ALPHA AND THE CAGED MOON-HEIR

BLOOD CLAIMS THE THRONE

The red moon did not rise. It answered. It was like a force of nature, braking itself free from the usual constraints and descended, ignoring distance, crushing reason, forcing its presence down on the fortress like a god pressing its thumb on the world to taste the worlds limits to see what would break first. Stone became heavier, Air became thicker, even non living things reacted than it has ever been. Every thing intensified

Every living thing inside Blackmoor Fortress dropped to the ground. Completely and immediately without hesitation

Even the strongest fighters are overwhelmed and forced to submit . Elders affected as well they are even struggling to breathe, Even Alphas, powerful men who had lead and rule packs with blood and fear, people who thought they could withstand anything, leaders are humbled and physically pushed down as the weight of lunar authority dominate them flat. Everyone went down to submission. Except me.

I stood there bleeding, blood dripping out like something pushed them out, broke free as the last of the chains scattered at my feet, the chains broke recently and still warm from the force, my body physically reacted intensely, but not from injury, My lungs burned, not from pain, but from something very powerful waking up inside me and realizing it had been asleep for a very long time. Power flooded in. Not out of control. Not chaotic. But calm and deliberate. It feels old but it been dormant for years, I've Known it. Draven took the first move. He is use to taking charge always did. “Protect the Alpha!” someone shouted, fear completely overwhelming their voice. Too late, I reacted before any one could interven. I lifted my hand. It was not a command. i just acted on impulse.

The air hits downward like a physical force pushing every thing down Every wolf in the hall was driven face first hitting the stone forcefully crushing their bones intensely. Skulls broke. Spines scattered. The screams did not echo. They stopped immediately.

Like something had interfere with the sound itself in half. I took a a step backward out of shock. I hadn't meant to do that. The mark on my shoulder, the Council brand burned, reacting to the power.

White-hot. Violent. Alive. The Council’s brand, something I had never known was there, something buried far below my skin like a lie that keep staging or piling over another lie. Is finallyrevealing itself publicly, causing severe pains through flesh and memory all at once. Draven witness what happened.

His face drained of color so fast it was terrifying. Speaking extreme horror in his reaction.

“No,” he breathed so deep that his voice broke. “They branded you.” I could hold buy laugh. The sound came out wrong, uncontrollable, too sharp, multiple layers , like more than one voice had passed through my throat at the same time.

“You mean,” I said very calmly, “they owned me?” The mark divided and split open. Blood started flowing out but it didn’t fall.

It floated. Each drop suspended in the air like it was pausedby a powerful force, glowing faintly silver,red, humming like it connected to the moon above us. The fortress wards destroyed all at once, not scattering, neither cracking, but Erased completely. Huge distance away from the Fortress, all the Council oracles screamed all in one voice as their sight went blind. I did not know about that at the moment. Draven was aware of everything. He posture changed, becoming more deliberate deadly like his preparing for war, slowly, expression hardening into something lethal and final. “They will feel this,” he said, tone deep.“Every single one of them.” “Good,” I replied. That single word generated more impact in the room harder than the explosion.

Silence this time was more intense, enough to weigh the room down. A mysterious woman stepped forward from the shadows, one of his authorities, someone I have been monitoring earlier only because she watched too closely and spoke too little. She dropped to her knees, hard enough for her joints to cracked against the stone. Her submission was extreme. “Your Grace,” she whispered, soft just enough for me to hear. I blinked twice. “I’m not”

“You are,” she said instantly, interfering me with fear and terror shaking her voice. “Moon-Heirs don’t awaken.” She swallowed. “They reclaim.” Draven turned on her sharply. “You knew.” Draven asked

Her lips shivering. “We all did.” The admission sliced deeper than any blade, her response sparked curiosity, Draven was surprised and also upset at the same time. But before I could speak a word, steel flashed. It was an attack from Another assassin. Another blade. But this one did not aim for me. He aimed for Draven’s heart. Fast and precise

I moved immediately without thinking. My hand closed around the blade mid strike. Silver sank into my palm.

It should have burned me to ash. It did not. Instead, the blade decayed rapidly. Rust spreading fast, eating the blade across it like a disease, eating the metal from the inside out until it crumbled into pieces into brittle fragments that rained harmlessly to the floor until nothing was left. The assassin stared at me in pure unfiltered terror. Terrified immediately i reached out to him grabbing his head slowly “So,” I said calmly, fingers tightening, “that’s new.” His skull crushed effortlessly

under my grip.

Draven grabbed my wrist, eyes wild. “hear me out, he said. What so ever you’re becoming” I ripped my hand free.

“Becoming really?” I asked, I took few steps closer, voice low and lethal. “You think this started this night?” The memories rushed in all at the same time. My mother, she was screaming. A circle of Alphas, all of them huge and tall over a small child, me, silver chains biting into soft and tender wrists. Draven’s father standing at the edge of the circle, turning his face away. The truth unlocked. Images started rushing in as the memory unlocked I staggered, trying to gain balance again, not because I was weak, but from intense anger so sharp it almost split me in to two half. “You knew me,” I whispered asking. Draven shook his head slowly. Saying “yes I knew a child was sentenced. But I did not know her name.”

The truth hurt worse than a lie. The moon pulsed overhead, like I felt the connection. The thing inside my chest stirred, awaken, pleased. That was when I realized something far worse. The power was not reacting to danger. It was reacting to choice, craving something, It wanted blood. Horns sounded outside the fortress. Not wolves. Neither the Council. Something older. Draven went completely still like he was locked. He knew what was ahead “Run,” he said. I smiled for the first time without fear.

“No,” I replied softly. “Let them come.” The moon dipped. And far beneath the world, something answered me back.