The Alpha's Forsaken Queen

Chapter Nine

I had always imagined seeing Elias again would be like the first time we kissed, wild, warm, overwhelming. But this… this was death disguised in the skin of someone I used to love.



He lunged, and my instincts snapped into place.



I barely dodged, the force of his claws grazing my side. Pain bloomed instantly, hot and burning. I rolled, twisted, and came up on my feet, heart thundering. My wolf surged beneath my skin, snarling, begging to be let loose. But I didn’t shift.



Not yet.



“Elias,” I breathed, my voice barely more than a gasp. “It’s me. It’s Lyra.”



He paused mid-step.



His eyes, no longer the deep stormy gray I knew, flashed with unnatural light. Like something ancient had taken root behind them.



“Lyra…” he echoed, but it wasn’t him. The voice was layered. A voice inside a voice. A shadow speaking through him.



I took a cautious step forward. “I know you’re in there. Fight it.”



He tilted his head.



Something in his posture flickered, familiarity, hesitation.



For a brief, flickering moment, I saw my mate beneath the monster. His lips parted, and a whisper slipped free.



“Run.”



And then he struck again.



This time, I shifted mid-dodge, bones snapping and reforming, fur exploding across my skin. Pain laced every nerve, but I embraced it. I let it drive me, ground me.



My wolf met his halfway.



The collision of our bodies was thunderous, bone and muscle crashing in a brutal dance. We tumbled across the clearing, teeth snapping, claws raking, snarls ripping through the air like thunderclaps.



But something was wrong.



His strength… it was unnatural. Endless. I was fast, trained, honed by years of discipline, but Elias was relentless. He moved like the cursed, like the possessed. Every strike was meant to break. Every move calculated to end.



He was trying to kill me.



I tasted blood in my mouth, his, mine, I couldn’t tell. I tried to reach him through the bond, through our mating link, but all I felt was static. Cold, empty static.



It was like knocking on a sealed tomb.



A pulse of dark energy exploded from his body, sending me flying backward. I hit a tree with enough force to splinter bark and dropped to the ground in a heap, dazed and winded.



My vision swam. The world spun.



He stalked forward, slow now, like a predator enjoying the final act.



“I don’t want to fight you,” I coughed, forcing myself to rise. “You know me. You love me.”



His lip curled.



“Love… is weakness.”



I froze.



Those were not Elias’s words.



Those were his words. The voice behind the voice. The one lurking in the shadows of Elias’s soul.



The Vessel.



I remembered what my mother had said, that he was becoming the Vessel. That if he stayed in the Veil too long, he would be lost.



Maybe it wasn’t too late.



“I won’t let you take him,” I growled.



He stopped.



Something flickered in his gaze again, confusion. Pain.



I pushed forward. “You’re not gone, Elias. You’re still in there. I felt you. You told me to run.”



His claws trembled.



A growl rumbled deep in his chest, but it didn’t come from him. It came from something inside him.



And then he screamed.



It was a sound that made the earth ache.



He clutched his head, stumbling back. The ground cracked beneath his feet, black veins spider-webbing out around him.



I didn’t hesitate. I ran to him, dropped to my knees beside him.



“Fight it,” I said, grabbing his face. “Come back to me.”



He looked at me, and for one impossible second, I saw him. The real Elias. My mate.



“Lyra,” he whispered.



Tears burned my eyes. “I’m here.”



His hands shook as he cupped my face.



“I…can’t…hold….”



“You can. I believe in you. Just hold on.”



He gritted his teeth, his body convulsing. The energy around him rippled, twisted. Something was being torn apart from the inside.



And then, his lips moved.



Not Elias.



Him.



“You will not take my Vessel.”



The darkness erupted.



It flung me backward again, and this time, I didn’t land in the forest.



I landed somewhere cold. Empty.



A barren field stretched before me, bathed in gray mist. The sky above was cracked and weeping ash.



The Veil.



I stood slowly, heart pounding.



“Elias?” I called, spinning in place. “Elias!”



The mist parted.



A figure stepped forward.



But it wasn’t Elias.



It was me.



Or… a version of me.



Pale skin. Hollow eyes. Blood dripping from her fingertips.



She smiled.



“I wondered when you’d finally come home.”



I stepped back. “Who are you?”



She tilted her head. “You. Before you were weak.”



I shook my head. “You’re not me.”



“You will be.”



The ground trembled.



Behind her, more figures emerged, shadow versions of people I’d known. Friends. Enemies. They gathered like an audience, silent and watching.



“What is this place?” I whispered.



“The truth,” the other Lyra said. “Where you face what you were never supposed to remember.”



The sky cracked louder.



“I need to find Elias.”



“You already have. But he’s not yours anymore.”



She turned.



There, across the field, a throne of bones rose from the ash.



And seated upon it…….Elias.



Eyes closed. Skin pale.



Chains of shadow wrapped around him, digging into his chest.



I screamed his name and ran, but the world stretched like a nightmare. No matter how fast I moved, I didn’t get closer.



The false Lyra stood beside the throne now, watching me.



“You were born of fire,” she said. “But you were forged for death.”



I reached out, tears burning.



“Elias!”



His eyes snapped open.



And they were no longer his.



They were the Vessel’s.



The last thing I saw was him rising from the throne, wings of shadow unfurling behind him, and the entire Veil collapsing inward like a dying star.



And then……darkness.



I couldn’t breathe.



The weight of the Veil pressed against my chest, thick and choking like smoke with no fire. I screamed Elias’s name until my throat bled, but the sound was swallowed by the endless ash sky. The other me, my shadow, had vanished, along with the broken throne of bones. Everything around me shifted with each step, the ground pulsing as if alive beneath my feet.



This place wasn’t just death.



It was memory. Twisted and tainted.



I moved forward, each step dragging like I was walking through wet sand. Shapes formed and disappeared in the corners of my vision. Whispers curled around my ears, voices I recognized, some long dead, others I wished were. I could hear my father’s laugh, my mother’s lullabies, and Elias’s voice saying my name with reverence. But I knew better.



None of it was real.



The Veil wanted me to surrender. To forget who I was.



I clenched my fists.



“I won’t let you have me,” I muttered, and the Veil laughed back with the sound of wind through a graveyard.



A flicker of movement ahead caught my eye. I followed it, faster now, stumbling into a clearing of swirling mist and cracked black stone. In the center stood a massive mirror, taller than any tree, its frame made of bones and vines writhing as if still alive.



My reflection stared back at me.



But it wasn’t just me.



Elias was there too.



He stood beside me in the reflection, his eyes blank, his face unreadable. Behind us, shadows with glowing eyes danced like marionettes. One of them wore my face.



“You’ve finally found it,” a voice said behind me.



I turned to see the shadow-me again.



She was smirking, arms folded, her skin pale as moonlight. Her eyes shimmered like blood.



“This is the Mirror of Origins,” she said. “It shows what’s buried. What you don’t want to see.”



“I already know what’s inside me.”



“No. You only know what they told you. But you were never meant to be just a queen, Lyra. You were meant to be something far worse.”



She stepped closer, and I didn’t move.



“You think the power in you came from your mother? That your strength is only awakening because of pain and betrayal? No. It’s older than your bloodline. Older than this realm.”



I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you telling me this?”



“Because you’re not the only one being used.”



Her gaze flicked to the mirror.



“Elias is bound. Not just by the Vessel, but by you.”



“What?”



“He came back because he heard your soul calling. He was pulled from death not by fate… but by you.”



“No… that’s not true.”



“You made a deal, remember? In the forest. In the ruins. The night you bled on the sacred stones and begged for strength. You asked for the power to destroy those who betrayed you.”



The memory hit me like lightning.



I had bled on those stones. Cried out for vengeance.



“I didn’t mean……”



“But you did. And someone heard. Something ancient. It marked you, Lyra. It gave you the gift you carry now, the one growing stronger with every loss.”



I stared at the mirror again.



My reflection flickered.



The version of me shifted, wings unfurled from her back, black as void, and fire curled at her feet. Her eyes glowed like a dying star.



“No,” I whispered. “That’s not me.”



“That’s the future you chose. Unless you break the bond.”



I shook my head. “I’m here to save Elias.”



“You can’t save him unless you surrender what binds you both.”



My throat tightened. “What do you mean?”



“You must choose,” she said softly, suddenly close enough to touch. “Unbind the link between your souls, and he will be free of the Vessel. But the cost…”



“I die.”



“Not just you. Everything you've become. Your power, your strength… it will vanish.”



My heart twisted. “There must be another way.”



“There isn’t.”



I turned back to the mirror.



Elias’s eyes met mine.



And they blinked.



The mirror rippled.



He reached out, his fingers pressing against the glass from the other side.



“Lyra,” his voice echoed, low and pained.



“I’m here,” I whispered, moving closer.



His other hand rose.



But there was something in it.



A dagger. Silver and etched with runes. The same one I’d seen in my visions, meant for sacrifice, meant for blood.



I touched the mirror.



Our hands aligned.



The glass shattered.



I gasped as I fell through.



Wind screamed past me. Visions flared around me, memories, futures, alternate versions of my life. In one, I ruled with Elias at my side. In another, I stood atop a mountain of bones, my crown forged of flame. In yet another, I lay dead in a field of white roses, alone.



I hit the ground hard.



Pain exploded through my ribs.



But I didn’t get up right away.



Because he was there.



Elias.



Bound in chains of smoke and fire, suspended above a glowing pit.



His body was trembling. Cuts bled freely across his chest. His eyes fluttered open as I crawled to him.



“Lyra,” he rasped. “You shouldn’t be here.”



“I had to come,” I said, standing slowly. “I couldn’t leave you behind.”



“You have to go. He’s coming.”



As if summoned, the air trembled.



And from the shadows stepped the Vessel.



No longer using Elias’s body, this was its true form.



Towering. Cloaked in shadow and smoke. A crown of thorns burned above its head, and its voice slithered into my mind like ice.



“You would sacrifice everything for him,” it said. “How noble. How foolish.”



“I won’t let you keep him.”



“You gave me the key when you begged for vengeance. He was the price.”



“No,” I growled. “I was the price. But I’m not helpless anymore.”



The mark on my chest ignited.



Flames surged down my arms. Light pulsed from my hands.



I screamed and hurled everything I had at the Vessel.



The blast shook the realm.



Chains snapped. Elias dropped, and I caught him before he hit the ground.



He gasped as his skin began to glow.



The Vessel roared, stumbling back as its form flickered.



I held Elias close.



“We have to finish this,” I whispered.



He nodded weakly. “Together.”



But the Vessel recovered faster than we expected.



And then…..



Everything exploded in light.



When it cleared…



Elias was gone.



And I was alone.



Floating in a sea of nothing.



A voice echoed in my ears.



“This is the final test, Lyra Evercrest. To win, you must lose.”



And then a shape formed in front of me.



Elias.



But this time, his body was still.



His eyes were closed.



And he wasn’t breathing.