The Alpha in the Shadows
822 Words
Darkness should have felt empty.
But it wasn’t.
It pulsed… slow and heavy, like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to me.
Voices echoed somewhere far away deep, urgent, unfamiliar.
“…she’s still breathing.”
“Barely.”
“Who did this to her?”
I tried to move.
Failed.
Even breathing felt like a struggle, my chest rising in shallow, uneven pulls. My body was heavy… too heavy. Like I was sinking deeper into something I couldn’t escape.
“Open your eyes.”
The voice was different.
Low.
Commanding.
Not loud but it carried a weight that cut through the darkness like a blade.
And somehow… my body obeyed.
My eyelids fluttered open.
At first, everything was blurred. Shapes. Shadows. Flickers of light.
Then slowly…
He came into focus.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Wrapped in darkness like it belonged to him.
His presence alone was enough to make the air feel… tight.
Dangerous.
My breath caught weakly in my throat.
Who… is he…?
His eyes locked onto mine sharp, piercing, unreadable. There was no warmth in them… but there was something else.
Recognition?
No…
Interest.
“Strange,” he murmured, almost to himself.
I tried to speak, but my lips barely moved.
“P-please…” My voice cracked, dry and broken. “Don’t… hurt me…”
A faint flicker passed through his expression.
Not quite emotion.
But not indifference either.
“If I wanted you dead,” he said calmly, “you would already be.”
The bluntness of it sent a chill through me.
Yet… strangely, I believed him.
My body trembled as I struggled to stay conscious. The pain came rushing back all at once the rejection, the bond, the rogues
The power.
My eyes widened slightly.
“What… happened…?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he crouched in front of me, his gaze studying me like I was something he couldn’t quite figure out.
“You tell me,” he said.
“I… I don’t know…” My voice shook. “They attacked me and then… something just”
“Exploded?” he finished quietly.
I nodded weakly.
His eyes darkened slightly.
Interesting.
That word wasn’t spoken aloud.
But I felt it.
And for some reason… it made my chest tighten.
“Alpha,” another voice called from behind him. “Rogues are retreating. They won’t come back tonight.”
Alpha.
The word echoed in my mind.
My gaze snapped back to him, a flicker of fear rising again.
Another Alpha.
And not just any Alpha.
There was something about him… something heavier than anything I had ever felt before.
Even Kael’s presence had never felt like this.
This man was… different.
“Good,” he said simply, without looking away from me.
Then his attention returned fully.
To me.
“What is your name?”
“Lira…” I swallowed weakly. “Lira Vale…”
A pause.
Something shifted in his expression again.
“Vale…” he repeated slowly.
As if the name meant something.
But that didn’t make sense.
No one important carried that name.
I was no one.
Wasn’t I?
“You were cast out,” he said, not a question.
I flinched.
The memory hit like a fresh wound.
“I was rejected,” I corrected softly, my voice breaking despite my effort to stay steady.
For a moment… silence stretched between us.
Then
“Fools.”
The word was quiet.
But filled with cold certainty.
My eyes widened slightly.
“What…?”
He stood, his full height somehow making him seem even more imposing.
“Any Alpha who throws away power without recognizing it…” His gaze dropped back to me, sharp and unwavering. “…doesn’t deserve to lead.”
My heart skipped.
Power?
Me?
That didn’t make any sense.
“I’m not” I tried to shake my head, but even that small movement made the world spin. “I’m not powerful…”
His expression didn’t change.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
Before I could respond, he turned slightly.
“Take her.”
Two figures stepped forward immediately.
Panic surged through me.
“Wait” I struggled weakly, fear tightening my chest. “Where are you taking me?”
No one answered.
Not even him.
Instead, he looked down at me one last time, his voice calm… final.
“Somewhere you won’t die.”
That wasn’t exactly comforting.
But it wasn’t cruel either.
My strength gave out completely as they carefully lifted me from the ground. My vision blurred again, darkness creeping in at the edges.
I didn’t fight this time.
I couldn’t.
As everything faded, my gaze locked onto him one last time.
The Alpha in the shadows.
The one who didn’t look at me with disgust…
Or pity…
But with something far more dangerous.
Interest.
And just be
fore I lost consciousness, I heard his voice again low, almost thoughtful.
“Let’s see what you really are, Lira Vale…”
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