Beneath the Alpha's Throne

The city of Averantis stank of rot and iron. Even from the lower tier, where the skies hung thick with smoke and corruption, Kael could smell the filth oozing from the marble towers above. Alphas sat in their penthouses, sipping aged blood-wine and barking orders, while Omegas like him—at least the unwanted kind—lived in fear, tucked into shadowed corners, pretending they didn’t exist.

But Kael was different.

He had never played the victim.

Disguised as a Beta for nearly twenty years, he had learned to flatten his scent, bind his emotions, and control the way his body responded to the pull of the moon. He even cut into his own skin sometimes, just to remind himself who was in control. The rebellion had taught him well.

So why, of all nights, did it have to happen now?

It started in the crowd.

The marketplace pulsed with noise and heat—sweaty bodies packed tight like cattle. Kael’s boots scraped against the rusted metal of the alley catwalk, trying to keep his steps light as he delivered stolen meds to a rebel contact. But halfway through the handoff, a tremor spread down his spine. His breath caught. The vial dropped from his palm.

Then it hit him.

The heat.

Sharp, brutal, and burning from the inside out.

“No…” he rasped, grabbing the brick wall beside him as a searing fire bloomed low in his belly.

His suppressant patches had failed.

The chemical bindings he injected three days ago—cheap knockoffs, diluted trash—weren’t enough. And now, here he was, in the open, surrounded by strangers, his body screaming like a beacon. The scent flooded the alley, sickly sweet and heady, impossible to ignore.

Several heads turned.

A few Betas wrinkled their noses and kept walking.

But then—

An Alpha stopped.

Kael’s gaze is locked with a man emerging from the far end of the market. Tall, black coat slicing through the crowd like a knife. His eyes were silver-gray and sharp, not just dominant—but dangerous. He stopped dead in his tracks, nostrils flaring.

“Who…” the Alpha muttered, voice like gravel. “Who dares to mask that scent?”

Kael staggered back, dizzy from the heat haze.

Run.

His instincts screamed it, but his muscles wouldn’t obey.

He’d lived his whole life hidden. This couldn’t be the end. Not like this—not dragged away like property. Not like one of those fragile, silken-collared Omegas he’d mocked for being submissive.

But the Alpha was already moving.

Each step echoed louder in Kael’s skull than the last.

People backed away instinctively. A predator was on the prowl.

Kael tried to dash through a service hatch, but his knees buckled. The Alpha was there in seconds, his hand clamping around Kael’s wrist like iron.

“You’re coming with me,” the Alpha growled. “Before someone else catches your scent.”

Kael spat in his face.

“Fuck. You.”

The Alpha didn’t even blink. “Later,” he said, smirking darkly. “But for now—”

Kael barely had time to draw breath before everything went black.

When Kael woke, he was shackled.

Not in some prison cell, no—he lay on silk sheets, bound to a carved obsidian bed in a massive room with high, arched ceilings and walls drenched in crimson drapes. The air smelled of burning incense and—

Alpha.

The scent was everywhere, thick and cloying, pressing against his instincts like a vice.

His wrists were bound in soft leather, his ankles spread slightly apart. His shirt was gone, his neck damp from sweat and fever. Panic rose in his throat as he tried to twist free.

Then the door opened.

The Alpha stepped in like he owned the damn planet.

Hair slicked back, shirt unbuttoned at the throat, he moved with the cold arrogance of someone who’d crushed a thousand men without blinking. He looked Kael over like he was appraising a new weapon.

Or a meal.

“Still feisty?” he murmured.

“Let me go, you bastard,” Kael hissed, eyes gleaming with fury.

The Alpha crouched at the foot of the bed. “Your scent is lethal,” he said quietly. “You’re not just any Omega. You’re rare.”

Kael’s jaw clenched.

“I should sell you,” the Alpha went on, dragging a finger slowly along Kael’s thigh. “You’d fetch a high price at the private auctions. But then again…”

His finger stopped just short of Kael’s navel.

“…I’m not feeling generous.”

Kael trembled—not in fear, but rage. “You don’t get to own me.”

The Alpha leaned in until their lips nearly touched.

“I already do.”

Kael’s body betrayed him, a low moan escaping as the heat spiked. The Alpha’s pupils dilated slightly, a flash of hunger flickering in those steel-gray eyes.

But he didn’t bite him.

He stood, walked away, and said only:

“You’ll beg me to, soon enough.”

The door slammed shut behind him, the lock echoing like a final sentence.

Kael lay still, breathing in short, ragged gasps, the heat gnawing at his gut like a starving animal. The silk sheets clung to his sweat-slick skin, and his body—traitorous and burning—kept aching for the Alpha’s touch even as his mind screamed to resist.

Don’t give in.

He couldn’t. Not now. Not ever.

He stared at the ceiling, eyes burning.

How had it all gone so wrong?

He’d spent years building a life behind a mask. He’d trained his body to resist the bond instinct, and worked his way into the outer ranks of the resistance. He wasn’t some pampered Omega waiting to be bred. He was dangerous.

And now… caged.

Heat pulsed through his veins, sharp and humiliating. He twisted his wrists against the restraints. No good—they were too tight to slip. His stomach turned as he realized he was exactly what this Alpha wanted: rare, hidden, powerful. A trophy. A toy.

But Kael wasn’t made for display.

He was made to destroy things like him.

Footsteps returned hours later.

Kael didn’t need to look. He could feel him.

That scent—rich, smoky, dominant—flooded the room like poison wrapped in perfume. The door clicked open, and the Alpha entered, this time with a tray in hand. He set it down on a nearby table, then approached slowly, the way predators circle injured prey.

“You didn’t scream,” the Alpha said, watching him.

Kael didn’t answer.

“You didn’t cry. Or beg. Most Omegas in the first heat would be sobbing by now.”

Kael smiled darkly. “Guess I’m not like most.”

“No,” the Alpha said. “You’re not.”

He pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat, elbows resting on his knees, gaze burning straight through Kael’s defenses.

“I could break you,” he said calmly. “With one touch. One bite.”

Kael licked his lips, not out of desire, but defiance. “Then why haven’t you?”

The Alpha leaned closer.

“Because you intrigue me,” he whispered. “Because there’s something in you that’s still fighting—and I want to see how long it lasts.”

Kael turned his head away.

“You’ll starve me?” he asked bitterly.

“I’ll let your body decide.”

Kael clenched his fists. “You’re sick.”

“No,” the Alpha said with a grin. “I’m bored. You’re the first thing in years that’s made my blood stir.”

Kael turned slowly, locking eyes with him.

“If you think I’ll beg,” he said, voice ice and fire, “you’ll die disappointed.”

The Alpha stood. “We’ll see.”

He walked to the tray and brought back a glass of water, placing it near Kael’s mouth. Kael hesitated, then sipped, lips brushing the Alpha’s fingers by accident. The contact sent sparks through him, painful and electric. The bond was too close now. The heat is too strong.

“Your name,” the Alpha said suddenly.

Kael narrowed his eyes. “Why do you care?”

“I like knowing what I own.”

Kael spat on the sheets. “Kael. Remember it. You’ll be screaming it when I rip your empire apart.”

The Alpha laughed, low and dark.

“Name’s Alec,” he said. “Alec Rivenhart. But you can call me Master, if it helps.”

Kael growled. “I’d rather bite my tongue off.”

The Alpha—Alec—tilted his head.

“Then bite,” he said. “And bleed. I’ll be here when you change your mind.”

Kael lay in silence after Alec left the room again. The soft click of the lock echoed louder than any scream in his mind. The dim candlelight flickered across the walls, casting monstrous shadows. His muscles ached. His skin burned. The heat was built with merciless intensity.

The bond was trying to form.

Even though Alec hadn’t marked him—yet—the prolonged proximity, the scent of a powerful Alpha, and the brutal surge of heat were dragging Kael toward the edge of something primal. Something irreversible. He clenched his jaw and focused on the pain in his wrists. It helped. A little.

He wouldn’t submit.

He refused.

Outside the curtained window, he could see the distant, ghostly glow of the upper city. Averantis was split into layers—literally and figuratively. The gilded towers of the Alphas pierced the sky, while the slums like Kael’s home sat buried in smoke below. He had clawed his way through every layer of filth to survive.

He wasn’t about to fall apart now because some bastard smelled good and had a voice like gravel and honey.

Kael's chest rose and fell with labored breaths.

But he knew he didn’t have long. If Alec didn’t claim him… someone else would. The scent of his heat was already growing too strong. It would travel through the mansion’s walls, through the ventilation, drawing every Alpha within range like moths to a flame.

Kael shivered. He couldn’t let that happen.

He had two choices: escape—or die before they touched him.

His eyes scanned the room, searching for anything sharp, anything he could use.

There.

A silver hairpin on the nightstand. Ornamental, delicate, but real metal.

He twisted, strained, flexed his fingers until the leather dug into his skin—but it wasn’t enough. His arms were too tightly bound.

Suddenly, the door creaked open again.

Kael snapped his eyes shut and forced his breathing to steady. He’d let Alec think he’d passed out from the fever. Maybe that would give him an opening.

Footsteps neared the bed.

Slow. Calculated. No words this time.

Kael stayed still.

A hand touched his ankle, running lightly up to his knee. He tensed but didn’t move. The hand paused.

Then—

“You’re pretending.”

Kael’s eyes flew open.

Alec stood over him, not amused—curious.

“You’re smart,” Alec said. “But that won’t help you here.”

Kael let out a growl and jerked hard against the restraints. “I swear to every god left in this broken world—when I get free, I’ll make you regret ever laying hands on me.”

Alec leaned down, face inches from his. “Good,” he said quietly. “I look forward to it.”

Kael’s heart pounded, fury and heat and helpless desire clawing inside him all at once. Alec didn’t flinch. His gaze dropped to Kael’s mouth, then to his throat, where the pulse fluttered fast beneath fevered skin.

For a moment—just a moment—it looked like he might bite.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he stood, walked to the door, and said one last thing before leaving:

“Rest while you can, Omega. Tomorrow, everything changes.”

And then he was gone.

Kael stared up at the ceiling, jaw tight, muscles trembling.

He’d survive this. He had to.

But a sickening truth settled in his gut as the heat dragged him deeper into fevered craving.

He wasn’t afraid of Alec marking him.

He was afraid… he might start to want it.