Chapter 7

LUCIEN’S POV

“Like a fool, I did love you.”

“I loved you, Lucien.”

Fear gripped me as my reality came crashing down on me with a huge force. Alisha loved me. she once loved me.

For the years I’d known her for, I never imagined, not even for a second that I’d hear those words come from her. I’d concluded ever having her love me was nothing but a dream. A far fetched dream.

But suddenly, that dream was becoming a reality.

Maybe things would have turned out differently if she had uttered those words to me a bit earlier. Maybe that way, I’d have been consumed by an emotion totally different from the anger that took over my body and soul.

I was hurt and pained, those emotions slowly dissolving into anger and I had no one to blame but Alisha. She brought it all upon herself by accepting my rejection. Though she was far from me, I felt the rejection, a sharp pain piercing my soul as our mate bond went up into smoke.

That must have been what birthed my anger. The pent up frustration I felt towards her fuelling it.

It took total control over me and blinded me as all I could see for a good while was her determination to kill and end me. refusing to give her the chance to completely get rid of me, I got ahead of myself and decided to kill her first, completely ignoring the fact that she had even already dropped her knife.

I did it without thinking. Driving the knife into her heart and watching her immediately bleed profusely. They were actions carried out of impulse and immediately, actions that came with consequences.

Her last words echoed in my head, immediately pulling me back to my senses as I realized what I’d just done. My knees felt weak, my legs wobbly as I took steps backwards away from her, staring at her in horror and panic.

I’d just killed Alisha. I’d just killed my mate and the Luna.

Like that was going to change anything, I shook my head and looked around me, immediately spotting Calum who was still clutching his chest in pain. The pain he felt must not have been intense enough though as the second he spotted his sister’s lifeless body slump to the ground, he got on his knees and crawled towards her.

Unable to move or utter even a single word, I stared at her in horror, watching Calum pull her to his chest. He yelled and groaned, uselessly trying to get her to regain consciousness with his mere voice.

“Alisha!”

His voice was thunderous and immediately echoed in the pack. Suddenly, I could hear chants and before I could bother trying to decipher whose chants they were, got my answer replied as I spotted an army of warriors all rushing towards our direction.

“Luna Alisha! Luna!”

The fear and panic I’d managed to silence for a while resurfaced again with a different wave this time. Nervous than ever, I took a step forward and just as I was about to approach her, was interrupted by the pack’s alarm ringing.

It was a familiar tune. A familiar tune of danger and warning.

“The pack has been invaded by rogues!”

My eyes widened in shock at the sudden information that was announced. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any worse, our pack got attacked. By rogues.

“Warriors!” I immediately yelled out to them as I spotted a number rushing in my direction. “Gather yourselves! We have to fight the enemies and protect the pack!”

It had to be the first time I yelled so loudly and yet my words seemed to have absolutely no effect. It was almost like I wasn’t even speaking as no one listened to me, every single one of the warriors gathering around Alisha’s lifeless body.

My heart began to pound hard against my chest as I slowly began to walk towards them. it was evident they all cared about Alisha. Probably even more than they cared about the Alpha of their pack and the wellbeing of the pack.

“Warriors,” my tone changed the second I joined them to stand in front of Alisha. “Leave her alone.  We need to prepare for battle right now.”

“No, we would not.”

“What?” dumfounded was an understatement for what I was, cold shivers immediately running down my spine.

“You brought this all upon us,” another spoke up, confidently. “All of the calamities that has fallen on our pack is all your fault.”

Like it had previously been planned, they took turns to belittle me, talking about how my reign as Alpha has been nothing but disastrous. Their minds were obviously made up to not support me and knowing how useless it would be to try to persuade or threaten them, I simply hung my head and gave up.

Left with no choice, I walked out of their presence and began to look for my close friend, Kane. He could help me to gather more of our subordinates to get prepared for the battle head since the ones around me had decided to stick to their dead luna.

But unfortunately, my minutes of searching went into no avail as neither Kane nor Camilla was spotted.

I was officially frustrated and angrier than ever. With a deep exhale, I resigned to my fate and concluded I was going to have to fight the battle myself. Immediately, I turned and just as I was about to go grab my weapons, was unexpectedly faced with Arthur.

“Arthur,” I breathed out, taken aback by his sudden appearance in front of me.He stared at me with cold eyes, a dagger in his eyes. He was breathing heavily, murder obviously on his mind.

“Ar-”

Enraged, he didn’t give me a chance to utter even a single word to him immediately moving towards me to drive the knife into my chest.

My eyes widened in shock as I began to gurgle blood. I felt weak, my entire body failing me and Arthur didn’t take that as a reason to stop, thrusting the knife deeper into my chest.

I was at a loss. My wolf was already weak from the rejection and couldn’t handle another fatal injury like that.

With the last bits of strength in me, I tried to fight back Arthur. But of course, pride came before a fall as it quickly proved to be a pointless one as he overpowered me and had me fall to Calum’s feet.

Obviously surprised by the sudden change in events, Calum stared at me with wide eyes as he towered over me. I was fighting for my life and on seeing that, he got to his knees and cupped my face in his hand, wiping the tears that were beginning to roll down my cheeks away mockingly.

“H-help me,” I said to him weakly. “Help your Alpha.”

“No,” his reply was the coldest it had ever been. “You are not my Alpha.”

“The entire pack has been destroyed by you and as a result, your blood would flow.”

He said his last words and spat at me, immediately turning to walk away. The second he was out of my sight, my vision distorted and my whole body became even weaker than it already was.

There was no point trying to fight it. I had to give up and accept my fate.

And finally accept death’s brutal calling.

Few seconds later, my eyes fluttered then opened, a new wave of horror and fear gripping me. I could remember feeling weak and lifeless few seconds ago so what was suddenly happening?

I looked around me to realize I was in a world of nothing but emptiness. I could swear there was nothing around me, not even my own shadow. Until my eyes fell on a woman bathed in nothing but pure silver and gold, a blinding light towering over her.

A gasp escaped my lips as I realized what was happening. The folktales we listened to as kids were indeed true. I had died and was now face to face with the moon goddess.

“Welcome Lucien,” her voice echoed as she spoke to me. “Welcome to the land of the unliving.”

In utter fear and disbelief, all I could do was stare at her in return.

“Your pack has been destroyed,” she said, guilt and shame immediately swallowing me. “Everything your ancestors built as crumbled. Needless to say, you have failed as an Alpha!”

I immediately fell to my knees, bowing my head in shame as tears threatened to spill from my eyes.

She went on about how I had been nothing but a disappointment and didn’t fail to include how Alisha was a good woman I had mistreated and let down.

“Tell me, Lucien,” she continued. “When was the last time you spoke to your wolf?”

I bit my lip in shame, realizing it had been ages since I spoke to my wolf. Even when Alisha accepted my rejection, all I had felt was the mate bond dissolve but not even a single whimper from my wolf.

“I’m sorry, moon goddess,” I beg her with all the strength I had in me. “I failed you!”

She watched me plead with so much despair and desperation and after a while, finally spoke up.

“I would forgive you and give you a chance at living again,” she finally said. “But it would come with a condition. And that condition would be you having to switch bodies with Alisha. That means, you would live as the Luna and vice versa. and if you dare expose that to the rest of the world, your pack would be destroyed again and you would both die forever this time.”

“What?!” I had to be hearing things. “How can I do that? That makes no sense! Why would you even ask that from me?”

“This is not in any way an opportunity for you to atone for your sins,” she replied me. “It’s a chance for you to see the truth of everything and all the terrible things you have done.”

“But-”

“You can try to refuse,” she cut me off. “But just know that you would never know the truth hidden in the darkness.”

“But-”

She smiled at me, immediately cutting me off again. “It’s okay if you disagree. Just know you will die. And so will Alisha who is busy fighting for her life at the moment. The choice is yours.”

Strangely, at the thought of both me and Alisha dying, I felt an unfamiliar emotion overwhelm me. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want things ending that way for both of us.

With a sigh, a tear rolled down my cheeks and I gave in to her demands. “Fine, moon goddess. I agree.”

The second those words left my mouth, I immediately felt a surge of air towards me. it suddenly felt like I was falling from the sky and all I could hear was the voice of the moon goddess, echoing to me to cherish the opportunity I’d gotten.

After a while, I finally opened my eyes again, the scene in front of me suddenly blurry yet familiar. confused, I lowered my head to take a look at my surroundings and then myself and all I could immediately see were two blossoming breasts on me.

Horrified, I immediately grabbed the breasts to notice that was not the only strange thing happening. I was also wearing a wedding dress.

Panicked, I rose to my feet and rushed towards a mirror I could spot in the corner of the room. My eyes widened in horror as I stared at the image reflecting in the mirror.

I had the face and body of Alisha and I didn’t need to think twice to understand what was suddenly happening.

The moon goddess had transported me to the night we got married, a year ago!