BloodMoon: Captivated by the Forbidden Lycan Alpha
Chapter 288: ASHANAI’S RAGE

Chapter 288: ASHANAI’S RAGE

{"Once you’ve earned his loyalty, there is nothing a dragon won’t do for you."}

TOR’S POV

The wind had teeth now. It tore through the trees like they were paper, screeching past the ruined stone of Hanka Island. I could feel the pulse of the realm, its agony beneath my feet. Freyr stood beside me, tense, his eyes fixed on the creature that had once been the Moon Goddess. But Ashanai... She was no goddess now. She was something else entirely. Twisted, Poisoned, and Power-drunk.

"I will destroy everything that stands in my way!" she howled, and her voice cracked the sky. I swear the heavens flinched, and then something shifted, and she stilled, a moment of hesitation, and then her eyes flicked wide.

A sound that sent a cold shiver down my spine as he screamed, "RURIK?!" The name spat from her like venom. Ashanai stumbled, just half a step, but the power rippled through the air in a jagged line. Her expression turned from confusion to betrayal, and then pure wrath.

"No... No!" she screamed. "He was mine! Bound to me by blood and magic, he cannot defy me!"

Her scream became a roar that shook the island to its core. I reached out instinctively and caught Freyr’s wrist. The tremor beneath us intensified, and I could feel the magic thickening like a storm before a hurricane. Ashanai raised her arms, and the waves behind her rose like summoned beasts. The very ocean seemed to scream with her. The ground cracked at my feet, and trees ignited with silver flame. Then Gerod fell, the great dragon dropped to one knee beside us, and that alone made my blood go cold.

"Her power..." he growled, breath ragged, "It’s... multiplied."

I swallowed hard. My beast paced within, claws ready but wary. "She’s gone feral," I muttered. "This is what betrayal does to evil. It feeds from it as she cannot accept defeat."

Gerod rasped "She knows Rurik has choses the Moon goddess and betrayed her and now she’s coming for us with everything she’s got."

Ashanai’s laughter turned into something guttural, a fearless woman, more curse. Shadows peeled off her skin like smoke, staining the air. Magic tore through the sky above her in jagged arcs, and the island screamed with her. The moment she vanished, they screamed, not words. Not even a sound that belonged to this realm. Just shrieks, sharp, broken things that pierced the air like blades. The creatures she left behind wailed after her, a symphony of madness and torment. My hands flew to my ears, but it didn’t help. Nothing could block that kind of evil. It burrowed under the skin, into bone, deep into the soul.

Freyr staggered beside me, his face pale, eyes flicking to the shadows crawling along the beach and cliffs. The island itself was suffering. I could feel it in my chest, in my teeth. The roots of the trees cried. The very stones beneath our feet cracked in protest.

"She’s fucking bleeding the island dry," Freyr said, barely above a whisper.

I looked at him and saw the shimmer of his Mira magic pulsing beneath his skin. It flared protectively, reactively. And necessary. Ashanai turned then her silhouette still visible against the crashing dark behind her. Her eyes found us, black voids filled with malice. Her voice struck like lightning.

"I WILL END THE BAY SHIFTER PACK! I WILL TAKE BACK WHAT IS MINE!

The power in her words made the air itself recoil, and just like that, she was gone. Swallowed by her darkness and the creatures, those malformed sea-walkers with their shrivelled limbs and haunting eyes, skittered and dove after her, disappearing into the abyss.

But the silence that followed? It wasn’t peace. It was the kind of quiet that came before something worse. Around us, the sky remained black. The winds didn’t ease and Hanka Island, were dying. The trees sagged like they were weeping. The sacred rocks cracked under the weight of lingering corruption.

I dropped to one knee, placing my palm on the ground. "It’s still here," I said, breathing hard. "Her darkness... she left it behind."

Freyr knelt beside me, pressing his hand over mine. "She marked the land. This is a warning."

Gerod, still in his dragon form, slowly lifted his head. His scales dulled with exhaustion, but his voice was steady. "This was only the beginning." And I knew then, with terrible clarity and Bay Shifter Pack was next.

Gerod’s voice rumbled like distant thunder, low but commanding. "Tor. Freyr. You must return to the Haven Cave," he said, turning his weary gaze toward us. His wings drooped, his great form trembling beneath the weight of battle and the shadow Ashanai left behind. "The Heart Spring must be restored. Only its magic can breathe life back into Hanka."

Freyr and I exchanged a look. He nodded first, jaw set, golden eyes burning with renewed purpose. I mirrored the expression, though my chest ached from everything we had just witnessed.

"Will it be enough?" I asked Gerod, already knowing the answer wasn’t simple.

"It must be," he replied. "If the Heart Spring is awakened again, Hanka can begin to heal. But be swift as the darkness feeds on delay."

Freyr stepped forward, his voice calm but edged with steel. "Then we don’t waste a breath."

I moved beside him, brushing my fingers lightly against his hand as we turned from the crumbling shoreline. The beach was quiet now, but that silence still crawled on my skin. Behind us, the dragon let out a low growl, something like a prayer, or maybe a plea. We took off at once, racing across the wounded island with Vamp speed. The trees groaned around us. The wind was heavy. But as we reached the rise overlooking the Haven Cave, a faint shimmer in the air gave me hope, like the land was waiting for us.

Freyr whispered beside me, "The spring remembers."

And I whispered back, "Then let’s remind you how to live."

We stood at the mouth of the Haven Cave, the air thick with ancient whispers and the weight of what we had to do. Freyr’s hand brushed mine, grounding me. Around us, the cave pulsed with a silent, forgotten rhythm as if it too were holding its breath.

With a shared nod, we extended our hands. The magic Gerod had passed into us—fierce, wild, and old rose like a tide beneath our skin. I could feel it in my veins, burning with a purpose far greater than us. Freyr’s voice lifted beside me in an incantation, his tone firm and unwavering. I followed, my power merging with his, our connection forging the call.

The stone beneath our feet shimmered and then the Heart Spring returned. With a sound like a heartbeat cracking through stone, water surged up from the earth, glowing gold and silver, a radiant pulse in the dark cave. The air shimmered with life. The cave breathed and we watched in awe and for a moment, it felt like victory. But then the light flickered and the glow dimmed as the waters trembled and the ground moaned.

"No," Freyr breathed.

And we both watched, helpless, as the Heart Spring began to sink its brilliance, swallowed whole by the island itself. The earth opened, devouring the very thing we’d just brought back. In a breath, it was gone.

Dead silence, and what followed was a hollow where hope had been, and Freyr and I didn’t speak. We took off as Freyr moved with Vamp speed through the broken paths, trees whipping past, the scent of ash and sea salt clinging to everything. And when we reached the beachgoer was on his knees and the great dragon’s body trembled, his talons dug into the sand as he heaved, his breath ragged and laboured. Steam hissed from his nostrils. His wings hung heavy and low, and blood stained the edges of his scales.

"Gerod!" Freyr called, already rushing to him, and I followed, heart pounding, dread curling in my gut like poison, and I had the terrible feeling that whatever Ashanai had done, it wasn’t finished yet.

Gerod’s massive body trembled, every breath a storm waiting to break. The beach around him was scorched, steam hissing where his scales touched the sand. His golden eyes flickered, dimmer than I’d ever seen them, no longer burning with the unshakable force of the guardian, but with the final flicker of a dying star.

He was holding the island together. I could feel it now. The hum beneath the soil and the way the air resisted collapse. All of it was Gerod as his gaze lifted to us, and his voice deep, cracked with pain, boomed across the cursed silence:

"Is the Heart Spring in its place?" He asked as his voice rasped.

I opened my mouth. But nothing came out. Shame rose in my chest like bile. Freyr stood beside me, eyes shadowed, jaw tight. And then, with quiet sorrow, he answered for both of us.

"It was... but then the earth swallowed it whole, and there is nothing left but dust in its place."

Gerod didn’t growl, nor did he rage. He simply closed his eyes, and for a moment, I thought we’d lost him right there. Then he exhaled, long and low, and the sound was grief given form.

"Then... my time is up."