Rejected By The Alpha, Desired By The King

KAEL – POV

When I saw the third Luna, I thought my heart had stopped.

She walked through the chaos like she owned the end of the world.

Not masked. Not cloaked.

But bearing my crest.

Etched into her collarbone.

And glowing.

Wolves backed away from her without realizing. The Echo's wolves. Even ours.

Because she didn't radiate power.

She radiated command.

A bond none of us had felt—until now.

Rylan was the first to move.

He stepped into her path, spellstone lit.

"Who are you?"

She tilted her head.

"I'm the answer your bond tried to erase."

My wolf surged.

I stepped forward. "That crest—how did you get it?"

She turned to me.

Smiled. "Because I was made from you."

And suddenly I couldn't breathe.

The arena was still burning.

Ayla and the Echo lay at its center, both unconscious. Both breathing.

But the bond that tied them had grown unstable.

Rylan reached for the pulse mark.

His fingers hissed.

"They're not separated," he gasped. "They're braided."

Daya cursed. "If one dies, the other—"

"Fractures. And whoever survives…"

"Isn't whole," I finished.

The third Luna—who now called herself Neris—stood at the edge of the wardstone.

"I'm not your enemy," she said calmly. "But your wolves chose her," she nodded to Ayla, "because she gave them truth."

"Now they'll choose me. Because I'll give them freedom."

"You mean lawless power," Daya growled.

Neris raised a hand.

Dozens of wolves behind her stepped into view.

Not soldiers.

Hybrids.

Bond-split.

Half pack. Half rogue.

The wolves who were too wild for the Echo.

Too unrooted for Ayla. Too powerful to be ignored.

Rylan whispered, "The Third House."

***

The prophecy was wrong. There weren't two Lunas. There were three. And each now controlled a third of the bond threads running through the realm.

If any one of them died, the balance shattered.

If all three tried to rule?

The bond would collapse.

Every wolf would feel it.

Neris stepped forward.

"To stop this, you'll need more than belief."

She looked at Ayla, then me.

"You'll need to tear her out."

"Her?" I asked.

"The Echo," Neris said.

"And?"

She smiled darkly.

"And maybe part of your Luna too."

She turned away before I could speak.

And the next morning…The first village fell. The pack inside it had chosen Ayla, and now they burned. The smoke from Brindle Hollow rose for two days.

When we reached the edge, there was nothing left.

No bodies. No flames. Just ash.

Ash in the shape of wolves.

Ayla stood in the center, face pale, lips trembling.

She was awake.

But changed.

"We didn't feel them die," she whispered. "Because the bond... didn't register it."

Rylan murmured behind us. "Because their bonds were already severed."

"By Neris?" I asked.

He nodded. "They chose her. Fully. The bond released them. And then she erased what remained."

Daya stood guard at the edge. The Echo still lay bound in the grove's ward circle.

Unconscious.

Still flaring with Ayla's energy.

Still breathing.

But she hadn't stirred since the duel.

"She's healing," Rylan said. "From what, I don't know. But it's tied to Ayla."

Ayla stepped closer.

"She's not healing," she said. "She's waiting."

We returned to the Council Hall to find two envoys waiting.

One from the Northern Watch.

One from the Drowned Clans.

Both had the same question:

"Do we recognize Neris?"

The room fractured.

One side argued her power was undeniable. The other said her methods were abhorrent.

I stood in the silence between them, and said. "She doesn't want a seat. She wants a throne made from bones."

Ayla didn't speak.

Until the council turned to her.

"What do you say?" one of them asked.

And then she did.

"I say we prepare for a threefold war."

The next morning, a messenger arrived from the Bone Court.

A sealed scroll from the Echo. Her first words since the duel.

It read:

"Let me go. I know how to kill her."

Rylan's hand tightened around the parchment.

"She's playing us."

Daya: "Or she's desperate."

I looked at Ayla.

She read the message three times.

Then said:

"Prepare the mirror cell."

"You're really going to talk to her?" I asked.

"No," she said.

"I'm going to test her."

That night, Ayla entered the mirror cell chamber.

The Echo was awake. Smiling.

"I see you survived the fall," she whispered.

Ayla stood at the glass.

"I didn't. I rose again."

"You're weaker now," the Echo said.

"No," Ayla said. "I'm wiser."

She held up the scroll.

"This offer. Why now?"

The Echo smiled wider.

"Because you'll never stop her. But I know what she fears."

"And what's that?"

"Me."

Outside, the wind shifted.

And Kael felt it.

The bond thread between Ayla and the Echo flared—hot and unstable.

And somewhere deep in the Bone Court, Neris stopped walking.

Because something inside her had noticed.

We'd built the mirror cell to contain magic. Not to negotiate with it. But Ayla didn't flinch as she faced the Echo again.

The clone watched her with unreadable eyes. Half-silver. Half-black.

Still bonded.

Still dangerous.

But calm.

"We share breath," the Echo said. "Let me share strategy."

"You stole wolves," Ayla replied.

"I gave them a choice."

"You bound them."

"And they followed you when you were nothing."

Ayla's jaw clenched. "Get to the point."

The Echo leaned forward.

"Neris was not made from you. Not just. She carries a thread older than both of us."

"From who?"

The Echo's smile faded.

"From the First King."

The words rippled through the chamber like a howl.

Kael stood at the threshold. My fingers clenched so hard they ached.

"She's lying," Daya said behind me.

Rylan didn't answer.

Because we both felt it.

The old magic. The one that touched the Seers, the runes, the bloodline.

If Neris bore the First King's crest…

She wasn't just a rival.

She was the end of royal blood.

Inside, Ayla stood silent.

"I need proof," she said.

"You'll get it," the Echo replied. "But you'll have to take me with you."

"To where?"

The Echo's smile returned.

"To the tombs beneath First Crown Keep."

Ayla recoiled.

"No one's opened that vault in centuries."

"That's where she was born."

"And if it's true?"

The Echo's eyes flicked silver.

"Then we kill her. Together."

That night, Ayla came to me.

Her hand trembled in mine. "I hate this," she said. "Trusting her."

"You don't trust her," I said. "You trust the threat."

"And if I lose myself again?"

"Then I'll bring you back."

She leaned her head against my chest. And we stood there in silence.

Two wolves. One bond. Already fraying.

***

The next morning, we left. Five of us.

Ayla.

Me.

Rylan.

Daya.

And the Echo.

Chained. Cloaked. And humming with a bond that hated being caged.

We crossed the River Holt at dusk.

Entered the First Crown Vale before dawn.

And at its heart, buried in bramble and stone...

We found the tomb.

Rylan whispered, "I thought this place was a myth."

"It was," the Echo said.

Then she touched the stone door, and it opened like a breath.

Inside: silence.

And then...

A voice.

Not Ayla's.

Not the Echo's.

Neris.

Speaking without being there:

"You think you can unmake me? You are me. And I've already begun unmaking you."

And then the runes lit.

And the tomb door slammed shut.

Sealing us in.

The tomb door shut with a sound that didn't echo.

It swallowed sound.

Ayla spun, runes already rising across her skin. Daya reached for her blades. Rylan chanted softly, fingers tracing the ward lines etched into the stone.

The Echo just stood still.

"This is where she was made," she said. "And where one of us will end."

We descended slowly.

The Vault of Names wasn't built for walking. It was built for remembrance.

Each wall bore a sigil. 

Each step whispered a name.

Some I recognized. Alphas. Lunas. Kings.

Others... were older.

One name stopped Ayla cold.

VALERIUS.

My ancestor.

The First King.

And beneath it, etched into the stone in fresh ink: NERIS.

"This proves nothing," Rylan said.

The Echo tilted her head. "Oh, but we haven't reached the cradle."

Ayla: "The what?"

The Echo's voice dropped.

"The place where the blood took shape."

She walked toward the far wall. Pressed her palm to a sealed slab. It shivered and cracked open.

The chamber inside was small.

Circular.

Every inch of it pulsed with bond energy—threads woven into the walls, pulsing in old runes.

A pool sat in the center.

Not water.

Not magic.

Memory.

Rylan gasped. "A bloodwell."

"Not just any," the Echo said. "The original."

Ayla stared at it.

"You want me to step in."

"You have to," the Echo said. "Only a Luna born of choice can activate it."

Daya reached for Ayla's wrist.

"Don't. This is all too convenient."

Ayla pulled free.

"I need to know what she is. Even if it costs me."

Then she stepped into the well.

The runes flared.

The chamber shook.

And Kael... I felt the bond between us pull taut.

Strained to the point of shatter. Then—it snapped. Not broken. Redirected to the memory pool, and Ayla vanished beneath the surface.

I screamed her name. Then a light, a shape, third bond mark. One I'd never seen.

And a voice:

"She cannot fight what she was born from. She must become one first."

The pool began to rise.

Not water.

Not blood.

But in Wolves. Dozens of translucent wolves made of memory and pain. Marching out of the stone.

Toward us.

And behind them—Neris. Alive, in the flesh. Standing in the vault where she was never supposed to return.

Smiling and whispering. "Welcome to your legacy, Ayla. Now let's see who deserves to leave."