Chapter 21_ The Alpha's Last Command
1300 Words
The hidden refuge trembled.
Dust drifted from the stone ceiling each time another thunderous impact echoed through the royal pack house above. The clash of steel, the deafening roars of wolves, and the dying screams of warriors seeped through the walls like ghosts refusing to leave.
It was a war.
Not at the borders.
Not outside the pack.
It had reached the very heart of Midnight.
Inside the narrow chamber hidden beneath the royal quarters, silence ruled.
Not because there was peace...
But because fear had stolen everyone's voices.
Ramona knelt beside Luna Seraphine, whose arms cradled her newborn son, Kaelen. Though exhaustion from childbirth weighed heavily upon her body, she held the infant with unwavering protectiveness, refusing to loosen her embrace even for a heartbeat.
Beside them, another trusted maiden held little Regan against her chest.
The child stirred uneasily.
His tiny fingers curled.
His breathing became uneven.
Ramona's experienced eyes immediately caught it.
She reached for the little warrior's wrist.
Her heart skipped.
The faint dark veins beneath his delicate skin...
They were returning.
"No..."
Her whisper barely escaped.
The other maiden looked at her.
"What is it?"
Ramona quickly searched for the small leather pouch Viera had entrusted to her before the chaos erupted.
Her fingers searched frantically.
Again.
And again.
Nothing.
Her breathing hitched.
"The antidote..."
Seraphine turned sharply.
"What about it?"
Ramona slowly lifted her empty hands.
"The next drop should have been given already."
Silence swallowed the chamber.
The realization settled over every heart at once.
The antidote...
Was still with Viera.
And Viera...
Had been taken.
Regan whimpered weakly.
His tiny body trembled as though fighting an invisible enemy that sought to consume him from within.
Ramona pressed trembling fingers against his forehead.
"The poison is waking again."
The maiden beside her bit her lip.
"There must be another way."
Ramona shook her head, grief clouding her eyes.
"Shaman Rema said one drop every five hours. The poison is too ancient... too powerful. The antidote must keep suppressing it."
She stared helplessly at the struggling infant.
"We hid ourselves to protect one heir..."
Her eyes slowly shifted toward Regan.
"...yet another warrior's heir may die beside us."
Tears gathered in Seraphine's eyes.
Her gaze moved from Kaelen...
To Raegan.
Both children had entered the world under the shadow of war.
Neither deserved such cruelty.
She whispered softly,
"The Moon Goddess will not abandon them."
Above them...
Another explosion shook the refuge.
The battle continued.
Far above...
Inside the blood-soaked royal chambers...
Alpha Kael Blackthorne still stood.
Barely.
His breathing was ragged.
Blood trickled from several wounds.
The poison coursed violently through his veins, burning like molten iron beneath his skin.
Yet he refused to fall.
Every time his knees weakened...
His wolf forced him upright again.
Every swing of his blade still claimed another enemy.
Every roar still sent lesser wolves staggering backward in terror.
The Alpha of Midnight refused to kneel.
But the poison was winning.
His once overwhelming aura flickered like a dying flame.
His vision blurred.
His wolf growled in agony.
Still...
He fought.
Then...
His mind reached out.
Across the battlefield.
Across the chaos.
Toward the one warrior he trusted above all others.
MEGAN…...
Megan's wolf immediately recognized the call.
Even while exchanging crushing blows with Alpha Darius, his answer came without hesitation.
My Alpha!
Kael's voice echoed inside his mind.
Weaker than it had ever been.
Yet still carrying the unmistakable authority of an Alpha.
Listen carefully.
Megan forced Darius backward before responding.
I am listening.
Kael inhaled painfully.
If I fall...
Megan's eyes widened.
No...
Do not save me.
Their blades continued clashing even as the mind-link remained unbroken.
Never!
Kael growled.
Even weakened...
His Alpha command thundered through Megan's soul.
That is an order.
Then...
His voice softened.
Protect Seraphine.
A pause.
Protect Kaelen.
Another pause.
His final words carried the weight of generations.
Protect... my heir.
Megan's chest tightened.
His vision blurred with emotion.
"No..."
Kael continued.
“Promise me.”
The Midnight Blade lowered his head for the briefest moment.
Not in defeat.
In loyalty.
"I swear upon my wolf..."
His grip tightened around his blade.
"With my last breath..."
"No enemy shall ever touch your heir."
Kael closed his eyes for a single heartbeat.
Satisfied.
His commander had given his word.
Not far away...
Alpha Darius heard enough.
His sharp eyes narrowed.
Then...
Everything became clear.
The heir.
Not Kael.
Not Seraphine.
The child.
The newborn Blackthorne heir.
A slow smile disappeared from his face, replaced instead by cold calculation.
He raised his sword toward the invading warriors.
"Forget Kael!"
His voice thundered through the chamber.
"Search every corridor!"
"Search every chamber!"
"Search every hidden passage!"
His crimson eyes blazed with murderous resolve.
"Find every child carrying Blackthorne blood!"
"And leave none alive!"
The order rippled through the invading forces.
Immediately dozens of Red Claw warriors abandoned the battlefield, scattering through the royal pack house like starving predators.
The hunt had begun.
Not far from Darius...
Rogan could barely stand.
Blood poured freely from deep wounds carved across his body.
One knee crashed onto the stone floor.
His sword slipped from weakening fingers.
Commander Megan stood over him.
His blade rested inches from Rogan's throat.
One strike.
Just one.
The strongest warrior of Red Claw would die.
Rogan slowly closed his eyes.
Accepting death.
Then...
Kael's final command echoed once more inside Megan's heart.
Protect my heir.
Without another glance...
Megan lowered his sword.
Turned away.
And sprinted toward Alpha Darius.
Rogan stared after him in stunned disbelief.
"He... spared me..."
Before he could process it further.
Steel exploded against steel.
Commander Megan intercepted Darius's killing strike moments before it reached Alpha Kael.
"You dare not."
His voice carried enough fury to silence the battlefield.
"Before you reach my Alpha..."
His wolf aura erupted violently.
"...you go through me."
Even Alpha Darius took one measured step back.
Then...
A voice shattered the moment.
"Commander Midnight Blade!"
Everyone turned.
A Red Claw warrior emerged from the corridor.
One arm restrained Viera.
The other pressed a gleaming blade tightly against her throat.
Blood stained her shoulder where the earlier arrow had struck.
She could barely remain standing.
Yet she refused to cry out.
Megan froze.
His entire world stopped.
"Viera..."
Her tear-filled eyes met his.
She managed a weak smile despite the pain.
"Don't..."
Her voice trembled.
"Don't look at me."
"Save... our son."
Megan's breathing became uneven.
"Where is Reagan?"
Viera looked away.
She knew.
One careless word...
One glance...
One hint...
Would expose Ramona.
Would expose Luna Seraphine.
Would expose Kaelen.
She chose silence.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
The warrior behind her laughed cruelly.
"Drop your weapon."
"Bow before Alpha Darius."
"Or watch her die."
The chamber fell deathly still.
Even the clash of swords seemed distant.
Commander Megan slowly lifted his blade.
Not toward Darius.
Toward the warrior holding Viera.
His expression had changed.
There was no panic.
No desperation.
Only terrifying calm.
His wolf aura rolled through the chamber like a living storm.
The warrior instinctively tightened his grip…
Then immediately regretted it.
His knees trembled.
His breathing became shallow.
Every instinct screamed at him to run.
Megan spoke quietly.
Each word colder than winter itself.
"Listen carefully."
"If your hand tightens..."
The warrior swallowed.
"If even one drop of her blood falls because of you..."
Commander Megan's silver eyes glowed with terrifying intensity.
His voice became the voice of the Midnight Blade every enemy feared.
"Even from where I stand..."
He slowly pointed his sword directly at the warrior's heart.
"...I will kill you before your blade ever reaches her throat."
The warrior's confidence shattered.
For the first time...
Fear entered his eyes.
And somewhere beyond the royal chambers...
The war for Midnight had reached its cruelest turning point
- Writer
