Chapter 12: The White Alpha
1242 Words
Ryker’s Pov
The forest would not answer me.
I ran until my longs burned and my wolf clawed against my ribs,desperate and furious.Every instinct screamed that she was close but every scent trail ended in nothing
Nothing.
It was wrong
Aria’s scent was woven into my bones. I could track her in a storm. Across rivers. Through blood.
But tonight?
It was as if the earth itself had swallowed her.
A growl ripped from my throat as I skidded to a halt near the clearing.
“He’s masking her,” my beta, Kael, said from behind me.
I turned sharply. “Or you’re all losing your edge.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “The pack is restless. You abandoned the perimeter.”
“I went after a vampire king.”
“You went after him alone.”
The accusation hung in the air.
My wolf surged forward, furious at the implication.
“She is my mate.”
“You claimed her,” Kael corrected carefully.
The word struck like a blade.
Claimed.
Not mated.
Not bound by sacred ritual.
Claimed.
Before I could respond, a familiar presence stepped into the clearing.
Evelyn.
The seer.
The woman who had warned me from the beginning.
“You should have listened,” she said calmly.
I stiffened.
“If this is about law, save it.”
“It’s about prophecy,” she replied.
The forest quieted unnaturally around us.
Kael shifted uneasily but didn’t interrupt.
Evelyn stepped closer, her silver-streaked hair catching moonlight.
“Aria was never meant to belong to you.”
My fists clenched.
“She is my mate.”
“She is something far older than mating bonds.”
The air grew heavy.
“Speak plainly,” I growled.
Evelyn’s eyes glowed faintly not wolf. Not human. Something else.
“She comes from the White Crest bloodline.”
My wolf stilled.
That name hadn’t been spoken in centuries.
“That pack was annihilated,” Kael said sharply.
“No,” Evelyn replied. “They were erased.”
Silence fell.
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
“The White Crest alphas carried the original strain,” Evelyn continued. “The pure convergence of human and wolf before the split.”
My pulse slowed dangerously.
“That bloodline was too powerful,” she said. “They possessed the ability to call forth the White Alpha.”
A distant memory stirred old stories told to pups to keep them obedient.
Myth.
Legend.
Weapon.
“What is the White Alpha?” I asked quietly.
Evelyn’s gaze locked onto mine.
“The final evolution.”
The wind moved sharply through the trees.
“When awakened,” she continued, “the White Alpha is neither wolf nor human. It is command. It bends instinct. It overrides hierarchy.”
Kael’s expression paled.
“It can dominate every wolf in existence,” Evelyn said. “And it can sever vampire immortality.”
My breath stopped.
Aria.
“The prophecy does not speak of peace,” Evelyn said softly. “It speaks of annihilation.”
My wolf snarled in denial.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She stepped closer.
“Aria carries the maximum threshold of that bloodline. If fully awakened, she could destroy both the vampire clan… and this pack.”
The words hit like a physical blow.
“That’s impossible.”
“It is inevitable,” Evelyn corrected.
Kael looked between us.
“What triggers it?”
Evelyn’s gaze shifted slightly.
“Completion.”
Ice slid down my spine.
“Completion of what?”
“The mating bond.”
My heart slammed once.
Hard.
“Not a claim,” she clarified. “Not a mark. A true mating. Soul binding. Ritual blood exchange.”
The forest felt like it was closing in.
“And whoever mates her…” I said slowly.
Evelyn nodded once.
“Will be spared.”
Silence.
Kael exhaled shakily. “Spared?”
“The prophecy states: the leader who binds with the White Alpha before her awakening will not fall with the rest.”
My mind raced.
Kristof.
He knew.
He had to know.
“That’s why he’s near her,” I muttered.
“Yes,” Evelyn said. “The vampire king has studied the ancient texts longer than we have.”
A low growl built in my throat.
“He wants to survive.”
“He wants to win,” she corrected.
My wolf surged forward violently.
“She will not destroy us.”
Evelyn’s gaze softened not with pity, but truth.
“She doesn’t know what she is.”
“And I will not let her become it.”
“Can you stop it?” she asked quietly.
The question pierced deeper than any accusation.
Could I?
Aria wasn’t fully awakened yet.
Her power still simmered beneath the surface.
But if Kristof
My vision flashed red.
“He will not touch her again,” I said darkly.
“You are not thinking like an alpha,” Kael warned. “You are thinking like a male.”
I turned sharply on him.
“She is both.”
“Then you are breaking law.”
“I will break the forest if I have to.”
The air crackled with dominance.
Evelyn raised her voice slightly.
“Ryker.”
I forced myself to look at her.
“If you pursue her recklessly,” she said, “you may trigger the awakening yourself.”
The words stunned me.
“What?”
“Emotional extremity accelerates power,” she explained. “Fear. Passion. Betrayal. Mating.”
My wolf stilled.
“If she feels cornered between two alphas,” Evelyn continued, “her instincts may choose for her.”
Choose.
Not with love.
With survival.
Kael spoke carefully. “The council will not support this.”
“I don’t need the council.”
“You need the pack.”
Silence stretched.
They were right.
An alpha without a pack was just another predator.
But I could not stand still.
I could not wait while Kristof positioned himself closer to her.
“Every attempt I’ve made to track her fails,” I said tightly. “Her scent disappears.”
“Because it is being shielded,” Evelyn replied. “Temporarily.”
“How long?”
“Not long.”
Hope flared dangerously.
“But every time you charge blindly,” she added, “he moves her.”
My jaw tightened.
“So what do you suggest?”
Evelyn held my gaze steadily.
“Resilience.”
The word tasted bitter.
“Not rage. Not desperation. Strategy.”
Kael stepped closer.
“The pack will follow you,” he said. “But not if you destabilize us.”
I inhaled slowly.
My wolf hated this.
Hated patience.
Hated waiting.
“She is not a weapon,” I said quietly.
“She may not have a choice,” Evelyn replied.
I looked toward the horizon where the moon hung high and cold.
Somewhere beneath that sky
She was out there.
Confused.
Pulled between forces she didn’t understand.
And if Kristof reached completion first
Everything would burn.
“I will find her,” I said finally.
“Not alone,” Kael replied firmly.
I nodded once.
But inside, a darker resolve was forming.
If the prophecy demanded mating to survive—
Then I would not merely claim Aria.
I would bind her.
Before Kristof could.
Before the White Alpha could rise.
Before annihilation became destiny.
And this time
I would not fail.
- Writer
