The lost Alpha

Chapter 4 Old blood and new war

Pain was Kael’s oldest companion.

He sat on a rough wooden bench in the healer’s tent, jaw clenched while Selene pulled a crossbow bolt from his shoulder. The metal was slick with black blood. Vampire blood. It hissed and smoked against the silver tip.

“You’re lucky,” the healer muttered, pressing a poultice of wolfsbane and yarrow to the wound. “Two inches left and you’d be missing an arm.”

“Lucky,” Kael said flatly.

Garrick stood at the tent flap, arms crossed, watching him like Kael was a problem he hadn’t decided how to solve yet. The rest of the pack was outside, tending to the dead from Outpost Seven. Mira’s body had been carried home.

“Lucien wants to see you,” Garrick said.

“Of course he does,” Kael replied.

He stood before the healer finished. The pain was sharp, but pain kept him focused.

Selene grabbed his good arm. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’ve bled before,” Kael said. “Talk while we walk.”

As they left the tent, Kael kept his voice low. “You said you saw his journal. Payments to vampires. Dates.”

“Three years’ worth,” Selene said. “Silver shipments. Border patrol schedules. He’s been feeding them information since before your parents died.”

“And no one else saw this?”

“He keeps two faces,” Selene said. “To the elders, he’s the dutiful son holding the pack together. To the vampires, he’s their key into Moonfang territory.”

They reached the edge of the courtyard. Wolves parted for them, but the whispers were louder now.

He brought the vampires!

Outpost Seven fell because of him!!

He’s cursed!!!

Kael ignored them. His eyes were on the throne room doors.

Before they reached it, Garrick stopped them. “Wait.”

He pulled Kael aside, voice dropping. “You need to understand something before you face him. This isn’t just about your brother. This is about history.”

Kael frowned. “What history?”

Garrick’s eyes were old. Tired. “The war between vampires and werewolves didn’t start with Lucien. It started a thousand years ago, when the first Alpha made a deal for power and the first Vampire Lord demanded payment in blood.”

Kael had heard the stories as a child. Bedtime tales. He’d thought they were myths.

“The Moonfang pack and the Noctis vampires have been bleeding each other for centuries,” Garrick continued. “Truces signed, truces broken. Your great-grandfather ended the last war by sealing the border with a blood oath. No vampire crosses into our lands without consequence.”

“And Lucien broke that oath,” Kael said.

“Worse,” Garrick said. “He sold it. For the throne. For power. If the Noctis take Moonfang territory, the oath shatters. Every pack in the North will be vulnerable. This isn’t pack politics anymore, Kael. This is extinction.”

Kael’s stomach turned. His brother hadn’t just betrayed their parents. He’d betrayed every wolf north of the Frostfang Peaks.

The throne room doors opened before he could answer.

Lucien sat on the Alpha’s seat again, but the grief was gone from his face. In its place was calculation. Cold, precise, satisfied.

“You’re late,” Lucien said.

“I was busy burying Mira,” Kael replied. “She was twenty.”

“A casualty of war,” Lucien said smoothly. “Unfortunate, but necessary.”

“Necessary?” Selene stepped forward before Kael could stop her. “You told them Kael was coming. You gave them our patrol routes. How many more wolves have to die for your throne, Lucien?”

Lucien’s eyes flicked to her. “Careful, scout. You’re speaking to your Alpha.”

“You’re not my Alpha,” Selene said. “Not while you’re shaking hands with monsters.”

Lucien stood. “You want truth, little sister? Here it is. Father was weak. He believed in honor and old laws while the world changed around him. The vampires are stronger than us. Smarter. If I don’t deal with them, they’ll take everything anyway. At least this way, Moonfang survives.”

“Survives as what?” Kael said. “Cattle? Pets?”

“Survives,” Lucien snapped. “Unlike you, I don’t have the luxury of ideals. I have a pack to protect.”

“You have a pack to sell,” Kael said.

For a second, Lucien looked almost sad. “You always thought you were the better son. Stronger. More worthy. But you ran, Kael. You left us to deal with Father’s madness alone. You left me to clean up your mess.”

“I left because Father exiled me,” Kael said. “Because of you.”

“Because you killed a man in front of children,” Lucien said. “Don’t rewrite history. You were always too much. Too violent. Too ruthless. Father saw it. I see it.”

Kael took a step forward. “You want to talk about ruthless? You made a deal with the same creatures that murdered Mother. You let them into our home. You think that makes you a leader? That makes you a coward.”

The room went silent.

Lucien’s expression hardened. “You have one choice, brother. Kneel. Swear loyalty to me. Help me control the vampires. Together we rule the North.”

“And if I don’t?” Kael asked.

“Then you’re a rogue,” Lucien said. “And I’m obligated by pack law to execute you.”

He raised his hand. Guards moved in.

Kael didn’t wait. He moved.

He slammed into the nearest guard, using the man’s momentum to throw him into two others. Chaos erupted. Wolves shifted. Claws came out.

“Kael, no!” Selene shouted.

But he was already moving toward the dais. Toward Lucien.

Lucien didn’t run. He shifted, black fur rippling over his skin in seconds. Bigger than Kael. Heavier. He’d been training for this moment.

They crashed into each other in the center of the room. Teeth and claws. Brother against brother.

Kael fought dirty. He’d learned in exile that honor didn’t win wars. He went for eyes, for throat, for the joints. Lucien fought with power, driving Kael back with raw strength.

“You’re just like Father,” Lucien snarled, pinning Kael to the floor. “You think you can do whatever you want and the pack will forgive you.”

“I’m nothing like Father,” Kael growled. “And neither are you.”

He drove his knee into Lucien’s ribs, broke the hold, and rolled on top. For a second, he had the advantage. His claws were at Lucien’s throat. One strike and it would be over.

Then the doors burst open.

A cold wind swept through the room. Frost spread across the stone floor.

The Vampire Lord from Outpost Seven stepped into the throne room like he owned it. Pale skin, ice-blue eyes, and a smile that promised nothing but pain.

“Brothers fighting,” the lord said, voice smooth as silk. “How… poetic.”

Lucien froze beneath Kael.

The lord’s gaze swept the room. “Lucien, you promised me the Alpha’s head. I see you’re having trouble delivering.”

“He’s mine to deal with,” Lucien said, shoving Kael off.

“No,” the lord said. “He’s mine.”

He moved faster than Kael could track. One moment he was by the doors. The next, his hand was around Kael’s throat, lifting him off the ground.

Kael clawed at the hand. Nothing. The vampire’s grip was like iron.

“You smell like old blood,” the lord whispered. “The kind that wakes old things. Your line has been a thorn in our side for centuries. Today, it ends.”

Kael’s vision started to darken. He could hear Selene shouting, hear wolves howling, but it all sounded distant.

Then the lord’s eyes changed.

He tilted his head, sniffing the air. “Wait.”

He dropped Kael. Kael hit the floor gasping.

The lord stared at him, really stared, and something like recognition flickered across his face.

“You,” the lord said. “You carry her scent.”

“What?” Kael rasped.

“Lyra Blackthorne,” the lord said. “She marked you. Years ago. I remember her. She spared my life once, at the border. A mercy I never forgot.”

Lucien stood frozen. “What are you talking about?”

“Silence,” the lord snapped. He looked at Kael again. “The Alpha’s son, marked by the Luna’s mercy. Interesting.”

He turned to Lucien. “You lied to me. You said he was just another wolf. You didn’t tell me he carried her debt.”

Lucien’s face went white.

The lord smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “The deal is off, Lucien. I don’t kill those who carry debts of honor. Not yet.”

He looked back at Kael. “But we will meet again, Prince of Moonfang. And when we do, you’ll choose. Blood or mercy. Your mother chose mercy. Will you?”

Then he was gone. A blur of black and cold air, vanishing through the doors with his guards.

Silence fell.

Kael pushed himself up, chest heaving. Lucien stared at him like he was seeing a stranger.

Garrick broke the silence. “The pack heard that. The whole stronghold heard that. Lucien, you made a deal with vampires.”

Lucien didn’t answer.

Kael wiped blood from his mouth and stood. His eyes locked on his brother’s.

“You wanted to kill me,” Kael said quietly. “But Mother’s mercy saved me. And now every wolf in this room knows what you did.”

He turned and walked out, Selene at his side.

Behind him, the throne room erupted into shouting.

The pack was splitting.

And Lucien’s lies were finally cracking.