Chapter 3: Alpha at the Edge of the Clearing
1311 Words
Chapter 3: Alpha at the Edge of the Clearing
POV: Ayla Nightwind
The Alpha doesn't respond to my threat.
That's worse than yelling.
Snow keeps falling slowly and heavily, filling the gaps between us. Blood spreads out in uneven shapes on the white at my feet. I feel lightheaded right now—really lightheaded—but I lock my knees and stay standing. It's still better to die standing than to beg on the ground.
The Alpha says calmly, "Secure the perimeter."
His voice has the authority of command without being harsh. The wolves do what they're told right away. They spread out into the trees, weapons at the ready. No one can touch me. No one touches Eli.
That alone shows me how dangerous this man really is.
He moves closer, but stops just out of reach of my arms. I can see the lines that years of war and rule have left on his face up close. The silver in his dark hair isn't from getting older; it's from stress.
He looks down at my arm.
He says, "You're bleeding too much."
"Still standing," I say.
"Barely."
"Still enough."
His mouth gets tight, as if he's trying not to say anything else. He looks past me to Eli.
"Come here, son."
Eli stays still.
The Alpha's jaw tightens. "Eli."
Eli says, "I'm staying," his voice shaking but loud enough for everyone to hear. "They were going to kill me." She didn't. he says.
The wolves feel a wave of worry.
For a moment, the Alpha closes his eyes. When he opens them, things have changed: less iron and more fear.
"You're cold," he tells Eli. "You're hurt."
Eli says, "I'm not." "She is."
That lands.
The Alpha looks at me again—and this time, really looks. At the blood that was soaking my sleeve. At how I'm leaning to the left. The way my breath has gotten shallow.
He slowly starts to realize.
He says, "You're going into shock."
"Then stop talking and listen," I say sharply.
His mouth twitches in one corner. Not funny. Something more like disbelief.
He murmurs softly, "You haven't changed."
The words cut me like a knife.
"Yes, I have," I say. "I just didn't have the time to soften."
His eyes blink. Pain flashes there quickly and in a controlled way.
He says, "Let me help you."
I laugh out loud. "You already did." A long time ago.
Silence stretches.
A wolf clears his throat. "Alpha... the men she killed. They were under the command of Hale.
The Alpha's head snaps up. "Hale?"
"Yes." He ordered the escort.
My stomach gets tight.
Escort.
The Alpha's eyes sharpen as it quickly figures things out. "Hale wasn't supposed to be with my son."
I'm getting a chill that has nothing to do with the cold.
"So you didn't send them," I say.
"No," he answers flatly.
"Then someone else did."
His eyes get darker. "Yes."
Eli's fingers are digging into my cloak. "They said Dad wouldn't care if I died," he whispers.
The Alpha stops moving.
He gently asks, "What did you say?"
Eli swallows. "They said you needed the council more than me."
All of the wolves in the clearing stop moving.
Not much, but enough that I can see that the Alpha's face has lost color. Slowly, his hands curl up at his sides.
“Who said that?” he asks.
Eli looks at the dead bodies. "The one who has the scar." He said you’d understand.”
The Alpha breathes out through his nose in a sharp, controlled way. I can almost hear something breaking inside of him.
That's when I get it.
This wasn't just about killing a child.
It was a test.
I say quietly, "They wanted to see how you'd react." "If you would show yourself."
He looks me in the eye.
"Yes."
"And if you don't," I go on, "your son dies, and whoever did this knows they can act against you without any consequences."
The Alpha's silence proves it.
I laugh again, but this time it's not funny. "Your throne is rotting from the inside."
His eyes flash. "You don't know—"
"I know enough," I said. "I always do." That's why you sent me away.
The words are heavy and sharp between us.
His shoulders are tight. "I didn't send you away."
"You let it happen," I say. "You watched."
He looks like I hit him.
"You were declared unstable," he says. "The council—"
“Needed a story,” I finish. "And I was easy."
Eli looks back and forth between us, scared and confused. " Dad?"
The Alpha turns to him right away and lowers his voice. “It’s all right. "You are safe."
Eli shakes his head. "She saved me."
"I know."
Eli says, "No." "You know now." Like... like before.
The Alpha gets stiff.
"What do you mean?"
Eli looks up at me. "She smells like the song that puts you to sleep."
The world tilts.
I look down at him, and my heart is pounding so hard it hurts.
"What?" I say softly.
Eli says, "The song you hum when you're sad." "You hum like her."
I can't see clearly.
The Alpha's eyes are sharp and searching as they look at me. "What did he just say?"
I slowly shake my head. "He's cold." Confused.
Eli says, "I'm not." "You sound like the woman in my dreams."
The Alpha steps back as if he has been hit.
He says in a hoarse voice, "That's not possible."
My chest gets so tight that I can barely breathe. I remember things that hit me hard, like humming in the dark and putting my mouth on a bundle that never cried.
"You said my child died," I say.
The Alpha’s face goes hard. Too hard.
"That's what they told me."
I repeated slowly, "What I was told."
His lack of response is enough.
My knees finally give way.
Strong hands catch me before I hit the ground.
The Alpha keeps me standing up, holding on tight, almost like it's life or death.
He whispers, "Ayla." "If you're going to say what I think you are—"
I look up at him and see blood dripping between us into the snow.
"You didn't just send me away," I say clearly. "You took my child."
He can't breathe.
And I add, deadly and quiet—
"Now make a choice, Alpha... You kill me before I can show you?
The Alpha's grip is tight enough to leave a bruise.
The wolves move around us, their confusion turning sharp and hungry. I hear a knife slide free to my left. Someone steps on the snow, which makes a crunching sound.
"Alpha?" a voice says. Careful. Scared. "Say the word."
The Alpha doesn't say anything.
He never takes his eyes off mine.
He says quietly, "I will end you myself if you're lying."
"Good," I say softly. "That means you're paying attention."
Eli pushes against my side, his little fingers clenched in my cloak. "Dad," he says, his voice breaking. "Don't let them take her."
The Alpha takes a breath. Long. Under control. Then he does something that no one sees coming.
He raises his voice and turns his head.
"Wrap her wounds," he orders. "Now."
A wave of shock runs through the clearing.
"Alpha—" someone begins.
"Do it," he snaps. "And bring the bodies." Every one of them. "I want names."
I lean against him, my blood loss finally taking my strength, but I make my mouth move one last time—one last cut before the dark.
I whisper to him, "If you take me in, I won't beg for mercy."
He leans down, and his breath is hot on my ear.
"Good," he says. "Because I'm not giving it.”
- Writer
