Caged Human Luna — He Stole My Freedom To Hide His Curse Chapter 08

Caged Human Luna — He Stole My Freedom To Hide His Curse Chapter 08 “Time To Burn It All Down, Alpha”

Elaine.

Let me tear her open, Cole hissed in my mind, her claws scraping against my consciousness. She touched our scout. She dies.

Not yet, I thought back, forcing a calm through my veins. We play the long game.

“Get down on your knees, human!” Valery’s voice bounced through the forest, as she shifted back into her human form, pulling a robe over her naked shoulders. I bent down and collected some of Jax’s blood and smeared it all over me.

I caught Fenris’s eye and that was all it took.

“Please,” I whimpered, dropping to my knees in the dirt. I let my shoulders shake, forcing tears to well up in my eyes. “Don’t kill me. I’ll come back. I’ll do whatever Ethan wants.”

Valery threw her head back and laughed. She strutted over, her eyes flashing with a cruel triumph. She reached down, grabbing a tight fistful of my hair, ruthlessly forcing my face up.

“I made you see those videos so you would run away,” she hissed, leaning down until her breath fouled my skin. “If you tried crossing, the Moon Goddess would have struck you dead. And if you were caught-like I just did-you would still die, Luna. Either way, you’re getting replaced. I won.”

As she pulled my head close, I leaned into her grip. With the speed of lightning, I snapped two of her fingers back. The bones popped with a sharp crunch.

Valery choked on a gasp, but before she could scream, I let the mental wall drop for a second. The weight of my Lycan aura slammed into her, making her knees buckle.

I leaned in, whispering against her ear, “Enjoy your little moment, Valery. Keep that fake act you had when you bedded my husband, wipe your face, and lead me straight to Ethan. If you say a single word to these guards, there won’t be enough of your wolf left to bury.”

She looked at me like she had just seen a ghost, clutching her broken fingers to her chest, unable even to whimper. She nodded frantically, utterly terrified.

Behind me, Fenris roared, throwing off three guards, snapping his jaws as he fought with everything he had. Finally, two enforcers slammed silver-lined cuffs around his wrists. He let out a strained grunt, dropping to one knee, playing the defeated warrior perfectly.

“Tie the human,” Valery choked out, her voice shaky now, “We’re taking them straight to the Gala. Ethan is already addressing the Council.”

Ethan.

Valery shoved the doors open.

“Bring them in!” she shouted, her voice echoing across the massive ballroom.

Hundreds of eyes turned toward the entrance. At the center of the stage stood Ethan, a glass of wine in his hand. Beside him stood Beta Marcus, his chest heavily bandaged under his shirt.

Ethan’s jaw dropped, his grip tightening on his wine glass until the crystal cracked, spilling red liquid over his fingers.

“What is the meaning of this?” one of the Council Elders demanded, standing up from his seat.

Ethan quickly recovered, as he stepped down from the stage, his chest puffed out as he walked toward us.

“Elders, please forgive the interruption,” he rasped in between breaths. He looked me over, a smug comfort settling back into his eyes. “This is a miracle. The Moon Goddess herself struck down this traitorous human at the border. The curse refused to let her cross, breaking her body and bringing her back to face my judgment. This proves the curse is real, and it proves my divine right to protect you all from the outside world!”

A murmur of agreement ran through the pack members. Fear and awe washed over the crowd. He had them right where he wanted them.

“Is that so, Ethan?” I asked.

Ethan paused, his eyes narrowing. “Silence, human. You have no right to speak before this Council.”

“I think I do,” a sly smile spread across my face. I looked back at Fenris.

With a sudden burst of strength, he shattered the chains around his wrists like they were made of twigs. Before the guards could even draw their weapons, Fenris lunged forward, slicing through the ropes binding my hands in one clean swing.

The crowd gasped, Alphas baring their fangs. I reached into the inner pocket of my jacket. pulling out Valery’s tablet and a thick, leather-bound Council ledger.

“You love telling stories, Ethan,” I said, stepping right up to the edge of the Council table, “But let’s look at the facts.”

The audio exploded through the silent hall. The heavy, unmistakable groans of Ethan and Valery blasted from the speakers:

“Since we are banned from leaving the borders, I might as well enjoy the only human I can lay my hands on… Having a human Luna who depends on me for her literal survival makes me look like the most powerful Alpha this pack has ever seen. It proves my dominance. You don’t throw away a trophy like that.”

Gasps echoed through the room. Valery looked like she was about to faint, and Ethan’s face turned a purple shade of rage.

“That is a fabrication! A human lie!” Ethan roared, lunging toward the table to smash the devic

But Fenris stepped in his path, his eyes flaring a deadly Lycan blue. “Sit down, Alpha. Let her finish.”

“If that’s a fabrication, explain this,” I slammed the thick ledger down right in front of the Chie Elder. “This is Ethan’s private household ledger. It tracks the exact dates his Betas cross the border into the human world to buy supplies and illegal silver weapons. They cross anytime it pleases them. There is no curse.”

The Chief Elder flipped through the pages.

I turned back to face the entire pack, my voice rising so everyone could hear. “The Moon Goddess didn’t trap you here. She trapped him. Ethan is the only one cursed and banned from leaving this territory because of the atrocities he committed years ago. He locked all of you in this cage with him to hide his own pathetic shame!”

A deafening uproar exploded in the hall. Pack members started shouting, looking at Ethan with horror and betrayal. The regional Alphas stood up, their auric pressures heavy in the air.

“You human piece of garbage!” Ethan screamed, all his elegance stripped away.

His bones began to snap. Clothes ripping, he shifted into his massive, golden-brown Alpha wolf right on the stage. His yellow eyes locked onto my throat. With a bloodthirsty roar, he leaped through the air, aiming to tear my head off.

The crowd screamed. Fenris moved to intercept, but I put a hand out, stopping him.

I looked straight at the lunging beast, a vicious smile on my lips, and let the mental wall around my soul completely shatter.

Ethan snapped his head toward Fenris, sneering. “You,” he hissed, pointing a trembling finger at

the Lycan standing behind me. “This is your doing. You stole my wife, you turned her into a monster, and you brought this heresy into my house to challenge my birthright!”

Ethan stepped forward, “I invoke the Right of Challenge! Fenris, I challenge you to a legal Trial by Combat. To the death. The winner takes the territory, the title, and the true crown. If you have any Lycan blood in you, face me!”

A murmur ran through the crowd. An Alpha challenging a Council Officer to a death match was legal under the ancient codes, a desperate loophole to stall his execution.

Fenris smiled, his muscles tightening as he prepared to step forward. “I accept-”

“No,” I interrupted, my voice cutting through the hall. I stepped directly in front of Fenris, looking straight at Ethan, “The challenge is mine,” I said, a vicious smile spreading across my face. I looked at the Chief Elder. “Under Council law, an Alpha’s mate has the legal right to challenge their spouse for leadership of the pack. He doesn’t get to fight Fenris to save his skin. He fights me.”

Ethan let out a harsh, mocking laugh, though his eyes were wide with terror. “You? You’re a freshly turned pup, Elaine! I will snap your neck in seconds!”

“Then come and try,” I whispered.

Time to burn it all down, Alpha, she snarled through the room’s open mind-link.

the floor!”

Luna may challenge her Alpha spouse for leadership. Clear

The crowd scrambled backward, pushing tables and chairs against the walls to form a wide circle.

Ethan stood at the center of the ring as a massive golden-brown wolf, his lips curled back to expose long, white fangs dripping with saliva. His yellow eyes burned with pure rage.

Let me out, Cole purred in my mind, her energy vibrating under my skin. Let’s show this mutt what a real wolf looks like.

Wait, I thought back, keeping my eyes glued to Ethan. He thinks I’m weak. Let him play into it.

With a deafening roar, he lunged across the floor, aiming straight for my throat. He was relying on the same strength he used to terrify the pack for years. But I wasn’t the human who used to cower in his bed.

Fenris’s voice echoed in my head: An enforcer relies on weight. Use their momentum against them.

I waited until the very last second. As Ethan’s jaws snapped closed inches from my face, I dropped low, sliding beneath his chest. I grabbed a handful of his thick fur, using his own speed to whip myself around, and drove my elbow hard into his exposed ribcage.

A sickening crack echoed through the silent hall.

Ethan let out a choked gasp, crashing heavily into the floorboards and sliding several feet. The crowd gasped.

He scrambled to his feet, shaking his head, his yellow eyes wide with shock. He looked at me. then at the blood dripping from his side.