A bite from an Alpha King

Chapter Five

Octavia

Coughing, I lean against a tree, my hand pressed to my fast-beating heart. My throat burns, my head feels slightly dizzy, and my leg aches from a scratch I got earlier. I look down at the wound, pulling up my pant leg and watching it ooze a little blood. I need to clean it if I don’t want it to get infected. Scratches from other wolves don’t heal quickly.

Looking over my shoulder, I check to see if I’m still being followed, but interestingly enough, everything has gone quiet. Not dwelling on it, I crouch down and place my things on the ground. It would be faster if I shifted, but that would mean abandoning my belongings. Rummaging through my bag, I search for bandages when the snap of a branch breaks the silence. I look up, and a small whimper escapes me as two huge warriors stand before me, glaring down at me. Scrambling, I try to get up and run, but one of them reacts quickly, his hand wrapping around my arm. I swing back, using the momentum to punch him and send him stumbling backward. He lets go, but the other one is ready. Lunging after me, he shoves both hands against my back, sending me crashing into a tree. I groan as I hit the ground.

The warriors don’t let me lie there for long. Grabbing one arm each, they drag me across the ground. The world spins slightly around me, my head now throbbing as well. I want to fight back, but the farther they pull me into the territory, the strong scent of pack members filling my nose, the more I surrender to my fate. As we near the large pack house—the center of the territory—they roughly haul me up the staircase and drag me inside. I hear footsteps approaching and look up, seeing someone descending a long flight of stairs. His aura screams alpha, yet his physique is leaner than that of the warriors holding me. With almost a light bounce in his step, he stops in front of us.

“What do we have here?” he asks.

I keep my eyes lowered, not wanting to tempt fate by challenging him.

“A rogue,” one of the warriors answers.

“She doesn’t smell like a rogue,” the alpha says.

“A lone wolf, then,” the warrior corrects himself.

I hear the alpha step closer.

“What should we do with her?”

His question surprises me.

Is there a reason they need to ask the alpha what to do with me?

He steps close enough that I can feel his warmth. A finger presses beneath my chin, forcing me to lift my head. I meet his eyes, and the smirk on his lips vanishes instantly.

“It can’t be,” he whispers, confusion clouding his expression. “Octavia?”

I recoil slightly, shock flooding through me. “Y-You know me?” I stammer.

He slowly nods, letting his hand fall. For a moment, he simply studies me before asking, “How are you here?”

My mind struggles to keep up with everything happening. I begin stammering an explanation, hoping it won’t end in my death.

“I… It was an accident. I didn’t mean to cross your border. I was just escaping other rogues.”

The alpha nods slowly. “I see. But… you’re alive!”

His words confuse me again.

“Yes?” I draw the word out uncertainly.

“How?” he asks.

I don’t know how to answer that, so instead I ask my own question. “Who are you?”

The alpha seems to realize how confusing this must be and shakes his head lightly. “You probably don’t remember me,” he says.

I shake my head.

“I supported your father.”

“My… father…” I whisper, a sharp pain tightening in my chest.

Then I notice the alpha’s smile.

“I still do.”

“Still?” I ask, confused. I thought I was the last supporter left.

“Yes,” he replies, his smile widening before he glances away. “Tragic what happened.”

Anger fills me again, a low rumble escaping my throat before I can stop it. The alpha looks back at me, a spark in his eyes that wasn’t there before. He crouches slightly, lowering himself closer to my eye level.

“But you know,” he says quietly, “it doesn’t have to stay this way.”

“This way?”

“With young Valerio on the throne.”

Once again, I don’t understand where he’s going. “What do you mean?”

His smirk turns cruel. “Do you know what a wolf’s biggest weakness is?”

I think about it for a moment, but nothing comes to mind, so I shrug.

“Let me give you a hint.” He holds up one finger. “It’s called the same as the color of your eyes.”

Chains were wrapped around my ankles, wrists, and neck, locked to the floor and stretched tight. I was forced into a cramped position that made every limb ache. Sweat dripped down my face, and after days like this, the pain had become unbearable. My body longed to collapse onto the cold floor, but the chains prevented it. If I let myself fall, the chain around my neck would choke me. So I remained in that agonizing half-standing, half-sitting posture.

Still, the thought of the king buried deep underground gave me strength. I couldn’t wait to see my father’s proud face when I joined him in the afterlife. The mere thought brought me joy.

Suddenly, the metal door in front of me swung open, chasing away my happiness. I braced myself, expecting a guard to tell me it was time for my execution. But the figure who stepped through the door was someone I hadn’t anticipated.

“Hello, sister.”

His voice had changed. It was deeper now, edged with something cruel. I spat on the floor. The saliva landed right in front of him. Zane glanced at it, then met my eyes.

“Traitor,” I retorted.

Zane shrugged and stepped over the dirty spot before stopping in front of me, hands in his pockets. His fine clothes made him stand out in the grim surroundings.

“Yes, I imagine you think I am,” he whispered.

I laughed bitterly. “You think?” I snapped.

He stared ahead as if he didn’t understand what I was referring to.

Was he truly that dense, or did he simply not care?

“You took part in killing our father,” I snarled, meeting his eyes without fear.

His gaze darkened before a faint smirk spread across his lips. Of course he didn’t care or he wouldn’t have aided the king.

“Is that funny to you?” I shot back.

“No, it isn’t funny.”

“Then why were you smiling?”

“I was smiling because even after all these years, you still don’t know.”

His words only confused me further. “I preferred not spending my last moments solving riddles. Why don’t you just speak plainly? What is it, oh wise brother, that I don’t know?”

His smile widened, clearly amused. “It is in your words.”

“My words?”

He lifted his hand and gestured between us. “Not our father.”

My confusion deepened. “What?”

“My father,” he emphasized.

I drew back, stunned.

What is he talking about?

My mind churned, trying desperately to make sense of his words, but I couldn’t. With that wicked smile still on his lips, he stepped closer and squatted down in front of me so we were eye-to-eye. Reaching out, he grasped a loose strand of my hair, letting it slide between his fingers. He watched the movement before meeting my eyes again, something dark and sinister lurking in his. It made me shiver.

“All this time, and you never even thought to question it,” he whispered.

“Question what?”

“Your heritage.” He pointed to my eye, then to his own yellow one.

“Our father was never your father,” he said.

“W-What?” My voice was barely more than a whisper.

“That’s right. My father found you abandoned in the woods, nothing but a rogue child left to die. An unwanted bastard he decided to take in.”

“T-That’s not true!” I insisted, shaking my head.

“But it is.”

“W-Why would he even do that? For what?”

“What do you think the paranoid king wanted you for?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t know.

“In case he needed you for revenge one day, if someone ever killed him.”

My heart seemed to stop, my head spinning.

This couldn’t be true. It isn’t true! I am my father’s daughter.

“You’re lying!” I snarled, trying to pretend his words didn’t affect me.

He rose slowly, looking infuriatingly calm. “No, I’m not,” he replied. “If you were truly my sister, you would have eyes like mine.”

Though only one of his eyes was yellow, a sign of the diluted royal blood in him, it was enough to make his power clear.

“I…” I stammered, my mind muddled until I remembered what our father had told me. “My eyes are silver, though. Father always said—”

“My father lied to you, and he forced me to do the same. Silver has nothing to do with the royal bloodline. You were the outsider.”

I shook my head, refusing to believe him. Father had always cared for me, had taught me how to survive.

“You’re just trying to mess with my head!”

“What would be the point of that now?” he asked smugly.

“Because you can. Because you enjoy playing with me. You never loved me, did you?”

He let out a mocking laugh. “Only realizing that now?”

“I realized it when I saw you standing at the king’s side, looming over our father’s body.”

Zane looked momentarily surprised. “You were still there?”

“I was,” I said in a low, dangerous tone.

“You watched it happen?”

“I saw enough.”

Zane began smiling again, only for his smile to give way to laughter.

“You really found that funny?” I spat.

“I found it hilarious that all this time you had been hiding, waiting for the right moment to come here and avenge the man you thought was your father, just to fail.”

“I didn’t fail!” I snapped.

Instantly, Zane crouched down again, and silence fell between us.

“Oh, but you did, sister,” he spat.

His words confused me.

“We have a king on the throne now, one more suited.”

“Suited?” I mocked.

“Indeed.”

“He had no claim!” I shouted.

“His eyes say otherwise, even more yellow than our father’s. Did you really miss King Valerio’s connection to all of this?” He held out his arms, gesturing around the damp, dark cell.

“Father said they were all traitors! That their eyes and blood don’t matter!”

“He lied!”

His words stunned me once more.

“This was never meant to be Father’s. It belonged to King Valerio’s family and has for generations.”

His words echoed in my mind as I struggled to make sense of everything. And as I remembered gazing into those powerful yellow eyes, something terrible dawned on me.

If he has yellow eyes… and I’m truly my father’s daughter… was I related to my own mate?

My stomach twisted violently, threatening to empty itself, but I swallowed hard and forced it down.

“The king has a greater claim to the throne than anyone else,” my brother continued, shocking me yet again with his loyalty to this wolf.

“My father was the traitor,” my brother went on. “He and the other alphas took down the royal family and placed my father on the throne just because his blood was slightly stronger than the rest.”

I felt dizzy, overwhelmed by everything I was hearing. I didn’t just want to throw up. I wanted to pass out, to escape this nightmare.

“No…” I murmured.

“Yes. Everything my father told us—every story, every fabricated fairytale he painted—was just that: a fairytale. He was never meant to sit on the throne. If the other alphas in the area hadn’t wanted more power, it never would have happened. My father was simply the best candidate to rally people behind. But this was never his pack. This was never his throne.”

“Stop it!” I yelled.

“And you,” he mocked, “whether you believe me or not, were nothing but a bastard, abandoned, and of no real use.”

“I said stop!”

Zane leaned back and began laughing again, a sound that sent chills down my spine. Anger surged through me, making me want to claw out his eyes. Instinctively, I lunged forward, straining against the chains, trying to reach him. The metal tightened around my neck, choking me and forcing my limbs even wider.

Zane continued to chuckle, the yellow of his eye gleaming faintly. “What? You think hurting me would alter the truth?”

“Father said—”

“Father said, father said,” he mocked. “You were a child—easily manipulated, easily used for his own gain. He exploited you!”

“Never! He cared! You were his disappointment, and now I see why.”

That struck him. His eyes darkened, and the room seemed to grow colder. The faint moonlight filtering through the tiny barred window only made him appear more menacing. In a sudden movement, he grabbed my jaw, squeezing so tightly I winced.

“Call me that again,” he challenged.

“I…” I couldn’t speak. He was close to breaking bone.

“Say it again, you pathetic, useless, undesirable child!”

“F-F*ck… you,” I growled.

We locked into a dark staring contest as he kept squeezing, threatening to rip my jaw from my face. Despite my own power, his still surpassed mine. He leaned closer, trying to intimidate me, to force me into submission. But being born into an alpha line and being a true alpha were two different things. When he realized it, he abruptly released me, shoving my head aside. I choked as the chain tightened again.

“Bastard,” he spat.

“Weakling,” I shot back.

This time, he struck me. I groaned, but when I lifted my head again, I smiled.

“That’s why you did it, isn’t it? That’s why you were fine standing behind that f*cking traitor king,” I snarled, spitting out blood. Zane stared at me, seeming confused. “You couldn’t do it yourself. You couldn’t kill our father. You weren’t strong enough.”

“Shut up!” he yelled.

“And now you’re here, serving like a little b*tch!”

“I said shut up!” he screamed into my face.

His voice echoed through the cell before slowly fading. We stared at each other, both breathing heavily. His yellow eye shone brighter as his power surfaced. Seconds passed. Then he stepped back slightly, composing himself, shaking his head.

“You still know how to be a pain in the ass,” he muttered.

“A useful skill to have,” I mocked.

He smiled again. “A useless skill where you’re headed.”

“I’m sure I could make the souls in the Underworld laugh.”

Zane straightened, his smile widening. “I’m not talking about the Underworld. At least, not yet.”

Confusion gripped me again.

“Where am I headed, then?” I knew it was dangerous to ask, but curiosity got the better of me.

Zane took a step back. “Haven’t you listened to me at all?”

“What do you mean?”

“The king, sister.”

“What about the king?”

“This time, it’s going to be a fair fight,” he said as he moved toward the door.

“Fair fight?”

“One without either of you poisoning each other with silver.”

His words began to frustrate me. “What the f*ck are you talking about?”

Standing by the door, Zane looked over his shoulder and smiled.

“Zane!”