BloodMoon: Captivated by the Forbidden Lycan Alpha
Chapter 205: POWER BENEATH THE CORE

Chapter 205: POWER BENEATH THE CORE

{"Keep close to Nature’s heart."}

We were ready to attack, and then it screeched and by the blood, I heard men die screaming, heard a beast roar in the pits of war, but nothing like that. It shattered through my skull like glass, made my bones ache, and my heart clench. Rou doubled over, hands clamped to his ears. Rolan let out a string of curses in some old tongue and tried to stand his ground.

I could not move, and then it screeched again, louder, like something had called to it. And then just like that, it vanished. Gone. No smoke, no flash. Just... gone. The wind kicked up in its wake, cold and sudden, leaving silence so thick it pressed on my chest.

We just stood there, "What the hell was that?" I finally croaked; my voicewas hoarse.

Rou straightened; his expression unreadable. "A warning," he said. "Or a retreat."

Rolan shook his head. "No. That was not for us. That was for something else."

The silence held a little too long. Like the mountain itself was holding its breath.

Rou finally straightened up, wiping the blood from his ear. "It did not even try to fight us. It just turned and ran. Why?"

I stared into the space where the thing had vanished. That scream it had not been fear. It had been recognized. A summons. Or hunger.

"No," I said slowly, my voice still raw. "It was not running. It felt something."

Rolan narrowed his eyes on me. "Felt what?"

I hesitated, then glanced at the ridge behind us, the way the wind shifted, just subtly, as if it carried more than air. "It might’ve sensed the Kayne Stone."

Both went still.

"You’re not serious," Rou said, jaw tight.

"I am." I met his gaze. "You saw how it reacted like something tore its attention away from us. It was locked on, ready to strike. And then it was not. That thing knew the presence of the Kayne Stone... or something within it."

Rolan’s hand went to the pendant beneath his collar, the faint green crystal Freyr had given him. "Kayne’s power is sealed," he murmured. "It shouldn’t be able to call anything."

"Yeah, well." I tilted my head toward the void the monster left behind. "Maybe ’shouldn’t’ does not matter anymore. Especially not out here."

A beat passed. Rou muttered a curse and turned away, scanning the ridge again. "If it’s after Freyr’s stone," he said grimly, "then we’re no longer the target."

I nodded. "We’re just in the way."

Before I could say another word, Rolan spun toward me, urgency flashing in his eyes. "Wait, Dante!" I turned to him, and he continued, "Listen to me!" he said, breath coming quick. "The Core. The creature’s gone. That thing was guarding it. Or feeding off it. Either way, it is gone now. That means—" He stepped forward, grabbing my arm. "—we have access to the Core."

Rou’s eyes narrowed. "You want him to go access the Blood Stone Mountains Core?"

"It’s not a lair anymore," Rolan snapped. "It is exposed. And it will not stay that way for long. Dante, you are from the Paradise Coven. You are the only one who can connect to it safely."

My pulse stuttered. "Rolan, that is not how the Core works. It is not a crystal you just touch. It is alive. It remembers. It consumes."

"But it also responds," he countered. "Your bloodline is the only one that is ever channelled it without dying. Or worse." He stepped closer, his voice dropping. "This might be the only chance we get to find out what that thing was and why it fled."

I looked past him, toward the pulsing, scarlet glow leaking up from the cracks in the ridge. The Core of Blood Stone Mountain. Forbidden. Sacred. Sentient. Even the wind did not dare move too close.

Rou stayed quiet, jaw clenched, but he did not protest, and I exhaled slowly. My fingers flexed. The mark on my palm had not burned in years. But now? Now it felt like it was whispering.

"Alright," I said, voice low. "I’ll do it."

Rolan’s shoulders relaxed with visible relief. Rou gave a grunt that could have meant do not die, good luck, or you are insane, all three. As I stepped toward the Core, I felt the way it consumed me and my beast, and then I closed my eyes and let it take me. The stone walls pulsed with veins of molten red, slow and rhythmic, like the beat of a massive heart. The air was thick, not with heat but memory. Old, unyielding memory that pressed against my skin like hands. Moving closer, my mark ignited searing white-gold light crawling up my veins like wildfire.

And then it moved, and the Core pulsed once, then surged. Light exploded outward, not blinding but infinite. It struck my chest like a tide, and I screamed as it tore through me, not with pain but with knowledge. My bones felt like glass. My mind felt like a thousand mirrors shattering and reforging at once.

Then came the voice. Deep, cold, echoing through every part of me.

"Dante Alaric, son of the Paradise Coven... welcome home."

My knees buckled. I fell forward, but the Core caught me and suspended me in the air like I weighed nothing.

"You," I breathed. "You are the Core."

"I am the Core. The memory of Blood Stone Mountain. The will of the forgotten."

Images slammed into me— visions of vampires in white robes, blood-soaked rituals beneath moonless skies, the vigils of the Paradise Coven glowing gold with power and desperation.

"Your kind was meant to protect this place. The Paradise Coven was our last bond. But they failed."

"Failed?" I choked. "How?"

"They allowed him to live. They sealed him instead of destroying him."

Another image. A young man. Bound. Bleeding. His face twisted in agony.

"Dunco Kayne. His blood was sacred. But it was stolen from him to feed the hunger."

I saw the blood pour down carved channels in the mountain. And then I saw something worse. Another sacrifice. Larger. Monstrous. Familiar.

"...Rolan," I whispered.

"Yes. The beast’s ancient blood was mixed with Kayne’s. It was a recipe for resurrection."

I tried to breathe, but the Core kept going, relentless, heavy with truth.

"The evil sealed long ago fed on that blood. Gorged. And from its hunger... it bred."

My heart sank.

"The Bloodstone Vampire Bugs." The words came from my own lips.

"Born to infiltrate. Infect. Control."

My stomach turned. I could feel them now. Thousands of them. Swarming beneath the skin of the mountain, sinking into fangs and flesh.

"And who— did this?" I asked, already fearing the answer.

The Core pulsed darker, almost black, and the air around me dropped ten degrees.

"Lord Marcel." His name crashed into me like a wave of ice. "He found the ancient texts. He twisted the purpose of the Paradise Coven. He still feeds the evil. And now... he commands the blood-born swarm."

I saw him in the vision Marcel, tall and proud, his cloak soaked in crimson and beside him was the dark cloaked monster.

"He is not your leader. He is your undoing." The light began to fade, but not the truth.

"You were drawn here," it said, voice now lower, heavy with sorrow. "You and your allies carried more than intention. You carried the keys."

My pulse quickened. "What do you mean by keys?"

"Freyr Kayne and Gale..."

Even before the Core finished, my gut twisted. I saw their faces in my mind—Kayne, with his wild, tired eyes, always carrying the weight of something unsaid. And Gale, impossibly still, like he was always listening to a storm that had not broken yet.

"Their presence was no accident. They are not merely of blood, Dante. They are powerful."

The Core surged again. This time I felt it not just in my body, but in the mountain, in the very air.

"The evil needed them. And you brought them."

I staggered, nearly collapsing under the weight of that revelation.

"Kayne’s blood carries the remnants of the moon goddess—God’s divine sorrow, sealed in his line when the stars fell. Gale... he bears the breath of the dragon from Hanka Island, flame-bound and soul-linked. And within both, tangled through fate and magic, is the root of Ragar’s mountain force. And Mira’s wild spell craft, lost to time."

My voice came out hoarse. "All of that... in them?"

"Together, they are a vessel of the four sacred forces. Alone, they are survivable. Together irresistible."

"And now," I said, the dread settling like a blade between my ribs, "the evils after them."

The Core pulsed a deep crimson now, the light flickering like a warning fire. "If it consumes those powers... the realm as you know it will shatter. Blood Stone will not stand. Nor the seas, nor the skies. Magic will be broken. Time itself will bend under its hunger."

I clenched my fists. "How the fuck am I supposed to help them?"

"Because now, you are fused with me. Now... you are ready."

I stepped back from the Core, light still pulsing through my skin, every nerve buzzing like static beneath my flesh.

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