Everyone in the Obsidian Shadow Pack thought Allora was a broken, wolfless omega good for nothing but scrubbing floors. For five years, she endured their abuse and swallowed poison to hide her deadly secret: she carries the spirit of the extinct White Wolf. But when Alpha King Kalin Thorne arrives for a mandatory pack inspection under a Blood Moon, Allora runs out of time.
Dragged into the arena and tortured into shifting, she expects execution. Instead, the impossible happens. When her true form is revealed—a blinding, massive white wolf—the ruthless Alpha King doesn't attack. He kneels.
Watch the full story of Allora's rise from abused servant to the most powerful queen the world has ever seen. Witness her brutal revenge against the family that enslaved her and the awakening of a power that shakes the earth.
#werewolfromance #alphaking #whitewolf #fatedmates #revenge #fantasy #audiobook #lovestory #omega #luna #shapeshifter #supernatural #obsidianpack #kalinthorne #bloodmoon #transformation #queen #royalromance #weredog #wolfpack #betrayal #wattpadstories #romance #fullstory #paranormal
Dragged into the arena and tortured into shifting, she expects execution. Instead, the impossible happens. When her true form is revealed—a blinding, massive white wolf—the ruthless Alpha King doesn't attack. He kneels.
Watch the full story of Allora's rise from abused servant to the most powerful queen the world has ever seen. Witness her brutal revenge against the family that enslaved her and the awakening of a power that shakes the earth.
#werewolfromance #alphaking #whitewolf #fatedmates #revenge #fantasy #audiobook #lovestory #omega #luna #shapeshifter #supernatural #obsidianpack #kalinthorne #bloodmoon #transformation #queen #royalromance #weredog #wolfpack #betrayal #wattpadstories #romance #fullstory #paranormal
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FunTranscript
00:00The liquid in the vial was a murky, bruised purple.
00:04It smelled like rot and burnt sugar,
00:07a cloying, invasive stench that seemed to cling to the back of my throat even before I drank it.
00:13I held it up to the sliver of gray dawn light filtering through the cracked, grimy window of my attic room.
00:20Inside, the viscous fluid seemed to swirl with a life of its own,
00:24a tiny, toxic galaxy contained in glass.
00:28My hands shook, the glass clinking softly against the chipped porcelain of the bathroom sink I'd salvaged from the dump.
00:35The sound was absurdly loud in the absolute silence of the obsidian's shadow packhouse at five in the morning.
00:43I braced my raw red hands on the cold sink edge and stared into the cracked mirror.
00:49My reflection was a ghost.
00:51Pale skin stretched too tight over sharp cheekbones,
00:54with dark, bruise-like circles under eyes that I remembered once being a vibrant, mossy green.
01:01Now they were the color of stagnant pond water, dulled by exhaustion and a perpetual low-grade pain.
01:09At 22, I looked a decade older.
01:12My hair, once thick and chestnut, hung in lank, lifeless strands.
01:16The gray, threadbare shift that served as my uniform, the mark of the lowest omega, the wolfless,
01:23hung off my starving frame like a shroud.
01:27Drink it, Allora, I whispered to the ghost in the glass, my voice a wrasse from this use.
01:33Drink it or die.
01:35The choice was that simple, that brutal, every single morning for the past five years.
01:40Survival tasted like poison.
01:43I uncorked the vial.
01:45The scent intensified, making my empty stomach clench.
01:49I tipped my head back and poured the wolf's bane concentrate down my throat.
01:54It wasn't like drinking.
01:55It was like swallowing a living ember.
01:58A line of liquid fire scorched its way from my tongue to my gullet,
02:02settling in my stomach with a sickening, twisting thud.
02:06A wave of nausea, immediate and violent, crashed through me.
02:11I gripped the sink, my knuckles turning bone white and bent over, retching silently.
02:16Nothing came up.
02:18My body was too used to the ritual.
02:20I had to keep it down.
02:22Every drop was a chain, a lock, a necessary betrayal.
02:27Deep inside the hollowed-out cavern of my soul,
02:30where my wolf should have been roaring and pacing,
02:33Lomanina whimpered.
02:34The sound was faint, a distant echo of agony.
02:39She was weak, perpetually sedated,
02:41drowning in the poison I fed us both every sunrise.
02:45Keeping her hidden was a constant grinding torture.
02:49It was like trying to chain a hurricane inside a glass jar.
02:53I felt her power, vast and ancient and terrifying,
02:57pressing against the bars of her chemical cage,
03:00a seismic rumble that vibrated in my very marrow.
03:03She was a part of me, and I was killing us both, slowly, deliberately.
03:09But it was necessary.
03:11If the obsidian shadow pack knew what Lomanina was, what I was,
03:15I wouldn't be scrubbing floors.
03:18I wouldn't be their whipping girl, their broken Omega.
03:21I would be a pelt nailed to Alpha John's wall,
03:25a trophy to prove his pack's savage prowess.
03:28A white wolf, the rarest, most coveted, most hunted creature in our history.
03:34A myth, a death sentence.
03:36Allora, you lazy, good-for-nothing rat!
03:39Get down here, now!
03:41The shrill, piercing voice of Serafina, the beta's daughter,
03:45shattered the fragile silence,
03:47coming up through the thin, warped floorboards of my attic prison.
03:51It was a sound that never failed to send a jolt of pure animal fear straight to my core.
03:57I quickly shoved the empty vial into its hiding place,
04:00a loose, crumbling brick behind the sink,
04:03and splashed icy water from the tap onto my face.
04:06The shock of it helped clear the haze of nausea,
04:09if not the deep, aching fatigue.
04:12I didn't look in the mirror again.
04:13I just ran.
04:15The back staircase I used was narrow, steep, and hidden behind the kitchen pantry,
04:19meant for servants a century ago.
04:22The wood was slick with grime,
04:24and I had to place my feet carefully in the near darkness,
04:27my muscles moving on autopilot.
04:29The descent felt like leaving a fragile cocoon
04:32and plunging into the belly of a beast.
04:35Downstairs, the main kitchen was a chaos of steam,
04:39shouting in the overwhelming scent of roasting venison and fresh bread.
04:44Dozens of pack members, the lower-ranking gammas and other omegas,
04:48rushed about under the stern gaze of the head cook,
04:51a bear of a woman named Gertrude.
04:53But beneath the savory smells of food,
04:56my senses, still sharp despite the poison,
04:59picked up the sharp, acrid scent of anxiety.
05:02It hung in the air like ozone before a storm.
05:05The pack was on edge.
05:07Serafina was standing by the central marble island,
05:10looking utterly immaculate and infuriatingly beautiful.
05:13She wore a tailored red silk dress that probably cost more than the pack spent on food for the Omegas in a year.
05:21Her blonde hair was curled into perfect, shiny ringlets,
05:25and her lips were painted a cruel, confident red.
05:28She had inherited her father Beta Marcus's cold, assessing eyes,
05:33eyes that scanned a room not to see people but to identify weaknesses,
05:37like a hawk circling a field of mice.
05:40Well, she snapped, her gaze slicing to me as I skidded to a halt,
05:46keeping my eyes dutifully fixed on the scuffed toes of my boots.
05:50Eye contact was a challenge.
05:52Challenges earned you broken bones.
05:53Where were you, dreaming of a wolf you'll never have?
05:58I was finishing the upstairs lavatories, Miss Serafina, I murmured,
06:02my voice barely audible over the kitchen din.
06:05The Alpha King arrives in three hours, she hissed,
06:09stepping so close I could smell her expensive jasmine perfume,
06:13undercut by something darker, something rotten at its core.
06:17It was the scent of her privilege, her cruelty.
06:21Three hours.
06:23This entire estate must be flawless.
06:26His standards are not for the likes of you to comprehend.
06:29Yes, Miss Serafina.
06:31She smirked, a vicious little curl of her lip,
06:34and with a deliberate, graceful motion,
06:37she kicked over a bucket of filthy, soapy water I had left by the pantry door
06:41to dispose of.
06:42The gray liquid sloshed across the tiles I had just mopped and dried,
06:46not thirty minutes prior.
06:48The cold, dirty water soaked through the thin fabric of my dress,
06:52chilling my skin.
06:54As I sopped up the mess,
06:56I heard Serafina turn to her constant shadow,
06:59a gamma girl named Ilara.
07:01Can you believe he's actually coming here?
07:03Ilara whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of excitement and terror.
07:08Alpha King Kalen Orn.
07:10The stories.
07:11They say he's seven feet tall,
07:13that he fought a hundred rogues at the Blood River Gorge
07:16and didn't get a single scratch.
07:19They say his roar can shatter stone.
07:22Serafina let out a condescending laugh.
07:25He's not coming to inspect our border defenses, you simpleton.
07:29He's hunting.
07:30She lowered her voice,
07:31but I could still hear the smug triumph in it.
07:35The royal oracle gave a prophecy.
07:37His fated Luna is hiding somewhere in the Northern Territories.
07:42That's us.
07:43She ran a hand through her perfect hair,
07:46preening.
07:47And when he sees what a true,
07:49high-born she-wolf looks like,
07:51he won't need to look any further.
07:54My heart,
07:54which had been beating a dull, tired rhythm,
07:57suddenly stuttered and froze in my chest.
08:00Alpha King Kalen Orn.
08:03The name alone was a legend whispered in fear and awe.
08:06The rumors about him were more than stories.
08:10They were warnings.
08:11He could scent a wolf's lineage three generations back.
08:15His alpha command was so potent,
08:17it could force a shift from a newly presented teen
08:20or suppress the shift of a seasoned warrior.
08:23He was justice and vengeance incarnate,
08:26a ruler who had unified fractured packs
08:29through sheer, terrifying will.
08:32And he was coming here.
08:34The wolf's bane masked my scent completely.
08:38To every nose in the obsidian shadow pack,
08:40I smelled like nothing.
08:42A void.
08:43A human defect born to werewolf parents.
08:46It was why they despised me.
08:48My lack of sense was an insult to their very nature.
08:52But the king,
08:53his power was said to be ancient,
08:55primal.
08:56Could he smell the poison?
08:58Could he sense the void and see it for the lie it was?
09:01I have to leave,
09:04the thought screamed in my head,
09:05a panicked bird-like flutter.
09:08I have to run.
09:09Now.
09:10But where?
09:11I had no money,
09:12no vehicle.
09:13The pack's borders were patrolled day and night
09:16by Beta Marcus's most loyal and vicious enforcers.
09:20Marcus himself had taken me in
09:22after my parents were killed in a rogue attack five years ago.
09:25He'd stood before the pack,
09:27a picture of magnanimous pity,
09:30and declared that even a wolfless creature deserved charity.
09:34The truth was far simpler.
09:36He needed a slave no one would miss.
09:39I was property.
09:41Finishing the mess,
09:42I hurried to the grand ballroom,
09:44my wet dress clinging unpleasantly to my legs.
09:47The room was vast,
09:49with a vaulted ceiling depicting faded murals of wolf hunts,
09:52crystal chandeliers,
09:54now dusty and dim,
09:56hung like forgotten skeletons.
09:58Beta Marcus was there,
10:00a mountain of a man with a thick neck
10:02and fists like smoked hams,
10:05barking orders at a cluster of terrified omegas
10:07who were polishing the intricate wood paneling.
10:11You!
10:12His voice,
10:13a gravelly boom,
10:14cut through the room and tinned me to the spot.
10:17He pointed a meaty finger directly at my face.
10:20Allora,
10:21don't think you'll be hiding in the scullery
10:23during the inspection.
10:25My blood turned to sludge in my veins.
10:28The inspection, sir?
10:31The king,
10:32Marcus spat,
10:33as if the word itself was a distasteful chore,
10:36has demanded a full pack inspection.
10:39Every member,
10:40every pledge,
10:41every warrior,
10:42every cook,
10:43every servant.
10:44He took heavy steps towards me,
10:46his shadow swallowing me whole.
10:49Even the broken ones,
10:51like you.
10:52He wants to assess the health and strength of the pack.
10:55You will stand in the back row.
10:57You will keep your head down
10:59and you will not embarrass me with your filth.
11:02If you do,
11:02I'll skin you myself
11:04and use your hide as a rug.
11:06The threat wasn't metaphorical.
11:08I'd seen him do worse to rogues.
11:11A full inspection meant lining up in the courtyard.
11:14It meant the king walking a gauntlet of faces.
11:17It meant being within a few feet
11:19of the most powerful wolf on the planet.
11:22Luminina stirred in her drugged sleep.
11:24A faint, fuzzy image pushed at my mind.
11:27Danger.
11:29Gold eyes.
11:30Mate.
11:31I shoved the image away violently.
11:34Mate?
11:35It was the poison talking.
11:36A hallucination born of desperation and fatigue.
11:39I have a fever, sir.
11:43I lied,
11:44forcing a tremor in my voice.
11:46I might be contagious.
11:48Perhaps it's best if I stay in the cellar.
11:51I wouldn't want to risk the king's health.
11:53Crack.
11:54The back of his hand
11:55connected with my cheekbone
11:57with the force of a sledgehammer.
11:59The world exploded into white light
12:01and ringing silence.
12:03I was airborne for a moment
12:05before my body slammed into the polished floor,
12:08sliding several feet.
12:10The copper-iron taste of blood
12:12bloomed in my mouth.
12:13My vision swum,
12:15dark at the edges.
12:16I didn't ask for your opinion, rat,
12:19Marcus growled,
12:21looming over me.
12:22You will be there.
12:23Now get to polishing the silver.
12:25If I see a single fingerprint,
12:27I'll break the fingers that left it.
12:30I dragged myself up,
12:32one arm wrapped around my throbbing ribs.
12:35I wiped the blood from my split lip
12:37with the back of my hand.
12:38There was no escape.
12:40The trap had been built around me
12:41for five years,
12:43and now the jaws were snapping shut.
12:46My only hope was that the wolf's bane
12:48was strong enough to fool a king.
12:50The driveway of the obsidian shadow estate
12:53was a long, gravel-paved ribbon
12:55lined with the entire pack.
12:57The air was crisp,
12:59carrying the scent of pine and damp earth.
13:02The warriors stood at the front,
13:04chests puffed out,
13:05trying to look formidable
13:07in their polished leathers.
13:09Behind them were the families,
13:10mothers holding pups,
13:12elders leaning on canes,
13:14and at the back,
13:15tucked into the deep shadows
13:17cast by two ancient,
13:19gnarled oak trees,
13:20were the omegas and servants.
13:22I stood between Toby,
13:24a gentle boy with a clubfoot
13:26who tended the gardens,
13:27and Martha,
13:28an elderly omega
13:29whose hands were permanently
13:31twisted with arthritis.
13:33She had been the only flicker
13:34of kindness in my darkness,
13:36sometimes sneaking me
13:38an extra bread roll
13:38or a blanket during the winter.
13:41I had rubbed dirt
13:42into my skin and hair,
13:43trying to add another layer
13:45of disguise over my non-scent,
13:47and swallowed a second
13:49emergency dose of wolf stain
13:50an hour ago.
13:51My stomach was a writhing pit
13:54of acid.
13:55Dizziness made the world
13:56tilt slightly.
13:57I was shivering,
13:58though the afternoon was mild.
14:01Steady, girl,
14:02Martha whispered,
14:03her rough, dry hand
14:04finding mine in the gloom
14:06and giving it a feeble squeeze.
14:08Just don't look him in the eye.
14:10Kings don't notice dust like us.
14:13We're part of the scenery.
14:15I squeezed back,
14:16clinging to that tiny anchor
14:17of warmth.
14:19I hope you're right, Martha.
14:20I really do.
14:22A low, synchronized rumble
14:24began in the distance,
14:25growing steadily louder.
14:27It wasn't the sound
14:28of ordinary cars.
14:30It was a predatory growl,
14:32a vibration that I felt
14:33in the soles of my worn-out shoes
14:35before I truly heard it.
14:38A profound silence
14:39descended on the pack.
14:41Even the birds in the oaks
14:42ceased their chirping.
14:44A convoy of black,
14:45armored SUVs,
14:47sleek and ominous,
14:48rounded the bend in the road.
14:50They moved with a silent,
14:52predatory grace,
14:53the tinted windows
14:54hiding the power within.
14:56The lead vehicle,
14:57larger than the others,
14:59had the royal crest
15:00emblazoned on its door
15:01in gold and crimson.
15:03A rampant wolf,
15:04jaws open in a silent howl.
15:07It rolled to a halt
15:08directly in front of where
15:10Alpha John and Beta Marcus stood.
15:12The doors opened simultaneously.
15:14A dozen royal guards
15:16emerged first.
15:17They were giants,
15:19each one,
15:20clad in black tactical gear,
15:22their faces stern and impassive.
15:24The aura of pure,
15:26disciplined power
15:27that rolled off of them
15:28was so intense
15:29that several Omegas
15:31near the front
15:31whimpered and
15:32tropped to their knees,
15:34overwhelmed.
15:35Then,
15:35the rear door
15:36of the lead SUV opened.
15:39A heavy,
15:40black military boot
15:41hit the gravel.
15:42Then a leg,
15:43sheathed in dark trousers.
15:46Alpha King Callan Thorne
15:47unfolded himself
15:48from the vehicle.
15:50The stories
15:50hadn't done him justice.
15:52He was terrifyingly
15:54magnificent.
15:55He stood well over
15:56six and a half feet tall,
15:58with shoulders so broad
16:00they strained the seams
16:01of his simple
16:02black dress shirt.
16:03His hair was the color
16:05of a starless midnight,
16:06swept back from a face
16:08that looked like
16:08it had been hewn
16:09from mounting granite.
16:11All sharp angles,
16:13high cheekbones,
16:14and a jawline
16:15covered in precise,
16:16dark stubble.
16:18But it was his eyes.
16:19Even from 50 yards away,
16:21I felt them.
16:22They weren't just gold.
16:24They were molten,
16:25burning gold,
16:26like twin suns
16:28held in a human face.
16:30The alpha power
16:31that emanated from him
16:32wasn't just an aura,
16:33it was a physical force.
16:35It slammed into the pack
16:37like a sudden change
16:38in atmospheric pressure.
16:39My ears popped,
16:41my knees trembled,
16:42wanting to buckle
16:43in a submission
16:44my mind was fighting.
16:46Next to me,
16:47Martha let out
16:47a small, frightened sigh.
16:50Alpha John,
16:51a weedy,
16:52ineffectual man
16:53who let Marcus
16:53run the pack,
16:55bowed so low
16:56his nose nearly
16:57touched his knees,
16:58exposing his neck.
17:00Beta Marcus followed,
17:01though his bow
17:02was shallower,
17:03his body radiating
17:04resentment
17:05like heat
17:06from a stove.
17:06Serafina executed
17:08a perfect deep curtsy,
17:10her eyes wide
17:11and inviting,
17:12desperate to be seen.
17:14King Thorne,
17:15Alpha John stammered,
17:17his voice reedy.
17:18Welcome to Obsidian Shadow.
17:20We are deeply honored.
17:23Callan didn't smile.
17:24He didn't even glance
17:25at Alpha John.
17:27His burning gaze
17:28was already sweeping
17:29across the ranks,
17:31a hunter scanning a forest.
17:32It was methodical,
17:34relentless.
17:35The oracle was specific,
17:38Callan said.
17:39His voice was a deep,
17:40resonant baritone
17:41that vibrated
17:42in my own chest,
17:43making Luminino
17:44whimper in agony
17:46deep inside me.
17:47Mate,
17:48her voice sighed,
17:49a drowsy,
17:50desperate sound.
17:51Our mate is here.
17:53I slammed my mental shields down.
17:55Be quiet,
17:57I begged her silently.
17:58He'll kill us.
17:59He'll see you
18:00and he'll kill us.
18:01He stopped.
18:02His polished black boots
18:04were directly in front
18:05of my bare,
18:06dirty feet.
18:07I stared at them,
18:08at the tiny flecks
18:09of gravel stuck
18:10in the tread.
18:11Look at me.
18:12The command was quiet,
18:14but it was inescapable.
18:15It wasn't for the crowd,
18:17it was for me.
18:18My entire body trembled.
18:20If I looked up,
18:21he'd see the defiance
18:22I'd buried.
18:23He'd see the intelligence
18:24not beaten out of me.
18:26He'd see past the void
18:27to the wolf beneath.
18:29I said,
18:30look at me.
18:32His hand came up.
18:33His fingers,
18:34warm and surprisingly rough,
18:36tucked under my chin.
18:37He applied the slightest pressure,
18:39forcing my head up.
18:41My green eyes met his gold.
18:43Time didn't just slow,
18:45it stopped.
18:46The murmur of the pack,
18:47the rustle of leaves,
18:48the very breeze,
18:50it all faded into a silent,
18:52humming void.
18:53There was only his face,
18:55his eyes.
18:55I saw his pupils dilate,
18:58swallowing the molten gold.
18:59I saw a flicker of confusion,
19:02then a sharp, burning curiosity
19:04that felt like a brand.
19:06What is your name?
19:07He asked,
19:08his voice softer now,
19:10but no less intense.
19:12Allura,
19:12I whispered,
19:13my voice cracking.
19:15Just Allura,
19:16your majesty.
19:17He frowned.
19:18He leaned in closer,
19:20his head dipping
19:21toward the crook of my neck.
19:22I flinched,
19:23a full-body recoil of terror.
19:25He was going to scent me.
19:27He inhaled deeply,
19:29right where my pulse
19:30hammered against my skin.
19:32His frown deepened.
19:33You are ill,
19:35he stated,
19:35his voice shifting
19:36from curiosity
19:37to something that sounded
19:39disturbingly like concern.
19:41You smell of sickness,
19:43of death.
19:45I,
19:45I have a blood condition,
19:47sir,
19:48I stammered,
19:49reciting the lie
19:50I'd perfected
19:51over countless beatings.
19:52I was born weak.
19:54I have no wolf.
19:55The doctors say,
19:56it,
19:57it makes my scent wrong.
19:59Callan's eyes narrowed.
20:01He didn't believe me.
20:02I could see the certainty
20:03of it in the scent
20:04of his jaw.
20:05He could sense the void,
20:06the artificial emptiness.
20:08But he could also sense
20:09something beneath it,
20:11something the wolf's bane
20:12couldn't completely erase.
20:14No wolf,
20:15he muttered,
20:16more to himself
20:17than to me.
20:18His gaze searched my face,
20:20tracing the bruises,
20:21the scars,
20:22the stark lines of hunger.
20:24Then why does my wolf
20:26want to tear
20:27this entire world apart
20:28to protect you?
20:30The crowd gasped as one.
20:32A ripple of shock
20:33and disbelief
20:34went through the ranks.
20:35Beta Marcus
20:36shouldered his way forward,
20:38his face purpling with rage.
20:40Your Majesty,
20:41that is a servant,
20:42a defect.
20:43She's lying
20:44to save her skin.
20:45She is nothing.
20:47Callan didn't look away from me.
20:49I will be the judge
20:50of what she is.
20:52He released my chin,
20:53but his burning gaze
20:54lingered on my lips,
20:56my eyes,
20:57as if memorizing me.
20:59The inspection
20:59will proceed as planned,
21:01but this one,
21:02he pointed at me
21:03without breaking eye contact,
21:05comes to the front.
21:07Tonight,
21:08under the blood moon,
21:09during the proving,
21:10I will see her shift.
21:12The world dropped out
21:14from under me.
21:15My blood turned
21:16to ice water
21:17in my veins.
21:18Your Majesty,
21:19I can't,
21:20I breathed,
21:21true panic
21:22clawing at my throat.
21:23I told you,
21:25I have no wolf
21:26to shift into.
21:27Every creature
21:28has a spirit,
21:29Allura,
21:30Kalen said,
21:31his voice hardening
21:32into that of a king
21:33delivering a verdict.
21:35The blood moon
21:36will call to it.
21:37If you are truly wolfless,
21:39you have nothing to fear.
21:41You will simply stand there.
21:44He leaned in,
21:45his voice dropping
21:46to a whisper
21:46only I could hear,
21:48yet it carried
21:49the weight of an avalanche.
21:51But if you are hiding
21:52something from your king,
21:54the consequences
21:55will be far worse
21:56than anything
21:57this pack
21:58has ever done to you.
22:00He turned on his heel
22:02and walked away,
22:03his long black coat
22:04billowing behind him
22:05like the wings
22:06of a dark angel.
22:08I stood there,
22:10paralyzed.
22:11The wolf's bane
22:11suppressed the shift,
22:13yes,
22:13but the blood moon,
22:15its pull was primal,
22:16irresistible.
22:18It could force
22:18a transformation
22:19in the weakest,
22:20most repressed wolves.
22:22And combined
22:23with the direct
22:24alpha command
22:24of a king,
22:25the double dose
22:26I'd taken
22:27might not be enough.
22:29It probably
22:29wouldn't be enough.
22:31If I shifted tonight,
22:32I wouldn't just
22:33become a wolf.
22:34I would become
22:35the white wolf
22:36and I would do it
22:37in the center
22:38of a crowded arena
22:39under the bloody light
22:41of the moon,
22:42directly in front
22:43of the man
22:43who had the absolute power
22:45to order my execution
22:47with a single word.
22:49The sun began
22:50its descent,
22:51casting long,
22:53distorted shadows
22:54that looked like
22:54bleeding wounds
22:55across the hard-packed dirt
22:57of the training arena.
22:58The obsidian shadow pack
23:00had transformed the space
23:01into a macabre spectacle.
23:04Rough wooden bleachers
23:05were filled to capacity.
23:07Torches,
23:08already lit against
23:09the deepening twilight,
23:10lined the perimeter,
23:12their flames
23:12casting frantic,
23:14dancing shadows
23:15that made the faces
23:16in the crowd
23:17look like demonic masks.
23:19I was being held
23:20in a temporary holding pen
23:22with the questionables,
23:23the very young pups
23:24who hadn't presented yet
23:25and the very old
23:27whose wolves were fading.
23:28But unlike them,
23:30I was under guard.
23:31Two of Beta Marcus's
23:33most brutal enforcers,
23:34Kale and Bronn,
23:36stood by the gate,
23:37their eyes never leaving me.
23:40Look at her,
23:41Kale sneered,
23:42jerking his chin
23:43in my direction,
23:44shaking like a leaf
23:45in a storm.
23:46The king's probably
23:47going to have her executed
23:48for wasting his royal time
23:50with her defective act.
23:52Hope he gives her
23:53to us first,
23:54Bronn chuckled,
23:55a dark, nasty sound,
23:57a little warm-up
23:58before the main event.
24:00I sat in the dirt,
24:02hugging my knees
24:03to my chest,
24:04trying to make myself smaller.
24:06I had tried to run.
24:07The moment the king
24:08had walked away
24:09at the lineup,
24:10a survival instinct
24:11older than reason
24:12had taken over.
24:13I'd bolted for the tree line
24:15at the edge of the grounds.
24:17I'd made it maybe
24:18thirty yards
24:19before Kale and Bronn
24:20tackled me,
24:21driving the air
24:22from my lungs.
24:23They'd found the second
24:24empty vial
24:25of wolf's bane
24:26in my pocket.
24:27Marcus had it now.
24:28I was defenseless.
24:30The poison
24:31was wearing off.
24:32The feverish nausea
24:33was being replaced
24:34by a deep,
24:35aching itch
24:36under my skin,
24:37a feeling of something
24:38alive and immense
24:40trying to stretch limbs
24:41that had been bound
24:42for too long.
24:43My bones hummed
24:44with a low-frequency vibration.
24:47Luma Nina
24:47was waking up,
24:49and after five years
24:50of chemical suppression,
24:52she was disoriented,
24:53furious,
24:54and ravenous.
24:55Let me out!
24:56Her voice growled
24:58in my mind,
24:58clearer and stronger
25:00than it had been
25:00in years.
25:01It was a raw,
25:02primal sound.
25:04They threaten the mate.
25:05They cage us.
25:06We kill them.
25:08No,
25:09I thought back,
25:10the mental shout
25:11tinged with desperation.
25:12If you come out,
25:13we die.
25:14Kale and Bronn
25:15will see you.
25:16He's the king.
25:17Kings execute anomalies
25:18to keep the peace.
25:20Kale and Bronn
25:21is mate,
25:22she insisted,
25:22the word reverberating
25:24with a certainty
25:25that terrified me.
25:26He protects.
25:27He knows.
25:29Before I could argue further,
25:30the drums started,
25:32a deep,
25:32rhythmic pounding
25:33that echoed
25:34the frantic beat
25:35of my own heart.
25:36The gate to the pen
25:37clanged open.
25:39Kale and Bronn
25:40strode in,
25:41grabbed me by my arms,
25:42and hauled me
25:43to my feet.
25:44Showtime,
25:45freak!
25:46Bronn hissed in my ear,
25:47his breath
25:48reeking of stale beer.
25:50They dragged me,
25:51barefoot,
25:51into the center
25:52of the ring.
25:53The crowd's murmuring
25:54died into a tense,
25:56eager silence.
25:57In the center,
25:58on a raised wooden dais,
26:00sat Alpha King Kale
26:02on a simple
26:02but imposing
26:03velvet throne.
26:05Alpha John
26:06and Beta Marcus
26:06sat on lower benches
26:08to his right and left.
26:10Kale's expression
26:10was one of detached
26:12impatience
26:12as he watched
26:13the young wolves
26:14of the pack shift
26:15one by one
26:16under the rising moon.
26:18A boy shifted
26:19into a scrawny brown wolf.
26:21Kale gave a curt nod.
26:22A girl became
26:23a sleek gray she-wolf.
26:25He waved a dismissive hand.
26:27He was waiting.
26:28For me.
26:30When the guards
26:30threw me forward
26:31into the center
26:32of the ring,
26:32I stumbled,
26:33the cold dirt
26:34biting into the soles
26:36of my feet.
26:37I wore only the thin
26:38white shift dress
26:39they'd given me
26:40for the proving.
26:41It was meant
26:41to tear away easily
26:42during a shift.
26:44I was shivering violently,
26:45but not from the cold.
26:47The moon broke
26:48above the tree line.
26:49It was huge,
26:51heavy,
26:51and stained
26:52a deep,
26:53ominous rust red.
26:55The blood moon.
26:56Its pull
26:57was instantaneous,
26:58a physical yank
26:59on my soul,
27:01a silent scream
27:02built in my throat
27:03as my bones
27:04began to heat.
27:05It felt like
27:06my marrow
27:06was boiling,
27:07like my skeleton
27:08was trying to break
27:09free of its flesh prison.
27:12Without the suppressants,
27:13the shift
27:13was coming fast,
27:15and it was coming
27:15violently.
27:16I can't,
27:18I cried out,
27:19the words tearing
27:20from me
27:20as another spasm
27:21of pain
27:22racked my spine,
27:23bending me double.
27:25I fell to my knees
27:26in the dirt.
27:27The pleas,
27:28your majesty,
27:28don't make me do this.
27:30The king gave you
27:31an order,
27:32you lying wretch,
27:33Beda Marcus bellowed,
27:35unable to contain
27:36his rage any longer.
27:37He jumped down
27:38from the dais,
27:39pulling a shock baton
27:40from his belt.
27:41Before Cailin
27:42or anyone could react,
27:44he jammed
27:44the crackling,
27:45sparking end
27:46into my ribs.
27:48A ghani,
27:49pure,
27:50white-hot electricity
27:51tore through
27:51my nervous system.
27:53My back arched violently,
27:55a guttural scream
27:56ripping from my throat.
27:57The pain
27:58was a detonation.
28:00It shattered
28:00the last
28:01of my concentration,
28:02the final,
28:03fragile walls
28:04I'd built
28:04around Luminina.
28:06Enough!
28:07Cailin's roar
28:07shook the very torches,
28:09but it was too late.
28:11The trigger
28:11had been pulled.
28:13My back bowed
28:14in an impossible arc.
28:15The sound
28:16was horrifying,
28:17a series of rapid,
28:18wet,
28:19crack,
28:19pop snaps
28:20that echoed
28:21across the silent arena
28:22like gunfire.
28:24This wasn't the fluid,
28:25practiced shift
28:26of a healthy wolf.
28:27This was five years
28:29of brutal suppression
28:30exploding outward
28:31at all once.
28:33I screamed
28:33one last time,
28:35a raw,
28:35tearing sound
28:36that shifted
28:37in midair,
28:38warping from a human cry
28:40to an animal's roar
28:41of agony
28:42and liberation.
28:44My vision went red,
28:45then white.
28:46I felt my jaw
28:47unhinge and extend,
28:49my teeth sharpening
28:50into daggers of ivory,
28:52my fingers curled,
28:53nails elongating
28:55into black claws
28:56that dug deep furrows
28:57in the earth.
28:58My skin rippled,
28:59and then fur erupted,
29:01not brown,
29:02not gray,
29:03not black.
29:05It was white.
29:06Blinding,
29:07pristine,
29:08diamond-white fur
29:09burst from every pore,
29:12gleaming like freshly fallen snow
29:14under the bloody moon.
29:15My body expanded,
29:17muscles re-knitting,
29:19bones reforging themselves
29:20into a new,
29:21powerful architecture.
29:23I shook my massive head,
29:25sending the last tattered shreds
29:27of the white shift dress
29:28flying away.
29:30I stood on four powerful legs.
29:33I was enormous,
29:35larger than any female wolf
29:37had a right to be,
29:38nearly the size
29:39of a mature alpha.
29:40My fur wasn't just white,
29:42it seemed to glow
29:43with its own inner luminescence,
29:46a stark, impossible beacon
29:48in the dark arena.
29:49My eyes,
29:50when I blinked,
29:51were no longer green,
29:52but a luminous,
29:54piercing,
29:54silver-blue.
29:56A collective gasp,
29:57a sound of pure,
29:59unadulterated terror,
30:01sucked all the air
30:02out of the stadium.
30:04Silence.
30:05Absolute,
30:06deafening silence.
30:07Silence.
30:08A white wolf,
30:10the mark of the old royalty,
30:12the direct line of the moon goddess,
30:14a creature of legend and prophecy,
30:17hunted to extinction a century ago.
30:19I snarled,
30:21the sound a low,
30:22earth-shaking rumble,
30:24and snapped my massive jaws
30:25at Beta Marcus.
30:27He stumbled backward,
30:28tripping over his own feet,
30:30his face a mask of abject terror.
30:32The shock baton fell
30:34from his limp fingers.
30:36Run!
30:37The human part of my brain screened.
30:39Run now!
30:40I turned,
30:41my powerful haunches coiling
30:43to launch myself
30:44toward the arena exit.
30:46A massive,
30:47dark shape
30:48landed in front of me,
30:49blocking the way.
30:51Kalen.
30:52He had shifted in mid-leap.
30:54He was a monster of a wolf,
30:56a creature of living shadow
30:58and fury.
30:58His fur was pitch black,
31:01a void that absorbed the torchlight.
31:03He was even larger than I was,
31:05muscles coiled under that dark pelt,
31:08and his eyes,
31:09they still burned
31:10that molten, furious gold.
31:13He was beautiful.
31:15He was terrifying.
31:17I bared my teeth,
31:18a deadly warning snarl
31:20tearing from my throat.
31:22I would die fighting.
31:23I would not go meekly
31:25to my execution.
31:26The black wolf didn't attack.
31:29He didn't growl.
31:30He lowered his massive,
31:32wedge-shaped head.
31:33He whined.
31:34It was a sound of profound longing,
31:37of shock,
31:38of reverence.
31:40And then,
31:41in front of the entire obsidian shadow pack,
31:44in front of the stunned Alpha John,
31:47the terrified Beta Marcus,
31:48and the hundreds of gaping spectators,
31:51the Alpha King of all werewolves
31:54lowered his powerful body to the ground.
31:57He bowed.
31:58The silence that followed
31:59was heavier than the world.
32:01It was the silence of reality itself
32:04being rewritten.
32:06The silence in the arena
32:07was a living thing.
32:09It was a thick, suffocating blanket
32:11that smothered the gasps,
32:13the whispers,
32:14the very breath of the hundreds of wolves
32:17who had just witnessed the impossible.
32:19It was the silence of a world
32:21tilting on its axis,
32:23of history cracking open
32:25under the weight of a single transformative moment.
32:29The Alpha King,
32:30Caelan Thorne,
32:31the conqueror,
32:32the unyielding judge,
32:34the warrior who had unified fractured territories
32:37with steel and blood,
32:39was on his belly in the dirt.
32:42Not in combat,
32:43not in defeat,
32:44in submission.
32:45My wolf,
32:47Luminina,
32:47surged forward,
32:49her consciousness flooding mine
32:50with a wave of primal power
32:52and dizzying,
32:54smug satisfaction.
32:55The chains were gone.
32:57The poison was a fading memory
32:59in our veins.
33:00Every sense was magnified
33:02a thousandfold.
33:03I could hear the frantic,
33:05rabbiting heartbeat of Beta Marcus
33:07from thirty feet away.
33:09I could smell the sour tang
33:11of Serafina's shock and envy,
33:13the acrid fear-sweat of the warriors,
33:15the metallic bite of blood in the air
33:17from my own violent transformation.
33:20And I could smell him,
33:22Caelan,
33:23rain,
33:24cedar,
33:25ozone,
33:26and a deep,
33:27dark spice
33:27that was uniquely his,
33:30a scent that called to something ancient
33:32and settled in my soul.
33:34He knows,
33:35Luminina purred,
33:37her voice in my mind
33:38now a clear,
33:39resonant bell,
33:40no longer the drugged whimper.
33:42He sees us,
33:44he kneels,
33:45our mate.
33:46Mate,
33:47the word reverberated through me,
33:49terrifying and undeniable.
33:52My human mind recoiled,
33:54scrambling for rationality.
33:56This was a king,
33:57a predator,
33:58a political reality
34:00I could not fathom.
34:01But my wolf,
34:03my true self,
34:04knew with an instinct
34:05older than kingdoms.
34:06She looked at the magnificent black wolf
34:09bowing before us
34:11and saw balance.
34:12She saw home.
34:15I took a step back,
34:16my massive white paws
34:18leaving deep impressions in the soil.
34:20The movement was hesitant,
34:22my muscles quivering
34:23with unfamiliar strength
34:25and residual agony.
34:27I didn't know what to do.
34:29Run?
34:29Where?
34:30The entire world
34:31had just narrowed to this ring,
34:34to him.
34:34The spell was shattered
34:36by a raw,
34:37ragged scream of denial.
34:40Trickery!
34:41Beta Marcus had scrambled
34:42to his feet,
34:43his face a grotesque mask
34:45of purple rage
34:46and gut-wrenching panic.
34:49His authority,
34:50his entire understanding
34:51of the world
34:52was crumbling
34:53before his eyes.
34:54He lunged
34:55for a fallen microphone,
34:56his voice screeching
34:57with feedback
34:58that made every wolf
35:00in the stands flinch.
35:01Do not be fooled
35:03by this witchcraft.
35:04She is a defect,
35:05a mutation.
35:07She has learned
35:07some illusion spell
35:08from rogue filth.
35:10Spittle flew from his lips.
35:12No Omega turns
35:13into a white wolf.
35:15It is an abomination,
35:16a threat
35:17to the natural order.
35:18Kill the beast!
35:20Kill it now
35:20before she curses us all!
35:22His enforcers,
35:23Kale and Bronn,
35:25looked from their beta
35:26to the kneeling king,
35:27their faces etched
35:28with confusion
35:29and terror.
35:30Their loyalty
35:31to Marcus
35:32warred with the innate,
35:33bone-deep instinct
35:35to obey the alpha power
35:36radiating from Kalein.
35:38They hesitated,
35:39hands on their weapons.
35:41I said,
35:42kill her!
35:43Marcus shrieked,
35:44his sanity fraying.
35:46He snatched
35:46a silver-tipped hunting spear
35:48from a frozen guard
35:49and lunged toward me,
35:51his eyes wild
35:52with homicidal intent.
35:54He didn't make it
35:55three steps.
35:56The black wolf,
35:57Kalein,
35:58moved.
35:58It was less a movement
36:00than a displacement of air,
36:02a blur of shadow
36:04and lethal intent.
36:05One moment,
36:06he was bowed before me.
36:08The next,
36:08he was a thunderclap
36:09of force
36:10intercepting Marcus's charge.
36:12His powerful shoulder
36:14slammed into the beta's
36:15armored chest.
36:16The sound of crunching metal
36:18and snapping bone
36:19was horrifically loud,
36:21but it was his jaws,
36:23snapping shut
36:23not on flesh,
36:25but on the spear haft,
36:26that froze the scene.
36:27He wrenched the weapon
36:29from Marcus's grip
36:30and with a contemptuous
36:31toss of his head
36:32sent it clattering
36:34into the shadows.
36:35Then,
36:35with a casual,
36:37terrifying power,
36:38he clamped those same jaws
36:40around the armor plating
36:41on Marcus's torso.
36:43He didn't bite down
36:44to kill.
36:45He lifted.
36:46Marcus,
36:46a large man,
36:48was hoisted off his feet
36:49like a pup
36:50by its scruff.
36:51He gave a mighty shake,
36:53not to tear,
36:54but to disorient.
36:55Then,
36:55through him,
36:56Marcus sailed
36:58through the air
36:58in a graceless arc,
37:00a scream torn
37:01from his throat,
37:02before he crashed
37:03into the unyielding
37:04stone barricade
37:05surrounding the arena
37:06with a sickening,
37:08final thud.
37:09He slid down the wall
37:11and lay in a broken,
37:12groaning heap.
37:14Cailin didn't even
37:15glance at him.
37:16He turned,
37:16his magnificent black form
37:18a protective wall
37:19between me
37:20and the rest of the pack.
37:22He planted his feet,
37:23lifted his head,
37:25and roared.
37:25This was not
37:27the wine of reverence
37:28he'd offered me.
37:29This was the voice
37:30of absolute,
37:32undisputed sovereignty.
37:34It was a sound
37:34that didn't just
37:35travel through the air.
37:37It vibrated
37:38in the ground,
37:39rattled the bleachers,
37:40and hammered
37:41into the chest
37:41of every wolf present.
37:43It was an alpha command,
37:45pure and undiluted,
37:47amplified by a lineage
37:49of kings.
37:50Submit.
37:51The word was not heard.
37:53It was felt.
37:54It was a seismic pressure
37:56descending on the crowd.
37:57It hit them
37:58like a physical wave.
38:00Alpha Jarn,
38:00pale and trembling,
38:02was the first to drop,
38:03flattening himself
38:04to the dirt.
38:05Serafina followed
38:06with a choked cry,
38:07her beautiful red dress
38:08grinding into the dust.
38:10Row by row,
38:11from the highest warrior
38:12to the lowest gamma,
38:14the pack was forced down.
38:16The sound of hundreds
38:17of knees
38:18hitting hard earth
38:19was a dull,
38:20rolling thunder.
38:21Whimpers of terror
38:22and awe
38:23filled the air.
38:24They bowed,
38:25not out of respect,
38:26but because the will
38:27of their king
38:28left them
38:29no other choice.
38:31Only I remained standing.
38:33Cailin turned
38:34his great head toward me.
38:35The fury
38:36in his golden eyes
38:37softened,
38:38replaced by a concern
38:39so profound
38:40it stole my breath.
38:42He took a careful
38:43step closer,
38:44then another,
38:45until he was near enough
38:46that I could feel
38:47the heat radiating
38:49from his body.
38:50He lowered his muzzle
38:51and gently,
38:52so gently it felt
38:53like a dream,
38:54nudged my shoulder
38:55with his cold,
38:56wet nose.
38:57The touch sent a shock
38:59of pure electric warmth
39:00through my fur,
39:01straight to my core.
39:03Allura.
39:04His voice was in my mind,
39:06a deep, resonant rumble
39:07that was both alien
39:09and intimately familiar.
39:11A mind link,
39:12a connection so profound
39:13it was reserved
39:14for true mates,
39:15for bonds sealed
39:17by the moon goddess herself.
39:18The shock of it
39:19made me flinch.
39:21Shift back,
39:22little wolf.
39:23I have you.
39:24You are safe.
39:25The exhaustion
39:26chose that moment
39:27to crash over me
39:29like a tidal wave.
39:30The violent,
39:31suppressed shift,
39:32the adrenaline,
39:33the sheer psychic shock
39:35of the last hour,
39:36it all collapsed
39:37onto my wolf form.
39:38My legs,
39:39these powerful new pillars
39:41of muscle and bone,
39:42trembled and gave way.
39:43I folded onto
39:45the cold dirt.
39:47As I fell,
39:48I let go.
39:49The shift back
39:50was less painful
39:51but deeply unsettling,
39:53a reverse
39:53of the earlier explosion.
39:55My white fur
39:56receded like tidewater,
39:58my bones shrinking
39:59and reshaping
40:00with a series of pops
40:01and cracks
40:02that made me whimper.
40:04In moments,
40:04I was human again,
40:06naked,
40:07shivering
40:07and curled in a ball
40:08on the ground,
40:09more vulnerable
40:10than I had ever been.
40:12Shame at my nudity
40:14was a fleeting,
40:15absurd thought.
40:16Before it could fully form,
40:18a warm,
40:19heavy weight
40:19descended on me.
40:21Cailin had shifted back.
40:22He was on his knees
40:23beside me,
40:24shirtless,
40:25his own chest
40:26heaving slightly,
40:27but his focus
40:28was entirely on me.
40:30I saw him yank
40:30the long,
40:31black ceremonial cloak
40:32from his own shoulders,
40:34the one lined
40:35with crimson silt
40:36and embroidered
40:37with gold thread
40:38and wrap it around me
40:39in one swift,
40:41protective motion.
40:42The fabric was
40:43impossibly soft
40:44and carried his scent
40:46overwhelmingly,
40:47enveloping me
40:48in rain
40:49and cedar
40:50and king.
40:51Then his arms
40:52were under me,
40:53one sliding
40:54underneath my knees,
40:55the other cradling
40:56my back.
40:57He lifted me
40:58as if I weighed
40:59no more than a child,
41:00pulling me tightly
41:01against the solid wall
41:03of his chest.
41:04The cloak swallowed me
41:05and his arms
41:06were an unbreakable
41:08cage of safety.
41:09He stood,
41:10turning to face
41:11his cowed pack.
41:13My king,
41:14Alpha John stammered,
41:15his face still
41:16pressed to the dirt.
41:17We,
41:18we didn't know.
41:19We thought she was,
41:20we thought she was nothing.
41:22Kalen didn't look at him.
41:24He looked down
41:25at the bundle
41:25in his arms,
41:26at me.
41:27His eyes traced
41:28the visible bruises
41:29on my arms,
41:30the old silvery scars
41:32on my neck
41:33and collarbone
41:33for years
41:34of disciplinary actions,
41:36the stark,
41:37emaciated lines
41:38of my ribs
41:39visible even
41:40under the cloak.
41:41I watched his expression
41:42transform.
41:44The tenderness
41:44he'd shown me
41:45froze over,
41:47hardening into
41:47something apocalyptic.
41:49His jaw clenched
41:50so tightly
41:51I heard the muscle pop.
41:54He lifted his gaze
41:55and it swept
41:56over the obsidian
41:57shadow pack
41:57like a scythe.
41:59You didn't know,
42:00he repeated,
42:01his voice a deadly,
42:02quiet whisper
42:03that carried
42:04to the very last row.
42:06You didn't know
42:07that you were starving
42:08a daughter of the moon,
42:10that you were beating
42:11a living legend,
42:12that you were poisoning
42:13a queen.
42:15He took a step forward
42:16and the pack
42:17collectively flinched.
42:19Pray to your gods,
42:21Kalen said,
42:21his voice rising,
42:23each word dropping
42:24like a stone
42:24into the silent arena.
42:26Pray for mercy
42:27because I have
42:29none left for you.
42:30I am going to peel
42:31this pack apart
42:32stone by stone.
42:34I will burn the rot
42:35from its roots
42:36and I will start
42:37with every single wolf
42:38who ever raised
42:40a hand to her,
42:41who ever denied her food,
42:42who ever laughed
42:43as she bled.
42:45The promise was
42:46a vow of annihilation.
42:48There was no doubt
42:48in his tone,
42:49only cold,
42:50certain fury.
42:52He turned
42:53and began to walk,
42:54carrying me
42:55toward the row
42:56of idling black SUVs
42:58where his royal guard
42:59stood it rigid at the time.
43:00As my head
43:01lolled against his shoulder,
43:03as the world began
43:04to blur at the edges
43:05as unconsciousness beckoned,
43:07I caught one last glimpse
43:09of the crowd.
43:10I saw Serafina.
43:12She wasn't looking
43:12at the king.
43:13She wasn't bowed
43:14in terror like the others.
43:16She had managed
43:16to lift her head
43:17just enough
43:18and her eyes
43:19were locked on me.
43:21The expression
43:21on her dirt-smudged face
43:23wasn't fear
43:24or awe
43:25or even anger.
43:26It was pure,
43:28undiluted,
43:28homicidal hatred,
43:30a promise of her own,
43:32silent and venomous,
43:34etched in every line
43:35of her features.
43:37Then the darkness
43:38took me.
43:40I woke
43:41to the sensation
43:42of floating.
43:43It was softness
43:44so profound
43:45it felt alien.
43:47My body,
43:48accustomed to a thin
43:49palette of straw
43:50over hardwood,
43:51couldn't comprehend
43:52the mattress
43:53that seemed
43:53to cradle
43:54every ache.
43:54For one disoriented,
43:57heart-pounding moment,
43:58I was back in the attic.
44:00I gasped,
44:00my hand flying out,
44:02expecting to find
44:03my bucket,
44:04my rag,
44:04the familiar rough texture
44:06of the floor.
44:07My fingers brushed
44:08against silk,
44:10cool,
44:10impossibly smooth,
44:12high-thread-count silk.
44:14My eyes flew open.
44:16I was in a room
44:16that belonged
44:17in a fantasy.
44:19The ceiling
44:19was high and vaulted,
44:21supported by exposed
44:22beams of dark,
44:23polished wood.
44:25One wall was glass,
44:26floor to ceiling,
44:27offering a staggering,
44:29breathtaking view
44:30of a mist-shrouded forest
44:32that rolled over
44:33endless jagged
44:34mountain peaks.
44:35The sky was the pale,
44:37lavender gray of dawn.
44:39A fire crackled merrily
44:40in a massive stone hearth,
44:42its light dancing
44:43over rich,
44:44fur-covered rugs
44:45and leather furniture.
44:47This was not
44:48the obsidian shadow
44:49packhouse.
44:50The air didn't smell
44:51of mildew, sweat,
44:52and fear.
44:53It smelled of pine,
44:55clean snow,
44:56burning oak,
44:57and...
44:58him.
44:59Easy, little wolf.
45:01I bolted upright,
45:02the silken sheets
45:03pooling at my waist.
45:05He was here.
45:06King Caelan Thorne
45:07sat in a large,
45:09worn leather air chair
45:10pulled close
45:11to the side of the bed.
45:12He had bathed
45:13and changed
45:14into a simple
45:14black linen shirt
45:15and trousers.
45:17He looked less
45:17like the terrifying
45:18monarch of the arena
45:19and more like
45:20a powerful,
45:21weary man,
45:22but the intensity
45:23in his molten gold eyes
45:25was undimmed.
45:27He was watching me
45:28with a focus
45:28that was both thrilling
45:29and unnerving,
45:31as if I were
45:32a priceless,
45:33fragile artifact
45:34that might vanish.
45:35Where am I?
45:36I croaked.
45:37My throat felt raw,
45:39shredded from screaming.
45:41You are in the royal wing
45:42of the Obsidian Peak Lodge,
45:44he said,
45:45his voice that calm,
45:47deep baritone
45:48that vibrated
45:49in my bones.
45:50He stood gracefully
45:51and poured a glass of water
45:53from a crystal pitcher
45:54on a side table.
45:55He handed it to me.
45:57Drink.
45:58Slowly.
45:59You are severely dehydrated
46:01and malnourished.
46:03I took the glass,
46:04my hands shaking
46:05so badly
46:06the water threatened
46:07to slosh over the rim.
46:08He steadied it
46:09with his own hand,
46:10his fingers brushing mine.
46:12A spark,
46:13warm and sharp,
46:15jolted up my arm.
46:16I drank,
46:17the cool water
46:18a blessing
46:19on my parched throat.
46:21You,
46:21you didn't kill me,
46:23I said,
46:24the words leaving me
46:25in a rush
46:26of bewildered air.
46:28Callan let out a sound
46:29that was half a dark laugh,
46:31half a pained sigh.
46:33He sat on the edge
46:34of the bed,
46:34careful to keep
46:35a respectful distance,
46:37but his presence
46:38filled the space.
46:40Kill you, Alara.
46:42Do you have any idea
46:43what you are?
46:44I looked down
46:45into the water,
46:46seeing my own
46:47pale,
46:48wide-eyed reflection.
46:50I'm a freak,
46:51a genetic defect.
46:53That's what Beta Marcus
46:54always said.
46:55A white wolf
46:56is a mutation,
46:57an abomination.
46:59Marcus,
47:00Callan growled,
47:01the name a curse,
47:03was a short-sighted,
47:04greedy fool
47:05who will beg
47:06for a death
47:06I am no longer inclined
47:08to grant him quickly.
47:09He took a slow,
47:11deliberate breath,
47:12visibly reigning in
47:14a tide of anger.
47:15Alara,
47:16look at me.
47:17I forced my eyes
47:18to meet his.
47:20The gold was mesmerizing,
47:22warm and liquid.
47:24You are not a defect,
47:26he said.
47:27Each word weighted
47:28with absolute conviction.
47:30You are a white wolf.
47:32In the oldest legends,
47:34from a time before
47:35the Great Pax,
47:36before kings and borders,
47:37the White Wolves
47:39were the direct conduits
47:40to the moon goddess.
47:42They were the healers
47:43of the land,
47:44the peacemakers
47:45between clans,
47:46the final arbiters
47:47of justice.
47:48He paused,
47:49his gaze searching mine.
47:51And when threatened,
47:52they were the most
47:53devastating destroyers
47:55ever to walk
47:56under the moon.
47:57They were considered
47:58the true royalty,
47:59Alara,
48:00the heart of our kind.
48:02They were hunted
48:03to extinction
48:03over a century ago
48:05in the purge,
48:06out of fear
48:07and greed.
48:08Or so we all believed.
48:10My head was spinning.
48:12Legends?
48:13Royalty?
48:14Extinction?
48:16But my parents,
48:17they were omegas.
48:18Simple wolves.
48:20They died
48:20in a rogue attack.
48:22They weren't.
48:23They couldn't have been.
48:25Callan shook his head,
48:26a muscle ticking
48:27in his jaw.
48:28I had my head
48:29of royal security
48:30begin an investigation
48:31the moment
48:32I carried you
48:33from that arena.
48:34The preliminary reports
48:36came in an hour ago.
48:38He leaned forward,
48:39his expression grave.
48:41Alara,
48:41the couple who raised you,
48:43who were killed
48:43five years ago,
48:45they were not
48:46your biological parents.
48:48DNA tests confirm it.
48:50You share no lineage
48:51with the obsidian shadow pack.
48:53I froze.
48:55The glass in my hand
48:56felt suddenly
48:57like a block of ice.
48:58What?
48:59You were stolen,
49:01Alara,
49:02Callan said,
49:03his voice softening
49:04but losing none
49:05of its intensity.
49:07Taken as a very young pup,
49:09someone,
49:10somewhere,
49:11knew what you were.
49:12They hid you
49:13in the most backwater,
49:15brutal pack
49:15they could find.
49:16They buried you
49:17in filth and abuse
49:19to mask your natural scent,
49:21to break your spirit
49:22so you wouldn't
49:23prematurely present,
49:24to keep you weak
49:25and controllable.
49:27He reached out,
49:28slowly,
49:29giving me time
49:30to pull away.
49:31When I didn't,
49:32he brushed a strand
49:33of hair from my forehead.
49:35His touch sent another
49:36cascade of sparks
49:37across my skin.
49:39They did it
49:40because a white wolf
49:41is the only natural power
49:43in this world
49:43that can challenge
49:45an alpha king
49:46or make him stronger
49:48than any king
49:49has ever been.
49:50He leaned closer,
49:51his voice dropping
49:52to an intimate rumble
49:54that seemed to resonate
49:55in my very soul.
49:57I have searched
49:58every territory
49:59for five years,
50:01Alara,
50:02not just because
50:03of a vague oracle's prophecy,
50:05but because my wolf
50:06has been howling
50:07for its other half
50:08since the day
50:09I came of age.
50:11When I saw you
50:12in that dirt,
50:13covered of the marks
50:14of their cruelty,
50:15I didn't see a servant.
50:17I saw my other half.
50:19I saw my queen.
50:20I pulled back slightly,
50:22overwhelmed.
50:24The cloak of his scent
50:25around me,
50:26his words,
50:27the sheer enormity
50:28of it all
50:29was a tidal wave
50:30threatening to drown me.
50:32I'm not a queen, Callan.
50:34I don't know the first thing
50:35about ruling.
50:36I know how to scrub blood
50:38from floorboards.
50:39I know how to survive
50:40on scraps.
50:41I know how to hide.
50:43Then I will teach you,
50:45he vowed,
50:46his eyes blazing
50:47with a ferocious protectiveness.
50:49But first,
50:51the softness vanished,
50:52replaced by the hardened steel
50:54of the king.
50:55First,
50:56we must balance the scales.
50:58As if summoned
50:59by his shift in tone,
51:00the heavy wooden door
51:01to the chamber opened.
51:03A royal guard
51:04in immaculate black armor
51:06stepped in,
51:07bowing low.
51:08Your majesty,
51:09the tribunal is assembled.
51:11The prisoners are secured
51:12in the hall.
51:13Callan gave a single,
51:15sharp nod.
51:16He stood
51:16and extended my hand.
51:18Come, Alara.
51:19You hid in the shadows
51:21for five years.
51:22Today,
51:23you step into the light.
51:24Today,
51:25you do not just witness justice.
51:27Today,
51:28you judge.
51:30I looked down at myself.
51:31I was wearing a soft,
51:33oversized cotton shirt
51:34that smelled of Callan.
51:36I,
51:36I don't have anything to wear.
51:39Callan's lips curved
51:40in a smile
51:41that was terrifying
51:42in its wolfish satisfaction.
51:44I took the liberty.
51:45He snapped his fingers.
51:48Two female attendants
51:49I hadn't noticed
51:50entered from an adjoining door.
51:52They carried a garment
51:53between them.
51:54It wasn't a gown.
51:55It wasn't a dress.
51:57It was a statement.
51:58It was made of thick,
52:00matte black silk,
52:01structured and severe,
52:03with seams
52:04that looked like armor plating.
52:06Silver threads
52:07were woven through it
52:08in geometric,
52:09predatory patterns
52:10that caught the firelight
52:11like claws.
52:12It was the garb
52:13of a warrior queen,
52:15an executioner,
52:16a sovereign.
52:18Wear this,
52:19Callan said,
52:20his voice low.
52:21Dress not as the victim
52:23they created,
52:24but as the justice
52:25they deserve.
52:26Dress as the queen
52:27you were born to be.
52:29The attendants
52:30helped me rise.
52:32My legs were weak,
52:33but a new energy,
52:34a flicker of something
52:35that felt like
52:36righteous anger,
52:37was beginning to burn
52:38through the fatigue.
52:39They led me
52:40to a screened-off
52:41dressing area.
52:43The black silk garment
52:44was a combination
52:45of a high-necked tunic
52:46and a sweeping,
52:47divided skirt
52:48that allowed for movement.
52:50It fitted me
52:51as if it had been tailored
52:52for my body for years.
52:54As they fastened
52:55the last clasp,
52:56one attendant placed
52:57a heavy object
52:58around my neck,
52:59the royal collar.
53:01It was a band
53:02of polished platinum,
53:04set with a single,
53:05teardrop-shaped piece
53:06of obsidian
53:07that rested
53:08in the hollow
53:08of my throat.
53:10It was cold,
53:11and its weight
53:11was immense,
53:13not just physical,
53:14but symbolic.
53:15It marked me
53:16as the king's
53:17acknowledged mate.
53:18It was a brand
53:19and a shield.
53:21I looked at myself
53:22in a full-length mirror.
53:24The figure staring back
53:25was unrecognizable.
53:27Pale, yes,
53:28thin, still,
53:29but her spine
53:30was straight.
53:31Her silver-blue eyes,
53:33Luminina's eyes,
53:35gleamed with a hard,
53:36unfamiliar light.
53:37The black silk
53:38made my skin
53:39look like moonlight,
53:41and the white hair
53:41that now fell
53:42in clean,
53:43shining waves
53:44over my shoulders
53:45completed the picture,
53:47a creature of contrast,
53:49of night and winter.
53:51I was no longer
53:52Alara,
53:53the wolfless Omega.
53:54I was Alara,
53:56the white wolf,
53:57and it was time
53:58to face my past.
54:00next time,
54:03next time,
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