They call me Alpha now.

But the title slid off my tongue like spoiled wine.

Not because I hadn’t earned it.

But because it was too small for what I’d become.

I wasn’t just an Alpha.

I was the end of one bloodline and the womb of the next.

The Hellcrowned Queen.

And with the Alpha Crown fused to my skull, its roots threading through bone and fire, I could feel it pulsing inside me.

The prophecy.

Clawing.

Burning.

Coming alive.

We didn’t wait for the Council to strike.

We struck ...