Beneath the Alpha's Moon
Chapter 239: Falling Apart

Chapter 239: Falling Apart

Lucian’s P.O.V. (Guest Appearance)

The weight of failure is heavier than any battle I have ever fought. It presses on my chest, making it difficult to breathe, suffocating me as I sit in the large room where Mai, Eldur, and Liam lay motionless. Ten days. Ten damn days since Elizabeth put them into an enchanted sleep, and still, there was nothing. No movement. No flicker of life beyond the steady rise and fall of their chests.

And Liam... Liam was the key to all of this. If he didn’t wake up, Mai and Eldur wouldn’t either.

I raked a hand through my hair, frustration bubbling beneath my skin. I had lied to his parents—told them that Liam, Mai, and Eldur were sent on a special training mission with Elizabeth, something vital for the upcoming ritual on Liam’s birthday. I could still see the doubt in their eyes when I told them to trust me, to believe in me.

They didn’t.

They wanted to. They used to. But they didn’t.

And I couldn’t blame them.

Liam’s mother, Clara, had clutched onto my arm that day, her fingers trembling, her voice only a whisper. "He’s our only child, Alpha. Please... tell me he’s okay."

I had smiled. Lied through my teeth. Assured her that he was fine.

But he wasn’t fine.

He was lying in this damn bed, unresponsive, holding my daughter’s fate—and Eldur’s—between life and death.

I squeezed my eyes shut. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I had sworn to keep them safe, all of them. My pack was supposed to trust me, to believe in my leadership. Yet, here I was, slowly losing that trust, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

The room was choking me. The silence too loud. I needed help but all road seemed closed.

*********

I remembered calling Adrian through the mind link three days after the children had been unconscious. I had thought—hoped—prayed that Liam would wake up after the first day. That it would all be temporary. That I wouldn’t have to call Adrian.

But I had been wrong.

The silence of the packhouse was deafening as I reached out through the mind link, my voice sharp, cutting through the void between us.

"Adrian."

It took only a second before I heard his ever-calm, infuriatingly smooth voice. "Lucian, I hope this call is to invite me for a drink, and not to tell me something terrible has happened."

I exhaled sharply, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Adrian, I need you here. Now."

A pause. A heartbeat of silence. Then, his tone lost its usual teasing edge.

"I’ll be there in soon."

He didn’t ask questions. He never did when I used that tone.

Juliette arrived with him, the door swinging open with a force that rattled the hinges. They stepped inside, their faces hard, their presence carrying the weight of authority that only years of experience and hardship could forge.

Elizabeth was already there, standing near the foot of the bed, her usually composed expression marred with a quiet frustration. Teresa and Rylan stood nearby, their postures tense, their eyes shifting between the unconscious figures of Liam, Mai, and Eldur.

The seriousness of the situation held us all down, thick like fog, choking in its heaviness.

Adrian’s sharp gaze swept across the room, his eyes landing on the still bodies lying on the beds. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly, turning to face me.

"Explain."

And so, I did.

I told him everything. The way Liam became this way. The way Mai and Eldur followed, slipping into unconsciousness as Elizabeth did something to pulled them under. The prayers. The endless waiting. The silence from the Moon Goddess.

The moment I finished, Juliette let out a low, frustrated growl, pacing the room like a caged predator.

"So you’re telling me we have no idea why Liam hasn’t woken up? No idea what the hell is actually happening?"

Her voice was sharp, slicing through the tense air, but it wasn’t anger—it was desperation masked in frustration.

Teresa’s arms folded tightly across her chest, her voice quiet but steady. "We called the Moon Goddess in prayer." She hesitated, her fingers tightening around her sleeves. "But she hasn’t answered us."

Adrian’s jaw clenched. His usual smirk was gone, replaced by a grim look that made the unease in my chest grow heavier.

"Then we call her again."

And so we did.

Every single night, we gathered.

We prayed.

We begged.

We called upon the Moon Goddess, our voices rising into the heavens, demanding answers.

But she remained silent.

Every single night, I stood outside Ollie’s door.

And every single night, I listened.

To my ears, the walls were thin, and so were his defenses. His sobs were quiet, muffled as if he was trying to choke them back, trying to hold himself together. But I heard them anyway. I heard every shaky breath, every broken sound that slipped past his lips when he thought no one was listening.

He thought I didn’t know. Thought he was strong enough to carry the weight of his sister’s unconsciousness alone.

He was wrong.

But I never went in. Never placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Never spoke the words that sat heavy on my tongue.

Because I knew he wouldn’t want that.

He was an Alpha—young, but an Alpha nonetheless.

And Alphas didn’t cry.

At least, not where anyone could see.

Teresa on the other hand, tried to act like it didn’t break her. Like she wasn’t crumbling inside.

But I wasn’t fooled.

She spent hours by Mai’s bedside, her fingers brushing through our daughter’s soft curls, whispering quiet prayers to a goddess who refused to answer. Her voice never wavered, but I saw the way her hands trembled, the way her shoulders stiffened every time Mai didn’t stir.

Adrian wasn’t any better. He kept his usual mask of calm, but I caught the way his fingers clenched whenever his eyes landed on Eldur and Mai. His jaw was tight, his frustration barely contained beneath the surface. Adrian rarely let anything rattle him, but this? This was different. This was his son and daughter.

Even Juliette, our unshakable Gamma, had started snapping at people over the smallest things. Her patience—usually endless—was wearing thin.

We were all breaking.

And none of us knew how to put the pieces back together.

And then—on the night of September 16th—three days before Liam’s birthday, everything changed.

It started as a shift in the air. A ripple of energy that sent the hair on my arms standing on end.

The lights flickered violently, shadows twisting along the walls.

Then, out of nowhere, the temperature dropped.

The breath in my lungs froze as silver mist pooled into the center of the room, swirling, shifting—until suddenly, she was there.

The Moon Goddess.

She stood before us, luminous and ethereal, her long silver hair flowing like liquid starlight. Her eyes—vast, ancient—held the weight of eternity.

No one spoke. No one moved.

And then, she turned her gaze to me.

I felt it—the raw, overwhelming power pressing into my bones, my soul.

"Lucian Blackwood," her voice was both soft and infinite, reverberating in the very air around us. "You have carried much on your shoulders."

I swallowed, forcing myself to find my voice. "Then tell me, Goddess—why?"

Her gaze drifted to Liam, then to Mai and Eldur.

"Because fate has never been kind to those who try to defy it."

A sharp, bitter laugh escaped me. "And what, exactly, does that mean?"

She smiled—a small, knowing thing. "It means that you must trust."

I clenched my fists. "Trust? Trust in what? My daughter has been asleep for ten days. Eldur too. And Liam—Liam, who should have woken up by now—hasn’t! Tell me why!"

Her glowing eyes softened. "Because his soul has not yet made its choice."

Teresa whispered, "Choice?"

The Goddess nodded. "Liam stands at a crossroads, trapped between what was and what could be. He must make his decision."

I felt my breath leave me. "And if he doesn’t?"

She looked at me then, truly looked, and the answer was there in her gaze.

If he didn’t choose...

Does that mean Mai and Eldur would never wake up?

Adrian took a step forward, his voice cool but edged with warning. "How do we bring him back?"

The Moon Goddess smiled again. "You don’t."

Juliette growled, frustration spilling from her like a storm. "Then what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"You wait," the Goddess said simply. "You wait, and you hope. Three more days to go."

I exhaled sharply. "That’s it?"

She inclined her head. "That is it."

And with that, the mist swirled, engulfing her in silver light.

Then she was gone.

Silence filled the room once more.

I turned to Teresa, my jaw tight. She met my gaze, her eyes filled with the same exhaustion, the same helplessness I felt.

We had no answers. No solutions.

Just waiting.

Waiting for a boy to make a choice.

And hoping to the gods that he chose right.

But what if Liam didn’t choose us?

What if he didn’t choose Mai?

What if the life she offered—the future we all believed in—wasn’t enough to bring him back?

The thought curled around my mind like a poison, refusing to let go.

What if he decided to walk away?

What if he never opened his eyes again?

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