SOLD TO SIX ALPHA'S

Chapter 4: The First Seal

The crack on my wrist spread like lightning.

I stared at it in horror.

Something moved beneath my skin.

Not a wolf.

Not a person.

Something I couldn't name.

"Lyra!"

Kael's voice broke through my panic.

He reached for me, but the moment his fingers touched my arm, a powerful shockwave threw him backward.

"Kael!"

He crashed against the stone wall.

The other five Alphas rushed toward him.

"I'm fine," he growled, pushing himself upright.

But he wasn't.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

I looked at my wrist.

The silver mark was still glowing.

"What is happening to me?"

My uncle smiled.

"Your first seal is breaking."

I glared at him.

"Fix it."

His smile widened.

"You still think I want to hurt you?"

"Didn't you kill my mother?"

His expression changed.

For the first time, the amusement disappeared from his face.

"Your mother made her choice."

"She was murdered!"

"She sacrificed herself."

I froze.

"What?"

My uncle stepped forward.

Kael immediately moved between us.

"Don't listen to him."

My uncle laughed.

"You've hidden the truth from her for eighteen years, and you still want to pretend you're protecting her?"

Kael's jaw tightened.

I looked at him.

"Is he telling the truth?"

Kael said nothing.

That silence hurt.

"Kael."

He looked into my eyes.

"There are things you aren't ready to know."

"I'm tired of hearing that."

My voice shook.

"Everyone keeps saying that. My family lied to me. You lied to me. Even my own wolf was sealed away from me."

I held up my glowing wrist.

"So tell me the truth."

Rowan stepped forward.

"Lyra, we don't know everything."

"But you know something."

"Yes."

"Then tell me."

Before Rowan could answer, another explosion shook the castle.

My uncle looked toward the windows.

"The army is getting impatient."

He raised his hand.

Dark energy gathered around his fingers.

Kael immediately shifted.

"Everyone move!"

The windows exploded.

Black arrows flew through the room.

The warriors raised their shields.

One arrow came straight toward me.

I froze.

A silver wolf suddenly appeared in front of me.

Luna.

She caught the arrow between her teeth and crushed it.

I stared at her.

You can see me now, she said.

My eyes widened.

"You can protect me?"

I have always protected you.

The words broke something inside me.

"Then why did you leave me?"

I didn't.

Her voice became softer.

They took me from you.

A sudden memory flashed through my mind.

I was four years old.

A woman was running through a forest while holding me.

She was crying.

Behind her, fire consumed the trees.

"Please," she whispered.

"Take my daughter."

Another woman appeared.

Older.

Wearing a silver cloak.

She took me into her arms.

Then my mother turned around.

She faced a group of armed men.

"Run!"

The memory vanished.

I gasped.

"My mother..."

Kael looked at me.

"What did you see?"

I shook my head.

"She gave me to someone."

Rowan's eyes widened.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

My uncle suddenly looked furious.

"Enough."

He raised both hands.

Dark shadows rushed across the floor.

The warriors screamed as the shadows wrapped around their legs.

The Six Alphas attacked at once.

Kael's black wolf slammed into my uncle.

The two crashed through the doorway.

Rowan and Darius attacked from opposite sides.

Zayne moved with frightening speed.

Lucian's wolf tore through the shadows.

Cassian stood beside me.

"Stay close."

I nodded.

Then I saw something.

A shadow was moving behind him.

"Cas!"

I grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

A blade sliced through the air where his neck had been.

He stared at me.

"You saw that?"

"I don't know how."

His expression softened.

"You saved me."

Before I could respond, my wrist burned again.

The cracked seal opened slightly.

Silver light filled the room.

Every wolf stopped fighting.

A deep voice echoed through the castle.

"Six bloodlines. One crown. One sacrifice."

My heart pounded.

The voice continued.

"When the sixth bond awakens, the forgotten queen shall rise."

The light disappeared.

Silence followed.

I looked at the six Alphas.

"What does that mean?"

No one answered.

Then Kael returned.

His clothes were torn, and blood covered his shoulder.

My uncle was gone.

"He escaped," Kael said.

I looked toward the broken doorway.

"Why did he leave?"

Kael's eyes settled on my wrist.

"Because he got what he wanted."

"What?"

"The first seal."

My stomach twisted.

"What happens when all six seals break?"

Kael hesitated.

"Your power will fully awaken."

"And then?"

He looked at me with an expression I'd never seen before.

Fear.

"Then everyone who has been hiding from you will come looking."

I swallowed.

"Who?"

Kael didn't answer.

Instead, he turned toward his brothers.

"We have to leave."

"Leave?" I repeated.

"Tonight."

"Where?"

"Somewhere your uncle can't reach."

I looked around the damaged hall.

"For how long?"

Kael's eyes met mine.

"Until we know what you really are."

My heart sank.

Even he didn't know.

For eighteen years, I had believed I was worthless.

Now everyone was terrified of discovering what I was.

I looked down at my wrist.

The silver seal had cracked further.

Then a tiny drop of blood appeared beneath it.

It wasn't red.

It was silver.

The moment it touched the floor, every candle in the castle went out.

A voice whispered behind me.

"Welcome home, Princess Lyra."

I slowly turned around.

No one was there.

But on the dark wall behind me, six silver symbols had appeared.

One of them was already glowing.

And beneath the symbols was a single sentence:

THE FIRST ALPHA HAS AWAKENED.