BloodMoon: Captivated by the Forbidden Lycan Alpha
Chapter 234: THE ROU ALPHA’S RECKONING

Chapter 234: THE ROU ALPHA’S RECKONING

{"Alpha males don’t compete; they dominate."}

The stink of rot was thick in the air, curling into my lungs like poison. We crouched behind the shale and iron-veined stone ridge, eyes fixed on the infected mass swarming below. I could hear their breath erratic, wet, hungry. Those things were not just guarding the entrance to Blood Stone Mountain, they were feeding off the mountain’s madness, part of it now.

"There are too many," Freyr muttered, knuckles white around his blade.

"They are not just a wall. They are a message," Sierra said, her voice tight. "Something down there wants us to see what we’re up against and walk away."

"Or run," Dante added grimly, crouched beside her. "And honestly, I’m not ruling it out."

I was silent, and the hum in my chest had started the moment we laid eyes on the swarm. It was pressure. It was a calling. My beast stirred beneath my skin not from fear but from purpose. "We don’t have time to wait this out," I said.

Tor turned toward me, frowning. "What are you thinking?"

I met his eyes. "I shift. I draw them out. I can pull the whole swarm into the low basin. Get them clear of the entrance. Give you the window you need."

"No." It was Siera who spoke first, firm and immediate. "Rou, that’s a death run."

"I’m not asking," I said.

"You’re talking about leading a horde of infected down a cliffside with Blood Stone bugs in their flesh," Dante snapped. "One bite and you could get infected too."

"I know."

"Then why the hell would you do this?" Freyr asked.

I looked at them, all of them. Freyr’s frustration. Sierra’s quiet worry. Dante’s disbelief. Even Tor looked... unsure. That alone said everything. "Because this isn’t about me," I said. "This is about getting inside. About ending whatever the hell Lord Marcel has buried in that mountain before it swallows the world."

"You think you’re expendable now?" Sierra’s voice broke slightly.

"No. I am capable. I am the Rogourau Alpha. You know what I am." I smirked.

"You’re also Belle Mortas’ mate," Tor said quietly, and everyone stared at me in shock.

I felt the weight of her name land squarely in my chest. "Exactly. And if I am going to protect her, protect all of them, I cannot sit behind a ridge and hope someone else handles the ugly part."

Dante stated. "Then I am going with you. "

I shook my head. "No. If something happens to me, you lead the rest. You are the anchor here. You all are."

They did not argue right away. That silence... it was full of everything we did not want to say.

Finally, Sierra stepped toward me and gripped my wrist. "If you fall, Rou—"

"I won’t."

She did not believe me. Not really. But she let go.

I turned toward the ridge again and exhaled slowly, the ground beneath me already resonating with my power.

"Time to wake the beast," I said.

And I leapt. There is a moment before you shift, right before your bones snap, before your skin stretches and your blood sings, where your instincts scream louder than thought. I stood just beyond the ridge, staring down at the swarm. Infected vampires, swaying like reeds in the foul wind, their bodies riddled with those twitching, glistening bugs. The Blood Stone parasites had made them faster, stronger more mindless. They were not just guarded anymore.

They were a wall of rot and rage. Tor had asked for time. Freyr was weighing runes, trying to find a way to veil us. Siera was silent, her hand resting on her blade, waiting for a call that might never come.

But I did not need time, and I needed them gone. "I’m done watching," I growled.

Then I dropped, and the shift ripped through me like wildfire. My bones shattered first, lengthening, twisting, then reknit under a thick surge of muscle. My claws tore through my fingertips. My skin cracked, peeled, then hardened into the dark, obsidian hide of my beast. Horns curled from my skull like the jagged roots of the deep earth, and my teeth gods, my teeth felt like they could bite through the world. I hit the ground with a roar that split the mountain air. The sound rolled like thunder across the valley, and every infected head turned toward me in a grotesque snap of motion.

They shrieked in unison a high, terrible sound, and then they ran. I tore through the forest line, crashing through stone and root, the stench of blood and decay behind me. Dozens of them chased, feet pounding the soil, bugs hissing in their flesh. I did not stop. I could not. This was not a battle; it was a sacrifice. But if I played it right, if I stayed ahead, I would give Tor and Freyr, Sierra and Dante the opening they needed. I would clear the path for Flora.

My mate. My heart. You better be watching, Belle, I thought, as another roar tore from my chest. Because I swear, I am coming back to you. Even if I had to drag every demon in this cursed mountain down with me.

I tore through the front ranks like a storm, making sure I never stayed still, never gave them time to adapt. They swarmed after me, just as I wanted. One by one, the guards at the mountain mouth peeled off, shrieking as they chased me into the lower ravine.

"Come on," I snarled, though it came out as a twisted, guttural growl.

And they did. They screamed, clicked, and ran, dozens turning into a wave of cursed flesh and chittering limbs chasing me down the gorge like the hounds of hell. But I knew this land. I had mapped this ravine by scent and stone. I knew how to weave through the cliffs without getting cornered.

Behind me, the mountain entrance cleared and just enough. I could only hope Tor and the others moved fast. That this insane gamble bought them what they needed. But I did not have time to dwell. One of the infected caught up, leaping onto my back with its mouth open, parasites writhing where its tongue should have been.

I slammed backward into a rock wall, crushing it instantly, and I roared again, louder this time, louder than I ever had, and flame surged from my throat. A shockwave of Alpha fury poured out of me, sending a dozen of them skidding across the broken terrain.

The cliffs thinned ahead of me, stone giving way to slippery shale and steep drops. And beyond it, I smelled it—salt. Cold brine on the wind. The sea.

Perfect.

The infected were still behind me, shrieking like rusted metal scraping bone. Faster than I expected. Meaner, too. And they did not tire. The parasites kept them moving, kept them hungry. But they did not know the tide. I pushed harder, paws hammering the earth in long strides as the trees thinned and the roar of the ocean grew louder. One wrong move here and I would tumble over the edge like some desperate beast—but I was a beast, and I knew how to ride chaos better than most.

I glanced over my shoulder. Dozens still followed. Blood-slick, lunging, and tearing at each other just to get to me first.

I growled. "Let’s see if you can swim."

I leapt and the cliff edge vanished under me, and for one breathless second, there was only sky and wind and the crash of waves below. Then the impact and the sea swallowed me whole.

The cold was a blade across my hide. Salt stung the open places in my shift, but I did not hesitate. I dove deeper, powerful limbs cutting through the water, steering myself away from the cliff base and into the rough channel that curved north. I knew this route was a half-submerged passage that once led smugglers through these rocks before Blood Stone Mountain was cursed.

The current was fast. Dangerous. But it was also mine now, and above the surface, I heard them crashing into the water after me. Sloppy, wild splashes. Infected bodies are hitting the sea like rotten wood.

I dove deeper and the water muted their screams. One followed me below—limbs twitching, eyes glowing with that corrupted red shine. But water did not serve the parasites like flesh did. The bugs twitched violently, confused, suffocating inside their host. The thing convulsed once... and stopped moving.

That is right. You are not built for this.

I kicked off a rock shelf and launched forward through the channel, twisting my massive body between coral teeth and buried boulders. I knew they could not follow forever. The water would claim most of them, the tide taking back what it never wanted in the first place.

Behind me, fewer splashes now. Less screaming. Just the hiss of the sea and the burn of effort. I surfaced once, gasping air through my beast throat, then dipped below again. A long arc through the underwater pass. If I timed this right, I would circle back to the north beach in two hours, wind behind me. And I could collapse for ten damn minutes before charging the mountain from another side.

But for now? I swam. With the fury of a storm. With the memory of Belle in my blood. With the scent of rot still chasing me.