HEARTS OF DIVINE RUIN (The MoonGoddess and The AlphaKing)

Quintus stood over Timothy's lifeless body, his face—Alex's face—twisted into a cruel smile. Blood smeared his hands, and he casually wiped them clean with a white handkerchief, the contrast as sharp as the pain slicing through Luna's chest. He looked toward the shadows where she stood frozen, his voice a mockery of Alex's familiar tone.
"Elynn, darling," Quintus called, his words laced with venom. "No need to hide. Come out. I have a surprise waiting for you outside."
From beyond the fractured walls of the house, the echoes of wolves reached her ears. A cacophony of howls—broken, pained, and unnatural. Luna's heart sank.
Dorothy. 
She had betrayed them. Instead of curing the rogue wolves as promised, she had twisted them into something else entirely. Puppets. Weapons.
Quintus's smile widened as he turned toward the door. "Don't keep me waiting," he said before stepping over Timothy's body and out into the night, leaving Luna alone in the broken house.
Her eyes fell on Timothy. His lifeless form lay crumpled on the floor, his chest caved in where his heart had been torn away. The boy who had fought so valiantly to protect her was now gone, his courage extinguished too soon. Luna dropped to her knees beside him, her trembling hands reaching out to touch his still-warm face.
"You idiot," she whispered, her voice breaking. Tears spilled down her cheeks as memories of Timothy flooded her mind. She saw him grinning at her, teasing her about the vase she had once threatened to break over his head.
"You wouldn't dare," he had laughed, his boyish confidence shining through.
"Try me," she had replied, unable to hide her smirk.
And then there were the moments of his bravery. How he had fought all those rogues wolves few hours back making certain she was safe. How he had stood before her facing enemies far stronger than himself, always with a defiant glint in his eyes ,with a fire that belied his tender age.
Seventeen. He was only seventeen. A young wolf with his whole life ahead of him. Yet here he was, lifeless and broken, sacrificed for a cause he believed in. Luna's fingers brushed his bloodied chest, her voice trembling as she whispered, "You're more of a hero than I'll ever be. And heroes... heroes never die."
Her gaze fell to the floor where his heart lay, discarded like it meant nothing. Gently, she picked it up, cradling it in her hands as if it were the most precious thing in the world. She pressed it back into the hollow of his chest, her bloodied palm covering the wound.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her tears mingling with the blood staining her hands. "I'm so sorry."
A wave of exhaustion threatened to overtake her, but she shoved it aside. There was no time for grief, no time for hesitation. She had one last card to play, a fragment of divinity hidden deep within her mortal form. She had kept it locked away, knowing the consequences of unleashing it. But now... now she had no choice.
Outside, Quintus stood tall, cloaked in Alex's skin like a cruel mockery of the man he once was. His presence radiated a dark dominance, his gaze sweeping over the army of wolves kneeling before him. They were broken creatures, stripped of their free will and bound by Dorothy's dark sorcery.
The beasts he hated to his core.
These wolves, his sworn enemies, had once stolen everything he had ever held dear: his son, his family, his people. Their kind had burned his world to ash, leaving him with nothing but vengeance in his heart. And now, they knelt before him—not as their Alpha but as their puppet master.
With one command, he could make them tear each other apart. He could order them to claw their hearts from their own chests, to destroy themselves in a storm of blood and agony.
But he was patient.
"Elynn," he murmured, his voice soft yet laced with venom, the name rolling off his tongue like a curse. "Or should I call her Luna?"
The smirk tugging at his lips widened. She would come. He was sure of it. All he had to do was wait.
The wind carried the cries of wolves, their haunting howls echoing in the distance. Above, the crescent moon hung like a sliver of silver against the night sky. But something shifted—a ripple of power that stirred the air, making it hum with an unnatural energy.
Quintus's smirk faltered, his eyes narrowing. The crescent moon brightened, its soft glow intensifying. It wasn't gradual; it was abrupt and violent. The curved sliver swelled, growing fuller and brighter until the crescent became a blazing full moon. The light wasn't serene but searing, casting harsh shadows across the forest.
For the briefest of moments, an uneasy flicker crossed his face. He turned back toward the shattered house, ready to call out again, but he froze.
A deafening roar split the night.
The house in front of him exploded with a force so violent it was as if the heavens themselves had unleashed their wrath. Walls disintegrated into shards of wood and stone, fragments shooting outward like shrapnel. The explosion's shockwave tore through the air, scattering dust, debris, and darkness.
Quintus was thrown back like a ragdoll, his body slammed against the unforgiving earth. The ground trembled beneath him as he landed, his breath punched from his lungs.
For a moment, silence reigned, broken only by the sound of debris raining down and the faint, high-pitched ringing in his ears.
Quintus staggered to his feet, shaking off the dust and debris that clung to him. His smirk returned, forced and bitter, though his eyes betrayed a flicker of unease. He turned his gaze back toward the source of the explosion, the place where the house had once stood.
What he saw made his breath catch.
A figure stood in the epicenter of the destruction, bathed in a golden light that seemed to pour from the moon itself. The brilliance was blinding, illuminating every broken fragment of the house and casting long shadows across the forest floor.
Luna.
No longer mortal, no longer bound by the frailty of flesh. She stood resplendent in her divine form, her silvery hair glowing like molten light, her eyes a piercing, radiant gold that burned with unyielding power. Her presence was overwhelming, a force of nature that made the air vibrate and the ground quiver.
Her mortal clothes were gone, replaced by a flowing, ethereal gown that shimmered like liquid starlight. Her bare feet hovered inches above the ground, her divinity untethered from the earth below. Around her, swirling currents of energy coalesced, forming a halo of light and shadow.
The wolves in the clearing whimpered, their heads bowing instinctively as though in the presence of a goddess.
Quintus stared, his smirk vanishing as his fingers tightened into fists. "Impossible..." he muttered, his voice barely audible over the crackling energy surrounding her.
Luna's gaze turned to him, sharp and unrelenting, and in that moment, Quintus felt the weight of her wrath. This wasn't the woman he had mocked, the mortal he had tormented. 
This was the Elder Wolf Goddess.
And she was done holding back.
Luna raised her hand, her fingers trembling with the weight of her power, and her eyes—now glowing a deep, brilliant gold—swept across the wolves surrounding them. Their growls turned to whimpers, and slowly, the wolves' stances softened as if recognizing the force in their midst, but unable to break free from the hold on their minds.
"Return to your true selves," she whispered, her voice carrying a gentleness that contrasted sharply with the fury of moments before, yet resonated with undeniable command. Her words washed over the wolves like a balm, coaxing them to remember who they were beneath the shadows that bound them.
Timothy's voice was a whisper. "She's... she's really a goddess."
Luna closed her eyes, letting the soft whispers of the wolves' spirits reach her, each one crying out for release, each one calling for her to end their suffering. Her eyes opened once more, sadness mingling with the fierce glow in her gaze as she extended both arms outward, as if to embrace the wolves who were lost to the darkness.
"I command you," she spoke again, her voice clear and unwavering. "Return to the light."
The moonlight intensified, casting sharp beams that cut through the darkness clinging to the wolves. One by one, the glowing, hollow eyes faded, replaced with the stunned, confused expressions of the pack members as they shook themselves free, their minds returning, restored under the light of their goddess.
Charlie was among the first to regain his senses, his eyes meeting Alex's but it didn't took him more than few seconds to realise that this was not the Alpha he realised , filled with confusion and sorrow. 
For a moment, all was still. The wolves lowered their heads, some lying down in the grass as though they'd been freed from a terrible dream. Luna took a shaky breath, her radiant form flickering slightly, the strain of summoning her powers clear in the way her shoulders drooped, but she stood firm, regal and unwavering.
But she was not done. She raised her gaze, her voice still ringing with authority.
A slow, mocking clap sounded from the left, pulling all attention toward its source. Standing in the shadows , In Alex's skin was Quintus, his figure draped in darkness, tendrils of shadow swirling around him like a living cloak. He was the antithesis of Luna, steeped in an energy as sinister as hers was luminous. His face twisted into a smirk as his eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
"You almost had me fooled," he drawled, his voice filled with mocking praise. "But how could you truly shed your divine powers, Luna?" His taunt hung heavy in the air, every word laced with malice.
Luna's expression didn't falter, though her mind raced. Her last plan—one she had only intended to use as a desperate, final move—had already been forced to the forefront. She knew the truth he didn't: while she could temporarily summon her goddess powers, her human body was ill-suited to house them for long. She could already feel her mortal form beginning to strain under the weight, like dry wood beneath a fire too strong, too consuming. She had maybe few hours, if that. After that, the vessel that was her human body would crumble into ash.
But she didn't allow this fear to show, instead offering him a cold, mocking smile. "Leave Alex alone and i will make death easy for you " Her voice was steady, resolute, even as the clock in her mind ticked, counting down to the inevitable.
Her golden eyes met Quintus's dark gaze, unyielding. His laughter echoed across the clearing, cruel and mocking.
"Oh, Luna," Quintus sneered, his tone dripping with disdain. He tilted his head, gesturing to himself, as if savoring the control he held over Alex's body. "Did you hear that, Alex?" He pounded a fist against his own chest mockingly. "Your precious goddess thinks she can bargain for your soul." He chuckled darkly, his voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "You can scream all you want in there, but you're nothing more than an audience now. Powerless. Weak."
Then his gaze turned to the thousands of wolves who still lingered behind Luna. "And you all." He swept his arm dramatically toward them. "The last of her kind, loyal to a failure. Did you know your goddess abandoned you once? She'll do it again. Perhaps I'll make her watch as you burn—watch as her wolves finally become extinct."
His smirk deepened, and with a single, fluid motion, Quintus raised his hand. 
Dark and sinister shadows began to slither and crawl out from the edges of the forest, oozing like ink across the ground. The air thickened as the shadows coalesced into monstrous forms—hulking, grotesque demons with jagged claws and twisted faces. Their hollow eyes glowed with malice as they emerged from the darkness, their guttural snarls shaking the earth.
"These are my gifts," Quintus taunted, waving a hand as the demons encircled them. "Freed from Hell, they hunger for blood, for chaos. But don't worry, my dear Luna. I've saved their appetite just for you."
Luna's jaw tightened, but her expression remained steady. She turned, her sharp gaze sweeping over the wolves who stood frozen - some of them elders , some young pups and some women, caught between terror and devotion. "Leave," she commanded, her voice a powerful echo of the divine authority she once wielded without question.
The force of her words was overwhelming, pressing against them like a tidal wave. Even some powerful Alphas , Charlie and other royal guards, despite their loyalty, felt their legs move of their own accord, muscles trembling as they were compelled to leave her side, their backs hunched, breaths heavy with silent protest but with last bits of his they tried to hold their ground .
While the weaker wolves trembled, their bodies lowering in reluctant obedience. The bond between them and their goddess tugged at their very souls, making them cry out in sorrow. Their howls filled the night, broken and mournful, as one by one, they began to retreat.
Luna's heart clenched painfully at the sight. Her kind. Her people. The ones she had once thought despised her. Now, even in the face of death, they were willing to stand by her side, their loyalty piercing her like a blade.
A few remained—wolves with bloodlines tied to royalty, some strong Alphas , others hardened by war. Their defiance burned in their eyes, even as their grief shone through.
Her voice cracked slightly, though she forced it to remain strong. "I said leave."
The wolves whimpered but refused to move, their loyalty stronger than their fear.
"You must go," she said, her voice softer now, though it still held its unyielding tone. Her golden eyes glistened with unshed tears. "If you stay, it means death."
Charlie, ever loyal, stepped forward, his fur bristling as he shifted into his human form. His dark eyes were steady as they met hers. "Then so be it," he said, his voice unwavering. "We'll die as we've lived, standing by you."
Others joined him, shifting into their human forms—guards, warriors, and even young Alphas who had grown under her name. One spoke, his voice trembling but resolute. "We aren't cowards , we won't leave you behind."
Luna's breath hitched. Her gaze softened, even as tears threatened to spill. She had spent centuries believing she had failed them, believing she was unworthy of their faith. And yet, here they stood, choosing to defy the command that bound their lives to her word. Choosing death for her.
Her voice quivered as she addressed them. "You foolish wolves... you'll only make this harder."
Charlie smiled faintly, his tone lighter than the situation demanded. "As long as Alpha king is there standing beside you , we will be too ." He said looking at Luna and then to Quintus , very well knowing Alex is in there somewhere trying to fight Quintus.
Before Luna could reply, a voice, raspy and familiar, called out from the shadows behind her.
"Alpha King will have my and Charlie head if I left you to fight alone."
She froze, her golden eyes wide as she turned toward the ruins of the house.
From the rubble, Timothy emerged, battered and bruised, but alive. His face was pale, his steps unsteady, but the fire in his eyes was undiminished. 
"You're not rid of me that easily," he said, his voice carrying a grin that didn't quite reach his weary features.
Luna stared at him in shock, her tears spilling over now, unchecked. "Timothy , Leave... i barely was able to save you , "
"I've got some fight left in me," he said, forcing a smile as he limped toward her. His gaze swept over the demons, the shadows, and finally landed on Quintus. "And I think we've got some unfinished business."