Alpha King’s Lost Luna by Aubrey Pepper

Chapter 173 Deprived of Wolf Soul

CAS SANDRA

“A strong catalyst?” I wondered, and as my brow furrowed, I took a step closer
toward Spi ke's cell. What do you mean by that?”

Sp i ke took a long deep breath and ran his hand through his dark brown hair. His
equally dark eyes stared down at the ground for a moment and then he spoke.
“Look, it was nothing more than a mere story that was popular among the
members of Dark Abyss,” he said dismissively, and then he waved his hand in
the air as if to further his point. “It's nothing, really. I was just supposing.”

When he didn’t say more, frustration swelled within me, along with curiosity.
What did he mean, and why was he being so vague with it?

I began to wonder if coming here was a mistake and debated turning around and
heading back to the clinic. I had gotten my answers and needed to get back to
work before patients arrived for healing. We were understaffed anyway, so it
would make sense for me to throw in the towel and leave Spi ke to keep working
on the cure to the poison.

But some part of me knew that there was something more he wasn’t being
forthright with. Any little detail could be important, no matter how far-fetched it
seemed. I knew there was something here.

So, I took a breath and pressed a little further.

“Spi k e, could you tell me more about it?” I asked gently, and I offered him a kind
smile. “l know it’s just a story, but I'd really like to know more.”

The imposter exhaled and didn’t seem as if he wanted to share, but he
reluctantly nodded his head.

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“It was a time before the destruction of Ewonmiams and the extermination of the
most eli e sorcerers,” he began, and he crossed his arms against his chest.
“Before their demise, some of the sorcerors foresaw their fate and crafted a
legendary talisman of immense power.”

“Atalisman?” I repeated back, and Spi ke nodded.

“Yes,” he said. “The artifact, which was believed to enable any form of sorcery,
was entrusted to the academy’s leader for safekeeping.”

He took a seat on the stool in front of his work desk. “Tragically, the leader of the
sorcerors was slain during an escape and the talisman was supposedly
destroyed. But as I said before, this is an unsubstantiated legend, Cas sandra.
There's no proof that it actually happened.”

My lips parted in surprise as I mulled over the story and nodded my head
thoughtfully. A talisman that could be used for mind control? Could such a thing
really have existed?

Spi ke's eyes trailed over me and then he frowned. “Surely, you wouldn't consider
such a ludicrous tale to be true, healer? I mean, a talisman of immense power
sounds good and interesting in theory, but such an artifact likely doesn’t exist. I'm
sure it was nothing more than a story shared among my Pack to add to the
intrigue of sorcerors.”

He was right of course. I found sorcery and the stories around it to be equally
incredulous. If you'd asked me a year ago about what I thought about magic, I'd
likely have scoffed and dismissed the thought entirely.

But now that I knew more about poisons and the Ewomnians, I couldn't help but
wonder if there was any merit to the idea of a talisman. Could such a thing have
existed, and if so, could it be used for something like mind control?

As I considered the possibilities, Spi ke nonchalantly poured another drink and
then consumed it with haste. There was an unusual eagerness gleaming in his
dark eyes, as though he sought to finish the entire bottle quickly rather than
savor it. As I watched him fill his mug again, I tried to make sense of his actions.
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Why did he seem so off?

If this alleged talisman were really nothing more than a story passed around the
Dark Abyss Pack, why was Spi ke so nervous? What had him behaving in such a
way?

As I pondered his demeanor, Sp i ke turned his attention back to me and raised a
dark eyebrow.

“You have more questions,” he noted curiously. “I can see it on your face. When
you arrived, you mentioned wanting to ask me questions. Was there something
more you wanted to know?”

He had read me like a book. I indeed had one more pressing question on my
mind, one that I couldn't push away. I wouldn't have an opportunity like this
again.

So, I summoned up my courage and exhaled lightly.

“Spi ke, do you know of any sorcery that’s capable of extinguishing a wolf's
soul?” I wondered.

He was taken aback by my question and frowned. “A “wolf soul?”

I nodded. “A person’s ability to shapeshift into their wolf form. Could sorcery take
away that ability to change?”

Once the words left my lips, I watched Spi ke’s reaction intently. He seemed
puzzled by the question and unaware of the underlying intent behind it.

My gaze sharpened and my eyes began to sting. Had Sp i ke forgotten about his
actions against Cora and how his part in delivering the poison had rendered me
defenseless for years? For a moment, anger flickered through my mind.

For five years, the inferno had lingered in my brain and plagued my dreams with
terrible images. It had affected me physically, me ntally, and emotionally. Since
that terrible day, I'd been fearing for my life and the future of Finnick’s, and Spi
ke... he didn’t even seem to realize what I was talking about.

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Ever since I'd lost the ability to shift into my wolf form, it felt as if part of me had
been ripped away. My wolf had been such an important part of me. The color of
my fur was the same as my mother’s and the same as her mother’s. All of the
female wolves on her side of the family, in fact, shared the same white fur. Losing
that connection to her had hurt me so badly.

I struggled to maintain my composure and my hands shook at my sides, but I
forced myself to remain steady.

Finally, Spi ke spoke.

“Healer Cas sandra, you seem insistent on the fact that poison is omnipotent,” he
remarked in a tone that was calm yet still somewhat mocking. “What you suggest
isn't possible. A single poison couldn't achieve such a feat. Tampering with a
wolf's “soul’ as you put it would require far more than what you could imagine is
possible. such a thing could truly be accomplished, only the most elite sorcerors
could achieve such a suppression of abilities. And as far as I know, no such
sorcerer exists

or ever has.”

“Do you possess such abilities?” I blurted out as the idea struck me.

The imposter chuckled and shook his head back and forth.

“While I appreciate the accusation, I'm just an ordinary member of Dark Abyss,”
he said. “I might be skillful at poisons and such, but I'm incapable of mastering
the level of sorcery needed for such a feat. If it were possible, not that it is... the
sorcerer would have to be far more powerful than I ever could be.”

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