A Luna for the Lycan King novel Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Darren

The smell of blood and dirt clung to me like a second skin. I wiped the sweat off my brow, watching as the back of my hand turned red with the victory of another battle. Cuts and bruises screamed across my body, but exhaustion only lived in my bones, never my spirit. I couldn’t suppress the grin that took over my face. We’d won and hadn’t suffered many casualties. If we could keep this

up, this war would be over before we knew it. Then, I could finally

return to my Ally.

I heard the heavy footsteps of my best friend before I saw him. Ivan appeared with his familiar stoic presence and a look that said he was about to crack a joke.

“You look like hell, Darren,” Ivan said, his voice rumbling like distant thunder. He leaned against a tree, arms crossed, eyes scanning the battlefield as if he could still see the fight happening.

“I could say the same for you,” I shot back, letting the grin stretch wider. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling the grit and grime that turned every touch into a memory of the day’s combat.

“Is that an actual dirt beard you’re growing, or have you finally given up?”

Ivan chuckled, a low, gravelly sound. “I call it war paint. The ladies love it.” He tilted his head, a mock seriousness in his golden eyes. “Thinking about trying it yourself?”

“I wouldn’t dream of stealing your look.”

We both laughed, a shared sound that broke through the exhaustion like a fresh breeze. I looked back at the field behind us, a chaotic stretch of ground where victory still echoed. The knowledge that we had outsmarted them sweetened the taste of it. We outfought them, again. Our enemies scattered like leaves, and I reveled in the sight.

“We did it,” I said, feeling the need to hear the words out loud, to taste the triumph in more than just my mind.

Ivan nodded, his grin more subtle but no less real. “Yeah, we did.” He straightened, his gaze shifting to me with an intensity that spoke of loyalty, a brotherhood forged in countless battles like this one. “How’s the King of Lycans holding up?”

“The King of Lycans is unstoppable,” I said, feeling the truth of it in every ache and pain that made me feel more alive. I reached for a water flask, pouring some over my head and relishing the shock of cold against my skin. “It’s the rest of these poor bastards I’m worried about.”

“Somebody’s gotta win, and it’s damn sure not gonna be them,”

0/14

14:54

Chapter 100

Ivan replied, jerking his thumb toward the Invisible line where our

foes had retreated.

We stood in silence for a moment, letting the battle settle. My thoughts were on Ally and our baby. If things kept going like this then I would be able to come home for the birth of our child. I wondered what we would be having. Boy or girl, I was excited. She had chosen not to find out the sex of our child and keep it a surprise for the both of us. It feels like forever since I saw her, and yet I could envision her in my mind easily. Her beautiful smile, her sweet laugh, and the way her eyes lit up when we looked at each

other.

Then, Ivan broke the silence, his tone shifting from triumphant to something more resigned, more knowing. “Feels like we’ve been doing this forever.”

“Feels like we’ll be doing it forever,” I laughed, my words light but laced with the undercurrent of truth. That uncertainty of how long it would all last. I sat down on a fallen log, the roughness of it grounding me in the reality that even kings had their limits. “Think we’ve got another decade in us?”

“At least,” Ivan said, joining me. His presence was solid, unyielding, a mountain that would stand no matter the storm. I found comfort in him. His friendship was more like family, and I really relied on him. He looked after me, and I did the same for

him.

We shared a look, one that reflected the toll this life took and our refusal to let it break us. Weariness lived in the lines around our eyes, the scars on our bodies, but we wore them like badges, symbols of a fight we would never give up. The battles have been hard fought, but today we had a glimmer of hope. Our new strategies were working.

Ivan shifted beside me, a motion that caught my eye. “Uh, Darren?” he said, his voice curious, cautious. “You’re glowing.”

I frowned, looking down at my chest, my arms, expecting to see some strange new battle wound. But nothing burned, nothing glowed on me. Then I saw his gaze fixated on my pocket, and a sudden thrill, a different kind of urgency, surged through me.

I reached in and pulled out a crystal, its light pulsating with intensity. It bathed my hand in blue, brighter than the moon on a cloudless night, more demanding than any battlefield shout.

“Allissa needs to speak with me,” I felt my heart racing, and my voice was laced with concern. For her to contact me, it was

important.

“Maybe your pup is coming sooner than you thought? Must be important if she’s reaching out like that,” he said, his tone serious now, the humor gone, replaced by shared urgency.

I nodded, pocketing the crystal and getting to my feet. The weariness I had felt melted away, replaced by determination, by a resolve that no war, no battle, could ever extinguish. My mind raced with possibilities, with the need to know what had driven Allissa to use the crystal.

I met Ivan’s eyes, seeing my own urgency reflected there. “Let’s go,” I said, my voice firm.

Ivan rose beside me, and together we moved, the urgency turning to a run. I wasn’t wasting another second.

We cut through the camp like blades. Speed burned in our veins, driving us past weary soldiers and the remnants of their hard–won

celebrations. Every step pounded with the need to reach the command phone. The only one that could connect me to Allissa. The only one that could make sense of the glowing crystal in my pocket. When Finn appeared, I didn’t slow down. I barely registered his presence before I threw the news at him, my voice taut with tension. “Allissa activated the crystal,” I said, the words a heartbeat in the silence.

Finn’s amber eyes flickered with understanding, his pace matching ours. He knew the importance, the haste, the way everything else paled in comparison. “How long ago?” he asked, his voice smooth yet edged with concern.

“Just now. We’re going to the phone,” My words were clipped,

I nodded, pocketing the crystal and getting to my feet. The weariness I had felt melted away, replaced by determination, by a resolve that no war, no battle, could ever extinguish. My mind raced with possibilities, with the need to know what had driven Allissa to use the crystal.

I met Ivan’s eyes, seeing my own urgency reflected there. “Let’s go,” I said, my voice firm.

Ivan rose beside me, and together we moved, the urgency turning

to a run. I wasn’t wasting another second.

We cut through the camp like blades. Speed burned in our veins, driving us past weary soldiers and the remnants of their hard–won celebrations. Every step pounded with the need to reach the command phone. The only one that could connect me to Allissa. The only one that could make sense of the glowing crystal in my pocket. When Finn appeared, I didn’t slow down. I barely registered his presence before I threw the news at him, my voice taut with tension. “Allissa activated the crystal,” I said, the words a heartbeat in the silence.

Finn’s amber eyes flickered with understanding, his pace matching ours. He knew the importance, the haste, the way everything else paled in comparison. “How long ago?” he asked, his voice smooth yet edged with concern.

“Just now. We’re going to the phone,” My words were clipped,

14:54

every second precious.

The three of us moved like a force of nature, a storm that wouldn’t be stopped by exhaustion or fear. Ivan led the way, his massive frame parting the chaos of the camp like a ship through turbulent waters. My mind raced with possibilities, each more unsettling than the last. I tried to tell myself not to worry. That if she was contacting me, she was alright, but deep down, something clawed at my chest. Fear began to grip my insides. A fear I hadn’t felt once in battle, but I felt it now.

As we neared the communication tent, Finn’s hand clapped on my shoulder, his touch grounding. “Easy. Don’t get worked up.”

I nodded, but the anxiety twisted inside me like a living thing. The taste of fear was bitter, unfamiliar, unwelcome. It pushed me harder, faster, until we reached the desk outside the tent, the command phone waiting like a lifeline.

I grabbed it without hesitation, the old rotary dial spinning beneath my fingers with agonizing slowness. Ivan and Finn stood on either side, their presence tense, unwavering. They understood, they knew, and the solidarity in that moment was everything I needed.

Dayanara landed beside us on her griffin, her red hair a fiery banner that caught the wind. She dismounted gracefully, silently, her eyes meeting mine, with curiosity and understanding. She

14:54

listened, a silent participant, as the call finally connected.

I spoke into the receiver, my voice raw with urgency. “Put me through to Allissa,” I demanded, the authority in my tone unyielding.

I heard voices in the background, confusion, commotion. Then, someone answered, the voice unfamiliar, unexpected.

“This is the royal office,” the person said, their tone harried and

breathless.

I felt a cold stab of confusion, my grip tightening on the phone. “Who the hell is this?” I barked, frustration mounting.

More noise, a clatter, the sound of someone fumbling. My patience, my composure, frayed at the edges, and I struggled to maintain control. The need to know, to understand, roared inside

1. me.

Then, I heard my father’s voice cutting through the chaos with unexpected clarity. “Darren,” he said, the sound of it both a relief and a new kind of dread.

“Dad?,” my voice was sharp and I could feel the fear

overwhelming me. My mate didn’t answer, and now I knew something was wrong. “Where’s Allissa? Why isn’t she answering?”

14:54

There was a pause, a hesitation that sent my thoughts spiraling into darker places. When Milo spoke again, his voice was laden with something heavy, something that filled me with ice. “Darren, he said again, and I hated the way he said my name, like an apology. “Allissa is gone. We can’t find her anywhere.”

Shock slammed into me like a physical blow. I swayed, my breath catching in my throat. I barely registered Finn and Ivan closing ranks, their presence a wall of support. “What?” I gasped, the word barely more than a breath.

“And Lyle is dead,” Milo continued, each word a new punch, a

new fracture. “We don’t know how it happened.”

I think I would have collapsed if it wasn’t for Ivan’s hands on me. His hands were gripping my shoulders, offering me the support I desperately needed. My mind was reeling. Allissa was gone and my little brother… dead. I couldn’t believe it. It was too shocking

to believe.

I roared, the sound tearing from me, primal and furious. Everything blurred as rage overtook my senses. The phone trembled in my grip, the receiver straining under the force of my emotions. “What the hell happened?” I demanded, my voice wild, a storm with no

center.

“We found Lyle in the butterfly maze,” Milo said, his words too

14:54

calm, too measured, as if that could soften the blow.” He was poisoned. There was no sign of Allissa. We don’t even know if she’s still!!

“She is!” I growled, clinging to that truth with everything I had. “She’s alive. I’d know if she wasn’t.”

My father paused, his silence like a living thing. I heard it breathe, heard it fill the space between us. “I hope you’re right,” he finally said, his voice breaking in a way I’d never heard before.

Hope and anger, grief and determination, twisted inside me until I couldn’t distinguish one from the other. I slammed the phone down, the finality of it like a gunshot in the sudden silence.

My eyes were wild, my breath ragged, every muscle coiled and ready to explode. Ivan and Finn stood firm, Ivan’s grip on my shoulder squeezing. Dayanara watched, her gaze intense.

“Easy, Darren. Don’t let it spiral.” Ivan’s voice sounded muffled as I felt the demonic storm of rage bubbling inside of me.

My mate was gone, my brother dead, and my world teetered on the brink of madness,

I threw my head back and roared, the sound a promise of vengeance that the universe itself couldn’t ignore.

14:54

My anger was a living thing. It tore through me, a feral beast uncontainable and unrestrained. I let it consume me, let it burn away everything but the need to strike back. The need to find her. I roared again, and again, the sound shaking the world until it was the only thing I could hear. Then, I felt something else. Something softer. A different magic, quiet and persistent. It wound its way through the rage, bringing me back when I wanted nothing more than to be lost. My mind cleared, and I saw Dayanara standing there, her hands outstretched, her power a tether that brought me

to my senses.

“Darren,” she said, her voice cutting through the haze, insistent and real. “Control yourself.”

w

The demand in her words pulled me from the brink. I shook with the effort, with the struggle to cage the wild fury that refused to be tamed. Ivan wrapped his arms around me and pulled my head to

his chest.

“You can’t help anyone like this. You need to fight it. For her.”

“I will take you to your kingdom.” Dayanara slowly pulled her magic out of me, her eyes never leaving mine. “We need to start there.”

My breath came in ragged bursts, my mind still a whirlwind of grief and rage. But there was a clarity now, a painful understanding th cut deeper than any wound. Allissa was gone, Lyle was dead, and

14:54

Ok me somewhere l

nodded, my movements stiff, reluctant. I couldn’t grieve Lyle. I couldn’t grieve anything. Not now. Not yet.

Finn stepped closer, his presence a steady anchor. “She’s alive,”

he said, his voice certain. “You’d feel the disconnect if she wasn’t.”

The truth in his words was like air, like breath, a necessity I couldn’t deny. I clung to it, let it fill the spaces where despair tried to take root.

“You need to use the mate bond,” Finn met with my eyes. “Focus! You’ll find her.”

Ivan gave my shoulder a strong squeeze. “I’ll handle things here. Make sure everything stays in line. You need to go.”

I felt Dayanara’s magic surge through me again, sealing my anger, my fear. She was relentless in her resolve, her power making the impossible seem within reach. She wasn’t giving me a choice, and I didn’t want one. And I wondered how often in the heat of battle she had used her magic to stop me from losing control. Maybe that was why she always stayed close by? I couldn’t analyze that now. Right now, I need to get home.

14:54

19 SOIIGWnere.

couldn’t come back from.

I nodded, my movements stiff, reluctant. I couldn’t grieve Lyle. I couldn’t grieve anything. Not now. Not yet.

Finn stepped closer, his presence a steady anchor. “She’s alive,”

he said, his voice certain. “You’d feel the disconnect if she

wasn’t.”

The truth in his words was like air, like breath, a necessity I couldn’t deny. I clung to it, let it fill the spaces where despair tried

to take root.