THE ENEMY'S ALPHA
950 Words
The forest hugged her tight, whispering secrets with each step she took. Selene stuck to the shadows, her cloak swishing against the damp ferns as she circled the Blackthorn fort. Walls towered way up high, unyielding, with torches spitting flames along the edges. Guards patrolled like restless dogs.
She heard their low grunts, their boots hitting the stone. Wolves, trained and controlled—nothing like the mess her Silverfang fighters used to be.
Her lips twisted. Control built on blood. Control paid for with her pack’s screams.
Her wolf whined deep in her chest, jittery, wanting revenge.
*Not yet,* Selene told it in her head. *Not until we find him.*
That thought—*him*—jolted her like a strike of lightning. She still didn’t know if she was chasing a pipe dream or a ghost. She could feel her son, a buzz under her ribs, totally there under the Blood Moon, but her brain told her she was nuts. Seven years of sadness didn’t just vanish overnight.
But…she knew. She just knew.
Her son was alive.
She hunched down, fingers brushing the dirt, heart banging as she got closer to the gates. The air moved all of a sudden. The hairs on her arms stood up.
She wasn’t by herself.
Selene stopped, every muscle as tight as could be. The forest went silent. And then
“Still a daredevil.”
The voice came out of the dark, low, harmful, totally male.
Her gut tightened.
He showed himself like a bad dream come to life. Wide shoulders covered in black, eyes burning gold in the moonlight, Kaelen Blackthorn looked just like the monster she remembered. The Alpha who had killed her people. The Alpha she had promised to kill.
Selene’s wolf went wild under her skin, rage and hunger at once.
“Blackthorn,” she spat, poison on every word.
He looked her up and down like a cat looks at a mouse—steady, slow, but danger all the way through. Then his nose twitched, his body got stiff, and she saw it. He knew her.
The mate bond.
Selene’s chest got tight, anger and being cheated twisting together. Her heart let her down, beating fast, her skin getting hot under his stare. She hated herself for it.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Kaelen said, his voice all growly.
“You should be dead,” Selene shot back.
Something flashed over his face—not mad, not funny. Something darker.
They circled each other, wolves just under the skin ready to come out.
“You burned my home,” she growled. “You killed my people. You—”
“I ended a war your Alpha started,” Kaelen snapped, his voice sharp.
She caught her breath. “Lies.”
His lips moved, almost a smile, but hard. “You think you know the truth, Selene. You don’t.”
Hearing her name on his lips hit her hard. Close. Wrong. It made her skin crawl. She hated him even more for it.
She moved closer, not backing down, every muscle shaking between fighting and giving in. “You wrecked everything. You took—”
She stopped. The words got stuck in her
throat. *My son.* She couldn’t give that away just yet.
Kaelen’s eyes went down to her mouth for a second, and the air between them got heavy.
Her wolf howled. His wolf pushed at his skin, gold burning bright in his eyes.
She hated the feeling that came over her.
“Leave,” he told her, voice raspy now, like every word hurt. “While you still can.”
Selene laughed, but it wasn’t happy. “You think you scare me?” She got closer, their breath mixing, her wolf wanting to taste him. “You’ll have to kill me, Blackthorn. Because I’m not leaving. Not without what’s mine.”
Something lit up in his eyes—a hint of guilt, of knowing.
He moved faster than she could see, faster than the wind. In a second, her back was against a tree, his hand next to her head, his body trapping her. She fought, growling, but his smell filled her up—cedar, smoke, raw Alpha strength.
Her heart sold her out again, hammering in her chest.
“Don’t,” she whispered, hating how shaky she sounded.
Kaelen’s breath was rough. His wolf howled inside him, wanting what he said he couldn’t give. He leaned in, his lips touching her ear as he growled, “You think you came here for payback, Selene. But fate brought you back for me.”
Her stomach flipped. Anger was louder than want, but they both burned, all mixed up.
She pushed him back hard, silver fire sparking on her fingers. His eyes went wide at the light—at the strength she shouldn’t have had.
Selene showed her teeth. “Try to trap me again, and I’ll burn you alive.”
For a second, they just looked at each other, tight like a stretched rope. Then Kaelen’s lips twisted in something dangerous.
“You’ve changed,” he said quiet.
“You haven’t,” she snapped. “Still a monster.”
He didn’t fight it. Instead, he took a step back, his wolf pacing in his eyes. “Then remember this, Selene. You’ve walked back into a trap. You won’t leave Moonveil alive this time.”
The mate bond was going crazy, their wolves growling, pulling, fighting between rage and need.
Selene lifted her chin, her voice as hard as steel. “Then I’ll take you down with me.”
The Blood Moon burned up above, red light spilling across them like a sign. And then, everything went still.
- Writer
