Get Gia. Run," their mother choked out, blood bubbling at the corner of her lips before she collapsed beside her husband.
Her body fell with a sickening thud against the blood-soaked earth, her once fierce eyes now empty. Lifeless.
Wagner's breath hitched. For a moment, the world blurred, swallowed by a haze of agony and rage.
Then, the silence shattered.
A laugh. Low. Cruel.
"Your parents are dead."
The young Alpha stepped forward, his boots crunching over bones and bodies. His golden eyes gleamed, a smirk twisting his lips.
"Just stop trying and surrender. Bow to me; only then will I spare your life."
Wagner's hands curled into fists, so tight his nails cut into his palms. Blood dripped between his fingers, but he didn't feel it.
He looked around; all he saw was carnage. His father's warriors, men who had trained him and protected him, were being slaughtered, their bodies crumpling like broken dolls. The stench of blood and death thickened the air.
He could run. That was what his mother wanted. But how could he? How could he leave when everything was being ripped away?
No.
He would rather die here, fighting, than live as a coward.
With a loud groan, Wagner's body shuddered and shifted, his bones snapping, twisting, and reshaping into the form of a towering brown wolf. Muscles coiled with fury, claws dug into the earth.
He lunged.
The impact barely made the Alpha flinch.
A cruel laugh rumbled in the Alpha's chest as he easily dodged Wagner's attack, sending him crashing to the bloodstained ground.
Inside the safe room, time was slipping away.
The walls trembled with the echoes of battle, of death. They all knew if they stayed, they would be found. Taken. Killed.
The only option was to run.
Gia's eyes were wide with panic. Just then, her grandmother appeared in front of her. The key rattling as she unlocked the door. Without hesitation, Gia and the others darted through the narrow, hidden passage, the air thick with dust and urgency. Each footstep felt like a betrayal.
The moment they emerged into the open, Gia's breath hitched.
She saw him. A short distance away, her brother stood, fighting, bleeding, losing.
Her stomach knotted, panic clawing at her throat.
"That's him, Granny! That's Wagner!" she gasped, her body lunging forward, only to be yanked back.
Her grandmother's fingers tightened around her arm like iron shackles. "Shush! Don't make a sound!" Her whisper was sharp, urgent. "We need to leave. Now!"
Gia's legs trembled beneath her. Leave? How could she leave? Her brother was right there.
But there was no time. No choice.
Tears burned her eyes as she was dragged away, the image of Wagner's battered body seared into her mind.
And then, darkness.
When Gia's senses returned, it was too late.
The air was thick, damp, and suffocating. The weight of iron shackles dug into her wrists.
The stench of rot and despair clung to the damp stone walls. Chains rattled as others shifted nearby.
They were locked inside a dungeon.
Trapped.
Her breath came in short, panicked bursts. Whitestone. The pack responsible for everything.
Fleeing hadn't been enough. They had still been found.
For ten years, she and her grandmother had survived in the woods, never staying in one place for long. Always running. This time, they hadn't been fast enough. And now, they belonged to the enemy.
"Let my grandmother go! You can have me instead!" Gia's voice rang through the cold, damp dungeon, hoarse but unyielding.
Her cheek throbbed where a bruise had begun to swell, the skin around her eye raw and darkened. Pain pulsed through her body from where the warriors had beaten her into submission, but she stood firm, spitting defiance through bloodied lips.
Her grandmother's frail fingers found her shoulder, a light squeeze amidst the darkness. "Giavanna, please be calm. I am alright," she whispered, her voice weathered but calm. Too calm. A grandmother soothing a child when she was the one in danger.
Gia clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. She refused to back down.
Then, the air shifted.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the dungeon, slow, deliberate. A presence weighed down on them like an unseen force. The warriors stepped back instinctively, their bodies tensing.
Alpha Leon had arrived.
His reputation had long since preceded him, ruthless, bloodthirsty, a lover of war in its most merciless form. His enemies were many, but none had yet managed to bring him down.
Gia's heart pounded, but she stood, chains rattling at her ankles as she lifted her chin. She met his gaze, a dark, assessing stare.
His expression flickered with something unreadable as his eyes swept over her.
"Why are they together?" His voice was sharp, laced with irritation.
Warriors did not mix male and female prisoners. The sight of them together unnerved him.
"He refused to stay apart from her," one of his warriors answered.
A muscle in his jaw ticked. "Separate them. Do it now!"
Gia snarled, her body surging forward despite the chains weighing her down. "I dare you to touch me!"
For a split second, her eyes flared, bright, unnatural, a flicker of violet flame in their depths.
Leon stilled.
His sharp eyes narrowed.
"Purple flames?" His voice rang with sudden intensity, and a murmur spread through the warriors.
Gia's breath caught. She hadn't meant to show it.
"No!" A sudden movement, her grandmother rushed in front of her, shielding her with trembling hands. "That was me," her voice wavered, but the lie was clear. She was trying to protect Gia.
Alpha Leon's expression darkened, his gaze locking onto the older woman's face, reading every flicker of fear.
Then, his lips curled into something cruel.
"Slaughter her," he commanded, his tone as casual as ordering a drink.
His warriors moved instantly.
Gia screamed, loud and full of terror as she watched them dragged her grandmother out and end her life in front of her.
"No, please don't" Gia's voice gave out she pleaded weakly but her cries and pleas went with the wind as they brutally ended her life just like her ordered
The Alpha, known to be bringer of dead.