BloodMoon: Captivated by the Forbidden Lycan Alpha
Chapter 176: SCENT OF ASH AND LILY

Chapter 176: SCENT OF ASH AND LILY

{"Without warning, as a whirlwind swoops on an oak, love shakes my heart."}

The dawn filtered in through the sheer drapes like a sigh—soft and golden, as though the world outside dared not disturb the stillness we’d spun through the night. I reached across the furs to the spot where his warmth should have lingered.

But it was cold and empty.

"Ralph?"

Silence answered me. No gentle snoring. No arm lazily draped over my chest. Just the quiet hush of morning.I sat up slowly, the ache in my body a sacred reminder of everything we had shared. My skin still burned with the memory of his touch, his voice caught between laughter and groans, the way his fingers had trembled slightly when I kissed the hollow of his throat.

He had told me he loved me and when he looked at me, as if I was something holy instead of the hardened weapon I’ve become... goddess, I felt it. We made promises. Made plans. Talked of a future where battlefields were nothing more than memories, and our home echoed with the sound of pups.

That beautiful, impossible miracle. Ralph—my Ralph—he had it. I’d caught the scent of it in the middle of our love-making, when instinct and longing blurred into something deeper, something primal. The gene meant he could bear our young. And for a creature like me, raised for war, sculpted by blood and duty, it meant redemption. It meant legacy.

We whispered names for the children we’d have, and he laughed, eyes soft and voice raw.

"You’d name a pup Ironfang?" he teased, biting gently at my ear.

"And what would you suggest?" I growled into his throat, kissing the skin just beneath his pulse.

"Something softer. Something wild. Like Ash... or Lily."

Now, only the lingering scent of ash and lilies remained on the bed, and I stood, sweeping my gaze around the room. No sign of struggle. No torn clothes. Just absence. Clean, deliberate.

"Ralph, where the hell did you go?"

I cursed under my breath and pulled on the tunic he liked to steal from me when he thought I wasn’t looking. It still smelled like him, like pine, smoke, and something delicate I could never name. Had he panicked? Run? Or was he taken? No. Ralph wasn’t the type to flee—not after last night. Not after whispering those promises in the hush between one heartbeat and the next. Unless...My fists clenched in anger and thought unless someone got to him. Or unless he thought I wouldn’t truly want him now. Now, I knew he could carry and bear my pups. Some omegas feared that. Feared they’d be reduced to a womb. But I wanted him. Ralph, the reckless Rou soldier with a wicked grin and a sharper tongue. I loved the soul behind the gene and was happy to be mated with him.

"You’re mine," I whispered into the emptiness. "And I won’t let you forget that."

The shower hissed like a warning, steaming up the mirror and burning the grit of the night off my skin. I leaned against the tiled wall, water cascading over me like it could rinse away the ache in my chest. But it stayed, low and steady, curled behind my ribs like a waiting beast. I closed my eyes and let the memory of Ralph’s voice echo once more. The way he whispered my name, like it meant something soft . But he was gone, and the world outside wasn’t waiting.

I hurriedly dressed even if my heart felt like it had been gutted with a blunt blade.The moment I stepped out of the barracks, the cold slapped me clean across the face. The yard was alive with movement. Commanders, soldiers, messengers. The scent of adrenaline and tension rode the morning wind.

Boots pounded against the stone. Horns blared from the north watchtower. The mountain offensive was about to launch.

I spotted them immediately, Commander Flora and Rita standing near the armored convoy, both in heavy winter gear, their expressions hard as iron. Flora glanced over first, her braid whipping in the wind like a flag of war. "Tiger," she called, striding over. "You’re late."

"I’m not," I said flatly, adjusting my gauntlet. "I’m on General time." I didn’t have the heart to joke back.

"Everything in place?" I asked, eyes scanning the map clipped to Flora’s side.

"Units are mobilized," Flora replied. "We’ll be crossing the ridge by nightfall. If the snow holds, we’ll hit the mountains in a day and then surround it in three days.

"Assuming they haven’t moved," Rita added. " It will give us an upper hand."

I gave a tight nod. "You are cleared to move." But even as I barked orders, even as the soldiers clicked their heels and the convoy roared to life, my mind was back in that empty bed.

Where the hell did you go, Ralph?

The day passed like sludge. Voices came and went. Orders were shouted, signed, obeyed. Maps spread. Routes recalculated. I nodded. I answered. I even barked once or twice for the sake of appearances. But none of it sank in.

My mind wasn’t here.

It was with him.

I found myself staring at a report for five straight minutes before Female Commander Belle Morta

yanked it from my hands.

"You’re distracted," she snapped.

"No," I lied.

General Morta raised an eyebrow across the room. "He’s brooding. That’s different."

I bit down on the inside of my cheek and didn’t reply. Because they were right.

I was brooding. I paced more than I spoke. Snapped at a recruit for asking something twice. My claws clicked against my vambrace the entire damn briefing. I wasn’t this kind of general—the kind who let feelings cloud tactics. Ralph wasn’t just missing. He was gone. Gone in a way that felt wrong in my bones. Like the world had shifted just a fraction of an inch, and nothing was sitting quite right anymore.

But that didn’t line up. He wouldn’t leave me like that. Not after everything. Not after last night. Gods, that night...I dragged a hand down my face, ignoring the fresh stack of intelligence Flora had dropped onto the strategy table. Where did he go? Where would he go? And then it struck me, sudden, sharp, like a bolt through fog.

The forest.Not just any forest, the deep one. Past the southern ridge, where the trees grow ancient and thick and wild. The place where the pack never patrols. The place no one dares to build or burn. The place where we’d first, Where he first touched me like I was a man and not a weapon. Where I pinned him against moss and earth and made love to him like I’d never get another chance. Where he whispered my name like it was sacred.Where I marked him. I looked out past the open gates, where the sky was bleeding into dusk and the horizon glowed with stormlight.

"Tiger?" Commander Belle asked behind me, her voice unusually soft. "You with us?"

I didn’t turn around."I’ve got something I need to check," I said quietly.

"You sure it can’t wait?"

I finally met her gaze. "No. It can’t."

Because I had a feeling, deep and unshakable, that I needed to get to him before I lost myself.

I’ve never liked giving up command, but I needed to be gone for a few days and deal with Ralph.

General Mac Mortas watched me from across the war table, his expression unreadable beneath that damn hooded gaze of his. I could see the calculation behind his eyes, though. The way he studied me, like I was a wounded animal trying not to limp. His son, Enforcer Troy Mortas, stood at his right shoulder, arms crossed, mouth twitching like he wanted to say something but knew better. Good. He should know better. One word out of line, and I might’ve decked him out of sheer frustration.

And then there was Belle. Commander Belle Morta, ever the sharpest wolf of the Mortas line, leaned forward on the edge of the table, her gloves tapping softly against the hardwood. Watching me with that mix of suspicion and concern I hated most. She could always read people too well.

"How long will you be gone?" she said, flatly.

"A day or two."

Mac’s eyebrow twitched. "For what?"

I avoided his gaze. "Personal matter."

"You don’t do anything personal," Troy muttered." Unless there is something you have not shared with us. "

" A shifter nose can detect everything, so he is worth it, right? " Belle teased.

I froze. Just for a second, and then he responded, "Yes."

Because he was. Because he is. Because no war plan, no matter how perfectly written, could account for the way he made me feel human again. And because if something happened to him, and I did nothing, then I’d never forgive myself. I turned away before they could read more in my face and moved toward the deep forest of Bay shifter pack.

I let out a shaky breath. My fingers were already at the clasps of my cloak, stripping away layers of command, of duty, of war. Each buckle I undid felt like shedding armor I’d worn too long. The air was cold, but I didn’t feel it. I pulled off the last of my gear and stepped barefoot on the moss. It yielded beneath me like it remembered. Like it knew.

I rolled my shoulders. My bones shifted beneath my skin, first a spark, then a surge, and then—

Pain and power collided, and I dropped to all fours, spine stretching, hands becoming paws, jaw reshaping into something older, something truer. Fur spread across my skin in a rush. My senses burst outward like fire through dry leaves. The forest welcomed me like a lover I hadn’t touched in seasons. Wind tugged at my fur. The scent trail flickered faintly in the air, barely there, but it was his. Beneath the pine. Beneath the river-rock and fading light.

I moved toward the scent, faster than I thought. Faster than doubt. My paws tore through the underbrush. Branches snapped behind me. The world blurred, and every pounding heartbeat chanted one word: please please please. Please let him be there. Please let him still be mine. Please don’t let me be too late.

I slowed. My breaths came heavy and ragged; then the place was silent.

But there, at the center, right by the stone where we had laid together, something stirred.

A scent. A shadow. A heartbeat I knew better than my own. My ears flicked forward. My pulse stilled.

Ralph.