The gates loomed before her like the jaws of a great beast.
Carved from obsidian and marked with blood runes, the entrance to the Alpha Court radiated danger. The kind of danger that didn't growl—it waited.
Rael didn't look back as they approached. He didn't ask if she could keep up. He expected it. Behind her, shadows moved. Wolves—silent, spectral, and too disciplined to be wild. His pack. Trained killers.
Elara walked among them like a ghost, her cloak torn and her thoughts racing.
This wasn't a rescue.
This was a claiming.
The Court wasn't a castle.
It was a fortress—cut into a mountainside, surrounded by cliffs and snow, where the sky was always dark and the moon always full. Inside, the halls smelled of steel, fire, and something older… Alpha scent. Rich, primal, intoxicating.
She hated how it pulled at her.
Rael led her into the main hall. Massive, brutal, lit by flame. Wolves lined the walls in human form—some barely clothed, others wearing scars like crowns. They all looked at her.
Some with hunger.
Some with fear.
And some… with recognition.
At the far end of the hall, two thrones stood empty. Between them, a pedestal—stone, etched with prophecy.
Rael nodded toward it. "Kneel."
Elara didn't move. "Why?"
"You are to be judged."
"I'm not your prisoner."
Rael's cold smile returned. "No. You're something far worse."
He raised a hand, and suddenly—Cassian was there, leaning casually against the wall, silver eyes amused. He wore no armor, just a half-buttoned shirt and a smirk.
"Don't scare her off so quickly, Rael. At least let her breathe before you burn her."
Rael didn't blink. "She entered the Shadowlands. She bears the Mark. She stands in our court. She will be tested."
Cassian turned to Elara. "He means blood. They always mean blood."
Another voice echoed across the room—low, wild, and familiar.
"Let her fight. If she dies, the Mark was a mistake."
Elara's heart clenched. She turned.
The forest Alpha—the one who first found her—stepped from the shadows. Shirtless again, barefoot, with wild hair and golden eyes that flashed with challenge.
"I knew you'd make it," he said to her, then to the others, "She smelled too stubborn to die."
Cassian chuckled. "This is fun already."
Rael snapped, "Enough."
He looked at Elara one more time.
> "The prophecy says the Mark chooses its protector. But only if she survives the Trial of Three."
He stepped back.
Cassian's smile widened.
The forest Alpha cracked his knuckles.
> "You have three nights, Elara Vale," Rael said. "Survive each of us. And then choose."
Elara stared at the Alphas. Three monsters. Three kings. Three men the world feared.
And her Mark?
It burned with hunger.
But it whispered one thing louder than all:
> Only one can be yours. But if you choose wrong… all three will die.