Chapter 11

Chapter 11
I stared at the photo until my eyes burned.

My brother, bound, gagged, bruised. The same brother who sold me like property. The same brother who used my lullabies like lullabies were bombs. But now he looked so small, so broken.

And still, a part of me ached for him.

Even after everything.

Even after that.

I gripped the photo tighter, fingers trembling.

Then I sang.

Not the war hymn. Not the lullaby.

Something new. Something low, trembling, dark.

A mourning song. A siren’s grief.

The walls of the music room shook with the sound. Cracks spidered across the mirror. Dust fell from the ceiling like ashes. I didn’t mean to pour that much power into it, but the pain came out like a scream with a melody behind it.

And far away… something answered.

A low, growling hum that didn’t come from any throat I recognized.

Not wolf.

Not human.

Something older.

Meanwhile…

Vexx froze in the middle of his meeting.

The table had been full of pack lieutenants, talking weapons trades, territory disputes, border surveillance.

But all the noise dropped out like someone cut the air.

Vexx’s eyes darkened.

He heard it too.

That sound.

That call.

Not a song this time, but a summon.

His wolf clawed forward, muscles tightening.

“Alpha?” someone said.

Vexx stood, chair scraping loudly behind him.

“She’s calling something,” he muttered. “Something not from this city.”

Drekk frowned. “You sure it’s her?”

“There’s only one voice in this world that sounds like wildfire.”

He turned sharply. “Ready the car. I’m done playing defense.”

Back at the music school…

I was on my knees, panting, arms wrapped around myself. The last note still vibrated in my chest like a living thing. My throat was raw. My mind, foggy.

The floor cracked under me.

And from the shadows of the back hallway… a figure stepped out.

Not Grell.

Not a shifter.

Not a man.

It was tall. Slender. Dressed in robes that shimmered like oil in moonlight. Its face was blank. No eyes. No mouth. Just skin. Like someone had carved it out of silence.

But I felt it.

Felt it listening.

Felt it smiling.

My blood ran cold.

The figure bowed low, too low.

Then, in a voice that wasn’t a voice, it spoke inside my head.

“The last siren has awakened. The throne of howl and hymn is waiting.”

I backed away.

“What are you?” I whispered.

“We are what came before the packs. What the Alphas buried. You called. We answered.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t mean to...”

“But you did.”

It pointed a long, bony finger at the broken choker on the floor.

“They will not let you choose peace. They will make you into fire. Let us show you how to burn.”

My heart slammed against my ribs.

“No,” I choked out. “I don’t want this. I didn’t ask for it.”

The creature tilted its head.

“They never ask the storm what it wants. They only beg it to spare what it loves.”

Then it vanished, like smoke sucked into the walls.

Leaving me alone.

Again.

But not empty.

Because now…

I wasn’t just a siren.

I was summoning.

And something ancient was waking inside me.

Meanwhile…

Vexx’s car skidded to a stop outside the music school.

He didn’t wait.

He burst through the doors, scenting her instantly, fear, power, sorrow, blood. All tangled in one intoxicating trail.

He followed it to the practice room.

And when he found her on the floor, trembling, he dropped to his knees beside her.

“Kessia,” he breathed. “What did you call?”

I looked at him, eyes wide and full of something I didn’t even recognize.

“My past,” I whispered. “And maybe… my future.”

He gathered me into his arms, voice hoarse with emotion. “Whatever they are, you don’t face them alone.”

I wanted to believe that.

But even wrapped in the arms of the Blood Alpha…

I’d never felt more hunted. I didn’t sleep that night. Couldn’t.

Even wrapped in Vexx’s arms, with the warmth of his body pressed against mine, my head resting against his chest, every time I closed my eyes, I saw it. That faceless thing. That whispering shape dressed in shadows, telling me I belonged to something older than even the Alphas.

It hadn't touched me. But its voice had stuck in my bones.

“You okay?” Vexx murmured, fingers running lazily through my hair.

“No.”

He didn’t pretend to offer comfort. That wasn’t his style. He just held me tighter, his breath low and uneven against my temple.

“I’ll kill whoever sent it.”

“It wasn’t sent,” I said quietly. “It came because of me. I summoned it.”

He went still.

My fingers curled into his chest. “It called me the last siren. Said a throne was waiting.”

His jaw clenched. I felt it.

“A throne?” he repeated.

“Of howl and hymn.”

Vexx sat up slightly, muscles coiled, expression unreadable. “They’re myths. Things Alphas used to scare pups. Sirens weren’t supposed to be real, and the Throne? That was a metaphor.”

“No,” I whispered. “It’s real. And it’s coming.”

Elsewhere…

Deep beneath the ruins of an old pack sanctuary on the far edge of the city, the earth groaned.

A claw burst through the soil. Followed by another. Then eyes. Silver. Starved. Older than loyalty.

The creature rose, crawling out of the ground on four limbs. It sniffed the air and howled once.

And hundreds more answered.

Back in Vexx’s penthouse…

“You’re not going back to that school,” he said, pacing. “We double security. Lock the elevators. No contact with outsiders unless I approve it.”

I laughed. Bitter. “So we’re back to collars and cages?”

“No,” he snapped. “We’re back to survival.”

I stood. “You don’t get to decide what kind of weapon I become, Vexx.”

He grabbed my wrist, not hard, but firm. “You think I’m doing this for me? I’ve seen what this city does to things it fears. The second word gets out that you summoned a shade, every wolf, witch, and syndicate in a 100-mile radius is going to want your voice silenced.”

“Then let them try.”

He growled low in his throat. “Don’t act like you’re invincible.”

“And don’t act like you’re not terrified of what I’m turning into.”

Silence fell like a blade.

Then, without warning, he pulled me into him, mouth hot and hungry on mine.

I didn’t push him away.

Not because I forgave him.

But because for a split second, I didn’t want to be the siren. I just wanted to feel something human.

We broke apart, breathless.

“I’m going to find your brother,” Vexx whispered against my lips. “And I’m going to burn Grell’s empire to the ground. But you have to stay here.”

I shook my head. “You can’t protect me from what’s coming.”

“I can try.”

“Or you can stand beside me.”

He stared at me like I’d spoken something blasphemous.

But then, slowly, he nodded.

“I don’t kneel easy,” he said.

“Good,” I replied. “Because I don’t want a knight.” I stepped back. “I want a king.”