✨Lucien's POV ✨
The horn sounded at dawn a low, mournful blast that echoed off the granite cliffs. It was the call for the Great Hunt, a tradition held three days before the full moon to provide for the pack during the mating fever. But this year, the air felt different. It didn't smell of celebration; it smelled of a trap.
I followed Kaelen to the staging area. He was dressed in leather bracers and furs, a heavy bow slung across his back. He hadn't spoken since my warning about Silas the night before, but his scent was sharp acrid like ozone before a thunderstorm. He was on high alert.
"Stay behind me," Kaelen muttered as we reached the edge of the forest. "The Iron Ridge doesn't hunt deer, Julian. We hunt the Shadow-Stalkers that come up from the valley. They're fast, they're poisonous, and they hate the scent of a Silver Moon wolf."
"I can handle myself," I snapped, though I made sure to keep my voice low. Around us, the other hunters were shifting. The sound of snapping bones and tearing fabric filled the air as dozens of men transformed into massive, lean killing machines.
Kaelen turned to me, his eyes already bleeding into that stormy wolf-gray. "This isn't a game of politics. If you fall, I can't stop to pick you up. Do you understand?"
"I understand more than you think, Kaelen," I said, meeting his gaze. For a moment, I let my own eyes flash not the amber of an Omega, but the piercing, metallic silver of a dormant Alpha.
Kaelen stiffened. His nostrils flared, his pupils blowing wide as he caught a hint of the power I'd been suppressing. Before he could question me, he dropped to all fours. His body blurred, fur sprouting, limbs lengthening until the massive charcoal wolf stood before me. He let out a short, sharp bark Move.
We ran.
The hunt was a blur of silver and gray against the dark green of the pines. In my human form, I was fast, but keeping up with a pack of Alphas in their wolf forms was grueling. I used every ounce of my training, leaping over fallen logs and sliding down muddy embankments.
We were miles from the camp when the atmosphere shifted. The birds went silent. The wind died. Kaelen skidded to a halt, his hackles rising. The rest of the pack fanned out, their low growls vibrating in the dirt.
From the shadows of a deep ravine, the Stalkers emerged. They were twisted mockeries of wolves hairless, with elongated limbs and glowing violet eyes, corrupted by the same blight that haunted the Dragon lands.
Kaelen lunged.
The clearing erupted into chaos. It was a symphony of snarls and the wet sound of tearing flesh. I drew the small bone-knife I'd managed to pilfer from the healer's tent, bracing myself. A Stalker lunged at me, its teeth snapping inches from my throat. I rolled, slashing at its underbelly, but the creature was unnaturally quick.
I saw Kaelen occupied with three of the beasts, his powerful jaws crushing the spine of one while he kicked another away. He was a whirlwind of violence, but he was being overwhelmed.
Then, I saw him.
Silas was standing on a ridge above the clearing, still in his human form, watching with a cold, detached smile. He wasn't helping. He was waiting. He gestured to two of his elite guards wolves who hadn't joined the main fray. They began to circle around to Kaelen's blind side, their eyes fixed not on the Stalkers, but on Kaelen's throat.
They were going to do it now. Under the cover of the hunt, they were going to murder the Shadow Wolf.
Panic flared in my chest, but beneath it, something else broke free. The wall I'd built around my soul for twenty years crumbled. I couldn't be the "delicate Omega" anymore. Not if it meant watching Kaelen die.
"NO!" The roar that tore from my throat wasn't human.
The world seemed to slow down. I felt the heat in my blood reach a boiling point. My bones didn't just shift; they exploded into growth. The pain was exquisite, a white-hot cleansing fire. I hit the ground on four paws, my vision turning into a sharp landscape of heat signatures and scent trails.
I was no longer Julian the Prince. I was a winter-white wolf, nearly as large as Kaelen, my fur shimmering like moonlight.
I didn't head for the Stalkers. I intercepted Silas's guards.
I hit the first one like a mountain slide, my jaws locking onto his shoulder. The guard, an Alpha himself, let out a yelp of pure shock. He hadn't expected a predator; he had expected a victim. I threw him aside and turned on the second, letting out a snarl that carried the weight of my royal lineage. It was a command a true Alpha's roar that demanded submission.
The guard froze, his tail tucking between his legs instinctively.
In the center of the clearing, Kaelen had finished the Stalkers. He turned, his muzzle dripping with dark blood, and froze. He looked at the two guards I'd neutralized, then his eyes settled on me.
Silence stretched across the clearing. The other hunters stopped, their heads tilting in confusion. The scent of a second, powerful Alpha was filling the air, clashing with the Iron Ridge's musk.
I shifted back. It was agonizingly slow, and I felt the cold air hit my bare skin as I collapsed to my knees, gasping for breath. I didn't care that I was naked in front of the pack. I only cared that Kaelen was alive.
Kaelen shifted back too, his face a mask of shock and something that looked dangerously like fury. He marched toward me, grabbing a discarded cloak from a nearby branch and throwing it over my shivering shoulders.
He leaned down, his face inches from mine, his voice a low, dangerous hiss. "You're an Alpha."
"I'm your mate," I whispered, my voice cracked.
Kaelen looked up at the ridge, but Silas was already gone, vanished back into the trees. Kaelen looked back at me, his grip on my arm tightening. The bond between us was no longer a thread; it was a burning chain.
"You lied to everyone," Kaelen said, his eyes searching mine. "Why?"
"Because in my pack, Alphas are killed if they aren't the firstborn," I said, clutching the cloak. "I did it to survive. Just like you do."
Kaelen stared at me for a long time. The pack was watching, whispering. The secret was out. The 'Omega' was a King in his own right.
"Silas saw," Kaelen said, his voice dropping to a haunt. "He won't just try to kill me now, Julian. He'll try to claim you. An Alpha-Alpha bond is the strongest power in the territories. He'll want that power for himself."
Kaelen reached out, his hand cupping the back of my neck. It wasn't a gentle touch; it was possessive. "We have to leave. Tonight."
"Where?" I asked.
"Into the deep caves," Kaelen said, his eyes glowing. "The full moon is in two days. We seal the bond there, where he can't find us. If we don't, we're both dead men."
As we walked back to the camp in a tense, guarded formation, I realized the hunt hadn't ended. It had only just begun. And this time, Kaelen and I were the prey.