THE ALPHA KING'S BASTARD SON

🌒 ELORA - THE DAUGHTER OF OMEGA

Danriv still felt the sting of silver and rusted iron under his skin, but his body had finally healed after two painful weeks of Captain Kenneth's careful attention. The deep cuts from the southern rogues had turned into pink scars across his chest. However, while his own body had recovered, the kingdom he woke up to was falling apart.

The rogue attack from the southern mire had left the territory broken. Fifteen of the pack’s finest warriors had been systematically defiled, their severed heads sent back to the border as a grim warning. Worse still, twenty-five women had been dragged into the choked, toxic depths of the mire, held for a ransom the kingdom could ill afford.

Inside the grand council hall, the air felt tense.

Alpha King Darius sat on his throne, his face frozen in anger. At the center of the room, his Beta and the Omega, Garrick, argued fiercely over a large map of the marshlands.They quickly created and threw away different battle strategies. The King could not make a final decision because he was terrified of losing the hostages.

Suddenly, the heavy wooden doors creaked open, and the room fell completely silent.

Garrick turned, his eyes widening, as Danriv stepped into the torchlight. He was thinner, his posture rigid with lingering pain, but his silver eyes burned with a terrifyingly clear focus.

Danriv walked past the armored sentries, his boots echoing rhythmically against the stone floor until he stood directly before the dais. He did not look at the Beta, nor did he seek comfort from Garrick. His gaze belonged entirely to the King.

Dropping to one knee, Danriv lowered his head, a rare submission from a man who usually moved like an executioner.

"Your Highness," Danriv’s voice cut through the silence, a little raspy from weeks of disuse.

"I stand before you fully recovered. And I stand before you in debt."

The Alpha King leaned forward, gripping the armrests of his throne so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"You choose a dangerous time to interrupt, Danriv."

"I know the price of my failures," Danriv replied, keeping his head bowed.

"And I know the blood that was spilled because I could not prevent the breach. For that, and for the dishonor I brought upon your grace... I am deeply sorry. I swear upon my life, it will never happen again."

A tense murmur rippled through the gathered advisors. Danriv had never been one for apologies, he was a weapon, not a courtier.

The Alpha King growled, his Alpha aura rattling the glass chalices on the table. "Words will not bring back my fifteen warriors. Words will not pull our women from the mire. Even now, I was thinking that they are already dead!"

"No, but my body can. I am not asking for your forgiveness, Alpha. I am asking to be used. Let me go into the southern mire. Let me present myself as bait, or as the vanguard to tear their lines apart. You gave me a second chance at life when you took me into your place. Let me pay that trust back in rogue blood." Danriv said, finally raising his head to meet the King's fierce gaze.

But Captain Kenneth's voices boomed across the hall. "He is not a piece of meat to be thrown to the wolves, Alpha!"

Kenneth's hand resting heavily on the pommel of his sword. He stepped forward, his eyes burning with protective fury.

"Two weeks ago, I was pulling silver shards out of his ribs. Sending him into the mire as bait isn't a strategy, it’s a death sentence."

Garrick nodded in sharp agreement, his older face lined with deep anxiety. "Kenneth is right, Your Highness. The southern rogues are feral, but they aren't stupid. They know Danriv's face. If he walks into their territory alone, they won't capture him for leverage. They will tear him apart piece by piece."

"Now you know the reason why I despised those rogues out there!" Darius said.

"I understand now your majesty." Danriv sai, lowering his voices.

For Danriv, kneeling on the cold stone, the frantic protests of his allies faded into background noise. A strange, twisted sense of relief washed over him. Death in the mud of the southern mire felt like a clean ending. It was a far better fate than rotting away in a cell or living with the suffocating guilt of his failures. He wanted the danger... He welcomed it...

"Your majesty, I just wanted to protect you, and maybe we can set another effective plans' Kenneth says.

"Let him speak Captain," the Alpha King commanded, his deep voice cutting through the rising argument like a blade.

The room fell silent, while the King turned his piercing gaze back down to Danriv. "If you want my forgiveness, let's see how capable you are.." he told Danriv.

Before Kenneth and Garrick could protest further, the heavy side doors of the council hall clicked open.

The fierce beautiful young lady, who was treated like a princess by the Alpha King, came in a rush, she was seriously watch Danriv in his knees in front of the Alpha King.

"Elora? What are you doing here? This is for the council's meeting for the war" Garrick reacted, to see his uninvited daughter in this meeting.

Elora, the eldest daughter of Omega Garrick, stepped into the light. She did not wear the fine silks expected of a high-ranking Omega's daughter, instead, she wore light leather armor, her hair pulled back tightly, carrying a thick stack of scout reports.

Garrick stiffened.

Ignoring her father's warning, Elora walked gracefully to the center of the room and bowed deeply to the Alpha King. When she straightened, she unrolled a parchment map, pinning it over the existing layout of the marshlands.

"I am here because my scouts just returned from the border, Alpha," Elora said, her voice remarkably steady for someone addressing the throne. She pointed a finger at a narrow choke point on the map.

"And I agree with Danriv. He is the only bait we have that will actually work."

Danriv’s silver eyes snapped up, narrowing in sheer disbelief. He had expected her to side with her father, to cower or beg for peace like the other Omegas. He certainly never expected a girl like her to step into a room full of hardened warriors and advocate for his survival, let alone use his desperation to her advantage.

"Explain yourself, Elora," the Alpha King murmured, leaning forward with newfound interest.

"The southern rogues are driven by pride and vengeance," Elora explained, looking directly at the King, purposefully avoiding her father's frantic gaze.

"According to our intelligence, the rogue commander is obsessed with the warrior who slaughtered their vanguard two weeks ago. They want Danriv's head more than they want the ransom money. If we send a standard battalion, they will kill the twenty-five captive women the moment they smell our approach. But if Danriv enters the mire alone, showing signs of weakness, their pride will force them to break the formation to capture or torture him personally."

"Since Danriv is willing, I will assigned you Elora to take the lead on this mission. Remember, all of the rogues must be killed!"

"Crystal clear, your majesty!" Elora bowed her head.

"Captain Kenneth, returned to the Sandoval Village, I receive a saying that someone walking on that village is a spy" Alpha King said.

Kenneth eyes widened after what the Alpha King said.

"Captain Kenneth, please returned to the village, I promised once I am done I will returned the village immediately" Danriv told him.

Kenneth almost cried this time, hearing the boy he had taking care of for years had grown up.