Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 535

Beyond No Man's Land

"This cannot be fucking happening!" James growled, his heart beating out of his chest. Malrik could not be defeated. He had been operating for centuries. Why did it have to be this particular war, while he fought by his side, that fate decided to intervene and let him fall? James could not wrap his mind around the turn of events. One second, they were close, finally overwhelming the Obsidian gammas, only for this—

He dared a look behind him, hoping it was all a cruel hallucination and not reality deciding to crash into carefully laid plans. He had sacrificed everything to be Malrik's right hand man. His love, his family, his morality, only to be on the side that loses.

"Stop looking behind you!" Felicia snarled, yanking him back into the moment just as they reached a copse of trees. "Just keep running. They can't get their hands on us. Create as much distance as you can so they can't track us down."

The first question that popped into his mind was, "Then what?" He looked ahead, into the land just past the border that they were threading. Would they enter Silverpine again and become fugitives? Would they be dodging capture for the rest of their ruined lives? What about the luxury and power he had been promised, the whores he was owed, the portal to the other worlds that he had been exposed to, the other world domination he was told he would lead? The other realms he would explore and own?

He shook his head, as if he could shake off the truth about what his fate had become. But the truth was not going away. It stared him right in the face and cackled at him.

"James!" Felicia's voice cut through his spiral. She had stopped running, her chest heaving, sweat and blood mixing on her skin. "Get your head out of your ass. We need a plan."

"A plan?" He laughed. Bitter. Sharp. "What plan? Malrik is dead. The compulsion broke. Every wolf we marked is free and they all know our faces." He gestured wildly back toward Dawnstrike. "We're fucked, Felicia. Completely, utterly fucked."

"We're not fucked if we get to Silverpine first." Her eyes were hard, calculating. Already moving past the loss, already trying to salvage something from the wreckage. "We get to the palace. Secure what resources we can. The vaults, the weapons caches, the—"

"The what?" James cut her off. "The empire that no longer exists? The wolves who were only loyal because of compulsion? They're free now, Felicia. Free. And they're going to remember every order we gave, every punishment we dealt out, every—"

A sound cut him off.

Footsteps. Heavy. Multiple sets. Coming from the direction of Dawnstrike.

They both went still.

"Move," Felicia whispered, already backing deeper into the trees. "Now."

They ran again. Branches whipped at their faces, roots threatened to trip them, but they didn't slow. Couldn't slow. Behind them, the footsteps grew louder. Closer.

Not pursuit. Hunt.

James's wolf surged forward, demanding to be released, but he shoved it down. Shifting would make them easier to track, easier to identify. They needed to stay human, needed to—

A figure stepped out from behind a tree directly in their path.

They skidded to a stop.

It was a Silverpine gamma. Young. Maybe twenty-five. His neck still bore the faded mark of compulsion, the skin there raw and red where the magic had burned out. He looked at them with eyes that held no anger, no rage. Just cold, empty recognition.

"You," he said quietly. "You were there. When Malrik marked me. You held me down."

James took a step back. "Listen, we were just following orders. We didn't have a choice. Malrik controlled—"

"Liar." The word was flat. Final. "I remember. I remember everything. Every order you gave. Every time you smiled while doing it." The gamma's hands curled into fists. "I remember you enjoyed it."

More figures emerged from the trees. Five. Ten. Twenty. All Silverpine. All freed. All bearing the same raw marks on their necks.

All looking at James and Felicia with the same cold recognition.

Felicia's hand went to her weapon, but one of the wolves—an older female, her face scarred—shook her head slowly.

"Don't." Her voice was almost gentle. "You'll only make it worse."

James's mouth went dry. His heart, which had been pounding with exertion, now hammered with pure terror. "Wait. Wait, we can—we can explain. We can make this right. We have information, we know things about Malrik's—"

"We don't want information," the young gamma said, taking a step forward. Then another. The circle of freed wolves tightened. "We want justice."

Felicia shifted. Fast. Desperate. Her wolf form erupted and she lunged for the gap between two wolves, trying to break through, trying to—

Three wolves tackled her mid-leap. She hit the ground hard, snarling and snapping, but they held her down. Pinned her.

James tried to run.

Made it three steps before his legs were swept out from under him. He hit the dirt face-first, tasted blood, and then hands—so many hands—were grabbing him, holding him, forcing him to his knees.

The young gamma crouched down in front of him, studying his face with detached curiosity. "You know what the worst part was?" he asked conversationally. "It wasn't the pain of the marking. It wasn't even losing control of my body." He leaned closer. "It was knowing what I was doing. Watching myself kill people I cared about. And not being able to stop."

James opened his mouth. To apologize. To beg. To offer something, anything that might make this stop.

The gamma didn't let him speak.

"I had a sister," he said quietly. "Compulsion made me kill her. Made me tear out her throat while she begged me to stop." His eyes never left James's face. "You watched that happen. You laughed."

"I didn't—I wasn't—"

"You laughed." The gamma stood. Looked at the other freed wolves. "What do we do with them?"

The scarred female spoke first. "Obsidian will want to question them. They were Malrik's lieutenants. They might have information about—"

"Fuck Obsidian." Another voice. Male. Rough with barely controlled rage. "They're ours. We were the ones enslaved. We decide."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group.

James's bladder released. The warmth spread down his legs, soaking through his pants, and he didn't even care. Couldn't care. Because he understood now, with crystal clarity, exactly how this was going to end.

Felicia was still struggling, still snarling, refusing to accept what was coming. But James had already given up. Already accepted it.

This was justice.

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