AUTHOR'S POV
The fire was already managed, where only ample of its heat over the charred patch of the forest remained. Small orange flames were still found biting the blackened trees. A few glowing embers creep on the scorched landscape. Dense smoke plumes sink close to the ground, which have completely replaced the smell of fresh earthly scent of the forest. However, for Scott, the scent of the Nagual that still dirties the air. Just then, Cory and Lucas arrived seeing Scott staring into nothingness by the stream. He was standing in the wreckage of his choice, as his friends stay behind him. Despite the fire has been controlled, a different kind of fire started burning from within Scott. This time, losing her meant the possibility of not finding her again. In a moment, they sensed the arrival of the wolves who were as desperate as Scott to find Diana.
"How could you just let her go?", Roman emerged from the ruined landscape of the forest, confronting Scott. It was not actually a question, it was a verdict like a storm chasing him. Along with him were his pack members all covered in soot.
"I don't need to explain to you", Scott knew better. Despite it was not a wise decision to let her go, he had to make a great sacrifice for Diana's survival.
Roman gritted his teeth, facing head to head against Scott. He couldn't comprehend the act of letting Diana go, and how easy it was him to do it. "You call that love? What the hell is wrong with your imprint?", offended with a weakness an Alpha shouldn't have.
"I call it survival", Scott turned to him, not taking it as a defeat.
"No", Roman said, voice sharpening,"You call it surrender. Like you always do". The tension hummed like a wire about to snap. Suddenly, the branches shifted around them. The shadows started to breathe. Too many heartbeats drummed in the forest. Soft growls resounded, making Lucas and Cory stand in complete unease. "If I kill you now, Diana will be all mine. ", Roman said. With Scott's death, Diana wouldn't be more burdened with lifting Scott's curse, he thought. Scott, Lucas and Cory felt a minatory sense of dread that surrounded them one body at a time. They were circled by tall, ominous-looking half-naked men appearing one by one. "My father taught me one thing.", he said, smirking at the man from the shadows. "Never lose what's yours".
Not one among Scott, Lucas and Cory panicked for being outnumbered. In fact, the volatile situation excited every cell in their body. The first blow that Scott landed on Roman's jaw was a decision finally made. In that one trigger, everything erupted like a snapped chain. The three didn't fought side by side. They fought like something that had bled together before. Cory shoved his fist into Gunner's chest, and wildly swung jabs against the two other members of the Black Creek wolf pack. Lucas didn't think twice lunging and landing strikes against the werewolves coming forth, while Scott took over Roman, Randall and the other werewolves, breaking bones and tearing teeth. This wasn't dominance at all. This was refusal for anyone to fall.
Everyone shape shifted into the beasts that they are, except for the werewolves who needed moonlight to summon the beast in them. The clash became messier and noisier as the brutality rises. For Roman, the fight have turned personal. This time, everyone focused on Scott as a mindtalk message from Roman arises - Kill Scott.
Lucas and Cory failed to divert the kill order against Scott. They ended up cornered and held back by Roman's wolf pack. As Scott face Roman, Randall and a couple more werewolves, he growled so loud making the earth tremble. The fight continued until Scott could no longer lift his paws, with his blood oozing all over the wounds that he caught. A smile flickered in Roman, seeing Scott get subdued by the werewolves. This is the end of it all. Diana is his… in one final blow.
However, the werewolves halted.
It wasn't the wounds that stopped them. One stepped back. Then another. Retreating not out of fear but recognition. Nothing was ordered, not one word was spoken.
It was Scott's blood.
The werewolves backed away, until Randall remained staring at Scott's blood that was too dark and too thick, carrying a strong scent enough to make the werewolves recoil. He sniffed the beast sleeping under Scott's fur. "Lycan", someone whispered through mindtalk. And then, the unimaginable happened. They drew back, faltering.
"What? Why are you backing away?", Roman flinched, shifting back to his human form.
"We don't mess with cursed lycans. We're too damned to deal with the wrong end of the stick", Randall growled, before disappearing into the forest.
Roman looked over Scott closely, who have turned back to his human form, now standing on the ground soiled with his blood. Breathing. Bleeding. Enduring. "This is what you are", Roman said, not mocking anymore. "This is what she lost you to. You're her good riddance", Roman thought the curse over Scott is a suffering he deserves, and that killing him would just be kindness. And, he doesn't want to be kind. Roman whistled, as he leave the forest with his pack.
The silence creep back in. With blood on his body, Scott stared at his hands at his new reality of having no Luna, no enemy... just the curse and the long unending road it promised.
A few days later
Days turned to nights to Scott who can't sleep a wink without Diana. He never stopped searching, making different hands move to find her. Roman, on the other hand, tracked every city there is. He planted eyes everywhere, hoping she'd appear. Thus, no one got luck from any of them. The Woodsworth's Residence was completely empty. Abandoned, without any trace that anyone lived there. Scott stares at Diana's deserted room, as strong emotions of longing and worry crash in him like waves. Not one clue was left in there. Not even in the small corners of the rooms, and paintings on the walls. The Woodsworths were just... gone. Lucas could hardly count how many times they kept coming back here. But for the sake of finding Diana, he follows what Scott desires to do until they reach a clue at least. The Woodsworth laboratory was a ghost town as well. It was an off-limit, heavily guarded forsaken place that no one could easily sneak into. Cory and David once snuck in, and found nothing but a liminal space left spotless.
The hospital says that Diana resigned from work just recently with a letter sent through e-mail. Despite disagreeable, Dr. Blackwell had no choice to accept it given he doesn't know her whereabouts. Dr. Calvin has been long gone too. Surprisingly, not even Diana's closest friend, who packed her stuff in the office in small boxes, knew a thing. No calls to reach her friend. No other addresses to look up into. Diana disappeared completely. "The e-mail was sent through her computer... That computer is here in the office so, tracking the IP address would just lead us here", Kate told Lucas, asking about the e-mail Diana sent to the Director. No footages from the security cameras showed anyone entering the office aside from Kate. Scoffing at the open window by Diana's office chair, Scott left without letting Kate finish talking.
Scott and Lucas return to Diana's home that day, as they always do. It was left just the way she did before the moon festival. It was dark and quiet, the same way he feels at the moment. He sat on the couch, staring at the moonflowers that he placed in the corner. "You may leave me here", he told Lucas, who consistently never did while he watch his friend sulk in the dark.
Things took a wild turn at the Grayback Clan. Everyone tried to bring things back on how they were used to be. Pick up the pieces where they left off. However, after the blood moon, going back to normal isn't as easy as it can be. Scott's voice slowly lost its weight as he loose the light in his eyes, that Stanley took over the leadership as the new chieftain of the clan. He continued to take Alva's pills one pill at a time, which sometimes ends with two to three pills per day. His addiction grew, while his wit calmed. Until one day, he holds a half-empty canister of his pills wondering how to get more.
Alarick spoke of many things to get out of jail. He took opportunity of Sebastian's predicament, giving a promise to the Devlins. He reaped through the people's heads that the Luna is to be blamed for everything, and if not for her, the precious son of Stanley and Priscilla won't dirty his hands to kill the important pillar of their clan. A part of Diana's plans to ruin Sebastian's reputation. Favoring Priscilla as Alarick turn tides for Sebastian, Priscilla insisted on pardoning Alarick, setting him free. When Alarick was freed, he led the elders' council together with Velvet and Adoff. Once again, he earned a strong voice in the clan.
Sebastian was accounted innocent despite the all evidences of Dolphus' murder led to him. Priscilla made sure her son won't be punished for the sin that he didn't intend to make. She let Sebastian sit on a throne, leading the SD Enterprises as the new CEO, casting Scott out. Arguments and disagreements swirled within the Devlin's household against Diana, as they choose family over anything else. Thinking it's not breaking them apart.
Bloody flashbacks seemed to torture Sebastian. It kept him awake in most nights. It gives him headaches during the day, and nightmares at any time. He knew he did it. For the feel of Dolphus' blood in his hands were all too real. He thought, maybe... finding Diana would give him answers. And the peace that he lost after that night.
Reina stopped talking to her mother. In fact, she stopped talking to everyone else. When Priscilla sided with Sebastian with a price of casting Scott out, Reina thought that the perfect family the Devlins has been showing all these years was just a facade. And that one day, when things get rattled once again, Sebastian will be chosen over her who isn't a legitimate Devlin. After casting Scott out, everything felt different for Reina. Sebastian was in control, but never earned the respect from the people in the company. Damon wasn't too immersed in the company at all too. He just comes in, and then goes out. And so, Reina just did her part. She goes to the office earliest in the day and ends it late at night, just to exist. Letting the distance with her siblings grow farther apart.