CHAPTER 121: CHAPTER 121: ANCIENT FOES

ARIA POV

"Thank you, Moon Alpha," it hissed, its voice now crackling with stolen power. "We have been so hungry."

"Aria, what’s happening?" Mira shouted from behind our fallen log.

I couldn’t answer. Through the Moon Alpha network, I felt Elena’s terror as she watched the same thing happen to the Forgotten Ones attacking her land. Every time we used our strength against them, we made them stronger.

"You still don’t understand what we are," the thing said, standing taller now. "We are not just your enemies. We are your enemy. Where you make, we consume. Where you heal, we drain. And where you shine with moon magic..." It pointed to its burning eyes. "We devour it."

The horrible truth hit me like a punch to the stomach. "You’re not trying to kill us for payback. You’re farming us."

"Finally, she begins to see," another Forgotten One said as it emerged from the shadows. This one looked different—older, with marks cut into its gray skin. "We are the Devourers, the first beings made to balance the werewolves. When your Moon Goddess made your kind, the universe required balance. We were born from that need."

"But the Shadow Lords promised to help you get revenge," I said, trying to understand.

The marked Devourer laughed. "The Shadow Lords are fools. They think they can control us. They offered us werewolf magic in exchange for destroying your packs. What they don’t know is that we plan to eat them too, once we’re strong enough."

My blood ran cold. These weren’t just enemies—they were apex animals, and we were their prey.

"How many packs have you already attacked?" I asked.

"Dozens," it said calmly. "We started with the smaller ones. The ones no one would miss right away. Each pack we drank made us stronger, smarter. By the time anyone noticed what was happening, we were already unstoppable."

Through our bond, I felt the triplets trying to reach me, but their link was still damaged from the shadow magic. I could only catch pieces of their thoughts, fragments of worry and resolution.

"The star power," I said suddenly. "That’s why it’s killing the other Moon Alphas, isn’t it? It’s not werewolf magic at all."

The marked Devourer turned its head. "Very good. Your father’s blood is finally waking. That power comes from the Celestial Guardians—beings who live between the stars. It’s not meant for monster bodies."

"My father," I whispered. The voice in my head had claimed to be my real father, not the monster who raised me. "Is he really a Celestial Guardian?"

"Was," the thing corrected. "Your mother killed him when she discovered what he planned to do with you."

The words hit me like a physical blow. My mother, Elena Moonstar, had killed my real father? But why?

"You’re lying," I said, but doubt crept into my voice.

"Am I?" The Devourer smiled, showing teeth like broken glass. "Your father wanted to use you as a tool against the werewolves. He thought they were a mistake that needed to be corrected. Your mother disagreed."

"That’s impossible. My mother was the strongest Moon Alpha ever. She would never mate with someone who hated werewolves."

"Love makes fools of us all," the creature said. "She thought she could change him. Instead, she made you—a being with the power to either save werewolves or destroy them completely."

"I would never hurt my pack," I said furiously.

"Wouldn’t you?" It pointed toward the forest where I could hear fighting. "Right now, your star power is burning through the Moon Alpha network. Every time you use it, you damage the link between all Moon Alphas. Soon, the network will fall completely."

I reached out with my senses and felt the truth of its words. The network was splitting. The other Moon Alphas were struggling to keep their connections, and it was my fault.

"Stop using the star power," Mira called out. "Aria, you have to stop!"

"But without it, we can’t fight them," I said desperately. "They consume our werewolf magic."

"Exactly," the marked Devourer said. "Use your animal power, and we grow stronger. Use your star power, and you destroy the very network that links your people. Either way, you lose."

This was a trap. Everything had been a trap from the beginning.

"The Shadow Lords didn’t just ally with you," I realized. "They’ve been planning this for years. The attacks on different packs, the way they knew exactly how to corrupt the triplets’ bond, even my father’s voice in my head—it was all meant to bring me to this moment."

"The child finally understands," a new voice said.

I spun around to see a figure stepping out of the darkness. At first, I thought it was another Devourer, but then I saw the familiar shape of his face. It was the man who had claimed to be my real father, the one whose voice had been in my head.

Except he wasn’t living. His body flashed like a ghost, and through the network, I felt the other Moon Alphas’ shock as they recognized what he was.

"A Shade," Elena’s voice whispered through our link. "A dead Celestial Guardian bound to the mortal realm."

"Hello, daughter," my father’s Shade said, smiling with lips that weren’t quite solid. "I’ve been waiting so long to meet you in person."

"You’re dead," I said, backing away. "My mother killed you."

"She tried," he said, moving closer. "But Celestial Guardians don’t die easily. We simply... change form."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to fulfill your destiny," he said. "The monsters are a mistake, Aria. They’re unnatural beings that upset the cosmic order. You have the power to fix that mistake."

"By destroying them?"

"By returning their stolen magic to where it belongs," he said gently. "The Devourers will take the werewolf power back to the void where it came from. The star power will destroy the Moon Alpha network. And you will help bring peace to the world."

"That’s not peace," I said. "That’s genocide."

"Sometimes," my father’s Shade said sadly, "the two are the same thing."

The marked Devourer stepped forward. "Enough talk. The moon is rising, and our hunger grows. Will you surrender your power freely, Moon Alpha, or must we take it by force?"

I looked around at the destruction of my pack lands, felt the pain of the triplets through our damaged bond, and sensed the other Moon Alphas struggling to live as the network collapsed.

Everything I’d built, everything I’d fought for, was falling apart.

And then, through the chaos, I heard something impossible. A howl that made my heart stop.

It wasn’t coming from any of the remaining pack members. It wasn’t coming from the triplets or the other Moon Alphas.

It was coming from above us, from the sky itself.