The Shadow of Bloodwork
492 Words
Before the Alpha
Seth’s Flashback
Long before the title. Long before the fear in others’ eyes.
Seth was just a second son.
His father, Alpha Kael, ruled the Shadowfang Pack from the spine of the Southern Ridges — deep within a hidden valley surrounded by jagged cliffs and thick, whispering forests. The pack thrived on discipline and strength, nestled in a land where the moon barely reached the ground.
The Shadowfang Pack was ruthless, revered for their warriors and feared for their silence. No songs. No prayers. Only law.
Seth was stronger than his older brother, Draven, faster, more loyal, and more in tune with his wolf. But he was also too bold. Too honest. Too human.
Kael hated that.
⸻
The Betrayal
Seth was sixteen when he first saw the truth.
His father didn’t want heirs. He wanted servants. Soldiers. Weapons.
And Kael didn’t want a Luna. He wanted control.
Seth’s mother, Liora, was kind. The only softness in the cold heart of the pack. She taught Seth how to track with silence and how to protect without pride.
She also saw too much.
So Kael took a lover—Soraya—a wolf from the Blackrock clan with poison in her smile and a hunger for power. She became his shadow, his whisperer, and eventually… his blade.
Seth found his mother’s body in the river.
Her throat was slit. Her eyes were open.
Kael called it a rogue attack.
Seth didn’t believe him.
The night he confronted his father, Draven stood beside Kael—not Seth.
And in that moment, he realized: he’d never been a son to them. Just a threat.
⸻
The Rise of the True Alpha
At twenty, Seth challenged Kael for the Alpha seat.
The trial was brutal—to the death, by ancient law.
His father laughed when he stepped into the ring.
He didn’t laugh long.
Seth didn’t kill him quickly. He made him feel every second of what he’d done. Every scar. Every lie. Every time he’d turned a blind eye to the pain in their house.
Kael died in the dirt, and Draven fled that night—wounded, humiliated, vowing revenge.
Seth never saw his brother again.
But he knew he’d return someday.
And when he did, Seth would finish it.
⸻
Shadowfang’s Location
The Shadowfang Pack rules from the Southern Ridge Range, a cold and secluded region surrounded by natural fortresses:
• North: a deep blackwater marsh filled with magical fog (called The Hollow Bends)
• East: the jagged cliffs known as Fang’s Edge — impossible to climb without shifting
• South: the remnants of old ruins from a forgotten wolf cult
• West: the pine-thick barrier forest known as Whisper Vale — a sacred no-go zone for most packs
Shadowfang wolves train in silence, hunt at night, and follow strength, not birthright.
Seth didn’t inherit leadership.
He took it.
And he never let anyone forget what it cost him.
- Writer
