After I died, Alpha collapsed.

A deafening howl ripped through the Vampire Sanctuary.

The sound was so ancient, so unfathomably powerful, that even the obsidian walls of the cavern groaned.

Every single werewolf present—the hundred elite enforcers, and even Kaelen himself—fell to their knees. The beasts within them whimpered in total submission. It was a biological instinct.

The Sacred Fire exploded outward in a shockwave of silver-blue light.

From the very center of the ashes where my son had burned, a massive, ethereal beast rose.

It wasn't a mutt. It wasn't a feral dog.

It was a White Wolf.

The legendary Alpha King.

A mythical creature extinct for ten thousand years, said to be blessed by the Moon Goddess herself, born only from the purest fusion of magic and royal blood.

The wolf was the size of a warhorse, its fur shimmering with the iridescent glow of moonlight. Its eyes were two pools of liquid silver. The oppressive, divine aura it radiated blanketed the entire mountain, far surpassing anything Kaelen had ever possessed.

Kaelen was completely utterly dumbfounded.

He fell back into the mud, staring up at the towering myth.

The massive wolf circled the dying embers of the pyre twice before landing silently on the stone in front of Kaelen. With a blinding flash of silver light, the beast shifted.

The sickly six-year-old boy was gone.

In his place stood a tall, broad-shouldered young man radiating lethal grace. The jagged scar on his face had vanished, healed by the ascension of his magic.

The moment my body burned, his true power had been unleashed, reclaiming the five centuries of magical energy he had constantly funneled into my corpse, pulling it back into his own soul.

He held my body in his arms, miraculously spared from further burning by the Sacred Fire. The White Wolf's ancient lunar magic had formed a protective barrier around my corpse, preventing its total incineration.

Lucian gently laid my body on a stone slab. He pressed two fingers against my freezing forehead. A surge of pure silver light shot through my dead veins instantly.

The gray, rotting skin turned porcelain white; the brittle hair regained its silver luster. He used the moon's magic to seal my body, preserving it perfectly.

Only after I was safe did he finally turn his icy gaze upon his father.

A myriad of complex emotions waged war on Kaelen's face. Shock, awe, and a sudden, suffocating, crushing wave of guilt as all the pieces in his mind finally clicked together.

"You... you're a wolf," Kaelen choked out, his voice barely a whisper. He tried to stand, but his knees shook. "You're a White Wolf."

He stumbled a step forward, his hands trembling.

"That means... that means you're mine."

"That means my mother never betrayed you," Lucian said, his voice carrying a resonant power that made the ground tremble. "I was always your son."

"I am the perfect culmination of the werewolf and vampire royal bloodlines. But someone poisoned my mother's tea every day with a swamp witch's curse, sealing my wolf, mutating my appearance, and masking my scent."

Kaelen's pupils dilated until they were entirely black, looking as if he had just been stabbed. "Are you telling the truth? Who would dare? Who even had the power to poison Luna blood?"

"Who lived in her palace?" Lucian asked. "Who brewed her tea? Who called her 'sister' to her face, only to crawl into your bed the very night you slaughtered me?"

Lucian's silver eyes locked onto Selene, who was cowering behind Kaelen, her face pale as a sheet. "I think you know exactly who, Alpha."

Kaelen turned his head very, very slowly. "Selene?"

Selene stumbled backward, clutching her stomach. "No! Kaelen, he's lying! Just because he's a wolf doesn't mean she didn't sleep around! It's a trick! Vampires cast illusions!"

She was desperate, but she didn't understand the truth of wolves.

An Alpha's scent never lies. Kaelen could smell the undeniable, unmistakable scent of his own bloodline radiating from Lucian. It was biological certainty. The boy was his.

"Is it true?" Kaelen advanced on Selene, his voice low and dangerous. "Did you do it? Did you poison my mate and kill my child?"

Cornered, Selene resorted to her oldest trick.

Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed into the mud, screaming, "My stomach... Kaelen, the baby is dying! The stress is killing him! Help!"

They had been mates for five hundred years. Seeing her writhe in pain, Kaelen's protective instincts warred with his horror.

He scooped her up, his face twisted in agony, and looked back at Lucian.

"If what you say is true, I will deal with her," Kaelen's voice cracked, struggling to maintain his authority. "I will restore your mother's title. I will make you my officially recognized heir."

"But right now, Selene is carrying your little brother or sister. Wake your mother, and give the core to Selene. I will make all of this right, I swear."

He thought it was a generous offer.

He thought he was being a fair and just Alpha, balancing the lives of the past and the present.

Lucian looked at him with unfathomable disgust.

"You really are the coward I always knew you were," Lucian snarled. "My mother is mutilated, dragged through the mud, has her heart ripped out, gets murdered, and your solution is 'we'll deal with it later'? Keep your title. Keep your pack. If you won't execute her right now, I'll do it myself."

Lucian lunged at Selene.

Kaelen roared and shoved Selene behind him, meeting the attack head-on.

Black Alpha energy clashed with pure lunar white magic. The shockwave leveled the surrounding crypts, sending centuries-old tombstones flying like shrapnel.

The fight between father and son was brutal and earth-shattering.

They shifted into wolves—a massive, battle-scarred black wolf clashing with a lightning-fast, ethereal white beast.

They tore at each other's throats, staining the Sanctuary walls with blood.

Though Lucian was a White Wolf, he had spent five centuries draining his magic into my corpse. He had just ascended and was exhausted.

Kaelen, hardened by five hundred years of war and bloodshed, was a seasoned killer.

After a vicious struggle, Kaelen pinned the White Wolf to the ground. They shifted back into human form, and Kaelen pressed a silver blade against his son's throat.

"Lucian, enough!" Kaelen snapped, though his amber eyes were filled with pleading, brimming with tears. "I said I'd give you justice, and I will! Stop acting like a feral child! How are you supposed to lead my pack like this?"

"I don't want your damn pack!" Lucian spat a mouthful of blood into Kaelen's face. "If you don't let me kill her today, I'll come back tomorrow. And the day after. Until one of us is dead."

Kaelen wiped the blood from his face and bared his fangs. "Don't push me, boy. You're my son, but I'm still the Alpha."

He let out a heavy sigh, the fury bleeding out of him, replaced by a pathetic desperation.

"I admit I was wrong. I was a fool. If Elara refuses to see me, fine. Just give me the Scarlet Core to save the unborn pup, and I will accept whatever punishment Elara demands. She can whip me, banish me, whatever she wants."

"The core?" Lucian let out a near-hysterical laugh, sounding almost like a sob. "You want her core?"

Lucian grabbed the blade pressed against his throat, ignoring how it sliced open his palm, and yanked Kaelen closer.

"Look inside your own chest, you fool! It's been feeding your pathetic wolf for five hundred years! You want a heart for your bitch? Then rip your own out and give it to her!"

Kaelen froze, the blood draining from his face. "What are you talking about? My Alpha spark..."

"Feel it," Lucian hissed, his silver eyes seeming to pierce straight through Kaelen's soul. "Stop blocking it with your pride and actually feel it."

Kaelen slowly closed his eyes.

He reached inward, past the muscle, past the ribs, searching for the source of his magic. For the first time in centuries, he bypassed the roaring beast within and felt it.

Cold, ancient, rhythmic pureblood vampire magic beating inside his chest cavity.

His eyes flew open, and he stumbled back from his son as if he'd been shot. He clawed at his chest, ripping his shirt open.

"No... how...?" Kaelen gasped, falling to his knees.

"You won so many wars, Kaelen," Lucian said mercilessly.

He stood up, towering over his devastated father.

"Did you really think you were just that gifted? That invincible?"

"Every time you took a hit, she bled for you."

"Centuries ago, when the old King destroyed your Alpha spark, she ripped out her own heart and transplanted it into your chest so you wouldn't die."

"The only reason you are alive is because she hollowed herself out for you."

Kaelen clutched his chest tightly, his breathing turning ragged and chaotic. The memories he had repressed—the times he woke up miraculously healed, the lingering taste of Elara's blood on his lips—flooded back with agonizing clarity.

"No! Stop!" Kaelen begged, clutching his head as tears streamed down his face. "Stop, please."

"And one last thing," Lucian said, driving the final nail into the coffin. "My mother gave up everything for you. Her crown, her magic, her heart."

"But the killing blow? While she lay weak and defenseless after saving me, your sweet little Omega walked in."

"Selene bound her in silver, sliced open her chest with a dagger, and threw her into the Daylight Rift. My mother burned alive in the sun, Kaelen."

"While you were completing your new mating ceremony, my mother was turning to ash."

Thunder rumbled overhead. A torrential downpour unleashed upon the Sanctuary, washing away the ashes of the Sacred Fire.

"Impossible," Kaelen whispered, staring blankly at his trembling hands. "She can't be dead. She can't be dead."

He looked around frantically, screaming into the rain, his voice tearing. "Elara!"

"You don't believe me?" Lucian stood up. "Go ask the guards who stood outside her room the day you banished her. Go ask the ones Selene bribed to look the other way. They saw Selene drag her out."

Kaelen whipped around, his eyes wild, feral, entirely devoid of sanity.

Selene rushed forward and grabbed his arm. "Kaelen, he's manipulating you! Don't listen to him! Vampires are liars!"

Kaelen didn't even look at her. He violently shoved her aside, shifted into his massive black wolf form, and bolted toward the pack lands with the speed of a madman.

Selene fell into the mud. "My baby! Kaelen, the baby is hurt!"

But Kaelen was already gone.