AUTHOR'S POV
Lying on his side on the bed of rocks, Scott found himself naked with the river waters splashing on his bloody legs. He woke at the symphony of the rapids, violently crashing down. It took a while for him to move an inch, feeling every ache in his body throb. He rolled on his back opening his heavy eyes. He gaped at the cloudscape rich in deep blue glow, as he burrow in his hazy mind. No clear memory returned, until his head thumped even harder like hands pounding on the door in a fist. Groaning at the inexplicable hurt swarming all over his body, he sat up and circled his eyes with questions ruminating on uncertainties.
The last thing he remembered, he was staring at his Luna as the blood moon turn full. Since then, everything went blank. Wincing at the gash on his leg, he looked at it like it was sliced down by a sharp object. He sniffed on it, and smelt a familiar poison. "Diana...", he whispered. He then heard howling and trudging closing nearby. Recognizing their scents, he forced himself to stand up, grunting frantically as the wolves approach.
"Where were you?!", Austin shifted to his human form as he stare at Scott's leg. "What happened to this??", he asked, grabbing Scott's arm over his shoulder. Scott groaned, struggling to stand.
"Are you okay? A lycan wreak havoc. Did it hurt you?", David asked, as he take the other side.
"A -- what?? Where's Diana?? Where's my Luna??", Scott asked furiously, as his face run cold.
"She's.. uh.. missing, Alpha", David hesitated. "Do you think she's… dead?", David couldn't even look at Scott in the eye.
Scott grabbed David's neck and strangled him with one hand. "DON'T. EVER. SAY...that to me", Scott grunted, giving all of his remaining strength at that chokehold. She's still alive, he knows for sure feeling that the imprint is still strong in him.
"So..rry… Al..pha", David chokes as he tap Scott's hand on his neck. Scott then released David as he exhale softly, trudging ahead to the woods.
"Alpha.. Lucas, Cory and the Alpha of the Black Creek Clan are tracking her now. She was last seen uphill", Austin said. "Another problem.. Sebastian's fatally wounded by the lycan. You better take a look at him".
"I've got to find Diana, first", Scott replied as he forcefully stood up on his own wriggling from David. 'Roman better not find Diana', he selfishly thought.
"Scott, you need to get that treated for you to find her. Looks like it's poisoned", David insisted looking at Scott's blackened wound. While it's still unknown how he got wounded from Diana's silver dagger, he realized that it's best to get the antidote first before the poison gets in his entire system.
"I'll go with the pack to look for Luna.", Austin assured him, giving him that certain kind of ease to soften his uptight worry.
With pride and reserved grit, Scott shape shifted to his wolf form and dashed his way back to the town with David. He rushed in urgency only to find the damages the lycan brought to his town and its people. At first, he couldn't believe his own eyes. The oldest trees in the forest full of great memories were snagged, and so many dead bodies both in human and in wolf forms piled around. A supposedly joyous celebration shifted upside down with muted anticipation. He stopped to stare at the corpse of a poor child whom Diana was speaking with yesterday morning. So many innocent lives lost from a supposed to be a timely festivity of moon bathing for the wolf clans. Scott and David entered the town plaza, and saw some more wolves carrying their dead families. He glanced at the lifeless body of Elder Loveta being carried away. The night was suddenly filled with loud lamentations, grieving for the unexpected deaths of their loved ones.
Shifting to his human form, Scott went to the Devlin's chalet where Damon was waiting at the front door. He hurriedly went to Scott with a brief warning. "Watch out for the old man. He's furious about the Luna", Damon said, handing him a coat.
"Why? She didn't caused all of these", Scott said, with knitted brows. His pale lips twitched as he wore the coat over his ice cold skin.
"I know. But Alarick's worming in everybody's head, saying that the Luna is the bringer of death and misfortune", Damon whispered.
"Nonsense", Scott scoffed, coughing out some hard lump gurgling in his throat.
"I did my best brother, I tried to keep her safe but I'm too weak.. I lost her in the woods", Damon confessed, feeling very sorry for himself as he lose Diana in the midst of the lycan scourging their town.
"You did well brother.", he nodded at Damon when suddenly, a sharp pain from his leg electrified his body that almost bore him down.
Damon and David caught Scott before he hit the floor. "He don't look so well", he told David. "Hey Scott! are you okay?", Damon worried asked, hitting his cheek with his hand trying to keep him awake.
"I got this", Scott told them, struggling to get back up on his feet. "Get me Reina with the antidote for the silver dagger", he ordered Damon, as he proceed upstairs to Sebastian's room.
Going up with David, Scott could already hear Sebastian's muffled cries. The door to Sebastian's room was already half-open, like no one had the strength to close it. Inside, the air felt heavy. "I'll stay right here", David uttered, giving the Devlins privacy. Scott agreed, as he went ahead. He did had a little hesitation to take another step closer, seeing his brother Sebastian swallowed by the bed under the thin sheet of cloth wasting life away.
Gripping the bedsheet, Priscilla sat beside Sebastian, who is about to doze off from the heavy load of pain killers. Her eyes were all swollen from crying out her son's name, as if it would take him back to his recovered state. On the side, Elder Velvet is attending to his leg wound, clawed by the lycan earlier. It took her time to wrap it well, for Sebastian constantly writhe in unexplainable pain kicking and twisting at the touch of her hand. "He's fine for now. He needs proper cure to remove the venom on his leg", Elder Velvet said, after securing the clean bandage with a knot.
Stanley, who has been staring at nothing by the window, finally found the strength to turn and look at Sebastian. "That would be all Velvet", he said with a firm and strained tone. Velvet left the room without a word. As soon as the door closed, Stanley faced Scott with a vexed look in his eyes. "Better have this fixed, before we all die! I already warned you about the imprint", Stanley said as he gritted his teeth.
"She's got nothing to do with this", Scott replied, as his head start to spin, keeping his eyes on his brother.
"Before your mother died, she warned us not to let you imprint. Yet here we are.", Stanley said as he look down on Scott's wounded leg. "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?", he scoffed.
"It's not a fucking choice!! I didn't know that I would imprint on Alva Woodsworth's daughter! If I walked on that damn aisle, you would be probably blaming yourself why you arranged me a marriage with Diana!!", Scott said in an angry tone. He grabbed onto a chair nearby, as he started to feel numb.
"Alva's daughter?? They're wolves?? How could that be?", Stanley asked in shock, looking at Priscilla who seemed more surprised than him.
"Well surprise...", Scott clicked his tongue as he exhaled sharply. "It's not her fault. She doesn't deserve to be blamed. We need to find out who's the damn lycan, what's the cause of the its appearance, and why am I forbidden to imprint.".
"Either way, we can't just wait for the lycan to attack us every full moon. Look around you Scott! There's so many dead and who's next? Your sister? Your mother? Me?? There's only one way to do it. Cut the imprint, kill the Luna", Stanley breathe deeply as he tighten his jaw.
"No one touches her! Not.. any single.. one of.. you…", Scott then loses his consciousness as everyone panics.