Bound with fate

Betrayal Runs Deep

Chapter 5: Betrayal Runs Deep

**Colton's POV**

The moment Marcus's sword lowered, I knew something had shifted. The look in his eyes wasn't cold determination, it was regret, conflict, the struggle of a wolf torn between duty and conscience.

"Marcus," I said carefully. "You don't want to do this."

"What I want doesn't matter," he replied, but his jaw clenched. "Father's orders are absolute."

"Father's orders are based on lies," I shot back. "Whatever he told you about Alora, it's all lies. Just give me a chance to prove it."

Marcus's hand tightened on his sword. "Father showed me records. He showed me the truth about her bloodline. She's dangerous, Colton. She's a threat to all of us."

My heart hammered. "What records? Where?"

"The vault," Marcus said quietly. "Beneath the Alpha house. Father's been preparing me, teaching me things he never taught you. Showing me the truth about our family."

A vault beneath the Alpha house. I had never heard of such a thing, yet something stirred in my memory, a conversation overheard years ago about "keeping the old secrets safe."

"Marcus, listen to me," I said urgently. "Our father is not what he seems. He's been lying to us our entire lives."

"Enough!" Marcus cut me off sharply. "I came to give you a choice."

Alora stepped forward, her voice stronger than I expected. "The right thing is to tell the truth. Not to murder innocent people to cover up lies."

Marcus's eyes snapped to her. For a moment, something flickered across his face. Recognition. Something deeper. Something that made my wolf snarl with jealousy and rage.

He knew her.

"You," he said softly, his sword lowering. "You're the Dennison girl."

"I am," Alora replied, lifting her chin defiantly. "And I'm not afraid of you."

But she was terrified. I could feel it through the bond, her racing heart, her shaking hands. Yet she stood tall, refusing to show weakness.

Marcus stared at her like he was seeing a ghost. His hands went slack, and his sword hung loosely at his side. The warriors behind him had gone silent, watching their commander with confusion.

"Wait," Marcus commanded, his eyes never leaving her face.

He climbed down from his horse and walked toward us slowly, deliberately. "Your full name," he said quietly. "What is it?"

"Alora Dennison," she replied. "Why does it matter?"

Marcus's expression crumbled. His face went pale, and when he looked back at me, his eyes were filled with tears.

"Father lied," he whispered. "Oh gods, Colton. Father lied to all of us."

He reached into his pack and pulled out a worn piece of parchment, his hands shaking. I unfolded it with numb fingers.

It was a birth certificate. The Redstone Pack seal emblazoned across the top. And the name written in careful script made my entire world tilt.

Alora Marie Redstone.

Not Dennison. Redstone.

"No," I whispered, staring at the document. "This can't be real."

"It's real," Marcus said, his voice breaking. "I found it in the vault before I came here. Alora is my sister, Colton. She's a Redstone. She's our blood. Father has known this the entire time. He's known that his own daughter was living in the Dennison pack, and he's been trying to have her killed."

The revelation hit me like a hammer. I looked at Alora, really looked at her. The sharp cheekbones. The silver streak in her dark hair. The emerald eyes that only Redstone Alphas possessed.

"Your mother," I said roughly. "Elena Dennison. Was she..."

"A captive," Marcus finished, his voice heavy with shame. "Father took her during a raid. She was his prisoner for three months before she escaped. She was already pregnant when she left."

Alora's face had gone completely white. Rogan reached out to steady her.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why would he keep such a thing secret? Why try to kill me?"

"Because," a new voice said from behind the warriors, "she represents a threat to my power. And I never leave threats alive."

My blood turned to ice as my father emerged on horseback, his expression calm as death itself. Behind him, the ancient ruins were still trembling, and that symbol on Alora's pendant pulsed with an otherworldly light.

"I had hoped you would be stronger than this, Colton," he said quietly. "I had hoped you would make the hard choice."

"Father, I can't," Marcus started, but our father's hand moved faster than lightning. His sword flashed through the air, and the blade pierced Marcus's chest.

My brother's eyes went wide. He looked down at the sword, then back at our father, confusion and betrayal written across his face.

"You were always weak," our father said coldly, yanking his sword free. Marcus fell to the ground, blood spreading across his armor.

"No!" I roared, my body convulsing as I began to shift, my bones cracking and reforming. But before I could fully transform, Alora grabbed my arm.

"Colton!" she shouted. "Look!"

I turned my head, and what I saw made my heart stop.

The ancient chamber was glowing with deep crimson light. The ground began to crack and split beneath our feet. The light grew brighter, more intense, blinding.

From within that light, something was beginning to emerge. Something massive. Something with ancient power thrumming through every fiber of its being.

My father's warriors froze in terror, their weapons lowering as the ground convulsed violently. The sky above turned blood-red, and the air itself seemed to scream.

And then it rose fully into view.

A creature of pure darkness and ancient rage. Wings that spanned the length of the clearing. Eyes like burning coals that fixed directly on me, on Alora, with recognition and hunger.

With a roar that shattered the trees around us, the creature spread its wings and dove directly toward my father.

My father's final scream echoed through the forest.

And I realized, with sickening horror, that I had just unleashed something far more dangerous than any of us could have imagined.