CHAPTER FIVE — THE KING WHO SAW ME
1334 Words
The darkness didn’t last long.
It wasn’t the peaceful kind that carried sleep.
It was a heavy, suffocating darkness—thick like smoke—pressing against my ribs, coiling around my lungs, whispering ancient truths I wasn’t ready to face.
You flared.
You called him.
He answers only to blood.
I gasped awake.
Cold sweat clung to my skin. My chest rose and fell too fast, panic clawing up my throat. The strange burning inside me had settled—for now—but it wasn’t gone. It waited, restless and alive, coiled beneath my bones.
Voices echoed outside my room.
Agitated.
Afraid.
My heart dropped.
The King was still here.
I forced myself off the floor and stumbled to the door, but stopped before opening it. My hand hovered over the knob, trembling.
Last night… I released something I couldn’t control. I stopped the Shadow Beast. I forced it to bow.
And the King—
The most feared man in the kingdom—
Had felt it.
Had come for it.
For me.
Another wave of voices drifted down the hall.
“—the King says NO ONE leaves the packhouse.”
“He’s furious.”
“No, not furious. Focused. That’s worse.”
“What is he even here for?”
“Did he sense dark magic?”
I winced.
Of course the pack would think that. Wolves feared what they didn’t understand. And nothing about me—my voice, the flare, the power—was something a normal wolf should possess.
A knock landed on my door.
Not a harsh one.
A careful one.
“Aria?” Caleb’s voice. “Are you awake?”
I swallowed, forcing my breathing to steady. “Yes.”
He cracked the door open, gently. Relief washed through his expression when he saw me standing.
“You scared all of us half to death,” he said quietly.
“Me too,” I whispered.
Caleb stepped inside and closed the door behind him, lowering his voice to a whisper.
“The King arrived before dawn. He asked to see Rowan first… and he wasn’t pleased.”
Fear flickered through me. “Is Rowan—”
“He’s alive.” Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. “But he’s shaken. The King isn’t subtle with his dominance.”
My heart clenched. “He’s not here to hurt the pack, is he?”
Caleb hesitated.
Then shook his head. “No. He’s looking for the source of the flare. The surge of power. And he knows it came from here—inside the packhouse.”
My stomach twisted.
“From me.”
Caleb met my eyes. “Aria… whatever happened yesterday, the King is not someone you can lie to. He senses truth like scent. And he’s not patient.”
I took a shaky breath. “What does he want with me?”
“I don’t know.” Caleb put a steadying hand on my shoulder. “But you need to be calm when he sees you. He’s outside now. He asked for the pack to gather.”
A faint tremor pulsed through the house—like the walls themselves bowed to a presence.
My legs almost buckled.
The King.
Not a rumor.
Not a story.
Real.
Near.
Walking the halls of the Moonfall Pack.
Caleb offered me his arm. “I’ll escort you.”
My throat tightened. “Thank you.”
He gave me a small smile. “I’ve got you, Aria.”
I followed him into the hallway, heart pounding. Wolves pressed themselves against the walls as I walked past. Some stared with fear. Some with suspicion. Some with awe.
Whispers followed me like shadows.
“That’s her.”
“She made the beast bow.”
“She’s dangerous.”
“She called the King.”
I kept my eyes forward, trying not to crumble under the weight of their words.
We stepped outside, and the cold morning air slapped my skin.
The entire pack had gathered in the courtyard—rows of warriors kneeling, omegas pressing into the back, elders standing with trembling hands.
But they weren’t looking at Rowan.
They weren’t looking at me.
They were looking at him.
The Alpha King.
Standing at the center of the stone courtyard, surrounded by his elite guard.
He was taller than I’d imagined. Broader. His presence pressed down on the world like gravity itself had thickened. His eyes—Gods—his eyes were molten gold, glowing with a power that made every wolf bow their heads instinctively, as if looking at him too long would burn them.
His dark hair was tousled from travel, falling across his sharp jawline. His long black coat swept the ground, embroidered with runes that pulsed faintly with old magic.
He didn’t need to speak to command dominance.
He was dominance.
Rowan stood several feet away, tense, pale, wounded—but bowing.
The King finally turned his head.
And his gaze collided with mine.
My breath left me in one harsh exhale.
The air shifted—snapped—tightened.
Heat shot down my spine. My knees trembled. The ancient power inside me surged upward, recognizing him instantly, pushing against my ribs like it wanted to leap out of me and into him.
The King inhaled sharply.
It wasn’t loud.
But the entire courtyard felt it.
His eyes widened—not with anger.
Not with suspicion.
But with something far more dangerous.
Recognition.
Bonding.
Claim.
Every wolf around us stiffened, sensing the shift in his aura.
Caleb whispered beside me, voice trembling:
“Aria… he’s looking at you like—”
But he didn’t finish.
Because the King began walking toward me.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Each step heavy with power.
Rowan’s head snapped up. “Your Majesty—she’s just a low-rank wolf. She can barely shift—”
The King didn’t even look at him.
“Speak again,” he said coldly, “and I will silence you myself.”
Rowan went silent instantly. The pack froze.
The King kept walking.
Caleb stepped slightly in front of me in a protective reflex—but the King’s golden eyes flicked to him, and Caleb instantly dropped his gaze and stepped aside, chest heaving.
I stood alone.
The King stopped inches from me.
Close enough that I felt the heat of his body.
Close enough that I couldn’t breathe.
He studied my face.
My eyes.
My trembling hands.
My pulse racing beneath my skin.
His voice, when it finally came, was low and deep—
shaped by storms, steady with danger, filled with something I didn’t understand:
“You,” he said, his eyes glowing brighter, “are the power I felt.”
I swallowed. “I… I didn’t mean—”
He stepped closer, his breath brushing my cheek.
“Your flare reached me across kingdoms.”
I shivered. “I don’t even know how I did it.”
He lowered his head slightly, inhaling near my neck. My wolf nearly collapsed inside me.
My knees trembled.
His jaw tightened.
His voice dropped, almost a growl.
“You carry ancient blood.”
My heart stumbled. “Wh—what does that mean?”
His gaze locked onto mine, unblinking, intense, magnetic.
“It means…” he said softly, “you are not the wolf Rowan believed.”
“It means you are not meant to bow to any Alpha here.”
“It means your destiny is older than this pack.”
His hand lifted—slowly—hovering just above my cheek.
Not touching.
Not yet.
Every warrior held their breath.
“And it means,” the King whispered, voice shaking the air,
“that you are mine.”
The world tilted.
Rowan gasped.
Caleb’s eyes widened.
And my heart stopped.
Because the bond snapped awake—
violently, brilliantly, undeniably—
and the ancient voice inside me finally spoke with certainty:
“You are the Luna he was born to find.”
The courtyard erupted into chaos.
And I… I couldn’t breathe.
- Writer
