The Lunar Curse: A Second Chance With Alpha Draven novel Chapter 579

Chapter 579: Draven’s Wrath (III)

[Draven].

The trees blurred past me as my feet tore into the familiar path.

This was the trail, the one Meredith and I ran every morning, the one that was supposed to steady me.

But tonight, it did nothing.

My breath came sharp and uneven from the fire burning in my veins. I stopped abruptly, bark crunching beneath my boots, and slammed my palm into the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Come out," I growled inwardly. "Enough hiding."

I was met with silence. The bastard had the audacity to stay silent.

"You knew," I said, my voice low, shaking. "You knew what we are."

Still, he didn’t make any move.

The rage surged harder, dragging something dark and old with it. I felt it then—the pull beneath my skin, the unfamiliar hunger sharpening my senses beyond wolf.

"Rhovan!" I roared.

The pressure in my chest exploded, and he surfaced whether he wanted to or not.

"I did not want to hurt you," he said at last, his voice restrained, guarded. "You pride yourself on being a werewolf. I thought—"

"You thought lying to me was mercy?" I snapped. "You thought letting me live a lie was kindness?"

The anger twisted, hotter now. I felt my canines lengthen, the sharp pressure against my gums unmistakable.

Rhovan hesitated for a moment. "Our situation is not bad," he tried. "You are still a dominant wolf—"

I laughed, a short, broken sound. "If it wasn’t bad, you wouldn’t have hidden our identity."

Just then, my vision sharpened painfully. Gold flooded my sight, dilating until the world seemed too small to contain me. Claws slid from my fingers with a familiar burn and an unfamiliar ease.

Rhovan stiffened. "Draven, control yourself—"

"Who else knows about this apart from our mate, my father, mother, and Estella?" I demanded.

The pause was answer enough. "Who," I repeated, venomously.

"Your Beta," Rhovan said carefully. "Jeffery."

I felt the world tilt. "How long has he known about it?" I managed to find my voice.

"Five years."

Five?

My breath left me in a harsh exhale. Five years of standing beside me. Five years of loyalty so absolute it made my chest ache, and my anger twist deeper.

"How?" I demanded hoarsely. "When did he find out?"

"During one of our highest epistles of rage," Rhovan answered. Our vampiric side surfaced. Jeffery was with us then, so he saw it. And every time since then, he would try to calm us down if he was with us."

I staggered back a step. ’Jeffery knew, yet said nothing.’

Part of me—some battered, stubborn part, recognized the depth of that loyalty. Another part recoiled in humiliation.

"He watched me live a lie," I snarled.

"He did right," Rhovan cut in quickly. "You did not know your own nature. How could he speak of it without destroying you?"

That was it. My control snapped.

With a violent swipe of my claws, I slashed through the tree beside me. The bark split, and the trunk groaned as it cracked.

I didn’t stop there. I could feel the urge to tear, to destroy, to make the world bleed for daring to shape me without my consent.

"I am not fit to be King," I said, my voice raw. "A throne built on a lie is no throne at all."

"It has been written in the stars," Rhovan said firmly. "You will be King."

"Your werewolf blood dominates," he insisted. "The rest does not matter—"

[Meredith].

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