Rise of the Immortal

Chapter 3: The Arrival

I felt him before I saw him.

It was midday when the sensation hit me – a sudden pressure in the air that seemed to press against my skin from all directions. Every wolf in the pack house went silent simultaneously, their conversations cutting off mid-sentence as if someone had severed their vocal cords with a blade.

Even down in the dungeons, isolated from the rest of the pack by layers of stone and steel, I could feel the weight of his presence settling over Silver Fang territory like a storm cloud ready to break open the sky.

"Dear goddess," Henrik whispered from his cell, and I could see him trembling despite the fact that his wolf had been broken for years. "I can feel his power from here. How is that possible?"

Maya had gone completely still, her face pale and her breathing shallow. "This is what an Alpha King feels like," she said, her voice barely audible. "This is what real power feels like."

I pressed my back against the stone wall, trying to steady myself against the overwhelming sensation. It felt like standing too close to a bonfire – not quite burning, but definitely aware that the flames could consume me if they chose to. My wolf, silent for so many years, was suddenly pressing against the inside of my ribs like it was trying to escape.

Above us, I could hear footsteps – dozens of them, all moving in the same direction. The entire pack was gathering to greet their visitor, their movements quick and purposeful despite the obvious fear rolling off them in waves.

Then I heard him speak.

Even muffled by distance and stone, his voice was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. It was deep, commanding, but not cruel. When Alpha Marcus spoke, there was always an edge of violence lurking beneath his words, a promise that disagreement would be met with pain. This voice held authority, yes, but it was the kind of authority that came from genuine strength rather than the need to prove dominance through brutality.

"Alpha Marcus," the voice said, and I could hear amusement in it. "You seem nervous."

"Not at all, Alpha King," came Marcus's reply, though his tone was tight with tension. "We're honored by your visit. Truly honored."

"I'm sure you are."

I crept closer to the bars of my cell, straining to hear more of the conversation. Beta Greg had forbidden us from making any noise, but surely listening wasn't the same as speaking. Surely I could be forgiven for wanting to understand what was happening in the world above my head.

"I trust you'll allow me to tour your territory completely," the Alpha King continued. "I like to see how packs truly function, not just the parts they want to show visiting dignitaries."

"Of course," Marcus said, but I could hear the lie in his voice even from here. "Though I should mention, some areas of the pack house are simply storage spaces. Nothing of interest to someone of your stature."

"I'll be the judge of what interests me."

The simple statement carried enough authority to make me shiver. This was not a wolf who would be easily deceived or dismissed. If the Alpha King wanted to see something, he would see it, regardless of Marcus's preferences.

Over the next hour, I could track their progress through the pack house by the sound of footsteps and voices above my head. They started in the main halls, moved through the kitchens and common areas, then progressed to the upper floors where the ranked pack members lived.

"Your pack seems well-organized," I heard the Alpha King say at one point. "Your wolves appear healthy and well-fed."

"We take good care of our people," Marcus replied, and the pride in his voice made my stomach turn. We. Our people. As if Maya, Henrik, and I weren't part of the pack at all.

Which, I supposed, we weren't. Not in any way that mattered.

"And your numbers?" the Alpha King asked. "How many wolves do you have under your protection?"

There was a pause before Marcus answered. "Forty-three adults, twelve children. All accounted for and properly registered with the Council."

Fifty-five total. He wasn't counting us at all.

The voices grew louder as the tour moved closer to the main floor, and I realized with growing alarm that they were heading toward the basement access. My heart began pounding so hard I was sure the sound would echo through the stone walls.

"What's down here?" the Alpha King asked, and his voice was now clear enough that I could hear every nuance of tone.

"Storage, as I mentioned earlier," Marcus said quickly. "Old records, surplus supplies, that sort of thing. Really quite boring."

"I'd like to see it anyway."

"Alpha King, I assure you there's nothing—"

"I'd like to see it anyway," he repeated, and this time there was steel beneath the words.

Maya grabbed my arm through the bars, her fingers digging into my skin hard enough to leave marks. "They're coming down," she whispered.

I could hear footsteps on the stairs now, multiple sets but one that seemed to carry more weight than the others. My wolf was going absolutely mad inside my chest, pushing against my ribs so hard it was difficult to breathe.

"As you can see," Marcus's voice was closer now, probably on the main basement level, "just storage. Nothing that would interest—"

The footsteps stopped.

For a long moment, there was complete silence. Then I heard the Alpha King speak, his voice sharp with something that might have been anger.

"What did you just say your pack numbers were?"

"Forty-three adults, twelve children," Marcus repeated, but his voice had gone up an octave.

"I count three more heartbeats coming from behind that door."

The door that led to our corridor. The door that Marcus had probably hoped to keep locked during the entire visit.

"I... that is... storage sometimes has... rats?" Marcus's attempt at explanation was pathetic enough that I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

"Rats with human heartbeats?" The Alpha King's voice was deadly quiet now. "Rats whose scents carry the distinct signature of werewolf blood?"

Oh, goddess. He could smell us from there.

"Alpha King, I can explain—" Marcus began.

"Open the door."

It wasn't a request.

I heard the scrape of metal on metal as someone – probably Greg – fumbled with the locks. Maya's grip on my arm tightened, and Henrik had curled into a ball in the corner of his cell, making himself as small as possible.

The door swung open, and light spilled into our corridor for the first time in months. Real light, not the dim glow of the single bulb that barely illuminated our daily misery.

And then he appeared.

The Alpha King was not seven feet tall as the stories claimed, but he was definitely the largest wolf I'd ever seen. He had to duck slightly to fit through the doorway, and his shoulders seemed to span the entire width of the corridor. His hair was dark, almost black, and his eyes...

His eyes were golden, exactly like they'd been in my dream.

When that golden gaze swept over our cells and landed on me, the world seemed to stop moving entirely. The pressure I'd felt earlier intensified into something that felt like being struck by lightning, and my wolf – my supposedly non-existent wolf – slammed against my chest so hard I gasped aloud.

The Alpha King's eyes widened, and he took a step closer to my cell.

"What," he said, his voice carefully controlled, "is this?"

Marcus's response was a stream of stammered excuses about rehabilitation and protective custody, but I couldn't focus on his words. All I could see were those golden eyes, all I could feel was the pull in my chest that seemed to be drawing me toward the bars like a magnet.

"You," the Alpha King said, and it took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me. "What's your name?"

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. After years of being forbidden to speak unless directly questioned, after a lifetime of being told I was nothing, the simple act of being addressed by someone so powerful left me speechless.

"Her name is Talia," Maya said quietly from her cell. "She doesn't talk much."

The Alpha King – Kale, the stories called him – looked at Maya briefly, then returned his attention to me. "Talia," he said, and the way he said my name made something inside me flutter. "How long have you been down here?"

"Ten years," I managed to whisper.

His jaw tightened. "And why are you down here?"

I glanced toward Marcus, who was standing behind Kale with panic written across his features. Speaking the truth could get me killed, but lying to the Alpha King seemed infinitely more dangerous.

"Because I'm different," I said finally. "Because I don't shift."

Something flashed in Kale's golden eyes – anger, recognition, I couldn't tell which. He turned to face Marcus, and when he spoke, his voice held enough menace to make the stone walls themselves seem to shrink back.

"You have wolves living in cages in your basement."

"They're not... they're being cared for," Marcus said weakly.

"Cared for." Kale's voice was flat. "In cages. In the dark. With no sunlight, no fresh air, no dignity whatsoever."

"They're different, Alpha King. They don't fit with the rest of the pack—"

"They're pack members." Each word was clipped, precise, and absolutely final. "They are wolves under your protection, and you have them living like animals."

"We are animals," Marcus said, desperation creeping into his voice.

Kale's hand moved faster than I could follow, slamming into the stone wall beside Marcus's head with enough force to create a spider web of cracks in the rock. "We are people first," he snarled. "We are people who happen to have wolves, not the other way around."

He turned back to my cell, and when our eyes met again, I felt that strange pull intensify into something that made my knees weak.

"I want to see all of you," he said. "Outside these cells. Now."

"Alpha King," Marcus began, "I don't think that's wise—"

"I don't care what you think."

The dismissal was absolute. Kale looked at Greg, who was hovering near the door like he wanted to disappear entirely.

"Open these cells. All of them."

"Sir, they could be dangerous—"

"They're three malnourished wolves who've been locked in cages for years," Kale said. "I think I can handle them."

Greg's hands shook as he unlocked Maya's cell first, then Henrik's, then finally mine. When the door swung open, I stared at the opening for a long moment, unable to quite believe it was real.

"Come out," Kale said gently, and his voice had lost all traces of the anger he'd directed at Marcus. "It's all right."

I stepped out of the cell on unsteady legs, my muscles protesting after so many hours of confinement. Maya and Henrik flanked me, both of them looking as bewildered as I felt.

Kale studied all three of us, his expression growing darker by the moment. When his gaze returned to me, I felt that pull in my chest intensify into something that was almost painful.

"You said you don't shift," he said to me.

I nodded.

"Has anyone ever tried to help you? Worked with you to find your wolf?"

"No," I whispered.

He was quiet for a long moment, then looked at Marcus with something that might have been contempt.

"We need to talk," he said. "Upstairs. Now."

As they turned to leave, Kale looked back at me one more time.

"Stay here," he said. "I'll be back."

It sounded like a promise.