Chapter 2 Chapter 2
AMINA
The alley didn't just explode; it dissolved into a hail of silver-glass and kinetic thunder.
Rian didn't wait for me to agree or scream. The moment his father’s "Sanitizers" leveled their neutralizers, Rian lunged. He didn't shift, but the sheer force of his movement was more than human. He tackled me into the back of the matte-black SUV just as the first round punched a jagged hole through The Read Thread’s brick wall.
"Drive!" Rian roared, his voice vibrating through the chassis as the door slammed shut.
The journey from the alley to the Spire was a blur of G-force, screeching tires, and the nauseating, electric pull of the Mate Bond. I was pressed into the leather seat, my heart hammer-striking against my ribs, while outside the tinted windows, my life was being systematically deleted. I watched the bookstore, my only sanctuary, recede into a cloud of smoke and blue muzzle-flashes.
Beside me, Rian was a statue made of dark tactical gear and lethal intent. He didn't touch me, but he didn't need to. The connection, raw and screaming from the shock of his father's arrival, felt like a live wire threaded through my nerves.
Kira, the Beta, was in the front seat, her hands white-knuckled on the wheel as she wove through the Meridian City traffic like a predator. She treated me like contaminated cargo, her eyes flicking to the rearview mirror with a look of pure, unadulterated loathing.
"Alpha, the Council nodes are lighting up," Kira barked, her voice tight. "Your father just put out a 'Black-Site' warrant for the girl. He’s telling the High Lords you’ve gone rogue. He’s claiming the Sovereign’s Heart has compromised your mind."
"He’s not wrong," Rian muttered, his eyes fixed on the neon-blurred skyline.
I looked at him, my wrists still bound in that slick, black polymer. "He called me a battery. He said you’ve been using me."
Rian finally turned his head. His amber eyes weren't just cold; they were mourning. "Not me, Amina. The Vale bloodline. For twenty years, the Shroud that hides our kind from the humans has been anchored by a frequency only a Hybrid can emit. My father didn't just find you tonight. He’s been 'harvesting' the ambient pulse from your shop to keep the city quiet."
The air left my lungs. My three years of "peace" hadn't been an accident. I hadn't been hiding; I’d been farmed.
"And now?" I whispered.
"Now the crop is being moved to the silo," Rian said, his voice dropping to a gravelly, dangerous pitch.
We screeched to a halt, not at some gothic manor, but at the base of the Vale Tower—a sixty-story monument of glass and black steel that pierced the clouds like a needle. We shot up in a silent elevator that smelled of ozone, wealth, and Rian’s barely contained primal heat.
Kira shoved me through a seamless, unmarked door into the Observation Deck. It was a gilded cage designed for surveillance, offering a dizzying view of the city Rian was supposed to inherit—a city his father was currently turning into a hunt-zone for my head.
“Wait here,” Kira spat, her face contorted. “Try anything, and I won’t bother waiting for his orders.”
She left, and the silence was immediately replaced by the low, dangerous hum of Rian’s power filling the space. He took off his tactical jacket, tossing it onto a minimalist bench. He walked straight toward the panoramic window, staring out at the chaos he had just invited into his life.
“Why did you do it?” he finally asked, his back still to me.
“I defended myself,” I said, my voice shaking. "I didn't ask to be a battery."
Rian spun around, his eyes burning with a mixture of professional contempt and terrifying, involuntary need. He crossed the room in three predatory strides, stopping inches from me.
“You are a violation of the Lunar Pact, Amina. My father is downstairs right now with a team designed to hollow out your chest and leave you in a jar. By all the laws of my kind, I should hand you over and claim the crown.”
The pressure from the Mate Bond made my vision swim. It wasn't just attraction; it was a desperate, protective instinct from him that clashed violently with his logical hatred.
“Then why am I not in a jar?” I challenged.
He leaned in, his breath warm against my ear, smelling of ozone and pure power. “Because the first law, the one etched into our biology, is the Mate Bond. And you, little Hybrid, are mine.” He paused. "And the second I felt that, I knew I had a catastrophic decision to make."
"Decision?"
"Yes. Do I kill you now and end the Prophecy? Or do I keep you alive long enough to figure out how to neutralize the threat you pose to my entire lineage?"
I focused on his eyes. “Tell me the real reason. Tell me the curse.”
Rian’s body went rigid. "Fine. You want the truth? You're not just my mate. You are the Prophecy's trigger. The 'Sovereign’s Heart' isn't just a battery, Amina. It's the only thing that can kill a High Alpha. My father isn't trying to save the Shroud. He's trying to kill you before you find out how to use your pulse to stop his heart."
He grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me forward. The moment our skin met, the Blood Sight flared.
I saw Rian standing defiant against a pillar of black stone. The snarling wolf symbol of his bloodline was cracked, dissolving into shadow. A voice, cold and ancient, echoed through my mind: "The Mate of the Hybrid is the seed of destruction. His life is held by the Hybrid’s hand."
I stumbled back, gasping. I was destined to be his executioner.
Rian watched me, his face a mask of dread. "You saw it, didn't you? You're the one supposed to kill me."
I opened my mouth to speak, but the sound of a heavy, metallic thud vibrated through the floor. The security monitors on the wall flickered to life, showing Magnus Vale in the lobby, surrounded by Sanitizers.
"Rian," Magnus’s voice boomed through the speakers. "Step away from the girl. I’m coming up to finish what we started twenty years ago."
Rian looked at the screen, then at me. His eyes glowed a lethal, protective gold. "He’s not coming for a chat, Amina. He’s coming to harvest. And the only way out of this tower is through him."