Alpha Of Ashes

The Dress Lined With Poison

Victor Kane stood in Selene's doorway holding my blood and smiling like a father who caught his daughter stealing.

He held a second rag, also bloody, also white. Phoenix white. He had taken a sample from the banquet floor after Selene stole the first one back. He had two now. Or he thought he did.

Selene went pale, but she didn't flinch. That is what makes Selene Kane interesting. She is not just beautiful, she is a survivor. She grew up with a man who wants to erase the female Alpha gene forever because a female Alpha once rejected his father and ruined his family. She learned to lie with a smile before she learned to shift.

"Father," she said, voice sweet, "I told you, the maid burned herself. Human ointment. Mara's trick. You know how Omegas are. Dramatic."

Victor didn't look at Selene. He looked at me. At Mira. At Kira Storm, only female Alpha in the North, twenty one when she was supposed to marry Zane Crowe to unite packs, massacred on mating night, dragged to forest, made to stab herself, buried alive by mate who whispered die as my Luna so you can live as my revenge, survived because rogue healer Mara found her, wolf went silent, scar never healed, trained three years as human doctor, back now as nameless wolfless Omega maid to warn Zane and get revenge, while Zane does not recognize her or pretends not to.

He saw me. Really saw me.

"Grey eyes," he said softly. "Ash Pack had grey eyes. Yara had grey eyes. The woman who rejected my father and ruined my family had grey eyes. You have grey eyes, Mouse."

My meaningful core struggle was right there, under his stare. If I speak, I break cover and he kills me and Zane tonight. If I stay mute, he will take me to his lab anyway, because Victor doesn't need proof to erase. He needs suspicion. And I was glowing. My scar under the leather collar was starting to glow orange. Full moon tonight. ARC THREE says my scar starts glowing during a full moon and I shift for the first time in three years into a wolf made of ash and fire and only Zane sees it. It was starting early, because of stress, because of Phoenix white blood on the floor, because of mate bond snapping back for one second when Zane smelled my blood in the banquet hall and said I have never seen you before in my life and lied.

I did what Mira would do. I knelt. Head down. Hands shaking. Mute.

Zane burst in behind Victor. He had followed. He had heard Victor leave the hall. He saw me on my knees, Selene frozen, Victor holding bloody rags.

"Victor," Zane said, voice low, exhausted, guilt-ridden, not cold and possessive. "Enough. She is a maid. My maid. My house. My rules."

That was the first time he claimed me since he buried me alive.

Victor finally looked at Zane. Father to son. He put his hand on Zane's shoulder, like a godfather. "Zane, son, you have been strange since this Omega arrived. Breaking chairs. Visiting graves. You think every grey-eyed Omega is her, don't you? Kira?"

Zane flinched. Everyone thinks he is the cruel Alpha who killed his Luna. Only he knows he visits her empty grave every night because he thinks he is a monster who killed her.

"I buried Kira," Zane said, voice raw. "She is dead. This is not Kira."

He was trying to protect me by denying me. That is his pattern. He did not kill me out of hate, he killed me to fake my death, because prophecy says Ash bloodline must die before it can awaken, if I had lived that night as Alpha Victor would have executed me publicly and taken my power, so by burying me alive he broke bond temporarily and hid bloodline, my wolf didn't die it went dormant. He thinks he saved me by killing me. Now he thinks he is saving me again by denying me.

Victor smiled. "Good. Then you won't mind if I take this Omega to Blood Stone for questioning. Omegas who bleed white are rare. Could be useful for my research. For erasing the female Alpha gene forever. You understand. Science."

He grabbed my wrist. His grip was iron. Kane grip.

Selene moved fast. She took the wedding dress hanging on the mannequin, the white surrender dress lined with vials, wolfsbane, silver shavings, Phoenix ash poison for a Phoenix wolf, and she knocked it over, vials shattering, white powder and smoke filling the room.

"Father! My dress! You ruined my dress!" she screamed, playing daughter.

Smoke, white and acrid, filled the chambers. Wolfsbane smoke. It burns wolves' lungs, but I trained as human doctor, I know to hold breath, to drop low.

In the smoke, Zane grabbed me, not Selene, me, and pulled me out into the hall, slamming Selene's chamber door behind us, leaving Victor coughing inside.

He dragged me down the servants' hall, into the old laundry, into the dark, and locked the door. We were alone. Maid and Alpha. Wife and husband who buried wife alive on wedding day.

He pushed me against the stone wall, breathing hard, hands on either side of my head, not touching me, caging me.

"Who are you?" he whispered, silver eyes black, dead wolf howling inside him, howling for mine.

I could not stay mute anymore. Not when he was this close, not when his scent was winter and pine and grave dirt, not when his guilt was choking us both.

I ripped off the leather collar. My scar glowed orange, full moon light, even though we were inside. Three years since I shifted. Three years since Ember went silent.

"I'm the girl you buried alive," I whispered, voice raw, broken from three years of pretending to be mute. "On our wedding day. Not my enemies. My own mate."

Zane went white. His hands dropped. He stumbled back like I hit him.

"Kira?" he breathed. The name he visits at the empty grave every night.

I nodded, tears finally coming, cold, dead inside at first then ruthless later, as bible says. "You put a dagger in my hand, pointed it at my heart, and whispered die as my Luna so you can live as my revenge. You buried me alive. I lived. Mara found me. My wolf went silent. My scar never healed. For three years I trained as human doctor. I came back as Mira, mute Omega maid, to warn you Victor is about to destroy Winter Fang same way he destroyed Ash, and you are about to marry his daughter, Selene, the man who ordered my pack's m******e. And you looked at me across the hall and said I have never seen you before in my life."

He fell to his knees. Alpha of Winter Fang, on his knees in a laundry room, in front of a maid.

"I thought you were dead," he choked. "I thought I killed you. I visit your grave every night. Empty grave. I built it empty because I never found your body after I buried you alive. I thought you died in the dirt. I thought I killed my Luna to save her."

That was the twist that makes it original. He did not kill me out of hate. He killed me to fake my death.

He confessed, words tumbling, as ARC FOUR says he would, Zane finally realizes Mira is Kira, confesses why he buried her.

"Victor was going to execute you publicly on the Ash altar and take your Phoenix power. Prophecy says Ash bloodline must die before it can awaken. If you lived that night as Alpha, he would have taken you. So I broke bond, made you stab yourself shallow, buried you shallow, so you could crawl out. I broke bond temporarily to hide bloodline. Your wolf didn't die, it went dormant to survive. I thought you would crawl out. You didn't. You were gone. I thought you died."

I slapped him. Hard. As bible says Kira slaps him and says you do not get to decide if I live or die.

"You do not get to decide if I live or die," I hissed, voice shaking, Alpha voice even though I was supposed to be wolfless. "You do not get to decide to bury me alive. You do not get to decide to marry Selene Kane to get close to Victor. You do not get to decide to visit my empty grave every night and think that is penance."

He looked up at me, tears in silver eyes, exhausted, guilt-ridden. "Then what do you want me to do?"

"Tell me why Selene knows I am alive," I said. "Tell me why she offered to help me kill her father on her wedding night. Tell me why Victor has two rags with my white blood. Tell me why your wedding dress is lined with poison for a Phoenix wolf."

Zane stood, slow, and he took my hands, scar glowing orange, his hands cold.

"Because Selene is not Victor's daughter," he whispered. "She is Yara's granddaughter. Female Alpha who rejected his father and ruined his family? That was her grandmother. Yara hid a daughter. Selene is half Frost, half Kane. She bleeds white too, sometimes. She wants to be only female Alpha in North. She knew you were alive because she smelled you the second you entered Winter Fang. She let Victor use her. And Victor's final plan, as bible says ARC NINE, kill Zane and use Kira's Phoenix blood to become immortal, starts tonight. He is not taking you to Blood Stone for questioning. He is taking you to altar where we were supposed to marry, where Ash was massacred, to kill you for real this time, publicly, to take Phoenix blood."

Outside laundry, bells rang. Not kitchen bell. War bell. Winter Fang war bell. Blood Stone had breached the outer wall. Victor had planned it. He had locked doors earlier to trap us, now he opened gates to let his own army in to destroy Winter Fang next.

And my scar glowed brighter, orange, then white, then ash grey, and my bones cracked, not breaking, shifting, first time in three years, into wolf made of ash and fire, as ARC THREE says, only Zane sees it, but this time not only Zane, because Selene's chamber door burst open and Victor Kane walked out holding Selene by hair, holding a knife to her throat, holding both bloody rags, and he looked at me mid-shift, half woman half ash fire wolf, and said,

"Ah. There she is. Kira Storm, Alpha of Ash Pack, only female Alpha in North, thought dead three years, back as mute maid Mira. Perfect. Now I can kill you properly, on your wedding altar, in front of your husband who buried you alive once and will have to bury you again. Unless, Zane, you kill her for me right now, publicly, to prove loyalty, as ARC FIVE says, Victor discovers Kira is alive and forces Zane to kill her again publicly to prove loyalty and Zane must choose. Choose now, Zane Crowe, your Luna who you buried alive and who came back, or your pack who will die tonight if Blood Stone takes Winter Fang. One of us must die. Who will it be?"

Behind Victor, in the smoke of Selene's ruined dress, the vials of wolfsbane and Phoenix ash poison were still burning, and the smoke formed a word in the air, ash word, only I could read, because I am Phoenix: *BURN.*