Mated To The Twin Alphas

16: The Shadow Alpha

The storm broke three nights after the eclipse.

Thunder rolled across the valley, echoing through the shattered pines. The rain fell hard enough to wash away the ashes — but not the memories.

We were on the move before dawn. Damon had gathered a small search team: elite trackers, his most loyal warriors, and me — though he’d tried, more than once, to leave me behind.

“I can’t protect you if he’s not himself,” he warned, tightening the straps on his gear.

“I don’t need protection,” I said, meeting his eyes. “I need answers.”

The forest was thick and silent. The rogues’ scent lingered, but it was different now — colder, sharper, tainted by something that didn’t belong to this world. We followed it for hours, through ravines and rivers that seemed to hum with leftover magic from the eclipse.

When we reached the border cliffs, the rain stopped suddenly. The air shimmered — just faintly — like heat over stone. And then, the wind shifted.

I smelled him.

“Darius,” I whispered.

Before anyone could react, a low growl rolled out of the mist. Damon’s men raised their weapons, but he motioned for them to hold.

A shadow moved through the fog — tall, broad-shouldered, familiar. His eyes glowed a dark crimson instead of gold. His skin looked marked, faint veins of silver tracing down his neck like cracks in porcelain.

He stopped a few feet away, gaze locked on me.

“Selene,” he said, his voice deeper, rougher, threaded with something inhuman. “You shouldn’t have come.”

The bond between us flared alive — searing and cold at once. Every part of me wanted to run to him, but something in that glow made my instincts scream danger.

Damon stepped in front of me, his voice low. “Brother… if you can hear me, fight it.”

Darius’s lips curved, but it wasn’t a smile. “Fight it? I am it now.”

Lightning flashed, and for an instant, I saw the thing standing behind his eyes — not the man I’d known, but something vast and ancient. The same darkness that had whispered to me during the eclipse.

The same voice that had said: Balance must be kept.

The ground trembled. Energy surged outward, throwing the warriors backward. Damon shifted mid-air, landing in his wolf form, golden fur bristling, a snarl tearing through the storm.

“Stop!” I cried, but the two Alphas had already collided — gold against shadow, brother against brother.

The forest shook with the force of their blows. Claws met claws, teeth met fury, and power rippled across the clearing like waves of fire and ice.

I ran forward, the mark on my wrist blazing. The moment I touched Darius’s arm, everything changed.

Flashes burned through my mind — a crimson throne, chains of moonlight, and Darius kneeling before a figure made entirely of shadow.

“Selene!” Damon’s voice cut through the haze. “Let go!”

But it was too late. The darkness saw me now.

And it smiled.

A voice whispered in my head, soft and cold.

You brought the balance. Now you’ll bear the cost.

The world turned black.

When I woke, Damon was beside me, breathing hard, blood staining his chest. The rain had stopped. The forest was quiet again.

But Darius was gone — leaving only a sigil scorched into the earth where he’d stood.

Not a spiral this time.

A crown of shadows.