The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 144: Long Live The King

Chapter 144: Chapter 144: Long Live The King

Lorraine’s POV

They moved me slowly, methodically. Like I was a package, or a prisoner. The sharp edge of the blade never left my skin, not even when I stumbled once and nearly fell. The warrior behind me tightened her grip and shoved me forward.

The group parted, and that’s when I saw him.

Their leader.

He was tall, towering, really. His presence alone could silence a room. His shoulders were broad, encased in thick, dark armor, with crimson lines etched in the steel like war markings. His hair, a deep, rusty red, was slicked back but wild at the ends, like it couldn’t be tamed no matter how hard he tried.

And he didn’t just look old, he looked powerful.

The kind of old that came with time-earned wisdom and a lifetime of spilled blood. The kind of old that had fought in wars and buried empires. His aura screamed Lycan, not just any lycan, but a powerful one. His scent was thick, dominant, and terrifyingly. There was something brutal about him. Something beastly.

My instincts screamed at me to bow. But I stood my ground.

"What’s going on?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. "What do you want with me?"

He didn’t respond at first. Just stared at me with sharp hazel eyes that didn’t blink. They felt like razors, peeling away my skin to look at what was beneath.

Then, in a deep, gravelly voice, he spoke, his tone was unshaken and commanding. "What are you doing so close to the hideout?"

I froze.

They know about the hideout?

My thoughts raced. Who the hell were these people? Were they Crimson Hunt reinforcements? Another faction? Or something else entirely?

My lips parted to answer, but before I could get a word out, the man’s eyes shifted to the female warrior holding the blade against my neck.

"Just kill her," he said coldly. "And let’s be done with it."

My heart slammed against my ribs.

What.... what?

The female warrior didn’t hesitate. Her grip shifted. I felt the blade tilt....

This is it.

Everything in me screamed.

But everywhere suddenly became colder.

It was like the wind itself had held its breath, the air turning sharp, like shards of ice slicing through the trees. The ground beneath my feet.... it vibrated. Not gently. No, violently, like the very earth was warning us of something ancient, something furious, something coming.

And then it happened.

The cold metal that had been pressed against my neck just moments ago, was gone. Not dropped, not pulled back. Gone. I gasped as blood sprayed, not my blood, the blpod was from the warrior whose hand had been holding the blade. The blade and the hand fell to the ground together, like discarded props in a nightmare.

There was a wet, meaty thud as the body crumpled, and I felt it before I saw him.

A presence.

A storm.

Him.

Kieran.

I didn’t need to turn, I felt him in my bones, in the snarl of my wolf, in the way my heart began to hammer in my chest like it was trying to tear itself free to run to him.

He stood just a few feet away, drenched in shadows and rage, his eyes burning with that deep, terrifying crimson. Not just red. Not blood. Crimson like vengeance, like wrath had been carved into his very soul and set ablaze.

"If anyone touches her," Kieran’s voice came, low and cold like a promise from death itself, "be prepared to die a gruesome death."

His voice wasn’t raised, but it shook everyone. Even the spears lowered slightly. The calm in his fury was the most terrifying part, it was the calm of someone who had already decided what to do, and how painfully he would do it.

The man who had ordered my death, the one with red hair and thick muscles packed into his Lycan frame, turned to Kieran with a sudden gleam in his eye. Recognition flickered through his rough, hardened features.

"My prince," he breathed, stepping forward as if reuniting with a long-lost comrade. "You’ve returned."

Kieran’s expression shifted, still dark, still dangerous, but a hint of familiarity sparked through it. "Cassian Graves" he said, his voice curling into something rough with old memory

You know him? I wanted to ask, but the shock wouldn’t let me speak. The others just watched, equally stunned.

Then, there were footsteps, rushed, heavy. I turned in time to see Astrid bursting out of the hidden underground door, Magnus right behind her, followed by Varya.

Varya froze. Her breath caught. "Father!" she screamed, and in the next heartbeat, she ran, ran like a child who hadn’t seen her parent in decades, and threw her arms around the red-haired man who had just commanded my death.

My jaw dropped.

What?

He embraced her tightly, one arm wrapping around her with surprising gentleness. I watched as the stone-faced killer from a few seconds ago softened into something more human, if only for her.

Cassian Graves

He wasn’t just some warrior. He wasn’t just someone who’d served the crown. He was the Royal Lycan Physician. Varya’s father.

And clearly... Kieran had known him well, very well.

I blinked, completely disoriented by what had just happened.

Moments ago I was about to be killed. Now I was standing in the middle of a family reunion between an ascended Lycan prince, his childhood guardian, and a powerful and unfeeling Lycan female

What in the Goddess’s name was going on?

Varya clung to him like a daughter who hadn’t seen her father in years. And maybe she hadn’t. Her tough armor cracked right in front of us, her hands trembling where they clutched his tunic, her face buried in the shoulder of the same man who, seconds earlier, nearly ordered my death.

Cassian Graves

The Royal Lycan Physician.

This was the man

Then one I heard was responsible for taking care of Kieran’s mum, the Alpha Queen

The same man who had pumped wolfsbane into the Alpha Queen’s veins. The man who had served under Kieran’s father. I’d heard whispers about him, his brilliance, his coldness, the way he knew the anatomy of a wolf better than anyone alive. But standing here, in front of the giant of a man, the myth suddenly felt terrifyingly real.

He wasn’t just a physician. He was a warrior. He was a tactician. And, apparently.... he was Varya’s father.

Magnus was the first to break the silence. "What the hell are you doing here, Cassian?" he asked. "This is a war zone. You left the castle. You never leave the castle."

Varya’s father released her gently and turned to face Kieran.

"I came with the Alpha King’s Elite Guard," Cassian said, his voice deep, rich, grating, like gravel soaked in authority. "To retrieve our King. And escort him home."

Then, without warning, he dropped to one knee.

"...To escort the new Alpha King to his throne."

And the moment the words left his mouth, everything else began to fall into place like dominos in a storm.

Cassian didn’t have to shout the command. Just a single word

"Attention."

The sound that followed was unlike anything I had ever heard.

Dozens of booted feet stomping in unison.

Blades drawn and pointed toward the ground.

Bows lowered.

Eyes down.

And then, Cassian’s voice carried through the woods like a royal decree carved in stone.

"Pay your respects to Kieran Valerius Hunter, the rightful heir to the throne of Lycans, the ascended wolf, bearer of the Lycan Sigil, son of Ronan the Just, the Alpha of the East, the Alpha of the West, the one who has earned the loyalty of warriors, scholars, and even the moon itself."

"He who now stands as King of the Four Councils, Lycans, Elites, Nobles, and Ferals. The King of the Werewolf Kingdom."

My breath caught in my throat.

The moment he said it, King, I realized it wasn’t just a title.

It was a truth we had all been orbiting around since the beginning.

Magnus was the first to kneel, his face unreadable, a soldier pledging himself to his superior.

Astrid followed him, slowly, without hesitation. There was pride in her eyes, but also fear, a fear of what came next.

Varya knelt next to her father, her eyes shimmering with emotion I couldn’t name.

Then one by one, the rest dropped.

Dozens of the Elite Guard, every warrior dressed in red and black. Survivors from the underground emerged into the clearing, some limping, some dazed, but they too fell to their knees in reverence.

And I was the only one left standing.

I felt it immediately, every eye on me. But it didn’t matter. Because the only gaze I cared about.... was his.

Kieran.

His dark crimson eyes stared into me, deep, bottomless, unreadable. Not like before. Not even like when he ascended. Something in them had changed.

Not colder.

Not warmer.

Just... otherworldly.

And still, I couldn’t look away.

The wind danced between us, silent, watching. The moon bore down like a witness, casting its light across his silver-streaked hair and the solemn crowd around him.

My heart clenched.

I remembered the nights in his villa. The way his arms wrapped around me when I thought I was alone in the world. The way he’d stood before me when every other person had abandoned me. The way he once whispered my name like it was sacred.

Now, he was a king.

And I.... I was just a girl who loved him.

I took a breath. Slow. Trembling.

Then, quietly.... I knelt.

My knees touched the earth.

My head bowed.

And I whispered the words with the others, letting them echo from my soul

"Kieran Valerius Hunter..."

"The Alpha King."

"Long may he live."