Chapter 14: The Alpha's Fury
The storm broke over Bloodfang just as the moon crested the ridge, casting silver lightning across the fortress like divine wrath. Rain lashed against the stone walls, drumming like war drums, but the thunder outside was nothing compared to the tempest boiling within the Alpha's hall.
Lucian stood at the center of the great chamber, his body rigid with fury. His coat was drenched, his chest bare beneath the open leather armor, exposing the glowing sigils inked across his flesh markings of a royal bloodline, a protector of ancient law, and a sworn executioner.
Around him, his inner circle knelt, heads bowed. Except for three.
Three werewolves stood restrained by silver chains, their wrists bloodied and skin blistered where the cursed metal bit into them. One of them a tall male with a jagged scar across his brow struggled to meet Lucian's blazing crimson gaze. The other two kept their eyes to the floor, trembling, shamed.
Behind Lucian, Aria stood beneath the high-vaulted arches, cloaked in a deep burgundy robe. Her expression was unreadable, but her heart pounded in her throat. She hadn't wanted to come, but Lucian had insisted.
"You need to see who they are," he had said. "And what I become for you."
She understood now.
Lucian's voice cracked through the silence like a whip.
"Say their names."
The silence stretched. The scarred man raised his chin defiantly.
"Ulric. Darrien. Fenna," he spat. "We swore our loyalty to the pack, not to her."
Lucian's eyes narrowed. The storm outside howled louder.
"And yet you threatened your Luna."
"She's not our Luna," Ulric barked. "She's a vampire's whore. She's cursed. Ever since she came, you've been distracted. Weak."
Lucian's hand twitched. The chains rattled as Darrien whimpered, "Ulric, shut up"
But it was too late.
Lucian moved. Not shifted not yet. But the power that rolled off him in that moment was heavier than any physical blow. It pressed the air down like gravity had tripled.
He was at Ulric's side in an instant.
His clawed hand gripped the traitor's throat and lifted him from the floor, one-handed.
"Do you feel weak now?" he snarled.
Ulric choked, feet kicking, mouth gaping as he fought for breath. The silver chains sizzled where they touched Lucian's skin, but he didn't flinch. His other hand formed a claw, trembling with restraint.
Aria stepped forward. "Lucian"
He paused. Just slightly.
She met his gaze. "Don't lose yourself."
Lucian's breath slowed, his nostrils flaring. He turned his head slightly, but didn't release Ulric. "He threatened your life. He plotted with rogues to hand you over in exchange for the Crimson Crown."
Ulric's eyes widened in panic. "That wasn't she's !"
Lucian flung him across the hall like a rag doll.
Ulric slammed into the stone wall, coughing blood. He slumped, stunned.
Lucian turned to Darrien and Fenna, eyes now glowing fully with feral red.
"You had a choice. Pack first. Always. And yet you hid him. Protected him."
Fenna, a young female, broke into sobs. "He's my brother! I didn't know how deep it went I didn't mean to"
Lucian's jaw clenched. He stepped forward slowly, and the room dropped in temperature.
Aria touched his arm. "Let me speak to them."
He froze again. Something in his expression cracked not anger, but raw vulnerability.
"You would spare them?" he whispered.
"No," Aria said. "I would give them a choice."
Lucian stepped back.
She approached the three kneeling wolves, her voice calm but sharp.
"I have died once. I have been betrayed by my own blood. So understand me when I say this: you are lucky he held back."
She knelt before Fenna. "But I won't decide your fate. You will. Tell me now do you stand with Bloodfang? With me? Or will you follow Ulric into damnation?"
Fenna sobbed harder, crawling to her knees. "I swear to you, my Luna. I never wanted you harmed. I didn't know they meant to hurt you. Please, forgive me."
Aria touched her forehead. "Then prove it. Take the Mark tonight."
Fenna gasped.
Darrien looked up sharply. "The Luna's Mark?"
Lucian stepped forward, jaw tense. "If she takes it, her soul binds to Aria's bloodline. Any future betrayal will kill her."
"I accept," Fenna said without hesitation, kneeling.
Aria extended her hand and sliced her palm with a dagger. The blood shimmered with faint violet light. Fenna drank a single drop.
Magic pulsed. The runes on Aria's skin flared. Fenna gasped as a thin sigil burned itself just below her collarbone an elegant flame enclosed in a fang.
She collapsed, weeping.
Lucian looked at Aria with something close to awe.
Then he turned to Darrien.
The man's jaw trembled. "I… I don't deserve that mercy. I stood by while he planned. I was a coward."
Lucian crossed his arms. "Then take your punishment like a wolf."
Darrien stood shakily and offered his neck.
Lucian growled low. "You remember the price of cowardice?"
"Yes," Darrien whispered. "Fangs or exile."
Lucian looked at Aria, then back. "Exile leaves you at the mercy of the rogues. Do you still choose it?"
Darrien nodded. "I do."
Lucian's eyes hardened. "So be it."
He howled short, sharp and the great doors opened. Two guards entered and seized Darrien.
"No home. No pack. No name," Lucian said.
Darrien bowed his head and allowed himself to be taken.
Finally, Lucian turned back to Ulric.
The man had regained consciousness and was glaring, blood dripping from his lip.
"I'll never bow to a half-blood queen," he spat. "You were once a god among wolves. Now you kneel at the altar of a vampire whore."
Lucian didn't move.
Then he shifted.
Not halfway fully.
Bones cracked, sinews twisted, and his body stretched until the Alpha's wolf form loomed massive and terrifying before them. Midnight-black fur. Eyes like molten blood. A monster of moonlight and fury.
Ulric didn't have time to scream.
Lucian lunged. Fangs sank into flesh. There was no ceremony, no cruelty just brutal execution. A single, savage bite to the throat. Blood sprayed across the floor. Silence followed.
When he returned to his human form, his hands were shaking, coated in red. He didn't look at Aria.
She came to him and touched his cheek.
"You did what you had to do."
His eyes were haunted. "I would do worse for you."
"I know," she whispered, pressing her lips to his. "But don't lose what makes you Lucian."
He caught her face in his hands, trembling. "You are what keeps me Lucian."
The storm outside had passed. The rain had turned soft. But the scent of blood still lingered in the hall.
Fenna knelt silently by the Luna's mark on her skin, while guards began to clean the chamber.
Aria turned, taking Lucian's hand.
Together, they left the hall.
And deep beneath Bloodfang, something stirred in response to spilled traitor's blood a pulse of ancient magic, whispering through stone and soul.
The queen had been defended.
The Alpha had shown his fury.
And the real war was only just beginning.