Chapter 70 When the Alphas Collide
Chapter 70 When the Alphas Collide
70: When the Alphas Collide
The forest explodes behind us. Not with fire but with howls. Deep. Powerful. Royal. Rowan grips me tighter as he runs, his boots crushing fresh snow beneath us, his breath ragged against my hair. The midnight forest of Silvermoon blurs into streaks of white and shadow as branches rip at my cloak and the cold burns my lungs. Every step he takes is fueled by fury and fear and something far older than both.
“They’re close,” he growls. “Hold on.”
I clutch his coat with numb fingers, terror roaring louder than the wolves in the distance. My heart feels like it’s tearing itself apart inside my chest, not just from fear but from him.
Lucian.
The image burns behind my eyes no matter how hard I try to erase it. His mouth on Narissa’s. Her hands on his chest. The way the world had tilted when I realized the bond I thought was unbreakable had shattered without a sound.
Rowan skids to a sudden stop at the edge of a wide clearing. Snow falls thick under the moonlight, glimmering like shattered glass. My body jolts as he sets me down protectively behind him.
Then I see him.
Lucian stands across the clearing like a living nightmare. His armor is drenched in blood. It coats his hands. His sleeves. His chest. It drips steadily onto the snow at his feet, staining it black beneath the moon.
My breath dies in my lungs.
For one frozen moment, no one moves.
The forest holds its breath.
Then his eyes lift. And they found me.
“Keira,” he says. One word. My name. Not a command. Not a threat. Just grief.
My stomach twists violently. “You followed me.”
“I had to.”
Rowan steps forward, his body vibrating with rage. “You don’t take another step.”
Lucian doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Come back.”
His voice cracks.
I shake my head, disbelief breaking into rage. “Come back to what, Lucian? To sit quietly while you warm another woman’s bed?”
His jaw tightens. “You don’t understand—”
“I understand everything!” I scream. “I saw you choose her. I saw you kiss Narissa!”
The clearing shudders with silence.
Rowan’s growl deepens. “You made your choice, Alpha. And now you will pay for it.”
Lucian exhales slowly, as if each breath is a battle. “Narissa is dead.”
The words strike me like a slap.
“What did you say?”
“She is dead. So is the Grand Queen.”
Rowan stiffens. “You expect us to believe that?”
Lucian looks at his hands at the blood still drying on his skin. “This is not Narissa’s blood.”
Before I can speak, another voice cuts through the air like steel.
“He speaks the truth.” Elijah steps out from between the frozen trees. His sword is drawn. And it is stained with fresh crimson.
My breath stutters. “Elijah…?”
He lowers his head. “Forgive me for acting without orders, Milady. But once I learned the truth, I did not hesitate.”
My chest feels hollow. “You killed Narissa?”
“Yes.”
“And the Queen?”
“Yes.”
His eyes are unreadable as he bows his head slightly. “Forgive me, my lady. But I could not allow them to succeed.”
Lucian whirls on him. “You knew before I did.”
“I suspected,” Elijah replies evenly. “I confirmed it when I intercepted the poison order.”
The word hits me like a blade.
Poison.
The tea.
The sickness.
The pain that bent me in half.
My hand flies to my stomach.
Rowan asked, “Poison order what?”
Elijah continues. “They wanted the child dead. When that failed, they planned to make it look like her body rejected it.”
Rowan snaps, “What child?”
Lucian’s face drains of all color.
I whisper, shaking, “I was pregnant.”
Silence strikes the clearing like a grave. Lucian’s knees almost buckle. The forest tilts. He looks like his vision blurs.
“They feared her,” Elijah continues. “Feared what her existence would do to the balance of power between packs. They attempted poison first. When that failed, they ordered her execution to look like an accident.”
My knees go weak beneath me.
“You fled because of this?” he whispers. “Because you thought I wouldn’t protect you?”
Tears explode down my face. “I fled because they were trying to kill my baby, our baby and you were kissing another woman.”
Lucian shakes his head violently. “The kiss was a trap. Grandlewood threatened me. They told me if I moved, if I reacted, if I attacked, they would slit your throat before sunset.”
My head shakes violently. “No… no, I saw—”
“The kiss was a setup,” Elijah says. “A performance designed so you would flee. And you did.”
My chest caves inward.
“But I saw them,” I choke. “I saw her touch you.”
Lucian’s eyes glisten. “And I stood still because if I moved, they would have killed you.”
The words sink into me slowly.
Painfully.
Narissa is dead.
The Queen is dead.
The kiss was a lie.
The escape…
My escape…
Was built on false blood and poisoned truth.
“I ran,” I whisper. “I broke everything… for nothing.”
Snow continues to fall.
Then a howl. Not one. Many. From every direction. Rowan’s head snaps up. “Silvermoon.”
Lucian’s spine straightens. “Dravenmoor.” The forest erupts.
Wolves pour from the trees in blurs of black and silver, eyes glowing gold and red beneath the moon. Snow devours the battlefield as claws tear into flesh and howls split the sky. Alpha commands shatter the night like thunder.
Fire bursts near the treeline. Screams follow.
Rowan spins toward Lucian. “You brought your war onto her escape.”
Lucian’s voice erupts back. “You dragged her into your territory knowing what it would provoke!”
Rowan roars.
And that is the moment the air breaks.
The two Alphas collide. Fangs. Claws. Bone.
The impact of their first strike sends a shockwave through the battlefield, throwing snow and bodies into the air. Power crashes like thunder with every blow.
I scream their names but the war swallows my voice.
Dravenmoor wolves slam into Silvermoon warriors in a storm of teeth and fur. Fire jumps from torch to frost covered branches, lighting the snow in infernal orange.
Lucian shifts in a surge of black fury. Rowan answers with blinding white. Their wolves tower over the battlefield like living storms.
“Milady!” Elijah shouts.
He yanks me backward just as a massive body crashes where I stood a heartbeat before. Snow explodes upward in a violent cloud.
The Alpha clash sends wolves flying like shattered glass.
Fire climbs higher. The sky fills with ash and snow and blood.
Lucian is fighting like something that has already lost everything. Rowan fights like something that refuses to lose. Their roars shake the forest.
“Stop!” I scream. “Please stop!” But war does not listen.
Elijah drags me farther back behind a fallen tree, shielding me with his body as wolves slam into one another just yards away. The ground trembles with every blow.
“They’ll kill each other,” I sob.
Elijah grips my shoulders. “They already chose this.”
Lucian slams Rowan into the snow with bone-crushing force. Rowan tears back with vicious claws. Blood sprays against the white ground. My stomach twists violently.
This is my fault.
All of it.
I run from Elijah’s grip.
I stumble through snow and smoke and howls, screaming their names until my throat shreds. Wolves crash around me, battles erupt inches from my face.
“Lucian!”
“Rowan!”
My voice breaks in half. Lucian’s wolf slams Rowan into a burning tree. Rowan tears free and charges again. They are seconds from destroying each other. I reach the edge of their battlefield.
Turn back.
That is the only thought in my head. Turn back. Fix it. Stop it. But as I step forward…
The two Alphas collide in a final catastrophic crash. And I realize the truth too late: The war has already chosen its ending.