The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans-Chapter 215: A Cursed Blessing

Lorraine’s POV

The forest stilled.

The image of young Avelar standing in the clearing, his hand wrapped around Maeryn’s, began to blur like mist under sunlight. Their figures softened, edges bleeding into silver haze, until they faded completely, voices, breath, heartbeat, all gone.

I was alone again.

The castle. The woods. The memories. All of it dissolved into that endless, moonlit void that felt like neither dream nor reality.

My chest felt tight. Too tight.

Avelar Valerius Hunter.

That boy was the first Alpha King of the kingdom.

He was Kieran’s ancestor.

"That was... them.... us?" I whispered. "That was how it began?"

"Yes," my wolf’s voice answered gently behind me.

I turned. She stood there as before, radiant, calm, eternal, yet her eyes carried a sadness so ancient it made my throat ache.

"That," she said, "was Avelar Valerius Hunter and Maeryn’s first encounter."

Something in her tone made my stomach sink.

"An encounter," she continued, "that would soon become more of a curse than a blessing."

I frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

She studied me for a long moment, like she was deciding how much truth I could survive.

"Obviously," she said at last, "they fell in love."

"Love?" I echoed.

"Yes. Deeply. Recklessly. And forbidden."

The world around us shifted again, but this time it didn’t fully form. Instead, fragments of memory floated around us, glimpses, emotions, impressions.

"Avelar’s father," my wolf continued, "was the Pack Leader of the Blood Moon Pack. One of the most powerful packs that existed at the time."

Images flashed, massive wolves, blue banners, warriors kneeling.

"This was long before councils," she went on. "Before elites and ferals. Before segregation carved the kingdom into rigid hierarchies. There were Lycans.... and there were wolves. And packs ruled themselves freely."

I swallowed. "So things weren’t always like this."

"No," she said softly. "But power always finds a way to rot."

The vision sharpened.

I saw Avelar and Maeryn older now, young adults, meeting in secret beneath moonlit trees. Laughing quietly. Training together. Sharing stolen moments like they were precious contraband.

"Avelar’s father thought," my wolf said, "that his son’s interest in the Hexborn was childish. A fleeting curiosity. A rebellion that would burn itself out."

The image shifted, Avelar’s father watching from afar, arms crossed, jaw clenched.

"But Avelar never left Maeryn’s side."

I watched Avelar shielding Maeryn from insults. Standing between her and thrown stones. Taking blows meant for her.

"They were always together," my wolf said. "Every stolen moment only made the bond stronger."

My chest ached. I already knew where this was going, and still I couldn’t stop listening.

"When his father realized it was no longer childish," she continued, "when he realized this was love.... he decided it had to be cut out before it poisoned the pack."

The memory shifted sharply.

I saw Avelar standing before his father in a great hall, shoulders squared, fists clenched.

"Stay away from the Hexborn," his father commanded, voice iron hard. "She is cursed. She will destroy you."

Avelar didn’t bow.

He didn’t flinch.

"I won’t," he said and in that moment, the memory of Kieran standing in front of me against his father, the Alpha King, when he had ordered him to kill me flashed my mind.

Avelar and Kieran looked so similar, almost identical.

The next image hit like a blow.

Avelar was now standing in the center of the pack, his voice rand across stunned faces.

"She is my mate."

There were gaasps. Shouts. Outrage.

"The Pack Leader’s son," my wolf said quietly, "declared the Hexborn his destined mate."

I felt sick.

"The cursed girl with red and white eyes," she added. "Can you imagine what that did to them?"

I didn’t have to imagine. I’d lived versions of it my whole life.

"His father," my wolf said, voice colder now, "would never allow it."

The memory snapped violently.

Maeryn screamed.

I was suddenly standing in a dark clearing, torches blazing all around. Maeryn was bound to a stone slab, wrists tied, blood running from old wounds. Her face was pale, eyes wide with terror.

"No," I whispered. "No..."

"Avelar tried to save her," my wolf said. "He fought his own father’s men. A battalion of them."

The scene exploded into chaos.

I saw Avelar tearing through guards, fists flying, blood spraying. He fought like a madman, like someone who had already decided he would die if it meant saving her.

But there were too many.

Dozens of guards swarmed him. Silver chains wrapped around his arms. Blows rained down. He was forced to his knees.

"Maeryn!" he roared.

She struggled against her bonds, sobbing. "Avelar, please, stop, this is my fault...."

Her words cut off as the Pack Leader stepped forward.

Avelar’s father.

Tall. Commanding. Cold.

He lifted a blade.

I felt my heart slam violently against my ribs.

"No," I whispered again, uselessly.

"He meant to kill her," my wolf said. "To end the curse. To end the shame."

The blade gleamed.

Maeryn squeezed her eyes shut.

And then....

Her eye glowed.

Not softly.

Not gently.

It ignited.

Pure, blinding power erupted from her body.

She flicked her wrists.

That was all.

Avelar’s father was hurled into the air like a rag doll, slamming into stone with a sound that echoed through the clearing.

Before anyone could react...

Maeryn turned.

She screamed.

It wasn’t a sound.

It was a weapon.

The energy ripped outward in a massive wave, flattening trees, shattering stone, and dropping bodies where they stood. Wolves. Guards. Onlookers. Warriors.

Everyone within a mile radius fell dead.

Everyone.

Except one.

Avelar.

He remained kneeling, frozen, eyes wide, chains slack around his wrists.

The silence crashed down.

Maeryn gasped, her glow fading, her body sagging as the power retreated back inside her.

She looked around.

At the bodies.

At the blood.

At the devastation she had caused.

Her hands began to shake.

"What... what did I do?" she whispered, horror seeping into every syllable.

Avelar tried to stand. "Maeryn..."

She stumbled backward. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"No," she said, voice trembling. "Don’t.... don’t come closer."

Her eyes darted wildly around the clearing.

And then they landed on him.

Avelar’s father.

The Pack Leader of the Blood Moon Pack.

He lay sprawled on the ground, eyes empty, throat crushed at an unnatural angle.

Dead.

Maeryn stared at him.

She killed him.