30 Days with The Ruthless Alpha King

Seeds of Vengeance

Zara’s POV

I woke up on the cold, dirty floor of the slave prison. My back burned like fire from the silver whip marks. Two nights had passed, but I was still not fully healed. Every small movement sent sharp pain through my body. I forced myself to sit up anyway.

The other slaves kept their distance. They whispered behind their hands when they thought I could not hear as they passed by. Some looked at me with pity. Others with fear but no one offered help and that was fine. I did not need their pity.

Through the small barred window, I could see the high stone walls of Blackstone Keep. Cressida was up there, sleeping in the stone fortress like some kind of queen. The thought made my blood boil.

She thinks she has won.

I touched the fresh scars on my back and winced. The pain only fed my hate. Cressida had everything now, special treatment and Lady Elara’s favor I heard from Ara that she even had a public dance with Lucian in front of the whole hall at the end of the feast and what did I get? Whipped like a common dog while they all laughed.

A guard walked past the bars and laughed loudly. “Still alive, w***e? The kings sister had you beaten good. Maybe next time you’ll keep your mouth shut about certain people.”

Another guard laughed and leaned against the bars. “Look at those scars. You thought you could challenge the girl the Alpha king chose to favor? She gets everything now. You get nothing but pain. That’s what happens when you forget your place.”

I glared at them but said nothing. Their words only made my hate stronger.

Ara, a young slave girl I had become fond of, brought me a bowl of thin soup. She set it down quickly and stepped back.

“Eat,” she said quietly. “You look like death.”

I took the bowl with shaking hands. The soup was tasteless, but I forced it down. I needed strength now, not comfort.

As I ate, my thoughts turned dark and sharp. I had lost to Cressida this once. I would not lose again. Lucian favored her, but he did not love her. Men like him never loved. They used women and discarded them when they were done.

But I could use that weakness.

I had friends among the old Nightfall Pack slaves Those who still remembered our home and hated the conqueror who burned it.

Some of these guards were lazy and greedy. A few coins or promises of power could turn their hearts away from their master.

And Thorne, that beta. I had seen the ambition in his eyes when he looked at Lucian the day they visited the slave quarters to retrieve Cressida’s necklace. He seemed not to be very fond of Cressida and more so seemed very ambitious.

I had seen the look in his eyes that day. I could use it.

A sly smile formed on my lips as I begun to sketch out my plan.

First, I would heal enough to move without showing pain on my face. Then I would speak to the loyal ones from our old pack.

I would whisper that though everyone thought of Lucian as a powerful and ruthless alpha king he now had a weakness. Cressida. And we could use that weakness to our advantage earning our freedom and destroying the one who took us captive and burned down our home.

We would strike during the next full moon when the pack was distracted with celebrations.

Some slaves would create chaos in the lower quarters. Others would open the gates for the few warriors who had escaped the initial conquest and were hiding in the woods.

In all of this, my main goal was simple. Kill Cressida.

She had taken everything from me. My Kael. My pride. My place. I wanted to see the light leave her eyes as I drove a silver blade into her heart.

I wanted Lucian and Elara to watch her die before I ended them too.

If I could turn Thorne or at least plant doubt in his mind, it would be easier. Maybe he wanted the crown for himself. I could promise him power or threaten to expose his secrets and I knew he had secrets. I just had to find out what they were.

I finished the soup and lay back down carefully. My back screamed, but I smiled through the pain.

Cressida thought she was safe now that she was way up there and I way down here. Well she had another thing coming.

I would make her pay for every kindness Lucian showed her. For every night she spent in his fortress . For every smile she stole from the pack that should have been mine.

Two days later, the guards finally let me out to work in the laundry. I moved slowly but with purpose. I kept my head down, but my eyes watched everything.

One guard shoved me hard as I passed. “Hurry up, scar-face. Cressida gets silk and soft beds while you wash rags. That’s what happens when you run your mouth about the king’s favorite.”

I bit my tongue and kept walking.

I found Mara, an old friend from Nightfall Pack, washing clothes beside me.

“Zara,” she whispered, eyes wide at my scars. “What happened to you?”

I leaned closer and spoke softly. “Cressida happened. She turned the king and his sister against me. But I am not finished.”

Mara’s hands paused. “Many of us are angry. We lost our homes because of him. And now Cressida acts like she is above us all.”

“Good,” I said. “Tell the others quietly. We need to plan. The full moon is coming. We can strike then. Spread the word that Cressida is the reason the king is going soft. She makes him weak.”

She nodded slowly. Fear and hope mixed in her eyes.

That was the first step.

Later that afternoon, I managed to slip a small note to one of the younger guards who had always looked at me with interest. It promised more than words if he helped me get information about the king’s movements and Cressida’s schedule.

By evening, I had spoken to three more slaves who still carried hate for Lucian. They agreed to spread the word carefully.

“Tell them Cressida is the reason the king is soft,” I whispered to one. “She makes him weak. We take her out first, and the rest will follow. Lucian will fall after her.”

My body still hurt, but my mind felt clear and sharp for the first time since the whipping.

I would lead this rebellion from the shadows. I would use every slave who felt forgotten. I would turn Lucian’s own people against him.

And when the time came, I would make sure Cressida died slowly while Lucian watched.

She thought she had everything.

Soon she would have nothing.

I closed my eyes and pictured her face the moment the silver blade found her heart.

The pain in my back was nothing compared to the fire of revenge burning inside me.

This was only the beginning.

Cressida Lucian and Elara would all fall.

And I would be the one to bring them down.