THE ALPHA WHO CLAIMED THE EMBER QUEEN

The Eyes in the Dark

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the light. It was way too bright. It burned against my eyes like punishment, sharp and unforgiving. The smell hit next... sterile.

I was in the hospital. My chest tightened instantly.

Memories slammed into me. Sharp claws, blood, the sound of Milie hitting the tree.

My breath hitched. I turned my head sharply.

Milie.

She was lying in the bed beside mine, wrapped in bandages, her skin pale against the white sheets. Tubes ran from her arm. Bruises painted her like something fragile that had been broken and barely put back together. But she was breathing, slow and steady.

She was still alive. Relief hit so hard it hurt.

My mother’s chair scraped loudly beside me.

“Lina... oh God... Lina…”

She grabbed my hand, her fingers shaking as tears spilled down her face.

“You’re awake… You're awake…”

I tried to speak, but nothing came out, because the moment I opened my mouth, I saw the creature again. The way it moved. The way it looked at us, and those eyes... Red and Gold.

They called it a wild animal attack.

That’s what the police officer wrote down.

“Probably a bear,” he said, not looking at me.

A bear. I almost laughed, but the sound died in my throat, because bears don’t move like that.

They don’t bend wrong. They don’t look at you like they understand you. Every time I tried to explain, the room shifted. Doctors avoided my gaze.

The officer stopped asking questions halfway through, as if they already knew or didn’t want to know.

Three weeks later, they let us go. Stitches. Medication. Quiet pity.

“You’re lucky,” they kept saying.

Lucky. I nodded every time, because it was easier than explaining that I didn’t feel lucky.

I felt watched.

We went back to Ravencrest on a Monday.

Everything looked the same. The same lockers. The same noise. The same fake normal. But something inside me had changed.

Milie walked beside me, quieter than usual.

Every loud sound made her flinch, and every shadow made me pause. I checked every pair of eyes, waiting to catch a glimpse of something red and gold.

“Shocking, really.” The voice cut through the hallway. Only one person had that cold, smooth voice.

Avila.

We turned. She stood a few steps behind us, perfect as always. “I honestly thought you wouldn’t make it back,” she continued calmly. “Grimwood isn’t kind to people like you.”

“Not today, Avila,” I said sharply.

Something flickered in her eyes. “You should be more careful,” she went on quietly. “God knows what you dragged back with you.”

Milie’s expression hardened. “Excuse me?”

“Low lives tend to attract low things.”

The slap came fast. Milie couldn't hold it any longer.

It was sharp and echoing. The entire hallway froze.

Avila’s head turned with the impact. For a second, everything was silent.

Then she slowly looked back at us. “You fool,” she whispered.

Her hand lifted...

I caught it before it could land.

“Don’t.”

Her wrist was cold.

For a second, neither of us moved.

“What is going on here?!”

A teacher’s voice cut through the tension. Avila pulled away first, smoothing her hair like nothing had happened.

“This isn’t over,” she murmured softly.

Then she walked away, like she always did.

Milie let out a breath. “That felt amazing.”

But her hands were shaking. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Avila hadn’t been humiliated.

She’d been... Concerned.

Then the hallway shifted again.

This time, it wasn’t fear. It was something else.

People moved without thinking. Space opened.

And then he walked in. He was tall and muscular. His black outfit looked perfectly tailored to reveal his hot body. What was off about this dressing was the sunshades he wore even in the hallway.

Principal Arah walked beside him, speaking, but no one was listening to him. They were looking at him.

We were all looking at him.

“I am Lucien Blackmoor.” His voice was too calm.

The kind of calm that didn’t come from peace but from control.

He didn’t smile. Didn’t hesitate. Didn’t look around like he was new. He walked like he already knew this place. Like he owned it. And then, he passed me.

I felt cold and heavy. My chest tightened instantly.

He sat by the window. The one facing the forest.

Of course he did. He didn’t speak in class; he was concentrating on the teacher. But when the bell rang, he stood. And for a brief second, his head tilted. Just slightly. Enough for me to catch a glimpse beneath the edge of his glasses.

A flicker of red, but he quickly turned and walked away. I swallowed hard.

By the end of the week, Lucien had become a problem. Girls followed him with their eyes.

Boys tried to challenge him without saying a word and failed. Even Avila noticed.

I saw her approach him near the lockers, her fingers brushing his arm lightly.

“You’re new,” she said smoothly. “Want a tour?”

Lucien looked at her. He was not concerned about that. And for the first time, Avila stiffened. Then he walked away without a word. Her perfect expression cracked, only for a second.

Later I felt it again. His attention on me. I noticed it even through those dark glasses.

That night, I dreamt of the dark, endless forest and how blood soaked into the ground. A howl tearing through the sky and those red and gold eyes watching me.

I woke up gasping. My room was too cold. The window was open. I didn’t remember opening it.

The curtains moved slowly in the night air.

I stood, walked toward it, and closed it.

But something made me stop. I looked outside.

The trees at the edge of the yard swayed gently.

And for a moment, I thought I saw a tall shadow just standing still and looking toward my window.

Then the wind shifted, and it was gone. But the feeling didn’t leave. It lingered, like whatever had been there wasn’t gone. It was waiting.