The Rival Alpha
1301 Words
Chapter 14 — The Rival Alpha
The name echoed through the chamber.
The First King.
Aria stared into the darkness beneath the broken floor.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
“My father?”
Kael shook his head slowly.
“No.”
“You just said—”
“My father used to call someone the First King.”
“Who?”
Kael didn't answer.
Then the darkness moved.
A man climbed from beneath the shattered stone.
Slowly.
Without fear.
Without hesitation.
Silver scars covered his bare arms and chest. His black hair fell across his face, streaked with strands of white. Ancient symbols were carved into his skin.
But it was his eyes that stopped Aria's breath.
Silver.
Just like hers.
He looked at her.
And for one impossible moment, Aria felt something she had not felt since childhood.
Home.
“My daughter.”
The words broke something inside her.
Aria stepped forward.
“Father?”
Her mother grabbed her arm.
“Don't.”
Aria turned.
“You told me he was dead.”
“I thought he was.”
“You thought?”
Her mother's face crumpled.
“I watched him disappear.”
The man looked at Aria's mother.
“You should have told her.”
“I was protecting her.”
“You were protecting yourself from the truth.”
Aria's eyes filled with tears.
“You're really my father.”
He nodded.
“My name is Elias.”
Aria couldn't move.
All those years of wondering why she had been abandoned suddenly had a face.
A voice.
A name.
She wanted to run to him.
She wanted to hit him.
She wanted answers.
Instead, she whispered:
“Why did you leave me?”
Elias lowered his head.
“I didn't.”
Aria froze.
“I was taken.”
“By who?”
He looked toward Kael.
The silence answered before he did.
“Your family.”
Kael's expression hardened.
“My father?”
“I never said your father ordered it.”
Elias's eyes remained fixed on him.
“I said your family was involved.”
Kael stepped forward.
“My father is dead. He can't defend himself.”
“Neither could I.”
The words hit harder than a shout.
Aria looked between them.
“What happened?”
Elias took a breath.
“Years ago, the Council discovered that you had inherited the blood of the First Luna.”
His eyes moved to Aria's silver mark.
“They were terrified of what you could become.”
“And they took you.”
“They took me because I refused to tell them where you were.”
Aria's voice shook.
“Where was I?”
Elias looked at her.
“With your mother.”
Aria's mother closed her eyes.
Elias continued.
“I was supposed to die.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
His expression darkened.
“Someone changed the plan.”
Kael frowned.
“Who?”
Elias slowly turned toward him.
“That is the question your father took to his grave.”
Before Kael could respond, a deafening howl erupted outside.
Everyone froze.
Another howl answered.
Then another.
The walls shook.
Aria stepped toward the entrance.
“What's happening?”
Kael listened.
“Wolves.”
“How many?”
His expression changed.
“Too many.”
His mother suddenly whispered:
“The rival has arrived.”
Kael looked at her.
“Rival?”
Elias answered instead.
“Another Alpha.”
Aria frowned.
“I thought Kael was the Alpha.”
“He is.”
Elias looked toward the entrance.
“But there is one Alpha who never accepted his father's rule.”
A massive howl shook the mountain.
The soldiers outside began shouting.
Then the doors exploded inward.
A man walked through the smoke.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Dark hair.
Golden eyes.
A black wolf emblem was burned into the armor across his chest.
Behind him stood hundreds of wolves.
The man smiled.
“Kael.”
Kael stepped forward.
“Damon.”
Aria felt the tension instantly.
She had never met him.
But Kael's wolf hated him.
Damon's eyes moved to Aria.
His expression changed.
For the first time, his confidence disappeared.
“The Royal Luna.”
Aria lifted her chin.
“Who are you?”
Damon smiled.
“The Alpha who should have inherited the kingdom.”
Kael's hands tightened into fists.
“You abandoned the throne.”
“I was denied the throne.”
“You were exiled.”
“Because your father feared me.”
Kael stepped forward.
“And now you've brought an army into my territory.”
Damon laughed.
“Your territory?”
He looked around.
“Look again.”
His wolves filled the chamber.
“You have no pack.”
Kael's jaw tightened.
“They betrayed me.”
“And now they follow me.”
Aria stepped between them.
“Why are you here?”
Damon's eyes settled on her.
“Because everyone wants something from you.”
“What do you want?”
He smiled.
“The same thing everyone has wanted for centuries.”
He walked closer.
“The Moon Throne.”
Aria's silver eyes narrowed.
“You'll have to go through me.”
Damon's smile disappeared.
“No.”
He looked at Kael.
“First, I'll go through him.”
Kael shifted.
Bones cracked.
Golden fur erupted across his body.
His wolf lunged.
Damon shifted too.
His transformation was different.
His wolf was enormous.
Black as midnight.
Its eyes burned red.
The two Alphas collided.
The chamber exploded into chaos.
Aria watched as Kael and Damon tore across the stone floor.
Claws struck.
Fangs met.
Blood splashed against ancient walls.
Kael knocked Damon into a pillar.
Damon recovered instantly and slammed Kael through the floor.
“KAEL!”
Aria ran toward him.
Her wolf surged forward.
Stop.
She froze.
The voice inside her spoke again.
This fight is not about the throne.
“What is it about?”
A vision flashed before her.
Damon kneeling before her father.
Her father handing him a silver blade.
And a single command:
Protect the heir until the Alpha falls.
Aria gasped.
Damon's eyes met hers from across the chamber.
He stopped fighting.
For one second, his expression wasn't hatred.
It was fear.
“You remembered.”
Aria stared at him.
“Remembered what?”
Damon looked toward Elias.
“You never told her.”
Elias stepped forward.
“Damon—”
“You never told her what happened on the night the kingdom fell.”
Aria looked at her father.
“What happened?”
Elias said nothing.
Damon laughed bitterly.
“Ask him who started the Blood Moon.”
Aria's heart sank.
She turned to Elias.
“Father?”
Elias's face became unreadable.
Then the mountain shook.
A roar came from beneath them.
The ancient creature was waking again.
Damon looked upward.
“The prison is breaking.”
Kael pulled himself from the rubble.
“What prison?”
Damon looked at Aria.
“The one holding the First King's greatest enemy.”
Aria's blood ran cold.
“You mean the creature beneath us?”
Damon nodded.
“And when it escapes…”
He looked at Kael.
“It will come for the Alpha first.”
Kael stared at him.
“Why?”
Damon's voice dropped.
“Because your blood created it.”
Silence.
Aria looked at Kael.
Then at Elias.
Then at Damon.
Three bloodlines.
Three secrets.
One throne.
And suddenly the silver mark on Aria's chest began to burn.
A voice whispered inside her.
Choose your king.
Aria stared at Kael.
Then Damon.
And for the first time, she realized the prophecy had never been asking who would become her mate.
It was asking something far more dangerous.
Who would survive long enough to rule beside her?
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