BloodMoon: Captivated by the Forbidden Lycan Alpha
Chapter 256: THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN

Chapter 256: THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN

{"The mountains are calling and I must go."}

QADIRA’S POV

The night was quiet, but my heart was not. Rolan’s arm was wrapped around my waist, his breath warm against the curve of my shoulder as we lay curled together in the bed we had shared since the feast at the Kayne home. I traced idle circles over Rolan’s forearm, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It calmed me. It always did. But tonight, the calm only deepened the space where the unease had begun to root.

"I thought I’d feel more settled," I whispered into the dark, more to myself than to him.

Rolan shifted slightly behind me, pulling me closer. "About leaving?"

"About everything." I exhaled slowly. "This path. The future. Us." I turned my head, just enough to meet his eyes. "But mostly... the call I feel in my blood. It is like something’s waiting."

He studied me for a moment, not dismissing me. "The Mira magic?"

I nodded. "It has been quieter since the Chambers passed their light to me. But now, it is... changing. It feels like something new wants to awaken."

He did not reply with words. Just kissed the curve of my shoulder and held me tighter.

Eventually, sleep came and with it the dream. I stood on jagged cliffs of pale stone, wind howling around me like a choir of forgotten voices. Below, a valley shimmered with forest and silver rivers, its heart crowned by mountains unlike any I had seen. The earth vibrated beneath my feet. Not with danger but with recognition.

The mountains were calling me from the highest peak; a pulse of light cracked the sky. Gold and violet, the colour of both Mira flame and old shifter power. It reached for me like a hand through the void.

When I stepped forward, I felt it, a welcome.

"Qadira," a voice echoed low, reverent, neither male nor female but everything in between. "Daughter of the blood stone mountain and the Mira mage, we are waiting for your presence."

I gasped awake, and the dream was gone, but its touch remained. My blood thrummed, like the earth itself had whispered through my bones.

Beside me, Rolan stirred. "Qadira?"

"I saw the Bay Shifter mountains," I said softly, breath still uneven. "They were... alive. They called me."

He sat up slightly, his hand finding mine. "A vision?"

I nodded. "There is something there that is calling to me. "

Rolan said nothing for a long time, just watched me with those wolf-dark eyes of his. Then he kissed my forehead. "Then we go. Together."

The morning mist still clung to the cobblestones when I stepped out onto the balcony. The Kayne land was slow and quiet, as if even the sun was reluctant to rise. A low fog rolled over the gardens, silver and soft, muffling sound and giving the world a hush that matched the weight in my chest.

Rolan stood beside me, already dressed for the journey. "They’re waiting," I said softly, wrapping my arms around myself. "I can feel it. The mountains. The spirits. Whatever that dream was."

He nodded, not asking questions. That was one of the many reasons I loved him. He trusted the parts of me that even I did not understand. I felt more than heard footsteps behind us light, precise. Freyr appeared, his silver-blonde hair braided back, his dark cloak embroidered with the Kayne crest. He gave us a quiet nod, but the warmth in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Everything’s ready," he said. "Aurora sent her blessing. The gates will open for us at first light."

"Is she sending guards?" I asked.

"Only to the borders. She said this path is ours to walk."

I looked between them my brother, my mate and something settled inside me. Not stillness, exactly, but purpose. We were stepping into the unknown, but we were not stepping alone. Below, I caught sight of Rita and Flora waiting beside the travel wagons, along with Rou, already saddling his horse, his ever-watchful eyes scanning the tree line.

Rolan reached for my hand, lacing our fingers together. "Ready?" he asked.

I took one last look at Kayne’s home, the only place I had ever known. I thought of Mother, of Sierra, of the chambers and the magic that no longer hummed in my bones the way it once did. I thought of the dream, of the mountains that pulsed with gold and violet, of a new magic waiting to be claimed.

I exhaled slowly. "Yes," I said. "Let’s go."

The forest opened around us like an ancient breath.

Towering evergreens swayed above, their branches filtering sunlight in gold-dappled beams. The land here hummed differently. Not Mira magic, not Coven energy. This was something raw. Primal. Shifter blood soaked into bark and bone.

Rolan rode beside me in silence, his gaze fixed ahead even as his fingers occasionally brushed mine. Everyone else had begun to talk, Freyr and Tor whispering, Rou grunting answers to Rita’s endless questions, Flora quietly smiling at something in the trees.

But Rolan remained quiet.

I watched the way his jaw flexed. The way his shoulders were was just a little too tense.

"You’re thinking too hard," I said softly, nudging my horse closer to his.

His eyes flicked toward me, sharp and storm grey. "I’m preparing."

"For?"

He did not answer at first. The silence stretched between us like a held breath.

Then, finally, he said, "For when they see me."

I tilted my head. "You mean the Rogourau?"

"No," he said. "I mean me. All of me. My true face. The one I was born with. The one I have hidden for years behind charm and scars and shadows."

I reached out and caught his hand. Hold it tight. "You do not owe them your face, Rolan. Not unless you choose to give it."

"They’ll ask," he said. "They always do. The Bay Shifters will want to know if I am the monster they have been warned about. The stories say the Rogourau devour light and twist souls."

I studied him in the morning light, where the shadows of the trees could not reach.

"You’re not a monster," I said.

He gave me a half-smile. "You’re biased."

"Damn right I am."

He let out a breath, something between a laugh and a sigh. "I just... I have spent so long hiding. At first, to survive. The n, because I was not sure I could ever be accepted. But now—"

"Now you have something worth being seen for," I whispered.

He nodded.

I leaned closer, close enough that my voice was just for him. "You do not have to wear every scar like armor anymore. You do not have to shrink or shapeshift or play roles for anyone. You are mine. That is the truth. That is enough."

He stopped and we listened to the others, their laughter fading just out of reach, giving us this small moment of pause. He turned toward me, and I saw it just a flicker in his eyes. That gleam of what he truly was. The beast. The power. The depth.

"I’ll show them," he said at last, voice low but steady. "When the time is right. I will show them what I am."

"And they’ll see what I already know," I said, leaning my forehead against his. "That you are not here to devour the light. You are the light I chose."

He exhaled, and some of that tension melted away. Then he kissed me, slow and sure, the way you kiss someone when you are choosing to live.

We broke apart when Rou barked from up ahead, "Are you two planning to move, or should we send a map?"

Rolan rolled his eyes. "I liked him better when he was brooding and silent." I laughed, and together, we moved forward, the Bay Shifter border just ahead.

The fire crackled softly behind me, casting golden light over sleeping forms and quiet packs. The night had long settled over us, the sky a blanket of deep blue dusted with stars. We were close, just a few miles from the Bay Shifter border. Close enough that I could feel the pulse of their land through the roots and soil.

But when I stirred from light sleep, Rolan’s presence beside me was gone.

I sat up, heart already alert. He moved like a whisper when he did not want to be followed, but I knew his scent now. I knew his silence.

I slipped from the circle of warmth and followed the faintest trail of crushed moss and disturbed leaves. The forest around us was alive, but quiet. Even the night creatures seemed to hush for him.

Then I heard the rush of water and then realized it was a waterfall. It was deeper into the woods than I expected, veiled behind thick trees and a curtain of mist. I stepped through a break in the foliage and there he was, waist-deep in the pool beneath the falls, moonlight painting his bare shoulders silver.

Rolan’s back was to me, and steam lifted faintly from his skin. I stepped closer, careful not to startle him. "You wandered off."

He did not turn. "I couldn’t sleep."

"Is that the only reason?" I asked, softer now, to his side.

His hands moved through the water, slow and deliberate. "My body’s burning," he said finally. "It started an hour after we stopped. I tried to ignore it, but..."

I watched the water ripple around him, watched how the heat steamed from his chest and arms. His skin looked flushed, golden in the moonlight.

He glanced at me then, his eyes darker than usual. "It happens sometimes. When I shift too close to a full moon... or when I am holding back too much. The Rogourau burns inside me until it threatens to boil through my skin."

My throat tightened with concern. "Does it hurt?"

"Not exactly," he murmured, voice low. "It is more like... too much energy, too much blood moving too fast. The water helps. It cools the fire."

I stepped to the edge of the pool, crouching. "You should’ve told me."

"I didn’t want to wake you."

"You do not have to protect me from this, Rolan. I am your mate. I feel when something is wrong."

His gaze met mine again, and this time there was no resistance. Just quiet vulnerability.

"Come closer," he said. "You ground me. Even when I am burning."

Without hesitation, I slid into the pool, the cold water wrapping around my limbs. He pulled me gently into him, my back to his chest, his arms circling my waist beneath the surface.

I felt the heat in him. It was really like the Earth’s core lived inside his body. But as we stood there, skin to skin, water lapping at our shoulders, it began to ease.

His breath slowed.

"I’m sorry if I scared you," he said.

"You didn’t scare me," I whispered. "You reminded me how strong you are. But even the strong need to cool the fire now and then."

He rested his chin on my shoulder, his voice softer than I had ever heard it. "You make it easier to be seen."

And I smiled, because I knew the truth, even fire can be tamed... if you meet it with love.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.