The Alpha's Demon

PROLOGUE: THE ALPHA WHO BEGGED

Alpha Gareth had never been afraid of anything. Not rival Alphas, not the royal guards, and certainly not the King himself. But tonight, he was running for his life.

“Faster!” he shouted at the guards behind him. “Don't stop!”

Branches struck his face as he raced through the forest. His expensive coat was torn, and his breathing grew rough with every step. Something was following them. He couldn't see it anymore, but he could hear the heavy paws striking the ground behind them. Every few seconds, a low growl rolled through the trees, growing louder as the creature closed in.

One of the guards glanced over his shoulder. “Alpha, it's getting closer!”

“Then fight it!” Gareth snapped.

The guard barely had time to turn before a dark shape crashed into him. His scream ended almost as quickly as it began, leaving the remaining guards frozen in fear. Gareth didn't stop to see what had happened. He pushed through the trees until he reached a clearing where his horse should have been waiting. Instead, he found an empty space. The men who had been stationed there were gone too.

“No,” he whispered, struggling to understand what he was seeing.

A growl rose from the darkness behind him, and Gareth turned slowly. Two crimson eyes stared back at him.

The Midnight Demon stepped into the moonlight. Its black fur seemed to swallow the light around it, and its massive body was larger than any wolf Gareth had ever seen. Its claws dug deep into the earth as it approached, each step bringing it closer to the man who had spent his life believing himself untouchable.

Gareth stumbled backward. “Stay away from me!”

The beast kept coming.

“I'm an Alpha!” he shouted, trying to sound powerful despite the fear tightening his throat. “Do you know who I am?”

The Midnight Demon didn't stop. Gareth reached for the knife at his waist, but his hands were shaking too badly to draw it. He had faced enemies, threatened weaker men, and ordered others to their deaths without hesitation. Yet now, standing before this creature, he couldn't even hold a weapon steady.

“Wait,” he pleaded. “We can make a deal.”

The beast lowered its head, its crimson eyes fixed on him. For the first time in his life, Alpha Gareth fell to his knees.

“Please,” he whispered.

The Midnight Demon lunged.

By sunrise, another Alpha would be dead, and across the kingdom, the same question would spread from pack to pack.

Who would be next?

The Midnight Demon was hunting again, and no Alpha was safe.

CHAPTER 1: THE BEAST THAT HUNTS ALPHAS

I woke up with dirt in my mouth and blood beneath my fingernails. For a moment, I couldn't move. My body ached, my clothes were soaked with dew, and a sharp pain burned through my left shoulder. I forced myself to sit up, only to find trees surrounding me and cold earth beneath my hands. The sky above was still dark, and I had no idea how I had ended up in the middle of a forest.

Not again.

I looked at my hands, staring at the blood on my fingers. It wasn't mine. At least, I hoped it wasn't. I tried to remember how I'd gotten there, but the last thing I could recall was going to bed. Now I was lying in the forest with a wound in my shoulder and no explanation for how I'd arrived.

This wasn't the first time it had happened. Sometimes, I woke up far from wherever I'd fallen asleep. Other times, I found scratches on my arms or dirt beneath my nails. I had asked myself the same questions for years, but none of the answers made sense. Maybe I was sleepwalking, or maybe something was wrong with me. Whatever the reason, I couldn't afford to let anyone find out.

I was a rogue with no pack, no family willing to claim me, and no wolf I could summon when I needed one. In a world where an Alpha's strength determined his place, I had nothing to prove I belonged. People like me were called defective, and although I had learned to live with the word, I knew what it meant to be powerless among people who measured worth by strength.

A twig snapped behind me, and I turned sharply. “Who's there?” I called, but no one answered. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I got to my feet and searched the trees, trying to see what had made the sound. Then a deep growl rolled through the forest, low enough that I could feel it beneath my feet.

I turned toward the sound and forgot how to breathe.

A massive black wolf stood between the trees. Its fur was darker than the night around it, its shoulders rose higher than my waist, and its crimson eyes fixed on me without blinking. I knew those eyes. Everyone knew those eyes.

The Midnight Demon.

Stories about the beast had spread through every pack in the kingdom. It appeared without warning, hunted powerful Alphas, and vanished before anyone could stop it. Some said it was an ancient curse, while others believed it was a monster sent to punish corrupt leaders. I had never believed the stories until that moment, when the creature stood before me and made every frightening tale seem real.

“Please,” I whispered, taking a step backward.

The wolf moved forward, and I stumbled over a root before catching myself against a tree. My injured shoulder struck the bark, sending a sharp burst of pain down my arm. I bit back a cry, but the wolf stopped anyway. Its gaze dropped to my shoulder, and for one strange moment, it looked almost troubled.

That made no sense. This creature was supposed to be a killer. It had no reason to care whether I was hurt, yet it stood there watching my wound as if it recognized something about it.

“Stay away from me,” I said, though my voice barely worked.

The wolf tilted its head before taking another step toward me. Its nose lifted slightly, as if it were trying to recognize my scent. My heart hammered against my ribs as I struggled to understand why it wasn't attacking. Worse, I had the strange feeling that I had seen it before. The thought made no sense because I would have remembered meeting a creature like this.

Wouldn't I?

A distant horn sounded through the forest, making the wolf turn its ears toward the noise. Another horn followed, closer this time. The beast looked at me once more, holding my gaze for several seconds before turning and disappearing between the trees.

I remained where I was, unable to move until the pain in my shoulder pulled me back to reality. Whatever had just happened, I needed to leave before something worse found me. I had barely taken three steps when voices rose from the other side of the clearing.

“Search the area!”

“Check those trees!”

Royal patrol.

I tried to run, but my injured shoulder made every movement difficult. By the time three armed men emerged from the trees, I had barely reached the edge of the clearing. One of them raised his weapon and pointed it at me.

“Stop right there!”

I stopped, raising my hands slightly as the guard looked me up and down. His expression hardened when he noticed the blood on my clothes.

“Who are you?”

“Nora.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I got lost.”

He stared at me as though I had insulted him. “Lost? In a restricted forest?”

“I didn't know it was restricted.”

Another guard approached and examined the ground around me. His eyes widened when he spotted the deep paw prints near the trees.

“Captain,” he called. “Look at this.”

The first guard followed his gaze, and his expression changed. “Where did you see it?”

I swallowed. “See what?”

“The Midnight Demon.”

I said nothing, but the captain grabbed my uninjured arm and tightened his grip. “Answer me!”

“I saw a wolf,” I replied, trying to pull away.

“What did it look like?”

“Black fur. Red eyes. It was enormous.”

The guards exchanged uneasy looks, and the captain stared at me as though he couldn't decide whether I was lying or telling the truth. “You expect us to believe you saw the Midnight Demon and walked away alive?”

“I didn't say I understood what happened. I only told you what I saw.”

He studied me for another moment before turning to his men. “Take her to the palace.”

My stomach dropped. “The palace? Why?”

“Because the Alpha King will decide what to do with you.”

“I haven't done anything!”

“Then you have nothing to fear.”

He said it so casually that I almost laughed. People who said that had never been taken before the Alpha King. Jaxon was not known for his patience, and he ruled the wolf kingdom with an iron hand. Even powerful Alphas thought carefully before challenging him, so I couldn't imagine what would happen if he believed I was hiding something.

“I can go home,” I argued. “I don't have anything to do with that creature.”

“You were found at the place where it was seen,” the captain replied. “You'll explain yourself to the King.”

One of the guards pulled me toward a waiting carriage. I resisted long enough to earn a warning look from the captain.

“Don't make this harder than it needs to be.”

I stopped fighting because there was no point. I was outnumbered, injured, and completely alone.

The journey to the palace felt endless. My shoulder throbbed beneath the torn fabric, and the blood had begun to seep through again. I pressed my hand against the wound, hoping to slow it, while trying to prepare myself for whatever awaited me. When the carriage finally stopped, I expected to be dragged straight into a dungeon.

Instead, the guards led me to a large room where a man stood beside the window with his hands clasped behind his back.

I recognized him immediately.

Alpha King Jaxon.

He turned as we entered, his gaze passing over the guards before settling on me. He had a hard, unreadable face, and there was something unsettling about the way he watched people. It felt as though he were already searching for their weaknesses.

“Leave us,” he ordered.

The guards hesitated. “Your Majesty, she was found near—”

“I heard you. Leave.”

They obeyed, and the door closed behind them. Jaxon looked at me in silence while I forced myself to stand straight, even though my shoulder was screaming in pain.

“What's your name?” he asked.

“Nora.”

“Your pack?”

“I don't have one.”

“A rogue, then.”

“Yes.”

His expression didn't change. “Tell me what you saw in the forest.”

“I already told your guards.”

“Tell me again.”

I took a breath. “I saw the Midnight Demon.”

“And it let you live?”

“I don't know why.”

“Convenient.”

Anger rose in my chest. “You asked what I saw. I answered you. What else do you want from me?”

His eyes narrowed. Most people would have lowered their heads by now, but I was tired, frightened, and in pain. I had no patience left for being treated like a criminal simply because I had been in the wrong place.

Jaxon stepped closer. “Be careful how you speak to me.”

“Then stop treating me like I've already been found guilty.”

Silence filled the room. For a second, I thought he might order the guards to drag me away, but instead, he studied me more carefully.

“You're either very brave or very foolish.”

“People say that about me a lot.”

“I'm beginning to understand why.”

He turned toward the door and called for the guards. When they entered, he gave his next order without looking away from me.

“Take her to the hunting cabin.”

I frowned. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Why can't I leave?”

“Because I haven't decided whether you're a witness or a threat.”

“And the cabin is supposed to help you decide?”

“No,” he said coldly. “Your answers will.”

The guards took me outside and led me to another carriage. I climbed in, trying not to show how much my shoulder hurt. I thought the King would remain at the palace, but I was wrong. The carriage door opened again, and Jaxon stepped inside before taking a seat opposite me.

The carriage began to move, and for several minutes, neither of us spoke. I kept my injured arm close to my body, hoping he wouldn't notice how badly the wound had started bleeding. But Jaxon noticed everything. His eyes dropped to my shoulder.

“Let me see that.”

“It's nothing.”

“I didn't ask whether it was nothing.”

I hesitated before moving my hand. Blood had spread across the torn fabric, and Jaxon's expression hardened as he leaned forward to study the wound without touching it. Then he went still, and I watched his face change.

“What is it?” I asked.

He lifted his eyes to mine. “Where did you get that wound?”

“I don't know.”

“You expect me to believe you don't know how you were injured?”

“I woke up in the forest with it. That's the truth.”

His jaw tightened. For the first time since I had met him, the King looked genuinely unsettled. He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a low, serious tone.

“Why does your blood smell like the Midnight Demon?”

My stomach turned cold. “What?”

“You heard me.”

I shook my head. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

He watched me as if he were trying to decide whether I was lying. “I suggest you start remembering, Nora.”

“And if I can't?”

His eyes held mine. “Then I'll find the answer myself.”

I wanted to tell him he was wasting his time. I wanted to tell him I was nobody, that I had no pack, no power, and no connection to the creature that had terrified the kingdom. But the words wouldn't come because deep inside me, beneath the fear and confusion, something stirred.

Something I couldn't explain.

As the carriage carried me farther into the darkness, I began to wonder whether the Midnight Demon had spared my life for a reason.

A reason even the Alpha King didn't understand.