Alpha's Hidden Precious Luna-Chapter 157

Kai POV

The dream shifted again, pulling me forward through time to a memory I had buried deep within my subconscious.

This time, I was in my bedroom in the pack house. Moonlight was streaming through the windows, casting shadows across rumpled sheets

Serena lay beside me, her dark hair spread across the pillow like a fan. We had just finished making love, and I felt the familiar haze of contentment mixed with something else—a strange weakness that I had noticed recently.

"I need to get a drink," she murmured, pressing a kiss to my shoulder before sliding out of bed. "Do you want anything?"

"No, I’m fine," I replied, watching as she wrapped herself in my discarded shirt and padded toward the small kitchenette I’d installed in my quarters after our marriage.

Serena believed I was dozing, but something made me watch her through my half-closed eyelids, an instinct I couldn’t explain. She moved to the counter, her back to me, and began to whisper words I couldn’t quite hear. The air around her seemed to grow dense...

My heart stopped. Magic. Witch magic.

I watched in horror as she pulled a small vial from somewhere—seemingly from thin air—and poured the liquid into a glass. She whispered more words and the liquid began to swirl on its own, changing colors from blue to green to gold.

But what truly shook me to my core was what happened next. A thin strand of white light came from the direction of our bed—from me—and flowed into the glass. Serena raised the drink to her lips and consumed it in one long swallow, sighing with satisfaction as the glow faded from her skin.

For a moment, I just laid on the bed, watching her and all I could think – was this real? Had this even happened? Also, I realized for the first time and true to Healer Odin’s words, she wasn’t just a werewolf without a wolf, she was a hybrid witch and wolf—using magic to sustain herself by draining my power. Every time we were intimate, every time I opened myself to her completely, she took a piece of me.

The “unexplained weakness" I’d been having suddenly made sense. The moments of confusion, the gaps in my memory, the times I’d lost control and lashed out at my own pack members—they weren’t signs of stress or overwork as she’d suggested. They were symptoms of her slowly draining my essence, my Alpha power, my very soul.

My wolf, Hud, had been deceived. The mate bond we felt wasn’t real—it was a carefully crafted illusion, a spell designed to make us believe she was our destined partner. Healer Odin had been right all along. She didn’t have a wolf in her because she was something else entirely, something that preyed on our kind.

I must have made some sound of distress because Serena turned suddenly, her eyes meeting mine across the room. For a split second, her eyes glowed before it returned to her natural color.

"Kai?" she said, her voice was filled with concern. "Are you alright?"

I sat up slowly, my mind racing. How long had this been going on? How much of myself had I already lost to her? "What are you?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

As soon as the words left my lips, light pierced through my eyelids.

My body felt like lead, every muscle protested with ache as I slowly opened my eyes with immense effort, blinking against the glare of the white light handing over me.

My vision was blurry for the first few minutes before the shapes around me normalized. White walls. Sterile smile and the smell of disinfectant plus the beep of monitors around me. I didn’t need to be told that I was in a hospital room.

Lily?

I scanned the whole place. I was alone. Where was she? My eyes travelled to the IV in my arm that felt like a strange object. Without thinking, I reached over and tore it out, ignoring the sting as the needle left my skin. I needed to find, Lily. I shouldn’t be lying on the bed here when she’s in danger.

As I tried to stand, a sharp pain crashed into me. I groaned and closed my eyes as a tsunami of memories flitted into my mind, all at once. Every lost moment, every forgotten conversation, every piece of my broken past slammed back into me with such brutal force. The dream I had just had, flitted into my memory again.

I remembered everything.

I collapsed to my knees, groaning with pain as I clutched my head. The memories of Serena, our marriage, the discovery, her death, the phase of my madness came into my mind in rapid successions. Even the night I had met Lily.... Not that I had forgotten that, but it seemed my brain was trying to reboot itself, hoping to restore everything that I thought was lost.

"Kai!"

Celeste’s voice cut through the pain as she burst into the room. She dropped to her knees beside me, her hands hovering uncertainly as if afraid to touch me.

"I’ll call the doctor," she said, reaching for the emergency button.

"No," I managed to gasp, grabbing her wrist. "I’m fine. Just... Help me up."

She hesitated, studying my face with concern, but finally wrapped her arm around my waist and helped me back onto the bed. I sat there for several moments, head in my hands, as the last of the memories settled into place.

When I finally looked up, Celeste was watching me with a mixture of fear and worry etched across her features. Despite the pain still throbbing in my skull, I managed a smile.

"I’m fine, Cel,” I said, using the childhood nickname I hadn’t used in years.

Something in my voice must have convinced her because suddenly she was throwing her arms around me, sobbing into my chest.

"I’m sorry," she cried, her words muffled against my hospital gown. "I’ve been such a bad sister. All our fights, all the times I pushed you away when you needed me most. I promise it won’t happen again."

A laugh bubbled up from my chest as I returned her embrace. "You know you’re lying," I teased, stroking her hair the way I used to when we were children. "You’ll keep annoying me for the rest of my life. It’s your job as my little sister."

She pulled back, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, and we shared a laugh that felt like healing years of distance between us.

Celeste settled on the edge of my bed, her hand still holding mine. "Lily’s okay," she said softly. "She’s been asking about you constantly. The doctors moved her to this room while you were unconscious, hoping her presence might help you wake up."

My heart clenched at the mention of her name. I could feel our bond humming beneath my skin, stronger than ever now that my memories had returned. Lily was my real mate – fated to me by the Moon Goddess. But with those memories came a terrible understanding.

"I can’t see her right now," I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.

Celeste’s brow furrowed. "Why not? Kai, she’s been through hell. She needs you."

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what I had to reveal. "The curse Serena placed on me... it’s still active."

"What curse?" Celeste leaned forward, her grip on my hand tightening. "What are you talking about?"

"Serena wasn’t just a wolf," I explained, the memories now crystal clear. "She was a hybrid—part witch, part wolf. She used magic to create a false mate bond between us, to make me believe she was my true mate. But it was all a lie. She was feeding on my power, draining me slowly."

Celeste’s face paled. "That’s why you had those episodes? The memory loss, the violent outbursts?"

I nodded. "But that wasn’t the worst of it. Before she died, she wove a curse into the very fabric of my being. She made it so I could never truly love another woman. If I try, if I let myself feel what I feel for Lily, the curse twists those emotions into hatred and violence."

"That’s why you attacked Lily," Celeste whispered, horror dawning in her eyes. "Why you’ve been pushing her away even when you couldn’t remember why."

"Exactly. Every time I get close to her, every time I let my guard down and allow myself to care, the curse activates. It turns love into rage, affection into aggression. I become a danger to the very person I’m trying to protect."