In the Kingdom of Wolves, the Alpha King sat on his throne, his eyes fixed on the void, but his mind was drowning in the past that kept haunting him.
It wasn't long before Queen Sophia entered the royal hall. She approached quietly, placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and whispered in a soft yet firm voice:
"Don't let anger blind you. The sorcerers are cunning, waiting for us to fall into the trap of a knee-jerk reaction. We need to be wiser."
The Alpha was silent for a moment, as if her words echoed within him, then answered in a low yet mysterious voice:
"Not them, my Queen... Not this time."
Sophia knitted her eyebrows in wonder before responding firmly:
"They are, my dear! Don't you see? They will never stop their games. We have to eliminate them before they can weaken us! But we have to be more careful this time."
The Alpha watched her silently, her words creeping into his mind like ancient magic.
She continued in a deeper voice as she wrapped her arms around him:
"Have you forgotten the past? Have you forgotten what they did to you as soon as you came to power? They tried to overthrow you! If fate had not been on our side, we would be dead by now! Don't let them distract you!" She finished her last words with a plea.
The Alpha took a deep breath, his eyes shining with a dark glow. Although he wasn't used to sharing his doubts, Sophia's words planted within him a growing certainty that he was fantasizing about his past.
"You're right." He finally said it, but his tone was not one of resignation, but a realization of an undeniable truth.
"But we're not going to sit idly by."
"Of course not," Sophia replied with a slight smile, but her eyes were shrewdly twinkling. "We have to utilize all the tools at our disposal. Don't forget... We have our witches too."
The Alpha pondered her words for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"I will gather the mages who are loyal to us. They must search the shadows, follow any leads that might lead us to the truth."
He gave her a long look, then added in a heavier voice:
"I will not allow the past to repeat itself."
The queen smiled softly at him, said, "We won't," and then turned and left the hall, leaving her words echoing in the air.
The Alpha remained seated, his eyes wandering as if searching for an answer in the void before him.
Should he believe his intuition, even though it was impossible? Or should he trust the words of his wife, who had always been his eyes in the darkness?
He gripped the armrests of his throne tightly, his breath slowing under the weight of conflicting thoughts. Something was tugging at his heartstrings, a subtle sensation, like a whisper from the distant past.
Something that told him that the worst was yet to come...
But the worst didn't wait long.
Suddenly, there were loud noises inside and outside the palace—screams and rapid running through the corridors, as if a storm of chaos had engulfed the place. Before the Alpha could realize it, a soldier rushed into the throne room, kneeling quickly, his voice panting with tension:
"Your Majesty! We found two bodies... one inside the palace, the other outside!"
The Alpha's body stiffened, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
The soldier continued, concern seeping into his voice:
"There is chaos. Word has spread among the soldiers, and panic is creeping in!"
There was silence for a moment, but it wasn't the silence of confusion... it was the calm before the storm.
The Alpha didn't move, but he was like a volcano about to erupt. Then, in a voice as cold as ice, he said:
"Take me to them."
He ran down the hall toward them. Upon arriving at the location of the two bodies, the Alpha stood, his eyes fixed on the scene before him. The bodies were in the same state as the previous soldiers had been found—faces frozen in horror, eyes wide open, no wounds, no blood, as if life had been sucked out of them.
As he got closer, his eyes fell on the faces of the dead... and his breath froze for a moment.
They were not just ordinary soldiers.
They were some of his most loyal men, those who had fought alongside him in the darkest of battles.
He gripped his hand until his claws almost pierced his skin, anger boiling in his chest. It was no longer a threat, but a betrayal.
Eamon turned to him, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "This isn't just an attack... it's a message."
Khoury knitted his eyebrows, his voice sharp as a blade: "But who would dare? Who would do such a thing?"
The Alpha exhaled slowly, trying to suppress the storm brewing inside him. Only hours ago, he'd suspected the mages were behind this, but now... now he was sure... he was back. No matter how much he tried to escape the past, it would still haunt him.
"It's not the mages."
He lifted his gaze to the darkness outside the palace walls, as if the answer lay there, somewhere far away... or perhaps closer than he thought.
"There are those who are trying to distract me... who are trying to destabilize my kingdom from within."
Then, in a low voice, but loaded with a deadly threat:
"I will find them... and I will make them regret it."
But what puzzled him even more, and fueled the anger in his chest, was how this happened within the kingdom's borders. Even worse, how did they manage to do it inside the palace itself?
He slowly raised his head, his gaze wandering around the place. The palace walls were impregnable, the patrols were regular, the mage guards were alert. There was no way a breach like this could go undetected. Alarm bells rang in his head. The corpses could only get inside if someone had betrayed them.
He clenched his hands tightly, his fangs protruding slightly under the weight of suppressed rage. He turned to Khoury and Eamon, who stood next to him, their faces reflecting the same tension.
"How did they get in? How did they do it without being seen?"
No one had an answer. But the silence itself carried with it a terrifying truth...
The danger was not outside the palace.
The danger was always... inside.
Khoury signaled to the soldiers firmly, his strong voice rising above the clamor of chaos:
"Get everyone back inside! We don't want any more panic in the streets!"
The soldiers moved quickly, trying to calm the crowd, but fear had already taken root.
In the squares, people were in turmoil, whispers rising like an invisible storm, panic spreading like wildfire. Unanswered questions echoed:
"Who did this?"
"How can soldiers be killed without a trace?"
"If they were able to penetrate the palace itself, what about us?"
Each question increased the tension, and doubt began to creep in.
But the most important question, the one that echoed in everyone's minds but no one dared to say out loud:
Why?
Why is this happening now? Why are the most loyal soldiers being killed? What is the purpose of this chaos?