CHAPTER 10: THE DEVIL I BECAME
1041 Words
Kael's POV
The first thing I noticed wasn't the blood.
It was the scent.
Wild lavender.
Rain.
And the faint sweetness of moonflowers.
Lyra.
Even with half the forest soaked by the storm and the air thick with pine and wet earth, I could find her without trying.
My wolf always could.
The bond was fractured, but it wasn't dead.
No matter how many times I told myself I'd done the right thing... no matter how many times I repeated that rejecting her had protected my pack...
My wolf never believed me.
Mate.
The word echoed inside my head for what felt like the thousandth time that night.
I ignored him.
Or at least I tried to.
Three hours earlier...
The Moon Bond Ceremony had ended in silence.
No celebration.
No music.
No cheering from my pack.
Only whispers.
I walked through the courtyard of Silver Crest with my Beta, Cedric, close behind me. The rain had started shortly after the ceremony, washing away the footprints in the dirt but not the memory of Lyra's face.
She hadn't begged.
She hadn't shouted.
She hadn't cursed me.
She had simply looked at me with eyes so full of hurt that I knew I'd see them every time I closed mine.
"Alpha."
Cedric's voice broke the silence.
"You should get some rest."
"I don't need rest."
"You haven't slept properly in four days."
"I said I'm fine."
He didn't answer.
That was the thing about Cedric.
He'd been my Beta since we were boys.
He knew exactly when I was lying.
We entered my office, the familiar scent of cedarwood and old parchment greeting me as I shut the door behind us.
Maps of neighboring territories covered one wall. Reports from patrols were stacked neatly across my desk.
Normally, work helped.
Tonight...
Every sheet of paper blurred into the same image.
Lyra standing beneath the full moon.
Trying so hard not to cry.
I gripped the edge of my desk until my knuckles turned white.
"Close the door," I said quietly.
Cedric obeyed.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Finally...
"Why?"
The question was gentle.
Not accusing.
Just tired.
"I've known you for twenty-five years, Kael."
He folded his arms across his chest.
"You've faced rogue invasions."
"Famine."
"The death of your father."
"You never looked as broken as you did tonight."
I laughed bitterly.
Broken.
That was exactly how I felt.
"I didn't have a choice."
Cedric frowned.
"Didn't you?"
I looked toward the rain-streaked window.
The mountains beyond Silver Crest disappeared behind thick gray clouds.
"I did what an Alpha had to do."
"No."
His answer came immediately.
"You did what a frightened man did."
The words landed harder than any punch.
I turned sharply.
"Watch yourself."
"I am."
He met my glare without flinching.
"You rejected your fated mate in front of the entire pack."
"You know why."
"I know what your father taught you."
Silence.
Heavy.
Painful.
My father's voice echoed through memories I had spent years trying to bury.
"A weak Luna creates a weak Alpha."
"Compassion gets wolves killed."
"Love is a luxury leaders cannot afford."
He had carved those lessons into me long before I inherited the pack.
Long before I became Alpha.
Long before I met Lyra.
I closed my eyes.
"I couldn't risk Silver Crest."
Cedric sighed.
"Or you couldn't risk becoming your father?"
The room fell deathly still.
Even the rain seemed to stop.
Because he was right.
My greatest fear had never been losing my throne.
It had been becoming the kind of Alpha my father was.
Cold.
Untouchable.
A man who buried every feeling until nothing human remained.
Yet tonight...
I'd done exactly what he would have done.
A sharp knock interrupted my thoughts.
The office door burst open before I could answer.
Gamma Ash stumbled inside, soaked to the bone.
"Alpha!"
His breathing came in ragged gasps.
"We've lost her."
Ice settled in my veins.
"What?"
"The healer."
His face was pale.
"Lyra left the territory."
My wolf exploded inside me.
Find her!
I was already moving.
"Where?"
"No one knows."
Cedric cursed under his breath.
"She left alone?"
Ash nodded.
"We found footprints leading toward the Forbidden Forest."
The Forbidden Forest.
My blood ran cold.
"No."
I barely recognized my own voice.
Not there.
Anywhere but there.
Without another word, I grabbed my cloak and sprinted into the rain.
Finding her should have taken hours.
Instead...
It took my wolf less than thirty minutes.
Every tree carried her scent.
Every broken fern.
Every footprint in the mud.
Then I found something else.
Blood.
Not hers.
Too much of it.
The metallic smell hung heavily in the air.
Nearby, deep claw marks scarred the trunks of ancient pines.
A battle.
I crouched beside one of the prints.
Shadow Fang.
My heartbeat quickened.
What were Magnus's wolves doing this far south?
The answer hit me with terrifying clarity.
They weren't here by accident.
They were hunting someone.
Her.
My stomach twisted.
I shifted before I even realized what I was doing.
The forest blurred as my wolf took control.
Faster.
Stronger.
Driven by one instinct alone.
Protect.
I followed the scent until voices drifted through the trees.
A man's laughter.
Steel striking steel.
And then—
Lyra screamed.
The sound ripped through me.
Every rational thought disappeared.
I burst through the tree line just as Cassian raised his axe.
I saw Lyra.
Covered in mud.
Terrified.
Standing between an old warrior and death itself.
Then...
Silver light erupted from the pendant around her neck.
The force of it stopped even my wolf.
For one impossible second...
The entire forest bowed.
The wind.
The trees.
The wolves.
Everything seemed to recognize her.
Not as a healer.
Not as an Omega.
As something far older.
Far greater.
My wolf fell silent.
Then whispered one sentence that sent a chill through my entire body.
She was never meant to belong to us.
Before I could understand what he meant...
A voice echoed from the darkness.
"I finally found you... Princess."
I slowly turned toward the tree line.
The scent reached me before the man did.
Blood.
Smoke.
Death.
Alpha Magnus Dreadmoor.
And for the first time since becoming Alpha...
I felt fear.
- Writer
