Chapter 5: The Silver Trial
973 Words
Chapter 5: The Silver Trial
I didn't stay in bed.
A true wolf doesn’t heal by hiding under furs.
Ten minutes later, I walked out of Kaelen’s cabin wearing a pair of dark tactical pants and a tight tank top that the female rogue, Maya, had left for me.
My sprained ankle was completely healed—a miracle courtesy of my new silver bloodline.
The moment my boots hit the dirt of the training grounds, the ambient noise of the camp died down.
Dozens of rogues stopped what they were doing.
Warriors holding heavy axes, scarred omegas, and young scouts all turned their heads.
Their noses flared, catching my scent.
"Is that her?"
a burly, scarred warrior muttered, dropping his shield.
"The one who howled last night? She looks like a stiff breeze could blow her over."
"She smells like an Omega,"
another whispered, a dark sneer crossing his face.
"Alpha Kaelen brought a stray into our sanctuary."
I didn’t lower my head.
I had spent eighteen years enduring the Crescent Pack's insults; these rogues couldn't say anything I hadn't already heard.
I walked straight toward the center of the ring, my gaze locked onto the horizon.
"She’s not just a stray."
Kaelen’s deep, commanding voice sliced through the murmurs.
He stepped out from the shadow of a weapon shed, his golden eyes locking onto mine.
A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes when he saw me walking without a limp, replaced instantly by that familiar, burning pride.
"Alpha,"
the burly warrior, whose name was Jaxon, stepped forward and bowed his head out of respect to Kaelen.
"With all due respect, the Blackwood Pack only keeps those who can fight. If she's just an Omega fleeing a mate rejection, she belongs in the kitchens, not the rings."
Kaelen didn't answer right away.
Instead, he walked over to me, stopping so close I could feel the heat radiating from his bare chest.
He leaned down, his scent of rich chocolate and dark winter wrapping around me like a blanket.
"They doubt you, Aria,"
Kaelen murmured, his voice too low for the others to hear.
"In a rogue pack, respect isn't given. It's taken in blood. Do you want me to order them to back down?"
"No,"
I said, looking up into his molten gold eyes, my jaw tight.
"If you protect me now, I’ll always be just your pet. I’m nobody’s pet."
Kaelen’s lips curved into a wicked, breathless smile.
His eyes darkened with pure, unadulterated desire.
"God, you are magnificent,"
he whispered, stepping back.
"The ring is yours, little wolf."
I turned to face Jaxon.
He was a Gamma-level warrior, broad as a barn and covered in battle scars.
"You think I belong in the kitchen?"
I said, stepping into the dusty circle of the training ring.
I raised my chin, my voice carrying across the entire camp.
"Come put me there."
A collective gasp echoed through the crowd. Jaxon laughed, a loud, booming sound.
"An Omega challenging a Gamma? Princess, I don't like hitting girls."
"Good. Because you won't be hitting me."
Jaxon's smile vanished.
His amber eyes flashed as he dropped into a fighting stance.
He didn't shift—he didn't think he needed to.
He lunged forward, his massive, heavy fist swinging straight for my face with enough force to shatter a human jaw.
In the past, I would have frozen.
But now, time seemed to slow down.
My silver wolf roared in my mind, and suddenly, Jaxon's movements looked incredibly sluggish.
I ducked beneath his punch, fluid as water.
Before he could recover, I drove my palm upward, striking him squarely in the chest.
I didn't just use human strength—I tapped into the raw, dormant power flowing in my veins.
BOOM.
The impact sounded like a car crash.
Jaxon, who weighed easily two hundred and fifty pounds, was lifted off his feet and sent flying backward, crashing hard into the wooden fence of the ring.
The wood splintered under his weight.
The training grounds went dead silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Jaxon groaned, pushing himself up from the dirt, his eyes wide with utter shock.
"What the hell... what kind of Omega are you?"
"The kind that doesn't bow,"
I said, my voice echoing with a subtle, dual-layered tone that made the weaker wolves in the crowd shiver.
Deep inside me, the white wolf wanted to hunt.
I let a fraction of my silver aura bleed out.
A faint, glowing mist wrapped around my forearms, and my eyes shifted from brown to a brilliant, luminescent silver.
The bloodline pressure hit the ring like a physical shockwave.
Jaxon gasped, his knees trembling.
The raw, ancient dominance radiating from me was something his wolf couldn't fight.
It wasn't the tyrannical, oppressive pressure of a regular Alpha—it felt like a goddess demanding reverence.
Without a word, Jaxon dropped to one knee, lowering his head.
"Forgive me... My Luna."
The word Luna sent a thrill through the crowd.
One by one, the surrounding rogues—the outcasts, the warriors, the cynics—all dropped to their knees, bowing their heads to me.
Not because Kaelen ordered them to, but because they recognized a true ruler.
I stood in the center of the ring, the silver light fading from my eyes, looking at the army that was now mine to command.
I looked over at Kaelen.
He hadn't knelt, of course—he was a Lycan King.
But he was watching me with an expression that bordered on obsession.
He clapped slowly, his golden eyes burning through me, promising a thousand things he wanted to do to me behind closed doors.
"Welcome to the Blackwood, Aria,"
Kaelen said, his deep voice vibrating with pride.
"Now, let's talk about how we're going to make your old pack bleed."
- Writer
