Chapter 19
768 Words
Alpha Darius
"You stupid boy."
The words cut through the heavy silence of the study like a blade.
Jaxon stands rigid before the large mahogany desk, jaw tight, fists clenched at his sides as Alpha Darius circles him slowly.
Measured.
Cold.
Controlled.
"You had one task," Alpha Darius continues, voice dangerously calm. "One simple task. Make sure they could not trace her scent."
Jaxon swallows but says nothing.
"You allowed them near her," Alpha Darius says, eyes narrowing. "You allowed them to feel the bond."
The air inside the study feels suffocating.
Thick with restrained fury.
Ancient oil paintings line the dark wooden walls, their subjects long forgotten wolves of power and conquest. Candlelight flickers faintly across the polished floor, casting long shadows that twist unnaturally along the edges of the room.
Darius turns sharply toward the fireplace.
"Where is Beta Garrick?" he demands.
The command echoes instantly through the Ironclaw mind-link network.
Heavy.
Impossible to ignore.
Moments later, a knock sounds at the door.
Beta Garrick steps inside quietly.
The moment he enters, the tension becomes almost unbearable.
"You are pathetic," Alpha Darius spits.
The insult lands with quiet venom.
"I entrusted you with her protection," Alpha Darius continues, voice lowering. "And yet somehow... four future Alphas of Red Moon scented her existence within a single afternoon."
Beta Garrick lowers his gaze slightly, though his mind races violently beneath his calm exterior.
"How did they scent her?" Alpha Darius presses.
"How did they feel the bond?"
Silence stretches between them.
Beta Garrick's stomach twists painfully.
He has raised Hailey since she was an infant.
Protected her.
Guided her.
Loved her as though she were his own child.
He remembers the night he found her.
Cold wind sweeping across the border.
A single basket hidden beneath frost-covered brush.
A baby wrapped in blankets woven with fine golden thread.
Too fine for common wolves.
Too ancient in design.
And beside her...
two swords.
Magnificent.
Balanced perfectly.
Each blade etched with ancient runic symbols no modern pack recognised.
Symbols older than recorded wolf history.
Symbols tied to myth.
To prophecy.
To legend.
Garrick knew immediately.
She was not ordinary.
She was the child whispered about in forbidden texts.
The forgotten bloodline.
The one spoken of only in quiet warnings.
The one said to either unite the four ancient clans...
Or destroy them completely.
He made a choice that night.
He swore to protect her.
Even from the Alpha himself.
Because Alpha Darius was not the man the pack believed him to be.
Behind his calm leadership...
Behind his measured speeches...
Behind his reputation as protector of strays...
Lived something darker.
Something dangerous.
Something willing to sacrifice anything for power.
Alpha Darius' obsession with prophecy had grown steadily over the years.
He collected forbidden texts.
Consulted shadowed witches.
Practised rituals no Alpha should ever consider.
Black magic.
Dark bargains.
Ancient forces that demanded balance in blood.
"I know it was you," Alpha Darius says suddenly, voice quiet but lethal.
His eyes sharpen dangerously.
"You attempted to hide her identity from me."
Beta Garrick remains silent.
"I suspected the moment her hair began to change," Alpha Darius continues.
"The silver emerging."
"The shift beginning."
"The blood awakening."
His smile is thin.
Hungry.
"I have spent decades searching for her."
His gaze darkens.
"Across hundreds of territories."
"Through dozens of orphaned pups brought into this pack."
Each word falls heavier than the last.
"We finally have her."
His fingers press firmly against the desk.
"She is mine."
The possessiveness in his voice feels wrong.
Distorted.
Dangerous.
Beta Garrick's stomach twists violently.
"You slaughtered innocent children last night," Beta Garrick says quietly, unable to contain the bitterness rising inside him.
Alpha Darius does not even flinch.
"They were not the one," he replies coldly.
"They served their purpose."
Beta Garrick's hands curl slowly into fists.
"No more wasted resources," Darius continues dismissively.
"No more feeding useless mouths."
"We have the one we need now."
His eyes gleam with dark anticipation.
"She will change everything."
Power pulses beneath his words.
Ambition.
Madness.
Belief twisted into obsession.
"The four bloodlines will bend," he continues quietly.
"The ancient clans will kneel."
"All because of her."
Beta Garrick's chest tightens painfully.
Because he knows.
If Alpha Darius finds her first...
She will not be protected.
She will be used.
Controlled.
Broken if necessary.
Darius steps closer.
"You will bring her to me," he commands quietly.
"Before Red Moon finds her again."
The room feels colder suddenly.
Heavier.
"And this time," Alpha Darius adds softly, "you will not fail."
Because prophecy does not wait forever.
And neither does power.
- Writer
