HIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN THE ALPHAS DISAPPEARED?!”
Alpha Gideon’s roar shook the corridor as he stormed down its length, his strides quick and heavy, his fury bouncing like that of a charging bull. He burst into the Moonstone Chamber, only to stop dead in his tracks, his face freezing in horror.
Alpha Jude and Alpha Hugo were already there, both rooted to the spot in the same stunned silence. The three of them stood like statues, their wide eyes fixed on the Moonstone at the center of the chamber, their mouths parted in disbelief.
“How is this possible?” Alpha Hugo’s voice cracked, disbelief hollowing out every word. “Is this even real?”
“The Moonstone…” Alpha Jude’s whisper trembled in the silence, “it’s lost its glow.”
A thick sheen of sweat slid down their temples as the dreadful stillness closed in around them. This was supposed to be a sacred trial of the young Alphas, yet the chamber was stripped of their presence, replaced instead with an atmosphere steeped in dread.
“Don’t tell me…” Alpha Gideon staggered back a step, his eyes wide, pupils quaking, his face pale as though he had seen a ghost.
The shift in his demeanor was not the reaction of a man known to be fearless, unshakable, a pillar of strength, sent a sharper chill into Jude and Hugo than the Moonstone’s darkness ever could.
“What is it, Alpha Gideon?” Hugo pressed, his breathing uneven, his instincts twisting with a foreboding weight.
After a long silence, Gideon’s lips parted. His voice emerged low and heavy, as though dragged from the depths of his chest.
“They–they have been cursed.”
“WHAT?!” Jude and Hugo’s voices collided in a disbelieving shout.
Hugo’s gaze snapped back to the Moonstone, his expression paling. The ancient texts had always spoken of the Moonstone’s dual nature, its power to bless and to curse. Never in all history had it cursed. Until now… thirty Alphas, the pride and heirs of their packs, had vanished. “Could it be,” his voice faltered, “that something transpired here? That some mistake, some act, provoked the Moonstone into condemning them all?”
“What kind of curse?” Jude demanded, his voice raw. He stepped forward, fists clenched. “And where the hell are they?!”
Hugo fell silent, his throat tight. His eyes drifted past Jude, fixing on Gideon the only one who carried the
answer.
“Where are the Alphas, Alpha Gideon?” Jude strode up to him, impatience sharpened by fear. “Do you understand what this means? They are heirs of the most prestigious packs, the strongest bloodlines of our kingdom. If they vanish like this, struck down by a curse, not only Lupine Academy but the entire kingdom will fall into uproar. We have to find them. We have to warn them of the danger-”
“You can’t do anything,” Gideon cut him off. His voice was grave, low, final. “No one can.”
The weight of those words sank into Jude’s bones like ice. Gideon was not a man who surrendered to despair. For him to speak like this… “Why?” Jude demanded, his voice breaking. “Where are they that none of us can reach them?”
Gideon lifted his gaze to the Moonstone. His jaw tightened. His next words were little more than a murmur, but they fell like thunder.
Chapter 162 The Okpet Forest
“They’re in the Ghost Forest.”
The chamber plunged into dead silence. None of them even dared to breathe.
The tales of the Ghost Forest were infamous, passed down as warnings whispered around firesides. It was said to be a realm of mist and shadows, a place no living soul would enter willingly. One could be cast there only through a curse bound to their bloodline. Once there, no one ever returned.
“This is a disaster,” Hugo’s realization broke in a whisper, his eyes wide with terror, “none of them will come back.”
“Impossible!” Jude shook his head, refusing to accept it. “No! We cannot let this happen! Alpha Gideon, we have to act. There must be a way!”
“Alphas, listen to me carefully!”
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