The Alpha Forbidden heir

The nightmare always began with the moon. It was always the first thing he saw. A silver circle hanging above the dark sky, too large and too bright, watching over the silent kingdom below. Its cold light touched every corner of the palace, turning the once-beautiful halls into something unfamiliar. Something terrifying. The palace was supposed to be a place of warmth. A place where laughter filled the corridors and servants moved through the halls with smiles on their faces. But that night, there was nothing. No voices. No footsteps. No familiar faces. Only silence. A small boy stood alone in the middle of the throne room. His bare feet rested against the cold marble floor. His silver-white hair fell messily over his forehead, and his small fingers held tightly onto a wooden wolf carved with a care that only a loving hand could give. He did not know why he was alone. He did not know where everyone had gone. All he knew was that something was wrong. “Mother?” His voice was small. Almost lost inside the enormous room. He waited. But the only answer he received was the echo of his own voice fading into the darkness. The boy slowly looked toward the throne. Empty. The sight made his chest tighten. His mother had always told him that no matter what happened, the throne would always represent hope. But tonight, it looked like a reminder that he had lost something he could never get back. Then the palace doors opened. Not gently. Not normally. They crashed against the walls with a force that made the entire room shake. The boy turned around. A figure stood at the entrance. A man. His face was hidden beneath a dark cloak, but even from a distance, the boy could feel something dangerous about him. The air itself seemed heavier. The boy stepped back. “Who are you?” The man did not answer immediately. He only stared. As if he was looking at something that should not exist. Then he finally spoke. “You really don’t remember.” The boy frowned. “Remember what?” The stranger walked closer. Every step echoed through the empty throne room. “You.” The boy tightened his grip around the wooden wolf. “I don’t understand.” The man stopped a few feet away. “You were never supposed to survive.” The words felt colder than the night air. Before the boy could ask another question, everything around him changed. The screams returned. The flames returned. The memory he could never understand returned. And then the moon disappeared. --- Asher Knight woke up before sunrise. For a moment, he did not move. He simply stared at the ceiling, listening to his own breathing as the last pieces of the dream slowly faded away. But the feeling remained. It always did. Twenty years had passed, yet the nightmare never changed. The moon. The palace. The voice. They followed him through every stage of his life. Asher sat up and pressed a hand against his forehead. He hated that dream. Not because it frightened him. But because a part of him believed it was not a dream at all. It felt like a memory. A memory belonging to someone he used to be. Someone he had forgotten. He looked toward the window. The first light of morning was beginning to appear. Another day. Another chance to pretend. That was what Asher had become good at. Pretending. Pretending he was ordinary. Pretending he did not have questions that haunted him. Pretending he did not feel like a piece of a story that had been torn away. At Blackthorn Academy, nobody knew the truth about him. And he intended to keep it that way. Blackthorn Academy was a world of its own. It was a place built for the powerful. The children of CEOs, politicians, and wealthy families walked through its halls like they owned the future. Most of them did. They carried their family names like shields. They knew they would always have someone protecting them. Asher had no such luxury. To everyone there, he was simply a scholarship student. Quiet. Distant. Forgettable. And honestly, he preferred it. Being unnoticed meant being safe. Because secrets were dangerous. Especially his. “Are you planning to sit there all morning?” Asher looked up. Noah stood beside his desk, holding two cups of coffee. His best friend had a habit of appearing whenever Asher wanted to be alone. “I’m in class.” Noah looked around the empty classroom. “Class starts in twenty minutes.” Asher glanced at the coffee in his hand. “You brought me one?” “No.” Noah placed it on his desk. “I brought it for the person sitting next to you.” Asher looked around. “There’s nobody there.” “Exactly.” A small smile appeared on Asher’s face. Noah noticed. “You should do that more often.” “Do what?” “Smile.” Asher looked away. “I smile.” “No, you don’t.” Before Asher could reply, the room suddenly became quiet. Not normal quiet. The kind of silence that happened when everyone’s attention moved toward the same person. Asher looked toward the classroom entrance. A man stood there. And the moment Asher saw him, something inside him went still. Lucas Draven. The name alone carried weight. The billionaire CEO of Draven Industries. The Alpha King of the Beast Clans. A man feared by many and respected by even more. He was someone who stood at the top of the world. Yet his eyes were focused on one person. Asher. For a moment, neither of them moved. Asher felt something he had not felt in years. Recognition. Not from his mind. From somewhere deeper. Somewhere he could not explain. Lucas Draven looked at him like he had found something he had spent years searching for. And Asher hated that a part of him felt the same way. The classroom slowly filled with whispers. But Asher barely heard any of them. Because he already knew. The life he built around being ordinary was beginning to fall apart. The past he buried was coming back. And the man standing in front of him… Might be the key to everything he had lost.