The Alpha King's Lost Queen
PROLOGUE
THE NIGHT THE HEIR VANISHED
The moon turned red the night the heir disappeared.
King Aldric stood beneath the ancient arches of Moonstone Hall, staring at the storm gathering beyond the mountains.
He had been warned.
Three times.
The first warning came from the old seer.
The second came from the royal wolves guarding the northern pass.
The third came from the woman he trusted most.
He had ignored all three.
A cry suddenly echoed through the palace.
A baby's cry.
Aldric ran.
Guards followed behind him, but none were fast enough.
When he reached the royal chamber, the door was open.
The cradle was empty.
His son was gone.
Aldric stopped breathing.
"Find him."
The guards scattered.
His queen stood near the window, trembling.
"There was someone here," she whispered.
"Who?"
She looked toward the darkness outside.
"I don't know."
Aldric crossed the room.
On the floor lay a silver pendant bearing the symbol of the first wolf kings.
He picked it up.
His blood turned cold.
That symbol had not been seen in centuries.
"The prophecy," the queen whispered.
Aldric closed his fist around the pendant.
"Forget the prophecy."
"But the seer said—"
"I said forget it."
A crash shook the palace.
Then came a howl from the mountains.
Not an ordinary wolf.
Something ancient.
Something that had not been heard since the first kings ruled the valley.
The palace candles went out.
For one terrifying moment, Moonstone Hall disappeared into darkness.
Then a voice came from somewhere beyond the chamber.
"The heir will return when the kingdom is ready to remember what it buried."
Aldric drew his sword.
"Show yourself!"
No answer came.
When the candles reignited, his queen was gone too.
Only the silver pendant remained.
Years passed.
The king never found his son.
The kingdom moved on.
Aldric became colder.
More ruthless.
More determined to protect the throne.
But every year, on the anniversary of that terrible night, he returned to the empty nursery.
He believed his heir was dead.
He was wrong.
Far beyond the kingdom's borders, a young woman woke beneath a strange moon.
A silver mark glowed on her wrist.
She stared at it in fear.
And somewhere in the Wolf Kingdom, an ancient stone cracked for the first time in centuries.
The lost bloodline had awakened.
The heir was coming home.