THE ALPHA'S BROKEN PROMISE

Chapter 7: The Queen's First Command

"Welcome home... Your Majesty."

The voices rose from every corner of the battlefield.

Cold.

Empty.

Ancient.

Hundreds of skeletal warriors knelt before Lyra, their rusted weapons lowered in complete submission.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

The only sound was the wind sweeping through the ruined altar.

Lyra stared at the creatures in horror.

"I... I'm not your queen."

The creatures remained motionless.

Their hollow eyes continued to glow with an eerie blue light.

The Shadow King slowly walked toward her.

"You don't remember who you are."

"But they do."

Lyra shook her head violently.

"No!"

"I don't belong here."

"I belong to Mooncrest."

Kael's expression tightened.

Before he could speak, Darius stepped forward.

"She belongs to no one."

The tension between the two Alphas returned instantly.

The Shadow King raised a hand.

"Enough."

His voice carried such authority that even the skeletal army lifted their heads.

"This isn't the time for your rivalry."

Kael's silver eyes narrowed.

"You expect us to trust you?"

"I expect nothing."

The Shadow King's gaze drifted toward the darkened moon.

"I only know that if we keep standing here..."

"...none of us will survive until dawn."

Before anyone could ask what he meant—

BOOM!

The earth shook so violently that wolves lost their footing.

The c***k beneath the altar widened.

A wave of black mist burst into the sky.

It spread across the battlefield like a living storm.

Wherever the mist touched—

Flowers withered.

Trees turned black.

The grass died instantly.

A wounded warrior screamed as the mist brushed against his arm.

His skin aged before everyone's eyes.

Within seconds, he collapsed into dust.

Panic erupted.

"Don't touch the mist!"

"It's killing them!"

"Retreat!"

The skeletal warriors didn't move.

Instead, they raised their ancient shields around Lyra.

The black mist struck the shields—

And vanished.

The Shadow King frowned.

"It has begun sooner than I feared."

Kael drew his sword.

"What is that thing?"

The Shadow King's answer chilled everyone.

"The Breath of the Hollow King."

Silence.

Even the elders looked terrified.

One elder whispered,

"I thought he was only a legend."

"He was."

The Shadow King's face darkened.

"Until someone broke his prison."

Lyra stared at him.

"Who is the Hollow King?"

Before he could answer—

A haunting laugh echoed from inside the black mist.

Low.

Cold.

Inhuman.

"You still tell stories about me..."

The mist twisted into the shape of a gigantic man wearing cracked black armor.

His face was hidden behind a skull-like helmet.

Two burning blue flames glowed where his eyes should have been.

Every wolf instinctively stepped backward.

Even Kael felt his heartbeat quicken.

The figure looked directly at Lyra.

"There you are..."

"I've waited a thousand years."

Lyra swallowed hard.

"You know me?"

The Hollow King laughed again.

"No."

"I know what sleeps inside you."

The battlefield fell silent.

Then he lifted one armored finger and pointed toward Kael.

"Alpha of Mooncrest..."

"You rejected the one person capable of stopping me."

Kael gripped his sword tighter.

"I'll stop you myself."

The Hollow King laughed so hard that the mountains echoed with his voice.

"You?"

He took a single step forward.

The ground cracked beneath his feet.

"You couldn't even protect your own mate."

Kael's face hardened.

The words hit their mark.

The Hollow King's burning gaze shifted back to Lyra.

"When the next Blood Moon rises..."

"Your heart will make a choice."

He smiled beneath his skull helmet.

"If you choose love..."

"The world dies."

"If you choose power..."

"You become exactly what your mother feared."

Lyra's breath caught.

"What are you talking about?"

The Hollow King slowly faded back into the black mist.

"You'll remember soon enough..."

"And when you do..."

"You'll come to me willingly."

His laughter echoed one final time before disappearing completely.

The battlefield became eerily quiet.

No one spoke.

No one understood what they had just witnessed.

Then the Shadow King looked at Lyra, his face filled with something she had never expected to see.

Fear.

"We're too late," he whispered.

"The prophecy has already changed."

The oldest elder's eyes widened.

"Changed?"

The Shadow King nodded slowly.

"There was never supposed to be a choice."

He turned to Lyra.

"But because Kael rejected you..."

"The future has been rewritten."

The wind suddenly stopped.

A glowing silver mark appeared on Lyra's wrist.

Then...

The exact same mark appeared on Kael's wrist.

Before anyone could react, both marks burst into brilliant light.

Kael and Lyra cried out simultaneously as an invisible force pulled them toward each other.

The Moon Goddess had spoken.

The rejected mate bond had returned... stronger than ever.