THE UNSCENTED LUNA

The Alpha's Claim

​Chapter 13: The Alpha's Claim

​The heavy oak door didn’t just open; it slammed back against the stone wall with a crack that echoed like a gunshot through the silent morning.

​I scrambled back against the silk pillows, pulling the plum-colored velvet sheets up to my collarbone. The cooling air of the room instantly shattered as a massive, suffocating wave of dominant power flooded the chamber.

​Kael Vireon stood in the doorway.

​The Alpha King had stripped away his formal court robes, wearing only a half-buttoned black tunic that stretched tight across his ruthlessly muscled chest. His silver-white hair was wild, catching the sharp morning light, but it was his eyes that froze the blood in my veins. They weren't molten gold anymore—they were pitch-black, his wolf roaring at the very surface of his skin.

​His nostrils flared as he took a deep, aggressive breath, scenting the room.

​Instantly, his gaze locked onto Darius Kane, who was still kneeling by the edge of my mattress, his massive hands gripping the sheets. The air in the room turned white-hot, saturated with the dangerous, clashing signatures of two apex predators. Kael’s scent of pine and burnt cedar collided violently with Darius’s heavy ozone and iron.

​"Get away from her, Commander," Kael growled. The register was so low it made the floorboards beneath my bare feet vibrate.

​Darius didn't drop his head. The absolute voice I had used on the highway had permanently shattered his allegiance to the crown, anchoring his loyalty entirely to my void. He rose slowly to his full height, his massive frame shifting to shield me from the King’s advance. His gray eyes flashed with a reckless, protective madness.

​"You claimed her body for the throne, Kael," Darius barked back, his hand resting firmly on the hilt of his broadsword. "But your scent doesn't mask the vacuum. My wolf will tear this palace down before I let you lock her away again."

​"This is your execution, Darius," Kael whispered.

​In a blur of lethal speed, Kael closed the distance. He didn't draw a weapon; he used the raw, ancestral strength of his bloodline. His large hand shot out, clamping around Darius's collarpiece and throwing the massive War Commander sideways into the basalt pillar. The stone cracked under the impact, dust raining down onto the fur rugs.

​Darius snarled, recovering instantly. He lunged forward, his heavy shoulder slamming into Kael’s midsection, driving the King backward toward the bed.

​"Stop it!" I commanded, my voice sharp enough to make both men stiffen.

​The primordial energy inside my chest flared, a brief spike of golden warmth prickling beneath my fingernails. The two alphas froze mid-stride, their chests heaving, their wolves whining in the backs of their minds as they forced themselves to hold back from tearing each other to pieces in front of me.

​Kael turned his dark, obsessive gaze to me, his pupils dilating as he took another deep breath of the scentless air surrounding my skin. The pure satisfaction of his earlier claim warred with a dark, territorial jealousy. He stepped past Darius, his large, calloused hand reaching down to wrap securely around my ankle beneath the sheets, his touch sending a violent shockwave of static electricity straight down to my thighs.

​"You are entering the high council chambers under my crest today, Lyra," Kael murmured, his voice raw, his thumb stroking heavily against my bare skin. "They can howl all they want outside these doors, but inside this palace, you answer to the King."

​From the open balcony window, a soft, slow chuckle drifted into the room. Soren Vale sat balanced on the stone railing, his mismatched blue and green eyes gleaming with pure, wicked ecstasy as he watched the two powerful men unravel.

​"Keep fighting, boys," Soren purred, spinning his silver dagger between his fingers. "The high council is already waiting at the gates and they brought an army."