Aliana
The scent roused me first—lavender and warm bread, the smell of my childhood, of Sunday mornings before everything went wrong.
My eyes flew open.
Everyone from the mating procession had vanished. The altar, the guests, the ribbon that had been wound round my wrists—all of it gone. I was alone on a hill I didn’t recognise, grass damp beneath me, and the morning sun hung bright and wrong in a sky that had been evening only a breath ago.
The evening had vanished.
I clutched my chest.
Sorin.
Loss. Pain. Zira.
I scanned the hill, and heavy clouds began to gather at its edges, rolling in from nowhere. In the distance, a figure was growing closer, small against the grey.
Lavender and warm bread.
I knew that walk. I knew it before I could see her face.
I was on my feet and running before I’d decided to move.
“Mama,” I uttered the one broken word that had been a constant prayer on my lips.
Her slight arms curled around me as if they’d never left.
“Oh, Mama,” I sighed, breathing her in.
“My love,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Let me look at you.”
She pulled back, and I began to sob as her face came into view. Her pallor was no longer grey or gaunt. Her face glowed with an ethereal light. Her hair was left out, rising high in a flurry of tight spiral curls.
I’d kept her worst moments close for so long that time had made me forget how healthy and beautiful she once was.
She smiled, cupping my cheek, gazing at me as if she wanted to memorise the person I’d become.
“We don’t have long, my love. This moment was always meant to come to pass,” she said, smoothing her hand over my hair. “So beautiful.”
“What? No—” I began, but paused as my mind tried to comprehend—everything.
“You descend from the first cyclical Luna. Your bond to the Alpha King has caused you to transcend the usual shifter law. This was the prophecy the soothsayer relayed.”
“But I can’t feel Zira. I… what does this mean?”
“Zira is safe and awaiting your return. You will rule and guide our kind, Aliana. You have always been an Omega. By the will of the Moon Goddess, you shall break the shackles placed on the weak. Your mate will set the standard of devotion.”
She spoke slowly, as if she knew I was struggling. She reached out and wiped my tears away.
“Our ancestors descend from the Wraith Wolves.”
I gasped at the forgotten name.
“But they carried out black magic. They forfeited their lives.”
“That narrative was created, documented and taught by the five ruling packs. It is not true.”
The history was thousands of years old. Embedded in every school.
“Why?” I rasped.
“The authority the women held was too strong. The Alphas could not accept the opposition. The dynamics followed. New laws and regulations that divided society until the bonds weakened. Look at your father. He is the perfect example of corruption.”
“What can I do?”
“You won’t be alone,” my mother said, smirking. “You have that fine big Alpha by your side. Why, he is already about to commit mass murder over you.”
Sorin. Malakh.
“No,” I gasped.
“He passed a death sentence to them all.”
I thought of all the innocent people in the procession.
But I wanted to stay with my mother too.
I closed my eyes.
“I have to go back,” I said, my voice flat and dull.
She embraced me so tightly I felt her surround me from every direction.
“I love you. And my beautiful grandpups,” she whispered.
She was already slipping away, her hug loosening even as she held on.
“No—” I screamed, the word tearing and stretching into nothing.
The echo chased me through the void.
? ? ?
The pain crippled my body. It burned from head to toe. My lips parted, but no sound left me. The pain was too great.
“Alpha, she’s alive!” someone yelled.
I was crushed against something solid.
“Call the doctor,” Sorin roared, each word vibrating from his chest into mine.
I began to pant—short, sharp bursts, each breath a battle. Sweat dripped off my body in sheets. I opened my eyes to chaos. But there he was, clutching me as though I might vanish again. His men surrounded us from every angle.
I reached up, fingers trembling, and touched his wet cheek.
“Sorin,” I rasped.
His body shuddered. His eyes closed as he began to rock me. The motion made me dizzy, and I turned to retch. He raised me up, and I heaved—sweat rolling down my neck, my back, pooling beneath me on the grass.
It felt like a purge.
“Poison. Snake venom,” a voice said, hushed with disbelief. “Her body’s burning it out on its own—I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Then Zira returned.
We’re going to be okay, she said, her voice steady, sure.
“Look at her eyes,” someone gasped.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Something cool touched my forehead, and my eyes fluttered open.
Sorin.
His gaze had gone soft, his hand gentle against my skin.
“Nice try,” he whispered. “But I’m not done with you.”
I smiled weakly, tears sliding into my hairline.
He had no idea what the universe held in store for him.