Alpha Kael Vittori.

My muscles ached as I struggled to keep my eyes open. I squinted under the morning sunlight that filtered into the room. The bed was warm and comfy— bed? The last thing I remembered was lying on the cold ground close to the abandoned shack, how did I get here.

"Alpha! You're awake!" A sharp voice by my side called me and I instantly recognized my Beta's voice. "Thank the goddess!"

I welcomed the relief in his voice, but there was a deep unsettling feeling that pooled in the pit of my stomach that something was really wrong. My head ached slightly and I still felt a bit fuzzy, but I tried sitting up on the bed. When my eyes focused on Lysander, the look in his eyes was grave and in his eyes, deep concern was etched.

"Lysander... What happened? Our warriors?"

Flashes of that night surged into mind as I remembered how my pack was being ambushed by rogues. The attacks had been coordinated as if someone was controlling them— something that had never happened before. And there was their leader... There was something off about him when I first fought him, he felt really familiar... As if I knew him from somewhere. The way he moved and fought like the wind was similar to the way the house of Heracles fought. But why would they set an ambush on my pack to fight me? Was it because my family was the next in line to the throne?

"We lost Tempest and Talon," he hung his head low in reply and I fell silent. They were the top two warriors that protected the pack with all their lives. Good men.

I felt my anger rising little by little, but at the same time, my beast reared its head from the abyss of my mind. But this was not the time for it. They were going to get the honour they deserved, and I was going to hunt down every single one of those responsible for that ambush. I tried to stand on my feet when another image flashed in my mind...

A woman... an Omega? I could still remember the outline of her face… the fear in her eyes… And there was something else… I could tell she was my mate.

It shouldn't be possible. It couldn't. With prophecy of my curse being broken by my mate… she is supposed to be someone strong.

But her? An Omega? What could she possibly do? And not only that, she had murmured something to me before the juice of that herb made contact with my tongue. Her expression was one of pity...

"What about the woman? The Omega? She tended to my wounds—"

"Yes," Lysander let out a deep sigh, "She has been chained in the dungeons without food and water, Alpha."

It was like something snapped inside me and my anger roared. "Who gave that order? She saved me and she is supposed to be rewarded for—"

"Alpha... She..." It was as if he was hesitant about what he wanted to say, "She is not who you think she is. She... She isn't a good person."

"You're not the one to decide that!!" I gritted my teeth in response. "You of all people should know better than we should treat Omegas with respect! Yes, I'm aware she fled from her pack and got lost in our territory, but putting her in a dungeon is far too extreme! You may have been taking precautions from our last attack, but—"

"She killed your brother, Kael!" The pain in his voice made me freeze mid-sentence. It didn't even occur to me that Lysander used my first name for the first time without adding my title to it, something I always forced him to do.

"What. Did. You. Say?" My question was spaced and my voice was eerily calm.

"He was murdered... Two nights ago in his chambers with a ceremonial, she was the one who wielded it. She slit his throat with it."

It was like my whole world froze. Images flashed in my mind– Zen as a pup, trailing after me. His laughter. His fierce loyalty, even when others feared the beast within me. Gone... Snuffed out…

It sounded impossible and unthinkable. An Omega killing an Alpha? With the ceremonial knife? The sheer audacity… the sheer improbability. Yet… the timing. Her flight. Her presence near the border. The look in her eyes – not just fear, but a deep, smoldering anger that I had glimpsed before she masked it with concern.

My beast surged, a red tide washing over my vision. That murderer!! The fury was all-consuming, obliterating the strange mate pull I felt towards her, killing all reason. Zen was dead. My brother. My blood. And she… she had been the one who put the knife in. The only weapon that could kill an Alpha.

She had touched me. She had played the healer while Zen’s blood was still warm?

"Why wasn't I informed of this since? Why am I just hearing about this now?!!" I screamed so hard at my Beta and my wolf surfaced with a painful howl that shook the entire room, and I was sure all my pack members could feel the pain in it. My eyes shimmered with unshed tears and my heart threatened to rip out of my body. The pain was unbearable. The thought of my brother's murdered body was excruciating. "WHY LYSANDER, WHY??"

"You were unconscious for two days, Alpha," he said tiredly and slumped into his chair. "We don't know what herb she gave to you that sent you into such a deep sleep, but she was about to be executed for murdering one Alpha and trying to murder another. But she constantly assured us that it was just some sleeping herb and our Omegas confirmed it."

Two days? She sent me to sleep? What was her plan? Who was behind her actions? Did someone want my family erased from history? And to think she was my mate... The word seared something deep and vicious within me, a thick coil of hatred...

"What about the am—"

"We questioned her about the ambush, but it seems she has no Idea about it."

The room was silent for what seemed like minutes.

“Bring her to me,” I commanded with a voice that was not entirely my own. It echoed with my beast’s hunger. “Now.”

“Kael, wait,” Lysander pleaded, genuine fear in his eyes now. “All other packs are here. Packs from other bordering territories. They heard the news and they are at the borders. They are demanding justice, and the Silvermane pack has already broken through the borders. They know we have her and they don't want to wait for interrogations. They want immediate justice. They are screaming for her to be burned alive.”

“I said NOW, Lysander!” My roar shook the room and the windows rattled. “Bring me the Omega who murdered my brother! Do people want justice? They shall get justice!! The whole world would witness what it means to touch my family! They shall burn just like she would burn!”

Lysander paled further but nodded curtly, recognizing the point of no return. He turned and hurried out, the heavy door thudding shut behind him.

She was going to pay! I was going to make her suffer! I was going to make her wish she wasn't born! She didn't know what was coming to her...

Something flared up inside me again. A memory... A memory of her touch, to remind me that she was still my mate…

I crushed it instantly. Mate or not, she killed my only family left!

She killed Zen. She would burn!

And I, Kael Vittori, would light the pyre myself