The Wolf Cub Everyone Called Worthless Cost Her Last Five Coins—Three Months Later, the Alphas Who Mocked Him Were Kneeling at His Feet
Chapter 5
“No.” The word came out sharper than Aurelia intended, backed by a surge of protective fury that surprised even her. “You won’t hurt him. I won’t let you.” The Alpha’s eyes narrowed. “You forget yourself, Omega. You have no authority here. No power to defy pack law.” “Then change the law,” Aurelia shot back. “Or find a new Omega to intimidate — because I am done being afraid of you.” The words hung in the sudden silence like a challenge, and she felt as surprised as anyone by her own boldness. But the bond with Lynx was lending her a strength she had never known she possessed.
“Foolish girl,” Marcus snarled, taking a step forward. “You’ll stand aside or we’ll move you aside.” Lynx’s response was immediate and devastating — he flowed forward like liquid shadow, crossing the distance in a heartbeat, but instead of attacking he positioned himself directly in Marcus’s path and fixed the enforcer with a stare that seemed to bore straight into his soul. Marcus stumbled backward as if struck, his face draining of color. “His eyes,” he whispered. “Look at his eyes.”
Aurelia followed his gaze and gasped. Lynx’s golden irises were glowing now, lit from within by some inner fire, and in that supernatural light she saw something impossible — symbols, ancient script flowing across his pupils like text written in liquid flame. “The Valdrris Sight,” Elder Morgana breathed. “He’s manifesting the Valdrris Sight. It means he can see the truth of things — past, present, future laid bare before him. The deepest secrets of anyone who meets his gaze. It was this ability that made the bloodline so dangerous. And so feared.”
Alpha Dominic’s hand moved to the silver blade at his belt. “All the more reason to end this now, before he grows strong enough to use such power against us.” Lynx turned his blazing gaze toward the Alpha, and Dominic froze mid-draw. For long seconds the two stared at each other across the space between them — predator evaluating predator, power meeting power. Then something shifted in the Alpha’s expression, fear creeping in around the edges of his confidence, followed by something that might have been recognition. “Impossible,” he whispered. “You’re supposed to be dead. We made sure.”
He cut himself off, but not before revealing far more than he intended, and the pieces clicked together with horrible clarity. “You knew,” Aurelia heard herself speaking. “You knew what he was when Marcus came here three weeks ago. That’s why you wanted him back.” “The pack has a responsibility—” “You were involved in what happened to his family,” she said, her voice rising with fury. “That’s why he was in that trader’s cart. You put him there. You paid them to dispose of the evidence.” The Alpha’s silence was confirmation enough.
Through the bond, a surge of memory hit Aurelia so powerfully it nearly drove her to her knees — iron-bright images flooding her consciousness. A stone keep burning under a moonless sky. Wolves in human form, wearing the insignias of a dozen packs, destroying everything they found. And in the center of it all, a small pup torn from his dying mother and loaded into a cart by traders paid to make the evidence disappear. “You monsters,” she breathed. “He was just a baby.”
“They were abominations,” Marcus snarled. “Creatures whose very existence threatened the balance of nature.” “No,” Aurelia said, understanding crystallizing behind her eyes. “They were threats to your power. The old bloodlines didn’t bow to your hierarchies, did they? They remembered when wolves were more than what you’ve made them into.” Elder Morgana stepped forward, her expression grave. “Child, you understand nothing of the forces you are meddling with. If this creature reaches maturity, if he claims his full inheritance, the supernatural world will burn.”
“Good,” Aurelia said simply. “Maybe it’s time.” The words surprised her even as they left her mouth, but she meant every syllable. She looked at the terrified faces of the pack leadership — the men and women who had spent her entire life teaching her she was worthless, who had called her Omega as if it were a name, as if the word could hold her. Standing here, with Lynx at her side, feeling the power that radiated from him like heat from a forge, she understood there were other ways to live. Other definitions of strength that had nothing to do with their approval.
“You will surrender the creature,” the Alpha said, his voice taking on the commanding tone that compelled obedience from pack members. “That is not a request.” Aurelia felt his power wash over her, felt the compulsion that should have driven her to her knees in submission — and it slid off her like water off stone. “No,” she said calmly. “I won’t.” Shock rippled through the assembled group. Omegas did not resist alpha commands; it was impossible, their nature made them incapable of rebellion. Unless, of course, they were being protected by something with power greater than an alpha’s.
“This ends now.” Dominic drew his silver blade fully and lunged with the enhanced speed of his nature, faster than the eye could track. Lynx was faster.