THE ALPHA WHO CLAIMED THE EMBER QUEEN

“I’m serious, Lina... one more of Mr. Dalrymple’s classes and I’m committing a crime.” Milie leaned against her locker like the world personally offended her. “You say that every week.” “And one day, I’ll mean it enough to follow through.” I almost smiled, because Ravencrest High wasn’t a place where people like me got comfortable. It was a place where you survived quietly… or got noticed for the wrong reasons. And right now, we were being noticed. Avila Blackthorne stood at the far end of the hallway, watching us. The noise around her faded without anyone realizing it. Conversations slowed, and movements shifted. Power didn’t need to be loud. And Avila? She was power. Milie rolled her eyes. “Ignore her.” Too late. Avila was already walking toward us. Like she’d already decided how this would end. “Well,” she said softly, stopping in front of us, “if it isn’t Ravencrest’s favorite charity case.” Her gaze slid to me. “And her little pet.” Milie stiffened beside me. “Good morning to you too, Blackthorne.” Avila didn’t even look at her. “You still living off scraps, Lina?” she asked calmly. “Or did the woods finally decide to keep you?” Something twisted in my chest. Milie stepped forward. “You talk a lot for someone who’s supposed to be above everyone.” A small crowd had already gathered. Of course they had. Avila smiled faintly. “I don’t talk,” she said. “I observe.” Then her eyes flickered again, just for a second. But it felt like she saw something in me I didn’t understand. “And I’d be careful,” she added quietly. “Some places aren’t meant for people like you.” Milie scoffed. “What... Grimwood? It’s just a forest.” Avila’s gaze snapped back to me. “Some things don’t need ghosts,” she said softly. “They just need the right trigger.” A chill crawled down my spine. I stepped forward. “Say what you mean or move.” For a moment, she looked almost… pleased. “Be careful what you stand in front of, Lina,” she murmured. “Sometimes the bullet doesn’t miss.” Then she walked away. And just like that the noise returned. Milie exhaled. “She’s actually insane.” But I wasn’t listening anymore because something about that didn’t feel like an insult. It felt like a warning. **** SATURDAY — GRIMWOOD We shouldn’t have gone. I knew that the moment we stepped past the rusted iron fence. Milie always came up with horrible ideas, and this was one of them. Damn... I hated hikes. “Still time to turn back,” I said. Milie grinned. “Absolutely not.” So I followed her. Like I always did. Grimwood didn’t welcome you. It swallowed you. The trees stretched too high. The branches blocked the sky. The light barely touched the ground, and the deeper we walked the quieter it became. “You feel that?” I whispered. “Feel what?” “The air… it’s wrong.” Milie laughed softly. “You’ve officially lost it.” Maybe I had. But my chest felt tight, like something was watching. Then we realized... we were lost. “No signal,” Milie muttered. Same here. Suddenly my ears picked up a sound..A growl. It was low and close at first. My fingers tightened around her hand. “We need to go.” Then there was another growl, but this time something moved fast in the bushes. Branches snapped, and then it stepped out. Everything inside me froze. It looked like a bear... but no, this one was broken. Its limbs bent the wrong way. Its skin stretched too tight over bone. Its mouth hung open too wide, teeth jagged. “Run.” I grabbed Milie's hand, and we ran. Branches tore at us. My lungs burned. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. Behind us, the beast followed too fast, and it reached Milie first. It's claws slammed into her, throwing her violently into a tree. She screamed as she hit her back hard and lost consciousness. “Milie!” I called out to her and ran toward her. I fell on the ground beside her and pulled her bloody body into a hug. “No… no… get up... please, get up...” The world blurred. My chest tightened. I couldn’t breathe. The creature turned toward me. Slowly. Its empty eyes locked onto mine. It lunged, but before it reached me, something hit it hard mid-air. A second creature slammed into it, bigger, stronger, unstoppable. It looked like a werewolf. They tore into each other like monsters born for destruction. Claws ripped. Teeth sank. Blood sprayed across the forest floor. The first creature screamed, a sound that didn’t belong in this world. It ran away after that. The werewolf began to slowly shift in the until it wore a male human figure. I dropped to my knees, shaking. He was watching me. Two glowing eyes burned through the dark. One red. One gold. It was not human, or animal. Our eyes locked, and in that moment, fear wasn’t the only thing I felt. Something else. Something deeper. Like whatever he was... had been looking for me. Everything went black.