Chapter 4 - The Moon Core

𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐁

Her eyes locked onto mine—two colors, green and amber—as dubious as the disgusting nature of her kind.

"You fucking maggot," I snarled, my grip tightening around her fragile throat.

The Core pulsed inside her. I could feel it thrumming against my palm, calling to me through her pathetic human flesh. She'd absorbed it—the one thing we'd spent months searching for, the reason we'd torn through this worthless pack—and this human had swallowed it whole.

My brothers watched, surrounding us, their anger as scorching as mine as she struggled against my hold.

She opened her mouth, and I tightened my grip.

I dipped my head toward her so she could get a closer look at her executioner. "If you thought absorbing that Core was going to stop us—" My other hand came to rest over the place where her pathetically fragile heart beat. "—you are so wrong."

My hand shifted. Fur sprouted through my skin, fingernails elongating and sharpening into claws.

Her eyes widened, her heart picking up speed when she realized what I was going to do.

My claw ripped through her shirt with little resistance, fabric tearing like wet paper. The tips pressed against her sternum, just hard enough to draw blood. Five thin lines of crimson bloomed across her pale skin.

"Kaleb—" Zayne's voice came as a warning.

"I'm extracting it," I growled. "No time to assess risks."

Her mouth opened wider—a silent scream that never found voice. Her good hand abandoned my wrist and pressed against my chest, pushing with the strength of a dying insect.

Useless.

I could feel the Core's exact location now—nestled where her heart should be, fused to the organ, pulsing in rhythm with her erratic heartbeat. One precise strike and I could carve it out. She'd die, obviously, but that was hardly my concern.

My claws pressed deeper, breaking skin.

The Core exploded.

A blast of raw energy erupted from her chest, slamming into me with the force of a hurricane. I flew backward, my body crashing through the air until my spine met stone. The wall cracked on impact, dust and debris raining down around me.

I was on my feet instantly, fury igniting every nerve.

Before my eyes, the bruises around her throat faded—purple to yellow to nothing. Her broken arm snapped back into place with a sickening crack, bones realigning, flesh knitting together as if it had never been shattered.

Lycan healing.

She was using our power.

"She's already tapping into it," I snarled, stalking forward. "The Core is giving her Lycan abilities."

The human flinched, shrinking back against the wall, her mismatched eyes wide with terror.

That fucking act like she didn't know exactly what she'd done.

I lunged—

Zayne caught my arm, his grip iron. "Kaleb, stop."

"Get off me—"

"The Moon Core is on the defensive," Cyrus drawled, his tone maddeningly calm as he stepped between us. "Unless you want to be charred next time, we need another strategy to extract it."

"They are right," Rafayel agreed.

I jerked free from Zayne's hold, glaring at the trembling human. She was still pressed against the wall, cradling her newly healed arm like she couldn't believe it was whole.

My jaw clenched. "Then what?"

Before anyone could answer, heavy footsteps echoed through the chamber. Our henchmen dragged two bloodied figures into the vault, throwing them to the stone floor.

I recognized the Alpha immediately—Caspian. The one who'd been sobbing and begging upstairs. His face was a mess of cuts and bruises, one eye swollen shut.

Beside him knelt his Beta. Reuben, I think someone had called him.

Both stank of fear and blood.

Pussies.

Cyrus's lips curved into a cold smile. "Perfect timing. Let's see what they know about their little thief."

"Speak," Zayne growled down at the whimpering mess.

"I—I—I—" He continued to stutter.

Stoking the flames of my wrath. "Answer the question," I ordered.

"I don't know how this got here. I didn't even know this place existed. Please—"

"Shut it," Zayne cut him off, his mouth snapping shut.

I strode to him, pointing at the maggot. "Who is she?" I questioned.

Something flickered in the Beta's eyes just as footsteps stopped us.

Our henchmen walked in through the decimated wall with a woman in his arms, the same blonde hair and dark eyes as the Alpha kneeling at our feet.

Cyrus recognized her first, but he was no longer smirking; his red eyes darkened. "Sonya Vale," he muttered.

She raised her head weakly, her body riddled with cuts and reeking of wolfsbane. "Alphas—" she whimpered.

Caspian looked like he had seen a ghost. Reuben's mouth dropped open as we made our way to our informant.

"We made it as soon as we could," Zayne said, regret leaking through despite his ego. They had already done a number on her.

"No… worries," she managed to mutter through cracked lips. "I am just glad you were able to catch her red-handed."

"What—" Reuben gasped.

But she cut him off, pointing at the human whose revolting scent still clung to me. "She stole the Moon Core."

The human shook her head violently, her mouth opening and closing like a fish drowning on land. No words. Just desperate, silent pleas that made my rage burn hotter.

"Don't believe her act," Sonya rasped, her voice thick with pain. "She's been playing you all from the start."

She reached into her tattered clothes with trembling fingers and pulled out folded photographs, their edges stained with blood. Our henchman carried her closer, and she handed them to Cyrus.

He unfolded them, his red eyes scanning the images before passing them to me. They were pictures of the human with Alpha Darren. She looked entirely pleased with the two other children—Sonya and Caspian—in the background.

"Our father loved her," Sonya continued, each word scraped raw. "Adopted her when she was just a child. Treated her better than his own blood. We… we tried to accept it. Tried to show her kindness despite what her kind did to us."

The human was shaking her head frantically now, tears streaming down her face, her mouth forming words that refused to come.

"Then our father disappeared," Sonya's voice cracked. "No body. No trail. Nothing. Caspian became Alpha, but she—" she spat the word, "—believed she should have been Alpha. A human leading a werewolf pack."

Zayne's eyes narrowed. "Impossible."

"Not if she had power," Sonya whispered. "She used my father's Alpha connections. Found someone who knew about the Moon Core's location. Planned this for months while we mourned him."

The human dropped to her knees, her silent sobs wracking her body. She pressed her healed hand to her chest, shaking her head over and over.

Pathetic performance.

"My mate—" Sonya's voice broke completely now. "Reuben. She even stole him from me, seduced him. Made him betray everything for her plans."

Reuben's face had gone white. "Sonya, I—"

"I tried to tell Caspian," she continued, ignoring him. "Showed him evidence. But he wouldn't believe his precious adopted sister could do such things. So he…" She swallowed hard. "He let her use wolfsbane on me. Tortured me. When I escaped briefly—before they caught me again—I contacted you." Tears fell freely, her body wracked with anguish. "I didn't think it would work—or that you even existed—but I was desperate."

Our summoning ritual would have been hectic for her.

We all looked at the human who seemed breathless and faint after her ineffective theatrics. I would have ripped the maggot in half but we could not even touch her.

"Now, you absorbed the Core when you realized we were close, but you are going to regret that. You are coming with us."