SILVER AND POWER
The moment the Alpha King moved, the night exploded into chaos.
The hunters barely had time to react.
One second he was standing beside Aria.
The next—
He was already in front of them.
A blur of speed and power.
The first hunter didn’t even finish drawing his bow.
The Alpha King grabbed him by the arm and slammed him into the ground with brutal force.
The sound of cracking bones echoed through the trees.
“Shoot!” the leader shouted.
Three arrows flew instantly.
The Alpha King twisted aside.
Two arrows missed completely, embedding themselves in nearby trees.
The third arrow grazed his shoulder.
The silver tip cut through his skin.
Blood spilled instantly.
Aria gasped.
“Your shoulder!”
But the Alpha King didn’t even flinch.
His golden eyes burned brighter.
Instead, he grabbed the hunter who had fired the arrow and threw him across the clearing.
The man crashed into a tree and collapsed with a painful groan.
The hunter leader’s smile disappeared.
“Spread out!” he barked.
The remaining hunters quickly moved apart, trying to surround the Alpha King.
But they were far too slow.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind another hunter.
His hand closed around the man’s throat.
The hunter struggled desperately.
But the Alpha King lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
“I warned you,” he said coldly.
Then he threw the man into the dirt beside the others.
Aria stood frozen, watching the fight with wide eyes.
The Alpha King moved like a storm.
Fast.
Precise.
Terrifying.
Within seconds, three of the hunters were already down.
The leader realized it too.
His confidence cracked.
“You’re a monster,” he muttered.
The Alpha King slowly turned toward him.
“That’s what they call me.”
The hunter quickly raised his bow again.
But this time, he aimed at Aria.
“Stop!” he shouted.
The Alpha King froze instantly.
The arrow was pointed directly at her heart.
Aria’s breath caught.
“Smart move,” the hunter said, though his voice shook slightly.
“Take another step and she dies.”
The Alpha King’s golden eyes darkened dangerously.
“Don’t.”
The hunter smirked nervously.
“Looks like the mighty Alpha King does have a weakness.”
His finger tightened slightly on the bowstring.
Aria felt her wolf growl inside her mind.
I’m tired of this.
Before Aria could respond—
The heat inside her chest exploded again.
Power surged through her body like lightning.
Her eyes flashed.
The hunter’s arrow suddenly snapped in half.
Right in his hands.
He stared down at it in shock.
“What the—”
Then an invisible force slammed into him.
He flew backward through the air and crashed into the ground.
The forest went quiet again.
Aria blinked in shock.
“I… did it again.”
The Alpha King slowly turned to look at her.
His expression wasn’t surprised this time.
It was impressed.
“Your control is improving,” he said.
Aria stared at her hands again.
“I didn’t even touch him.”
“Exactly.”
The hunter leader groaned as he tried to sit up.
But the Alpha King was already standing over him.
His shadow covered the man completely.
The hunter’s face turned pale.
“You… you can’t kill me,” he stammered.
“Oh?”
“There are more of us,” he said quickly.
“Many more.”
The Alpha King crouched slightly.
His golden eyes gleamed.
“I’m counting on it.”
Then he knocked the man unconscious with a single strike.
The clearing became quiet once more.
Aria slowly walked closer.
“Are they… alive?”
“Yes.”
She looked relieved.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Aria noticed something.
“Your shoulder.”
Blood was still running down his arm from the silver arrow cut.
“That looks bad.”
The Alpha King glanced at it briefly.
“It’s nothing.”
But Aria shook her head.
“Silver slows healing, right?”
He looked slightly surprised that she knew.
“Yes.”
Aria stepped closer.
“Sit down.”
The Alpha King raised an eyebrow.
“Was that an order?”
Aria folded her arms slightly.
“You’re injured.”
For a moment, he just looked at her.
Then surprisingly…
He sat down on a fallen log.
Aria carefully examined the wound.
It wasn’t deep, but the silver had irritated the skin badly.
“This will sting,” she warned.
The Alpha King smirked slightly.
“I’ve had worse.”
Aria tore a strip from the edge of her sleeve and gently cleaned the blood.
Her fingers brushed his skin as she wrapped the cloth around his shoulder.
For a brief moment—
Their eyes met.
And something in the air shifted.
A quiet warmth passed between them.
Then suddenly—
Her wolf spoke again.
But this time her voice sounded uneasy.
Aria…
“What?” she whispered.
Someone else is coming.
Aria’s head snapped up.
“Another hunter?”
Her wolf’s voice turned serious.
No.
The Alpha King felt it too.
His golden eyes suddenly turned toward the distant road leading to the mountains.
A powerful presence was approaching.
Fast.
Very fast.
His expression hardened.
“That’s not a hunter.”
Aria’s heart began racing again.
“Then who is it?”
The Alpha King’s voice dropped low.
“An Alpha.”
And within seconds—
A massive wolf burst out of the forest ahead of them. ????