Chapter 10
255 Words
Her heart beat once. Hard.
She opened it carefully.
Inside was a folded piece of paper, marked with the familiar seal of her true Alpha.
She unfolded it slowly.
The message was short.
Your twenty-first birthday approaches. It’s time.
No signature was needed.
Nova stared at the words for a long moment.
Six years of patience.
Six years of preparation.
The final stage had arrived.
She folded the paper back carefully and returned it to the capsule.
Above her, the moon hung full and bright.
Soon.
Very soon.
Ryder Blackwood would die.
“You observe well,” he said.
His voice was not loud, yet it filled the room.
He stepped closer to the table and moved a marker. “Increase patrol rotation near this section. Quietly. I do not want to panic.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
He studied her again. Longer than necessary.
Nova felt it.
That look.
It was not a suspicion. It was something else. Curiosity maybe. Awareness.
Her wolf stirred slightly under her skin.
Strange.
She forced her body to stay relaxed.
“Walk with me,” he said.
Again.
They left the hall and stepped into the courtyard. Warriors were sparring near the center. One large male shoved a smaller one to the ground.
“Pathetic,” the larger wolf sneered. “You fight like an omega.”
Ryder stopped walking.
The air changed.
He did not shout.
“Stand,” he said.
The large warrior froze. “Alpha, we were just training.”
“I said stand.”
- Writer
