The Alpha's Forgotten Heir

Chapter 18

The Vale did not let them sleep again.

By dawn, the mist was thicker, heavy enough that even Nadia’s sharp eyes could barely see ten paces ahead. The air was so still it felt suffocating.

“This isn’t natural,” Rowan muttered, fingers tight around his spear.

“Nothing here is,” Eira said. She was watching Seraphina, her expression unreadable. “And it will only get worse from here.”

Seraphina hadn’t said a word since the night before.

She walked at the front of the group, her steps quick and sure, as though putting distance between herself and the memory of Lucien’s mocking smile.

Darius stayed close behind, his presence a steady, quiet anchor. He didn’t push her, didn’t speak—not yet.

It wasn’t until midday that the first vision struck.

One moment, she was walking. The next, she was somewhere else.

The forest around her melted into a meadow of golden grass under a twilight sky.

And Kael was there.

Her breath caught.

He looked exactly as she remembered him—dark hair falling into his storm-gray eyes, that infuriating half-smile tugging at his mouth.

“Hello, Sera,” he said softly.

Her knees nearly buckled. “You’re dead.”

“Am I?” His smile deepened. “You never buried me. Never found me. You just left me behind.”

The words hit like a blade.

“This isn’t real,” she said, forcing the words through her teeth. “You’re not real.”

Kael stepped closer, the grass swaying around him. “But I feel real, don’t I? Just like I did that night you swore you loved me.”

Her hands curled into fists. The memory of that night—the last time she’d seen him alive—burned like acid.

“You betrayed me,” she whispered.

“And yet you never stopped loving me.”

Her chest ached. “You’re not him. Kael would never—”

“Kael is gone,” the vision said gently. “And you’re still carrying his ghost like a chain around your neck.”

The meadow dissolved, and she stumbled, gasping, back into the present.

Darius caught her before she hit the ground.

“Seraphina!” His voice was rough with alarm.

She gripped his shirt, her breath ragged. “I saw him,” she said. “Kael. I saw him.”

Darius’ jaw tightened, his golden eyes flaring.

“What did he say?”

Her throat worked. “That I’m still holding on. That I never let go.”

They stopped to rest by a half-frozen stream, but Seraphina couldn’t sit still. She paced the edge of the clearing, her magic humming so close to the surface it made the air vibrate.

“You can’t keep this inside,” Darius said quietly, approaching her.

“I can’t let it out either,” she snapped, whirling on him. “If I do, I might burn this whole cursed forest down.”

His eyes softened, but his voice stayed steady. “Then let me hold it with you.”

Her chest tightened. “Darius—”

He stepped closer, closing the space between them until she could feel his heat. “I’m not Kael. I’m not asking for your forever. I’m asking for right now.”

Something in her cracked.

She pressed her forehead against his chest, her body shaking.

His arms came around her slowly, careful but firm, like he was afraid she’d break.

“I loved him,” she whispered. “And then I lost him. And everything after that just…hurt.”

“I know,” Darius murmured, his breath warm against her hair. “But you’re here. With me. With all of us. That has to mean something.”

She tilted her head up, her eyes searching his. “You scare me,” she admitted.

“Good.” His mouth curved faintly. “Means you care.”

Before she could stop herself, she kissed him.

This one wasn’t hungry like the night before—it was desperate, almost breaking.

And Darius kissed her back like he’d been waiting for this exact moment, one hand sliding into her hair, the other gripping her waist.

When they broke apart, she was breathing hard, her lips tingling.

“We should keep moving,” she said, her voice barely steady.

“Yeah,” he said, though his gaze lingered on her a moment longer than it should have.

By nightfall, they reached the outer ring of the Vale’s heart.

It was worse than Eira had warned.

The trees twisted unnaturally, their branches arching overhead like a cage. The ground was damp and black, and every sound seemed to echo twice—once in the air, and once inside their skulls.

Nadia’s hand never left her bowstring. “This place feels wrong.”

“It is wrong,” Eira said. “And it will show you every fear you have until you can’t tell what’s real.”

Seraphina’s grip tightened on Kaelen’s pendant.

“Then we find Kaelen fast,” she said, her voice hard. “Before the Vale breaks me.”

Darius’ golden eyes found hers in the dark. “Not just you. Us.”

She nodded once, her spine straightening.

Together, they stepped into the Vale’s heart.