't win this race. The rock face loomed ahead, towering and sheer, a final, cruel barrier. There was no way over, no way around.

Trapped. The word exploded in my mind, an inevitability that I couldn't accept. Not yet. I turned to face them, chest heaving, the night closing in as my pregnant body refused to comply with the demands of survival.

The figures closed in, shadows of malice. I saw them now vampires moving with the grace of nightmares, and something else. A hulking form, massive, the demon

in the flesh. The sulfuric stench confirmed it, a signature that screamed power and

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certain, terrifying purpose.

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It wasn't supposed to end this way. Not here. Not now. My breath was fire in my

lungs, each inhale a crueler torture than the last. But I'd fight them. I'd find a way. I

planted my feet against the rock, defiant, with only one thought consuming me: survival.

They moved as one, a single deadly entity intent on my destruction. I had nothing left but desperation and a power I could barely control. It was the same as when I'd gone into heat. It surged, fierce and familiar, and I let it. The crack of lightning split the night, wild, sparking against the enemy. Lightning danced from my paws, the brightness an explosion against the dark. It lit up the night and the faces of my enemies, surprise etched in the glow. I felt it take them, felt the pause as the energy slammed into their bodies, but it wasn't enough.

The demon shook it off first, and I saw the deadly promise in its eyes as it came for me. A mountain of muscle and evil, it closed the distance, heading directly for me. The demon lunged, murder in its eyes. I dug in, ready to fight or die. I didn't

know if I had the strength to withstand this, but I'd rather die fighting than be taken

again. Another bolt ripped through me, arcing out toward the inevitable. It slowed them again, but the demon seemed to relish the ght, absorbing the hit with a malevolent grin. My vision blurred as I gathered my will for the last stand. If this was the end,

I'd make it

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And then the roar, impossibly loud, impossibly close. The sky

cracked open, and a shadow as vast as the night blocked out

the stars. I reeled, the unexpected shift throwing me off balance, tearing my resolve and scattering it like sparks in the wind.

Fire rained down, too bright, too real. It forced my eyes shut, an onslaught of blinding heat. I staggered back, the world turning to chaos around me. The suddenness of it, the sheer power, left me gasping, disoriented-but alive. I struggled to comprehend, to find sense in the madness. Who or what had intervened? What did it mean for me, for the life inside me? Was this another threat, or a chance at survival? I couldn't know, not yet, but the fight had shifted. That much was certain.

The night was alive with energy, with possibility and the fierce determination to endure. I didn't have the answers, but I had the will to keep going. Whatever this was, whatever the universe had dealt me, I'd face it. I'd survive it. Flames and shadows warred above me, and I dug in, refusing to yield, not now, not ever.