Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 448

Chapter 448: The War Where We All Perish

Hades

The transformation started in my core, that primal energy unfurling like liquid fire through my veins. But instead of the usual rush of power and strength, every broken bone, every torn muscle, every twisted ligament filtered pure agony into every cell of my being. It felt like being rebuilt from the inside out while fully conscious, my skeleton reshaping itself through sheer force of will.

I heard a Gamma shout to Eve, "Luna! The Alpha is shifting!"

Eve’s head whipped around, her eyes going wide with horror. "Hades, no! You’re hurt! Don’t you dare—"

But I was already past the point of no return. My spine elongated with a sickening crack, my ribs expanding despite their fractured state. The pain was so intense I could taste copper in my mouth.

"HADES, STOP!" Eve screamed, her voice breaking with panic.

I glanced at her apologetically, trying to convey everything I couldn’t say—that I was sorry, that I loved her, that this was the only way. Then I turned to face Lucinda.

The distracted Gammas holding her faltered for just a second as they witnessed my transformation, their grip loosening as shock overtook training. But that second was all it took.

Lucinda broke free with inhuman strength, her massive wolf form launching through the air directly at Eve with murderous intent.

Time slowed to a crawl. I could see Eve’s face, frozen in a moment of pure terror as death hurtled toward her. Could see Montague reaching out helplessly. Could see Elliot’s small hands covering his eyes.

My shift completed in that instant—not the smooth, practiced transformation I was used to, but something raw and desperate and fueled by the need to protect what mattered most.

The roar that tore from my throat was unlike anything I’d ever produced. It was disembodied, molecular-splitting, carrying with it some secret message that seemed to bypass conscious thought and speak directly to something deeper. The sound turned my throat to mincemeat—or at least it felt that way—shredding vocal cords that were still healing from my previous injuries.

But it worked.

Lucinda stopped dead in mid-air, her massive form freezing as if suspended by invisible strings. Her feral eyes, which had held no trace of humanity moments before, suddenly flickered with confusion, then recognition, then horror at what she’d almost done.

We all watched in real time as her grotesque wolf form began to shimmer and contract, shifting back into her usual human shape. As the transformation completed, something impossible happened—the mark of Malrik on her chest, that cursed ’M’ that had controlled her actions, began to dissolve. It literally dissolved, the dark lines fading like ink in water until even the stain spread across her hospital gown.

Lucinda collapsed to the ground, gasping, human, and free.

The silence that followed was deafening. Even my own ragged breathing seemed too loud in the suddenly still air.

I swayed on my feet, the adrenaline that had carried me through the shift now abandoning me entirely. Every bone in my body felt like it was held together with nothing but determination and spite.

Eve was at my side in an instant, her hands gentle but firm as she helped me stay upright. "You impossible, reckless, beautiful idiot," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "Don’t you ever scare me like that again."

But I barely heard her. My attention was fixed on Lucinda, who was staring at me with wonder and dawning understanding.

"Hades," she breathed, her voice hoarse from her transformation. "You broke his hold on me. You actually broke his hold."

Montague was kneeling beside his wife, pulling her into his arms as he sobbed with relief. "Lucinda. Oh, my love, you’re back. You’re really back."

I managed a weak smile before my legs finally gave out entirely, and I collapsed back into the wheelchair that Eve had somehow maneuvered behind me.

"Well," I croaked, my voice barely recognizable after that roar, "at least now we know it works."

----

I sighed deeply, and for the first time in days I did not anticipate the pain that would come with the action. Even spontaneous healing was not some insane magic. It took energy from somewhere, and with the amount of damage I had done to my body due to the journey through Silverpine, all the maneuvers and close calls, a fight with some ancient creature and a fall from the height of a little less than a mountain, healing had been arduous.

But at least I didn’t die.

Nor did anyone I tried to bring back home.

My eyes found Kael where he was seated beside Silas, back in shape and the damned mark erased from his back.

Then to Thea who had been invited specially for me to relay all that she knew about Darius and his plans.

"It’s been a hell hole, especially for the smaller cities, the towns in the outskirts of the pack. Barely any electricity, and one day you greet your next door neighbor, by morning the entire house is abandoned. People have been disappearing for years. But it really reached a peak almost six years ago, a month before my sister was executed in place of Eve Valmont." Her voice did not crack. Her tone was monotone to the point of robotic. Her gaze distant, clouded over like she wasn’t fully here.

The shock of my revelation about the time we truly had left everyone in the room so gobsmacked and afraid that even the pompous council members had none of their usual qualms about the second werewolf seated in their midst. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

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