Chapter3

Layla's POV

Kael ordered me to follow them on a border patrol.

"You need to familiarize yourself with the routes the future Luna may need to travel."

When he said this, his eyes were on Selena. I followed silently at the end of the group.

The air deep in the forest began carrying a sweet, rotting smell. Experience told me something was wrong.

But Kael's attention was entirely on introducing the territory boundaries to Selena. He didn't notice.

When the shadow beasts burst from deadwood and darkness, the group instantly fell into chaos.

Those monsters corrupted by dark magic had no solid form, like viscous black smoke, leaving maddening whispers wherever they passed.

A young warrior inhaled too much, his eyes immediately turning red, his throat making rattling sounds.

"Protect Selena!" Kael roared, transforming into a black wolf and lunging at the largest shadow beast.

The battle was chaotic and bloody. I stayed at the edges as much as possible, releasing my calming aura at minimum power to stabilize the affected warriors' minds, while using my dagger to deal with approaching weak shadow beasts.

"Kael! Over here!" Selena's terrified scream rang out.

I saw she'd somehow left the protection circle, backing toward an especially dense patch of darkness almost congealed into liquid. The decaying stench it gave off made my scalp tingle.

"Don't go there!" Kael roared, tearing apart the shadow beast before him with one claw, then charging toward her.

But when he reached the edge of that thick black mist, he was violently thrown back.

The darkness carried intense rejection and corrosion, frantically trying to burrow into his fur. He howled in pain.

"Kael! Save me!" Selena cried from the heart of the darkness, her voice sounding terrified.

Kael's bloodshot eyes swept the battlefield, finally pinning on me.

"Layla!" he bellowed, pointing at the darkness. "Clear a path! Now! Let me through!"

That meant I had to use my power to directly assault that concentrated dark magic.

Massively draining, and the commotion would be anything but small.

My blood ran instantly cold.

He knew what that concentrated darkness contained. He should have vaguely guessed what price I'd have to pay.

But right now, all he saw was Selena trapped at the darkness's center.

"Kael, that will..." I tried to speak, my voice dry.

"Go now!" He cut me off harshly, each word lashing out like a whip. "You want to watch her die?! This is an order!"

An order. An Alpha's absolute command over an Omega.

My body resisted, every cell screaming danger, but deep in my bloodline that damned obedience instinct, along with the surrounding warriors who were starting to scratch their own skin, their eyes growing redder—they bound me tight.

I looked at the black mist. Selena's cries for help came right on cue, growing more desperate. Kael's breathing was heavy as a beast's, staring at me as if every second I delayed was betrayal.

No choice. There never was.

I opened my mouth and let out a clear, long howl completely different from my usual voice. The sound wasn't loud, but it was like an invisible silver ripple, violently expanding outward with me at its center.

Where the ripple passed, the thick darkness receded like a tide, corrupted earth briefly revealing its original color.

All my strength drained instantly. My knees went soft and I collapsed. My throat filled with a metallic sweetness.

The black mist was mostly dispersed, but a trace of remaining corruption, like something alive, burrowed into my defenseless, exhausted body. A bone-deep chill and sharp pain seized me.

Kael didn't even glance at me.

He flashed through the path I'd cleared like lightning, scooping up the swaying Selena and turning to run out.

"Clean up the rest! Get the wounded back!" Holding Selena, he ran toward safety without looking back, only tossing out this command.

Two warriors came over and hauled me up.

In my blurred vision, I only saw his retreating back, and Selena in his arms who seemed to glance back at me—in that look, there was no fear, only a trace of cold assessment.

I was carried back to the clan, dumped on a stone bed in the medical room.

The old healer treated the wounds on my body corroded by darkness, shaking his head and sighing. Pain made my consciousness blur.

Cheerful laughter came from the corridor outside, Kael and Selena. Their voices drifted through the not-quite-closed door.

"...The Ironclaw Clan's emissary praised your valor endlessly, Kael. Father promised the price on that batch of weapons can be lowered by another ten percent." Selena's voice carried laughter.

"Your courage surprised me too, Selena." Kael's voice was low and pleased, a gentleness I hadn't heard in ages. "Tonight's moonlight is beautiful. Let's have a drink to our mutual victory."

Their footsteps and laughter gradually faded, heading toward the main house.

I lay on the cold stone bed, looking at the bright moon outside the window, the chill inside my body more piercing than any dark magic.

I exposed my secret and nearly died to clear him a path for his heroic rescue.

And he used my sacrifice to get a better weapons deal and a moonlit toast.

A shield?

No, I was just a disposable tool.