Shadows Rise
1475 Words
I woke to the scent of smoke and cold iron.
My eyes snapped open.
The ceiling above me wasn’t familiar dark stone carved with ancient symbols that glimmered faintly like they were alive. My pulse hammered in my ears as I pushed myself upright.
What the hell
Where was I?
The air was warm, but the place felt… vast. Too vast.
A throne room disguised as a bedroom.
“Easy. You’re still weak.”
That voice.
I turned sharply.
Draven stood near the window if you could call a towering arch that opened into swirling gray mist a window. He wasn't wearing armor now, just a black shirt that clung to broad shoulders, sleeves rolled to his forearms. There was something dangerous about how calm he looked.
“What… did you do to me?” I whispered, pulling the sheet closer.
He lifted a brow. “Saved your life.”
“By kidnapping me?”
“If I hadn’t taken you,” he said, stepping closer, “Rowan would have dragged you back to the packhouse. And your Alpha would have finished what he started.”
My stomach twisted. “No. Rowan wouldn’t let them hurt me.”
Draven stopped right in front of me, hands braced on either side of where I sat—caging me without touching.
“Aurelia,” he said quietly, “your Alpha ordered him to reject you in public.”
My breath caught.
No one… no one had told me that.
“You heard him,” Draven said. “He didn’t want to do it. But he obeyed.”
His golden eyes hardened.
“That pack will always choose their Alpha over you.”
I looked down, nails digging into the sheets.
He wasn’t wrong.
But hearing it still hurt.
“You can’t just claim me because of some prophecy,” I forced out. “I don’t even believe in that.”
He leaned in, his lips close enough that his breath warmed my cheek.
“You don’t have to believe,” he murmured. “Your power will wake with or without your permission.”
“Power?” I scoffed. “I’m barely a wolf.”
His gaze dropped to my throat—exactly where the mate mark would have been if Rowan hadn’t…
A faint, burning ache bloomed there.
I touched my skin, flinching. “What is that?”
Draven’s expression darkened.
“The rejection wound,” he said softly. “It will fade only when the true bond settles.”
“True bond?” I repeated, heat crawling up my neck. “With you?”
His voice dropped to a sinful whisper.
“Unless you’d prefer the boy who broke you.”
My breath shook.
“Rowan didn’t break me.”
“Then why,” Draven murmured, tilting my chin up with two fingers, “did you cry yourself unconscious in my arms?”
I froze.
Had I?
A knock slammed against the heavy doors.
Draven’s eyes sharpened instantly predatory, deadly.
“Enter,” he commanded.
A tall woman with silver hair stepped inside, bowing deeply. A royal guard… but her aura was unlike any pack wolf.
“Your Majesty,” she said, “the seer is here. She insists the girl must be examined immediately.”
Draven growled under his breath. “She’s not ready.”
“She says the prophecy reacts tonight.”
My heart pounded painfully.
Prophecy.
Again.
Draven looked at me, jaw tight.
“I will be with you the entire time,” he said, voice low and unexpectedly gentle. “Do not fear them.”
Fear?
I was way past fear.
But something in his eyes made me nod anyway.
He offered his hand.
This time, I hesitated only a second before taking it.
The moment our skin touched, warmth surged up my arm sparks, whispering through my bones like a promise I didn’t understand.
The guard bowed again. “We must hurry.”
Draven tightened his grip slightly, guiding me toward the door.
As we stepped into the glowing corridor, one thought pulsed in my mind
Whatever waited for me in that prophecy room…
it was going to change everything.
And Rowan
Rowan had no idea what I was becoming.
The corridor felt alive.
Torches flared as we passed, their flames bending toward Draven like they recognized him. The stone beneath my feet vibrated faintly, as if the castle itself breathed.
“This place is…”
I swallowed. “Where are we, exactly?”
Draven didn’t slow. “The Shadow Court.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“You weren’t meant to.”
His thumb brushed across my knuckles as his grip tightened.
“Most wolves never will.”
We turned a corner that opened into a circular chamber. The air shifted thick with incense, old magic, something metallic that raised goosebumps along my arms.
The seer waited in the center.
She was ancient not old, but ancient.
Skin like carved moonstone, eyes a blinding silver that held no pupil. Her presence made my wolf shrink back inside me.
When she spoke, her voice echoed like three voices layered over each other.
“Bring her forward.”
Draven’s hand stayed firmly in mine as he guided me to the center. But the moment we crossed a certain invisible line, heat rushed through my body too fast, too hot.
I gasped, stumbling.
Draven caught my waist instantly.
“Aurelia? Breathe.”
But I couldn’t.
It felt like fire was threading through my veins.
“What’s happening?” I choked out.
The seer raised her hands, palms glowing with pale light.
“Her blood is awakening.”
No. No no no.
My knees buckled. Draven pulled me against him, one arm around my back, holding me upright.
“Aurelia, look at me,” he said, voice low, controlled. “Stay with me.”
“I—I can’t—”
The heat pulsed, pushing against my skin like it wanted to tear out.
I screamed.
Magic exploded from my body in a shockwave—
torches flickered violently, the walls cracked, and the entire chamber trembled.
Draven snarled and pulled me tighter into his chest, shielding me from the force.
When the pressure finally eased, I slumped against him, shaking uncontrollably.
The seer’s eyes glowed even brighter.
“It is confirmed.”
Draven’s voice was sharp. “Say it.”
The seer pointed directly at me.
“She carries the blood of the First Queen.”
My stomach dropped.
“I—I don’t understand,” I whispered, voice raw.
The seer circled me slowly, studying me like a rare artifact.
“The First Queen was the only wolf who ever ruled beside a Shadow King. The only mate powerful enough to command the realms.”
I blinked, disoriented. “But… she died centuries ago.”
“She was reborn,” the seer said.
Her silver gaze locked onto mine.
“In you.”
My heartbeat thundered so loudly I thought I’d pass out.
“No,” I whispered. “You’re wrong. I’m nobody—”
“You are everything,” Draven cut in. His hand slid up my arm, grounding me. “This is why the bond between us nearly burned the forest.”
I stared at him, breath shaking.
Burned the forest?
I didn’t even remember…
The seer lifted her chin.
“There is more.”
Draven’s eyes narrowed. “What more?”
Her voice deepened, vibrating through the floor.
“A prophecy binds her fate to two paths.”
My pulse spiked.
Two paths?
“If she chooses the King,” the seer intoned,
“she will raise the world.”
Draven exhaled slowly, almost relieved.
But then
“If she chooses the Alpha…”
My heart lurched.
“…the King will fall, and war will swallow every realm.”
Silence slammed into the room.
Draven’s hand tightened on me not gently, but fiercely, possessively.
“Aurelia.”
His golden eyes burned.
“You understand now why I cannot let you go back to him.”
I opened my mouth
but another shock hit the chamber.
A howl.
Familiar.
Broken.
Rowan.
Draven bared his teeth, a low growl rumbling from his chest.
“He’s here,” the King snarled.
“And he dares to step into my realm.”
The torches flared violently as the castle reacted to Draven’s fury.
I staggered back. “Wait—Rowan’s here? How?”
Draven’s gaze snapped to me hungry, determined, dangerous.
“Because he thinks he still has a claim on you.”
He stepped toward the door.
“Draven—” I reached out, grabbing his wrist.
He turned, eyes blazing with a possessive heat that stole my breath.
“Stay behind me,” he said, voice low and lethal.
“Tonight, Aurelia… the Alpha dies if he touches you.”
- Writer
