Claimed by Alpha and Omega: The Fated Luna

CHAPTER 8: Between Two Packs

The night before still clung to the fortress like smoke that refused to clear. Every guard along the walls stood a little straighter, a little more alert, ever since that message had been carved into the ancient tree. Nobody said much about it out loud, but I could feel the fear humming underneath every conversation, every glance thrown toward the tree line.

I could not sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my parents' faces, and right behind them, those glowing eyes watching me from the dark of the forest. I lay there for hours, staring at the ceiling, waiting for morning to take the decision out of my hands.

It finally did, in the form of a soft knock on my door. "Lady Raye," came a small voice, "the Alpha King has requested your presence."

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and opened the door to find a young maid standing there, wringing her hands as though she were nervous just to be talking to me.

"You do not have to call me Lady," I said, forcing a smile onto my tired face. "Just Raye is fine."

Her cheeks turned pink. "If the elders hear me, they will have my head."

I laughed softly, surprised at how good it felt after days of nothing but tension sitting in my chest. "Then let us keep it our secret, Liana." She smiled back, relieved, and I felt the smallest thread of comfort settle into that strange, unfamiliar castle.

By the time I reached the training grounds, Cassian was already there, and for a second I almost did not recognize him. No ceremonial robes, no crown, no weight of a king pressing down on his shoulders. Just simple training clothes and messy hair, looking more like an ordinary young man than the Alpha everyone bowed to.

"You came," he said, as though he had actually doubted it.

"You summoned me," I answered. "Not exactly optional." He almost smiled at that. "I thought I would show you how we live, instead of just telling you."

Before I could ask what that meant, he held out a wooden practice sword. I stared at it as though it might bite me. "I have never held one before," I admitted.

"I know," he said.

"Then why give me one?" I asked, reluctant.

"Because every wolf deserves the chance to defend herself," he said. Something about the way he said it, plain and certain, made my chest tighten in a way I did not want to examine too closely.

For the next hour, he walked me through footwork, patient in a way I did not expect from someone who commanded an entire kingdom. Every time I stumbled, and I stumbled often, his hand shot out to catch me before I hit the ground, steady and warm against my arm each time.

"You lean too far forward," he said, for what felt like the tenth time.

"I know," I told him.

"You keep saying that." He raised an eyebrow, clearly amused, though he did not let go of my arm quite as quickly as the last time. "Because I really do know," I shot back, breathless. "Knowing is not the same as doing."

"Fair enough." One corner of his mouth lifted, and something in my chest fluttered at the sight of it. I swung a little too hard on my next attempt, and the wooden blade nearly caught him across the shoulder. His hand snapped up and caught it midair as though it were nothing.

"You will make a dangerous student," he said.

"And whose fault is that?" I shot back, grinning despite myself, close enough now that I could see the flecks of gold in his eyes. My breath caught somewhere in my throat, and for one strange, quiet moment neither of us said anything at all. Then I forced myself to step back, my pulse still racing for reasons that had nothing to do with the sword still gripped in my hand.

Off to the side, I noticed an elder watching us, an old woman with sharp eyes and a knowing smile. "Our Alpha has not smiled like that in years," she murmured to the man beside her. He frowned, arms crossed. "That is exactly what worries me." I did not have time to wonder what he meant, because the castle gates groaned open, and the peace of the morning shattered.

A convoy of wounded wolves shuffled into the courtyard, and the moment they came into view, I felt the entire mood shift like a door slamming shut. Unlike the polished warriors inside the kingdom, these wolves wore no crests, no colors. Their clothes were stitched together from mismatched scraps, and more than a few carried fresh bite scars along their arms and necks.

Whispers rippled through the crowd almost instantly. "Bitten Wolves." "What are they doing here?" "They should not be allowed inside." Parents yanked their children back behind them as though the newcomers were something contagious. I watched the fear flash across both sides, the Bitten Wolves keeping their eyes low, shoulders hunched, as though they had long since learned to expect judgment before anyone even opened their mouth.

A little girl among them stumbled and bumped into a merchant's cart. "I am sorry," she whispered. The merchant yanked his basket away as though she might have poisoned it just by touching it. "Watch where you are going."

Someone else muttered, loud enough for the whole courtyard to hear, "This is why they should stay outside the walls." The girl's lip trembled, and she shrank back, quietly retreating. Something in my chest cracked at the sight of it, and I found myself following her before I even decided to.

"Are you okay?" I asked gently. She nodded, though her eyes shone with tears she was clearly fighting to hold back. "It happens all the time," she whispered.

Her older brother stepped in and pulled her gently behind him. "We do not want trouble," he said quietly. "We are only here to trade medicine." I looked around at the courtyard. Nobody was throwing punches. Nobody was drawing weapons. And yet the wall between the two groups stood as real and solid as the stone fortress around us, and it made my stomach twist with something close to grief.

That afternoon brought an even heavier storm. Kael arrived with a small Omega escort, there to negotiate for supplies after wandering wolves had attacked one of their settlements. The second he stepped into the courtyard, Born Wolf soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons, and the Omega warriors mirrored them instantly, hands hovering near blades. Neither side moved first.

Cassian stepped forward, his voice even. "You came." Kael met his eyes. "We are here for medicine. Nothing else."

"We will provide it," Cassian told him.

Before anything else could happen, one of Cassian's own captains shoved forward, sneering. "My Alpha, why should we help them? Their kind brings nothing but chaos."

An Omega warrior snapped back immediately, fury cracking through his voice. "Our kind? We buried children because no one would sell us medicine!"

"You made your choice when you abandoned the old laws!"

"We were abandoned first!" The argument spread through the courtyard like wildfire catching dry grass, soldiers on both sides shouting over each other, years of resentment spilling out in words sharper than any blade.

"Stop!" I shouted, stepping between them, my heart hammering. Nobody listened. A Born Wolf shoved an Omega hard in the chest. The Omega swung back without hesitation, and within seconds the entire square dissolved into a brawl, bodies colliding, fists flying, shouting drowning out everything else.

Cassian and Kael moved at the exact same moment, wading into their own people rather than at each other, hauling soldiers apart

with their bare hands. "Stand down!" Cassian roared, and the force in his voice actually made a few soldiers flinch. "Anyone who throws another punch answers to me!" Kael's voice cracked through the chaos right after him.

Slowly, painfully, the fighting sputtered out. Bruised faces and furious stares remained scattered across the courtyard, but nobody moved to throw another blow. Standing there in the aftermath, I finally understood something I had been too naive to see before.

This war was not fueled only by powerful Alphas sitting on thrones. It lived inside ordinary people, inside old wounds that had never once been allowed to heal.

As the negotiations wrapped up, Kael prepared to leave. Before swinging up onto his horse, he turned to me, his voice quiet enough that only I could hear it. "You have now seen both worlds," he said. "They are not as different as they pretend to be." I glanced past him and caught Cassian watching us, his jaw tight, though he said nothing at all.

That evening, I stood alone on the castle wall, watching the Omega convoy shrink into the horizon until it disappeared completely. I wrapped my arms around myself, wondering if peace was even possible, or if all of us were simply trapped inside hatred that belonged to generations long before we were born.

Without warning, a sharp pain bloomed where Darius had bitten me, sudden enough to steal my breath. For one terrifying instant, that same mysterious voice slid into my mind again, quiet and cold. This time, it whispered only three words.

"Do not trust anyone."

I spun around, heart slamming against my ribs. The castle wall stood completely empty behind me. But someone had clearly been standing there only a heartbeat before.