Luna POV
The ergency radio crackled to life as I dived behind an overturned car. "This is Desert Moon Pack! We need quick help! Half our pack is possessed!"
I grabbed the radio, my hands shaking as bullets flew over my head. Not real bullets - the possessed dogs were shooting so kind of dark energy that burned through tal like acid.
"Desert Moon, this is Luna Morrison," I spoke quickly into the radio. "How many survivors do you have?"
"Maybe thirty out of two hundred," Alpha Rodriguez’s voice ca back, filled with hopelessness. "They’re hunting us down one by one. We can’t hold out much longer!"
I looked across the battlefield that used to be Silver Peak’s main street. Possessed pack mbers with black eyes were attacking the few people left. But they weren’t just fighting randomly anymore. They were working together like a real army.
"All remaining packs, listen carefully," I said into the radio, using my strongest diplomatic voice. "We need to organize our defense. Stop fighting alone!"
Static filled the radio for a mont, then Alpha Chen’s voice ca through: "Luna Morrison? Why should we listen to you? You’re not even an Alpha!"
Any other ti, those words would have made angry. But right now, my pack was dying around , and my hurt feelings didn’t matter.
"Because I’m the only one left who knows how to talk to all of you," I answered firmly. "The Alphas are either dead or possessed. Soone has to handle the survivors."
More voices joined the radio chat. Pack after pack reporting the sa bad news. Mates turned against each other. Children possessed while their parents watched helplessly. Entire families destroyed in minutes.
But as I heard, I started to notice patterns in the attacks. The Void Walkers weren’t just randomly taking over dogs. They had a plan.
"Wait," I said, interrupting a story from the Mountain Ridge survivors. "Say that again. Which wolves did they take first?"
"The mated pairs," ca the reply. "They always go for the strongest bonds first."
"Sa here," reported another pack. "It’s like they can sense who loves each other the most."
I felt a chill run down my spine. The Void Walkers were feeding on love itself. Every strong relationship was making them more powerful.
"All packs, new orders," I said into the radio. "Separate your mated pairs quickly. Keep them apart until we figure out how to fight this."
"That’s crazy!" Alpha Rodriguez complained. "We need our mates close to fight together!"
"Your mates are becoming the enemy!" I shot back. "Trust on this!"
An explosion nearby made duck lower behind the car. When I looked up, I saw sothing that made my blood freeze. A figure was walking carefully through the chaos, and every possessed wolf was stepping aside to let her pass.
It was Lily.
But her eyes were black as coal, and she moved like she was floating instead of walking. When she saw hiding behind the car, she smiled coldly.
"Hello, Luna," she said in a voice that sounded like Lily but felt totally wrong. "We’ve been looking for you."
I grabbed the radio tighter. "Why ? I’m nobody special."
Lily’s possessed form laughed. "Oh, but you are special. You know how to talk to people. How to make them trust you. How to bring packs together."
"I won’t help you," I said, though my voice shook with fear.
"You already are," the thing wearing Lily’s face answered. "Right now, you’re gathering all the surviving survivors into one place. Making it so much easier for us to find them."
Horror washed over as I realized what I’d done. By coordinating the packs through the radio, I’d been telling the Void Walkers exactly where all the survivors were hidden.
"Every ti soone reacts to your calls," possessed Lily continued, "we track their location. Every pack that follows your orders makes it easier for us to hunt them down."
I wanted to throw the radio away, but I could hear desperate people calling for help through the static. Packs that were counting on to save them.
"You’re trapped, Luna," the dark voice said. "Help us, and we’ll make their deaths quick. Keep fighting, and we’ll make them suffer."
"There has to be another way," I breathed.
Possessed Lily tilted her head curiously. "Oh, there is. But you’re not going to like it."
"What do you an?"
"The only way to stop us is to sever all the bonds that join the packs. Every mate link, every family tie, every friendship. Cut them all, and we’ll have nothing to eat on."
My heart sank. "That would destroy everything that makes us wolves."
"Exactly," the creature answered. "Save your people by turning them into empty shells, or let us turn them into our army. Either way, the packs as you know them are finished."
I looked around at the fight raging through Silver Peak. Wolves fighting wolves, families torn apart, love turned into a tool against itself.
But then I noticed sothing the affected Lily hadn’t seen. Behind her, creeping through the darkness, was Elder Iris. The old woman was holding sothing in her hands - a small silver box covered in ancient symbols.
Elder Iris caught my eye and nodded slightly. She was planning sothing.
"You’re right," I said loudly to obsessed Lily, trying to keep her attention on . "The packs are finished either way."
"I’m glad you see reason," the creature answered, stepping closer to .
"But there’s one thing you didn’t count on," I continued, my heart racing.
"And what’s that?"
I smiled grimly. "I never told you where the most important survivors are hiding."
Possessed Lily’s black eyes narrowed. "What survivors?"
"The unmated children," I said. "The future of all our bags. They’re sowhere safe, and you’ll never find them."
It was a lie, but it worked. The creature’s attention moved from Elder Iris to , anger flashing in those dead black eyes.
"Where are they?" it asked.
Before I could answer, Elder Iris stepped forward and opened the silver box. Brilliant white light poured out, and possessed Lily scread in pain.
"The Purification Box," Elder Iris said grimly. "It forces the Void Walkers to show their true form."
The light grew brighter, and I watched in horror as black smoke started pouring out of Lily’s mouth and nose. But the smoke didn’t disappear - it ford into a huge shadow creature with red eyes and razor-sharp claws.
"Foolish old woman," the shadow hissed. "You’ve only freed us from our human mask. Now you’ll see what we really are."
The thing reached toward Elder Iris with claws that could tear through steel. But as it moved, I saw sothing that made my heart stop.
Real Lily was still in there, stuck inside the shadow. And she was looking right at , her brown eyes full of desperate hope.
"Luna," she mouthed silently. "The box. Break it."
I stared at her in confusion. Break the only tool we had against the Void Walkers?
But then I understood. The box wasn’t just forcing the creatures to show their true form - it was keeping them linked to their human hosts. If I broke it, the shadow would be freed totally.
But so would Lily.
The trouble was, I had no idea what a completely freed Void Walker could do to all of us.
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