Beneath the Alpha's Moon
Chapter 166: Panicking

Chapter 166: Panicking

LUCIAN’S P.O.V.

When Elizabeth declared Teresa and Luke "Fae Titans," I thought my day couldn’t get any stranger. Turns out, I was wrong. Very wrong.

The aftermath was chaos. Teresa glowed like the world’s most radiant light bulb, and Luke, her dear older brother, looked like he was seconds away from either fainting or punching someone—maybe both. Add glowing wings, trembling ground, and random vines sprouting everywhere, and we had ourselves a situation.

"Okay," Rylan said, his voice breaking through the chaos around us as he dodged another errant vine. "We need a plan. Preferably one that doesn’t involve me getting strangled by veggies."

I shot him a look. "Yeah, no kidding, genius. Got any bright ideas on how to smuggle two glowing people back to the pack without anyone noticing?"

"How about we tell everyone it’s a surprise light show?" Juliette chimed in, arms crossed as she leaned lazily against a tree, her smirk betraying how much she was enjoying the chaos. That was clearly the result of being around Adrian for too long.

Luke, meanwhile, was having a full-blown existential crisis. "What the hell is happening to me?" he yelled, his voice echoing through the woods. He spun on his heel, pointing an accusing finger at each of us like a deranged game show host. "This is your fault! All of you! Especially you, red head!"

Elizabeth, pale and looking like she’d just run a marathon, raised her hands in surrender. "Hey! I just unlocked what was already there! Don’t blame the messenger!"

Luke’s glowing wings flared dramatically. "Messenger?! You turned me into some glowing... demon thing! What am I supposed to tell my wife? My kids? ’Sorry, Daddy can’t come to soccer practice because he’s now a walking lightbulb with anger issues’?!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Luke, you’re not a demon."

He rounded on me, his glare practically scorching. "Oh, really, brother inlaw? Then what the hell am I? Huh? Tell me that!"

Adrian stepped forward then, the very picture of calm despite the chaos around him. His black jacket was spotless, his every move deliberate and unhurried. "Luke," he said, his voice smooth as velvet, "there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are not a monster. You are something extraordinary—unique."

Luke blinked, his anger faltering for a moment. "Unique? That’s just a fancy way of saying ’screwed.’"

Adrian’s lips twitched in amusement. "Perhaps. But you’re not alone in this. You have your sister. You have us. And more importantly, you still have your family, even through we have to keep them in the dark until we figure this out. But for now, we need you to breathe and—"

The ground beneath us trembled violently, cutting Adrian off. Trees groaned as vines shot up around us, wrapping tightly around trunks and branches. Luke looked horrified. "I’m not even moving my hands! What is happening?!"

"Your powers are tied to your emotions," Elizabeth said quickly, her voice calm but strained. "The more upset you get, the more chaotic it becomes. You need to focus."

"Focus?!" Luke barked. "I don’t even know what I am! How the hell am I supposed to focus?!"

Before anyone could respond, Teresa gasped sharply, her glowing eyes wide. "My kids."

I turned to her, frowning. "What about them?"

"I need to see them," she said, her voice urgent. "They need to see me. I need to show them... this." She gestured to her wings, her glowing skin, her entire otherworldly aura.

"Teresa," I began cautiously, "maybe that’s not the best idea right now."

Her gaze snapped to me, sharp and defiant. "Why not? They’re my children, Lucian. They need to see their mother."

"Yes," I agreed, taking a slow step closer. "But let’s ease them into this. We don’t want to scare them."

She tilted her head, her glowing eyes narrowing. "Scare them? You think I’ll scare my own kids?"

"No, no, that’s not what I—"

Before I could finish, vines burst from the ground, snaking around everyone in the clearing.

"Oh, come on!" Rylan groaned, flailing as a particularly thick vine wrapped around his waist. "Do we have to do this right now?"

"Teresa!" I yelled, struggling against the vines. "Stop this!"

But she didn’t stop. Instead, she smirked—a little too smug for my liking—and snapped her fingers.

In the blink of an eye, reality shifted around us. One moment, we were surrounded by the earthy, damp scent of the woods; the next, we were standing in the grand, marble-floored expanse of my mansion’s living room. The sheer abruptness of it all left my head spinning. Rylan staggered, groaning, while Juliette muttered a sharp curse under her breath.

Luke was the first to break the silence, his voice tinged with awe and disbelief. "What the...? How did we even...?"

"Magic," Elizabeth replied flatly, dropping onto the nearest couch as if the stress of the day had finally caught up with her. She leaned back, her head lolling against the cushions, looking completely done.

Before anyone could add to the conversation, Teresa was already moving. Her soft looking wings glimmered faintly as they brushed against the narrow walls, leaving faint trails of light. She was halfway up the staircase when I realized where she was heading.

"Teresa, wait!" I called, stepping in front of her to block her path.

She halted abruptly, her golden eyes blazing with raw intensity. "Move, Lucian." Her voice was sharp, commanding, and unyielding.

I didn’t budge. Instead, I held up my hands in a gesture of calm. "Teresa, listen to me. Please," I said, my voice firm but laced with quiet urgency. "Let’s think this through for a second. Your kids—our kids—have no idea what’s happening. They’ll probably be confused, maybe even terrified. We can’t just barge in like this. Let’s figure out how to explain... this first."

Her expression flickered—frustration, uncertainty, and the faintest hint of guilt warring in her gaze. For a moment, I thought she’d ignore me and push past, but then she let out a sharp exhale. Crossing her arms tightly, she glared at me like a child who’d just been told no. "Fine. But don’t think for a second that I like this."

"Noted," I said, barely resisting the urge to roll my eyes as relief flooded through me.

I motioned for everyone to follow me, leading them to my office. The space, with its dark oak furniture and warm lighting, felt far more contained—exactly what we needed to rein in the chaos. Once inside, I turned to Elizabeth, who was still rubbing her temples as though she carried the weight of the world.

"Alright, genius," I said, leaning against the edge of my desk. "How do we make Teresa and Luke look a little... less like walking glow sticks?"

Elizabeth groaned, shooting me a withering glare. "Do I look like I have a manual for ancient magic, Lucian? I’ve never even seen anything like this before, let alone dealt with it."

"Fantastic," I muttered under my breath, dragging a hand down my face. To be honest, she did look like someone who would have the manual for ancient magic. What I’m I supposed to do now?

Luke, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, suddenly exploded. "So that’s it?!" he shouted, his voice cracking with raw panic. "I’m stuck like this forever? I’m going to lose my family, my wife, my kids—everything!"

The room trembled violently as his emotions surged, his powers spiraling out of control. Thick, twisting vines erupted from the floor, snaking up the walls and wrapping around anything in their path. The temperature seemed to drop as the sheer intensity of his panic filled the air.

"Luke!" I yelled, stepping forward despite the chaos. "You need to calm down!"

"Calm down?!" he bellowed, his eyes wild. "I’m glowing, Lucian! How the hell am I supposed to calm down?!"

Before I could respond, Adrian stepped forward, his presence radiating calm authority. His voice was low but carried the kind of weight that demanded attention. "Luke. Look at me. Breathe. You are stronger than this. Your family loves you—they always will. But if you lose control now, you’ll push them away. Is that what you want?"

Luke’s labored breaths gradually evened out, his panic fading as Adrian’s words sank in. The vines receded slowly, retreating back into the floor like shadows dissolving into the light. The trembling ceased, and for the first time in what felt like hours, everywhere was still.

I exhaled heavily, raking a hand through my hair as the tension finally began to ease. "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" I muttered again, more to myself than anyone else.

Rylan smirked from his corner of the room. "Well, on the bright side, we’ve got permanent glow sticks now. That should save a fortune on electricity," then he let out a loud, self-satisfied laugh, clearly very pleased with himself which earned a glare from everyone in the room.

Rylan shrugged, completely unfazed. "Hey, I’m just saying. If you can’t laugh about glowing like a human nightlight, what can you laugh about?"

"Your funeral," I yelled sharply, earning an instant shut up from him.

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