The Cursed Alpha's Fifth Luna

The word seemed to pierce something deep in her heart, and Eloise’s face paled to a sickly white.

"Rodrigo..." She reached out, her trembling fingers grasping for his sleeve, but Rodrigo ripped his arm away before she could make contact.

"Don’t you touch me," he growled, the sound laced with a lethal, agonizing pain.

The room fell dead silent.

Rodrigo pulled his gaze away from her, his eyes locking onto the dancing flames in the hearth. In a sudden, violent flash, the faceless woman from his recurring dreams materialized before him. But this time, the fog cleared. The silhouette shifted, becoming clearer and sharper until the identity was dropped directly into his mind.

Standing in front of him in the vision... those shoes. He had seen them countless times when he was a child. She had always worn them—those distinct, flower-laced shoes.

Now he remembered. The woman who had stood over him all those years ago... was Charlotte.

A bitter, fractured chuckle escaped Rodrigo’s throat as he buried his face in both hands. "You should have told me," he barked angrily, slamming his hands down as his voice shook the room. "You kept me completely in the dark, leaving me blind to my true enemies. Grandmother!"

Eloise pushed herself up from her chair, stepping toward where he sat. But the sheer venom in his expression made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Don’t you dare come any closer," he cursed under his breath. He looked up, his gaze riddled with a devastating mix of betrayal and agony. "How could you? How could you keep something like this from me, knowing exactly how ruthless they are?"

"I am sorry, Rio. Please, just listen to me," Eloise begged, her entire frame shaking as tears filled her eyes. "It was never my intention. I planned to tell you... I did. But the secret went on for so long, until... until it became too late."

Rodrigo didn’t reply. He sat in the heavy silence, his mind racing as the missing puzzle pieces finally clicked into place.

Charlotte had never been desperate for Dominic to become Alpha just to claim the pack’s throne. No, it was far deeper than that. She wanted the Seal. The Alpha’s Seal—the only key in existence capable of opening the ancient Alpha’s Vault. Charlotte had always known where the Vothraki text was hidden. It was locked in the one place only a true Alpha could ever enter.

A dry, dark laugh left his mouth. "Very well."

His expression went completely cold, his eyes turning pitch-black as he leveled his gaze at the old woman. "From this moment on..."

Eloise looked up, holding her breath.

"...you are relieved of your duties as Matriarch. You do not deserve to lead the very people you were willing to sacrifice."

A profound flicker of pain crossed her weathered face.

"You will remain confined to your quarters," Rodrigo commanded, his voice dropping to a flat, unyielding register. "Until I decide otherwise."

"Rodrigo, please don’t do this," Eloise pleaded, shaking her head in despair.

Rodrigo’s hands tightened into iron fists, his knuckles turning stark white under the pressure. "I suggest you comply, Grandmother. Unless you want to test just how far I am willing to go."

Rodrigo stormed out of the room, his towering frame brushing past Nina without noticing her as he headed straight for the courtyard. His hands were clenched tightly by his sides as he moved.

Suddenly, his feet came to an abrupt stop.

Standing just inside the estate gates were Charlotte and Dominic.

Rodrigo stared at them from across the wide courtyard, a suffocating wave of pure, unadulterated rage curling deep inside his chest. He didn’t yell. Instead, he simply began walking toward them, his steps slow, calculated, and predatory.

Dominic clicked his tongue, a smug, mocking smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I’d thought you were dead by now. Too bad... you’re much harder to kill than I expected, brother."

Rodrigo didn’t take the bait. His dark eyes moved slowly, deliberately, from Dominic’s arrogant face over to Charlotte. And then, he smiled.

It was a cold, sinister expression that stripped the warmth right out of the afternoon air.

"The masks are off," Rodrigo said, his voice deadly quiet. "Enjoy the circus now, it would soon be your turn to dance."

A low, humorless chuckle escaped him before he brushed past them, walking out of the gates without another glance.

Charlotte’s face instantly lost all color. The smugness bled out of Dominic as they stood in the sudden silence. Slowly, Charlotte turned to her son. He was already looking down at her, the exact same grim realization written across his features.

She gave a faint, terrified nod. "The Alpha...

She paused. ’’He knows."

Inside the corridor, Nina stood completely motionless outside the heavy wooden doors. Her eyes were fixed blankly on the stone wall before her, seeing nothing.

Her arms wrapped tightly around her torso, squeezing until it hurt, as Eloise’s horrifying words replayed over and over in her mind. They would drain humans... entire villages... to live forever.

She bit down hard on her lower lip, the sharp sting of pain grounding her in the brutal reality of the present. A shaky, fractured breath escaped her.

Now she knew. Now she finally understood why the witches wanted the lycans completely eradicated. The curse wasn’t just ancient malice; it was a desperate act of survival.

But still... he was different.

Rodrigo didn’t want humans dead. He didn’t want to hurt the innocent. He was innocent.

Please...

Her legs grew weak as she slowly dropped to the ground.

Her vision blurred, hot tears finally spilling over her lashes.

So why... why does he still have to die?

She was standing at a devastating crossroads, the weight of the entire world pressing down on her shoulders.

Choose him, betray her people, and all humans... and die instead.

Or

Choose her people... and watch him, and every single lycan she had ever known, die a brutal, agonizing death.

Nina’s heart squeezed so violently it felt as though it were tearing in two. The suffocating weight of the realization crushed the breath right out of her lungs. She collapsed back against the cold wall, her fingers clutching desperately at her chest as if she could physically hold the pieces of her soul together.

For the first time in her entire life,

Nina knew true pain.