Chapter 8
1377words
Nearly a thousand werewolves witnessed this mad scene—their Alpha, driven by instinct, forcibly marked his Omega mate during the Moon Goddess Festival.
Ella leaned against the cold altar pillar, breathing heavily.
The mark on her neck burned painfully, but a stronger, unprecedented power was surging through her veins.
She could clearly feel Karen's emotions—a storm mixed with shock, wild satisfaction, and a hint of confusion.
Karen stood before her, in his golden eyes, that rage induced by the full moon was receding, replaced by a complex, obscure possessiveness.
He raised his hand, as if not recognizing it, using his fingertips to touch the eternal mark he had just left on her neck.
His mark.
"You..." he spoke hoarsely, as if wanting to say something.
"What a touching scene."
A cold voice, heavy with mockery, came from the shadows beneath the altar.
"Who?!"
Karen Wolcoff whirled around, like a giant wolf whose territory had been violated, instantly shielding Ella completely behind him. The wild wolf within him was roaring, warning him of an approaching threat.
"—Kill them."
Karen didn't even see clearly who had arrived; he only smelled a scent that didn't belong to his wolf pack. His voice was ice-cold, without the slightest hesitation.
"Roar——!"
The four elite Beta warriors guarding the altar immediately let out a low growl.
Their bodies began to expand, bones making crackling sounds, fangs and claws instantly extending as they transformed into half-human, half-wolf forms, pouncing on the intruder in the shadows from four directions.
However, just as they were about to tear the shadow to pieces——
"——Leo?!"
A scream cut through the tense air.
Not from the intruder, but from Ella.
At the moment the Beta warriors pounced, the man also completely stepped out from the shadows, moonlight illuminating his face. He had a head of brown curly hair and a pair of sharp green eyes, with a touch of cynical coldness in his smile.
It was him!
It was Leo Wilde - the son of the Beta from Red Moon Pack, whom Ella thought had died in the massacre a year ago!
Just as the four Beta warriors' claws were about to tear open Leo's throat—
"Stop!"
Without thinking, Ella suddenly rushed out from Karen's protection, spreading her arms wide to shield Leo from the Beta warriors.
"Bang!"
The Beta warriors forcibly stopped their attack, their heavy bodies slamming onto the ground, splashing ice fragments. They were only inches away from Ella's face, the cold air from their claws almost cutting through her skin.
They looked at their Luna in disbelief.
They had just witnessed the Alpha marking this Omega, and the fresh Alpha scent of Karen on her was so strong it was pungent.
To harm her? This would be equivalent to declaring war on the Alpha.
The entire altar once again fell into dead silence.
Karen's golden eyes instantly contracted to pinpoints.
His expression was even more terrifying than when he was being corrupted by Silver Venom. An aura of betrayal, jealousy, and destructive rage rose from his body.
Luna, whom he had just marked, the mate he had declared his "ownership" of, was now protecting another man.
A damn Rogue!
"Ella."
Karen's voice was so low it seemed to drip, as he walked forward step by step, his tall figure looming over Ella.
"Get away."
"No! Karen, you can't kill him!" Ella's tears burst forth as she looked back at her old friend, her voice trembling, "Leo... is it really you?"
"It's me, Ella." Leo's face revealed a sad smile as he ignored the claws around him, "I've come to take you home."
"Home?"
Karen repeated the word, and the wild wolf within him went completely insane because of it.
"Ella Wolcoff." Karen grabbed her arm, roughly yanking her back to his side with such force that it almost crushed her bones.
"Ah!" Ella cried out in pain.
"You'd better give me an explanation." Karen's golden eyes were bloodshot as he growled, "Why do you know this thing?"
"He's not a thing! He's not a Rogue!" Ella sobbed, "He is Leo Wilde! He's from the Red Moon Pack! He is my... he is my best friend!"
"Your best friend?" Karen's possessiveness almost took physical form as he suddenly looked up at Leo, who was trying to step forward after Ella had been taken away. "So, was last night's ambush also your doing?"
Leo's gaze moved past Karen, fixating on the fresh, still slightly reddened mark on Ella's neck.
His face instantly turned deathly pale, then filled with overwhelming fury.
"......He marked you." Leo's voice trembled with hatred, "He actually dared to mark you!"
Ella's body trembled at the hatred in his words. She instinctively tried to break free from Karen's grip, but he held her tighter, his scorching body temperature seemingly declaring his ownership.
"Leo... I... I had no choice!" she cried out, her voice filled with despair and confusion, "This is the 'Blood Covenant'! It's... it's the only way to quell the curse!"
She glanced at the silent and dangerous Alpha beside her, then with great difficulty and using all her strength, uttered the word that even she couldn't accept:
"He... Karen Wolcoff... is now my... husband."
That word was like a slap, hitting Leo hard across the face.
"Blood Covenant?!"
Leo seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, and he burst into laughter, a laugh filled with desolation.
"Ella, my dear Ella, you actually believed in that bullshit covenant?"
Ella's heart sank suddenly. She looked at Leo in confusion, her voice filled with uncertainty: "But... doesn't every wolf clan have the 'Blood Covenant'? The elders of our clan also mentioned it, saying it's an ancient alliance to quell blood feuds that have lasted for generations..."
"It was once real!" Leo interrupted her, his eyes full of contempt and pity, "An ancient covenant from hundreds of years ago that's almost been forgotten! Ella, the binding energy of that covenant has long dissipated! It's nothing now!"
He pointed sharply at Karen, his face filled with anger:
"It's just an excuse used by Karen's father to 'legitimize' his atrocities! An excuse that allows him to righteously trample our territory and seize what he truly wants!"
Ella looked at Karen beside her. Karen's face appeared unusually grim in the moonlight, his fists tightly clenched, saying nothing.
But his suddenly unstable aura had already explained everything.
"Ask him!" Leo pointed at Karen and shouted at Ella, "Ask him what defect his noble Alpha bloodline actually has! Ask him why warriors of Shadow Fortress become more feral than any werewolf when exposed to 'Silver Venom'! Why can't they heal from the 'Silver Venom' at all!"
"Shut up, Rogue!" Karen roared.
"Why should I shut up? Our parents, our people, were slaughtered because of this secret!"
Leo turned to Ella, revealing the cruelest truth word by word:
"There is no such thing as the 'blood depletion' curse, Ella. The curse of Shadow Fortress is the 'fury' in their Alpha bloodline! They cannot resist the corrosion of Silver Venom. Once poisoned, they go completely insane, turning into beasts that only know killing!"
He pointed at Ella, his voice trembling with excitement:
"And our pack, the Red Moon Pack, isn't targeted because we're weak! It's because we are the guardians of the 'Original Omega'! Our bloodline—your bloodline, Ella—is the only cure for the 'Silver Venom Rage'!"
Ella felt ice-cold all over, her blood seemingly frozen in an instant.
She remembered how she had healed Karen.
She remembered the book that recorded "the ability to heal all curses inflicted by silver."
She remembered Karen's suddenly intensified, suffocating possessiveness after she healed him.
"Karen's father slaughtered our people not for war," Leo's voice seemed to come from hell itself, "he did it for 'plunder'! He wanted to steal our pack's 'cure'!"
"And that 'Blood Covenant'..." Leo sneered, "was just to ensure he could legitimately obtain you—the last 'Original Omega' of our pack!"
"He marked you tonight, not because of the Moon Goddess, not because he is your mate..."
Leo's voice was filled with cruelty:
"...but because he finally confirmed his 'property' is valid, and he couldn't wait to stamp you with a mark of 'belonging to him'!"
