The Alpha’s Forgotten Mate

CHAPTER10

Chapter Ten: Echoes of the Blood

Aria’s POV

I didn’t sleep after the battle.

The battle was over. Keira was in chains, the Council was in ruins, and the rogues had scattered, but still… I couldn’t close my eyes.

Every time I tried, I saw fire smoke pouring through cracks in the walls, blood-soaked earth, Kael’s eyes when he realised the mark he’d once given me had never truly disappeared.

And worse I saw her.

Keira.

Alive. Whole. Wearing the life that had once been mine like it had always belonged to her.

The only thing louder than the silence of the post-battle ruins was the voice in my head whispering the truth: This war isn’t over.

I sat on the edge of the council’s infirmary bed, my hands clenched so tightly my nails dug into my palms. Outside, the courtyard smouldered with the aftermath: bodies being cleared, walls half-collapsed, healers racing between injured warriors.

But the battlefield inside me was louder than any of that.

I had used power I didn’t understand. Power that made wolves submit with a word.

That wasn’t normal. That wasn’t Omega.

I touched my throat. No mark.

And yet, when I spoke that word

YIELD

They’d dropped.

“Aria.”

I turned at the sound of Darius’s voice.

He stood at the doorway, his usually unreadable face carved with something that looked like restrained worry. A thin cut stretched from his cheekbone to his jaw, already healing, but his eyes, those dark, thoughtful eyes, were fixed on me.

“You should rest.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. There’s something wrong with me, Darius.”

“You mean your command?” he asked, stepping into the room.

I nodded, swallowing past the tightness in my throat. “That wasn’t just instinct. It felt like… something inside me opened. And now I can’t shut it.”

He didn’t sit. Just stood beside me, quiet.

“I’ve seen old bloodlines awaken before,” he finally said. But not like that. Not that strong. You didn’t just command them. You overrode their bond.”

I looked up at him. “What does that mean?”

Darius talked to me…

“It means you carry more than Vale blood, Aria. You carry something that was sealed. Something the Council tried to bury long before your birth.”

My chest tightened. “Then why was it buried?”

Darius hesitated. “Because it belonged to the First Voice.”

“The what?”

He crouched in front of me, voice low. “Centuries ago, there was an Omega Queen. They say her voice alone could bend the wills of armies, silence the madness in Alpha heat, and make even the fiercest Beta lower his eyes. She was called the "First Voice of the Vale.”

I stared at him. “You’re saying I’m her… descendant?”

“Not just that.” His voice dropped even more. “You might be her vessel.”

What do you mean by vessel?

My blood ran cold.

“I’m no queen,” I whispered.

“You are now,” he said simply.

Kael’s POV

I watched her from the balcony above the infirmary.

Aria.

The girl I failed. The woman I didn’t recognise anymore.

She was no longer the luna I’d once marked under the stars behind the Riverclaw estate. She was taller in her silence, heavier in her gaze. What lived in her now was older than any of us understood.

I’d loved her once.

Before I knew what love could cost.

Before, I buried my guilt and let Keira convince me that Aria was not the best for me. I’d believed her. I’d let the grief break me, and in my weakness, I’d choose the convenient truth.

Now Keira was shackled, and Aria was rising from the ashes.

And I didn’t know how to reach her anymore.

I didn’t know if I even had the right.

Aria’s POV

Later that day, the Elder Omega summoned me.

The chamber was dark, flickering only with lanterns shaped like wolves’ teeth. The scent of old parchment and ash made it hard to breathe.

“Sit,” the Elder whispered.

I obeyed.

“Your power was not meant to awaken yet,” she said.

I swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“Keira’s betrayal, the broken mark, and the attempted sacrifice all triggered your inheritance. You were supposed to be protected. Hidden until you were strong enough to wield it without burning.”

I gripped the armrests. “What am I becoming?”

“Something the world has not seen in three hundred years.”

The silence between us thickened.

Then the Elder reached into her robe and pulled out a scroll sealed in black wax. She laid it on the table before me.

“This is your mother’s blood decree. She passed it to the Council when she went into labour with you. If she died in childbirth, the child would be hidden. Sealed. Until danger threatened the Council and Vale line again.”

“And that’s me?”

“Yes. And now, they know you live. You’ve declared yourself before the whole Council and two bonded Alphas. You’ve awakened the voice, claimed your command, and stood your ground. There’s no hiding now.”

I closed my eyes.

Then opened them with resolve.

“Then I’ll face what’s coming.”

Later That Night – Aria’s POV

Keira sat alone in the underground cell, shackled to the wall with silver-threaded cuffs that dulled any scent cloaking or compulsion tricks.

I stood across from her, staring at the girl I once shared lullabies and secret stories with.

She looked thinner. Tired. But there was no regret in her eyes.

“You should thank me,” she said.

“For what?”

“For giving you purpose. Without me, you’d still be hiding under some broken bridge, calling yourself no one.”

I walked closer.

“You stole everything from me,” I said quietly. “My name. My mate. My life.”

She lifted her chin. “And yet here you are. Stronger than you’ve ever been.”

“You think this was a strength?”

“No.” Keira’s smile was bitter. “But pain makes it grow.”

I turned to leave.

But her voice followed me, low and sharp.

“They’re not done, Aria.”

I paused.

“The East isn’t the only threat. Something woke when you used the Voice. Something older than the Council. And it’s coming.”

Darius’s POV

I watched her exit the cell.

Her spine was straighter than before. Her gaze was more focused.

She had changed.

But there was more to come.

And we had precious little time before the ancient forces Keira warned of arrived at our door.

When Aria turned and looked at me, I saw it:

Not fear.

Not confusion.

Readiness.

Aria’s POV

That night, I dreamt again.

I was standing in a forest older than time. The trees whispered my name. The ground pulsed beneath my feet. A presence moved around me, massive, unseen, but deeply familiar.

And then, a voice:

“Daughter of the First Voice". The seal is broken. "The Hunt begins.”

I turned.

And saw golden eyes.

Not Kael’s. Not Darius’s.

But something inhuman.

Something that had waited for centuries.

Watching.

Hungering.

For me.