3.The Alpha ultimatum
1617 Words
LYRA
The smell of antiseptic was the first thing that filtered through the haze. My eyes snapped open, and for a second, the world was a blur of white ceiling tiles. Every bone in my body felt like it had been pulverized and then fused back together.
I tried to sit up, but a sharp gasp escaped my throat.
"Don't move, Lyra," my mother’s voice whispered. She was seating on the edge of the bed I layed on, her head wrapped in a light bandage, her face pale.
"The healing is almost finished, but your bones are still soft."
I looked down at my hands. They were pale, but the deep lacerations from the glass were already nothing but thin, pink lines.
Our wolves had saved us from the crash. being a wolf didn't stop the phantom sensation of the impact and the thought of the terrifying scream of my mother as the fog swallowed us.
The door to the private room open.The air in the room died. My wolf, usually a fierce, snarling creature, flattened herself against the back of my mind, whimpering in absolute terror.
Alpha Vane Thorne Chen walked in.
He didn't walk in like a father coming to see his injured child. He marched in like an executioner. His presence was a suffocating weight of disappointment and pure, cold-blooded disgust. He stopped at the foot of my bed, his grey eyes burning with a light that made the fluorescent bulbs flicker.
"just take a look at what you have done to yourself," he said disgustingly. His voice wasn't loud, but it vibrated in my chest like a death knell.
"You almost killed my Luna, your mother because you couldn't control your hysterics over a stupid Beta’s son."
"Vane, please," my mother pleaded, her voice trembling. "It was an accident. The fog—"
"The fog didn't cause this. Her stupidity did."
He turned his gaze back to me, and I felt my blood turn to cold. This was the man I had called a monster. This was the man I had defied for Kaelen. And he was standing there, proving that every word he’d ever said was a prophecy I was too blind to see.
"I should have left you in the wreckage. A Thorne Chen who tries to take her own life over a social climber is a Thorne Chen I have no use for."
"I wasn't trying to—"
"Silence!" His aura flared, a crushing wave of Alpha command that forced the air from my lungs.
"I will deal with Kaelen and his father. I will strip their bloodline until there is nothing left for them to hold on to. But you... you are done with Norway."
A knock at the door interrupted the suffocating silence. A doctor in a white coat stepped in, looking at his clipboard and then at the massive man dominating the room.
"Alpha Vane," the doctor said, bowing his head. "The scans are clear. The healing factor has completely repaired the internal hemorrhaging and the multiple fractures. Lyra is fully restored. She can be discharged today."
My father didn't even look at the doctor. He kept his eyes on me.
I scrambled out of the bed, my legs shaky but holding. My body was "fixed," but my soul felt like it was hanging by a thread.
"The Council is meeting in a few days. The treaty renewal is upon us, and I will not have my family scattered and weak while the others watch. You will return to London. You will finish your studies at home"
"London?" I whispered. The thought of walking into the pack house, fear of being "The Rejected Luna" in front of my father's council, made me want to sick.
I remember leaving home three years ago happily glaring to them that I have found my mate. Kaelen had came home to London and instantly our wolf sync and we realised we are fated. Ava left home when we were kids.i was very happy when I find out kaelen and Ava were in the same school.
Immediately I had mounted pressure on my parents that I wanted to change my school. It wasn't easy but I won and now the result of my victory is bound to be my end.the rejected Luna who could not even keep a Beta son.
"Dad, please. Let me go to Thornewood Academy." I finally found my voice.
He narrowed his eyes. "The mixed-species school? Why would I send my heir to a place filled with leeches and half-breeds?"
"Because no one knows me there," I said, my voice gaining a desperate strength. "In the North, I am a scandal. I am a joke. At Thornewood, I can be a student. I can start over where the 'Rejected Luna' tag doesn't mean anything. I need a fresh start, away from the packs."
Vane let out a short, bitter laugh. "A fresh start. You think you can hide from your own shame?"
My mother reached out and touched his arm, her eyes pleading. She leaned in, whispering something into his ear—Vane stayed silent for a long moment, the tension in the room so thick it was hard to breathe.
"Fine," he finally growled. "You have three days to finalize your transfer and pack your life. I and your mom will return back to London and prepare for the council Treaty meeting. This is your final chance, Lyra. You have disgraced the Thorne Chen name enough. If you fail at Thornewood—if you bring even a whisper of shame to this family again, you will be struck from the records. You will have no name. No pack. No family to return to. Do you understand?"
"I understand," I whispered, bowing my head. It wasn't an offer. It was an ultimatum.
I had to be perfect in London, or I wouldn't have a family to come back to.
The left the next day. My mom hugged me at the door, her eyes red-rimmed and watery.
"I love you, Lyra. Please... don't let this turn you into someone you aren't."
"I love you too, Mom."
The door closed, and the apartment became a tomb. I spent the next three days in a daze, packing my life into suitcases and throwing the white silk dress I wore for the engagement into the incinerator. I watched the flames lick the fabric until it was nothing but ash. It felt like progress.
_________
Three days later, I was at the airport. Kaelen and Ava have been sending me tonnes of messages and calls which I have blocked but still get notifications. I plan to ditch the line the moment I get to London and ofcourse, I am leaving Norway for them.
Oslo Airport was crowded, but I walked through the terminal like a ghost. I wore an oversized hoodie and dark glasses, my hood pulled low to hide the amber flicker that still sparked in my eyes whenever I thought of Kaelen. No one looked at me. No one knew that three days ago, I had been the center of the biggest scandal in the werewolf world.
I boarded the plane. First class was nearly empty. I found my window seat and sank into it, resting my head against the cool glass. I just wanted the engines to roar. I wanted the pressure of the takeoff to pin me to my seat so I didn't have to feel the weight of my own thoughts.
People filed past. Then, I felt him.
It was just a sensation—a sudden drop in the temperature of the air around me. It was a figure in my peripheral vision, moving with a lethal, quiet grace that no human could ever possess. He was tall, dressed entirely in black, and he moved like he was sliding through shadows rather than walking through a cabin.
He sat a few rows ahead of me. On the aisle.
I watched the back of his head for a moment. His hair was dark, almost blue-black in the cabin lights. Then I looked away, my mind drifting back to the marking room and my father voice. You should have listened to me.
"You're a wolf."
The voice was a low, quiet vibration that seemed to come from right beside my ear.
I snapped my head around. He was standing in the aisle, looking down at me. Up close, he was terrifyingly beautiful. His skin was the color of moonlight, and his eyes were a stormy, piercing grey. They weren't just cold; they were ancient.
"And you're a vampire," I snapped, my wolf bristling beneath my skin. "Congratulations. We both have eyes. Now get away from me."
His mouth twitched. It wasn't a smile; it was the baring of a predator's interest.
"I heard about you," he said, leaning in just enough for me to smell the scent of him—cold and something metallic. "The Alpha of Alphas' daughter. The one who got humiliated at her own engagement. I didn't think you’d be the type to hide on a commercial flight."
My hands gripped the armrests until the leather creaked. My wolf let out a snarl that I only barely managed to keep behind my teeth. "Watch your mouth, Leech."
He didn't flinch. If anything, he seemed amused by the threat. He leaned closer, his eyes darkening to a deeper shade of charcoal.
"Make me."
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