5. Live For Me, Alice

Alice's POV

Alpha Redius stared at the bracelet in his palm like he’d just won a damn war trophy. Eora stood a step behind him, breathing hard, practically vibrating with excitement. Jason struggled between the warriors holding him, horror twisting his face.

I just stood there. My right hand felt cold—empty—like all my energy had been ripped away the moment the bracelet left my skin.

“It’s finally mine,” Alpha Redius murmured.

Without hesitation, he slipped the bracelet onto his own wrist.

I held my breath. In my past life… that was the moment everything changed. The moment Alpha Redius became a complete monster.

But nothing happened. No burst of light. No surge of power. No feral energy ripping through the air.

Alpha Redius frowned. “What is this?”

Eora stepped forward. “Alpha? Do you feel anything?”

Alpha Redius checked the bracelet—tracing the carvings, pressing the moonstone in the center. “Nothing. There’s no reaction at all.”

My heart thudded harder. In my previous life, the bracelet activated instantly. But now… nothing? That wasn’t right.

Alpha Redius turned sharply toward me, gaze razor-sharp. “Alice. Explain.”

“I don’t know anything,” I blurted.

“Don’t lie to me.” His voice dropped an octave, Alpha aura cracking through the room. “I wore it under the full moon. I waited two years for this moment. And now this?”

“Alpha, you're insane!” Jason screamed. “You’re breaking my sister!”

Alpha Redius ignored him completely, eyes locked on me like I was prey.

“So why isn’t it working?”

I threw my arms up, frustrated and terrified. “I don’t know! I don’t even know what the bracelet does!”

Alpha Redius narrowed his eyes. “Really. You wore it all this time and never questioned it?”

“It’s a family heirloom! That’s it! I didn’t know it had power!”

“Lies,” Eora cut in. “She’s plotting with her brother.”

Jason nearly exploded. “We are NOT—”

Alpha Redius slammed the room with another blast of aura. “Enough. I see it now. You two are working together. You gave me a fake bracelet—or you already damaged it.”

My heart dropped like a stone.

“No! Alpha Redius, please, just listen to me!”

He laughed—short, harsh, and completely inhuman. “You think I’m stupid?”

He looked at the bracelet again. “This artifact can make any Alpha who wears it command every werewolf without resistance. Your ancestors protected it, and you’d have me believe you knew nothing?”

My entire body froze. Command every werewolf? No wonder he was obsessed.

But then why… wasn’t it working? Fear twisted into confusion, sharp and aching.

“I swear I don’t know anything,” I whispered, backing up instinctively. “I—I really don’t.”

“Drop the act.” Alpha Redius growled.

And before I could blink, his hand wrapped around my throat. My feet left the ground. Air vanished. Darkness crept in from the edges of my vision.

“If you won’t talk,” he hissed in my ear, “I’ll make you.”

“LET HER GO!”

Jason’s scream ripped through the hall.

His body shifted—bones snapping, fur erupting, his wolf taking over in a violent burst. The two warriors holding him slammed into the wall like rag dolls.

Jason sprinted toward Draven, nudging his shoulder. Draven’s body rose slowly—as if Jason’s wolf aura was pulling the poison out of him. The wolfsbane glow faded from Draven’s skin until it looked normal again.

Then Draven moved.

With terrifying speed, he lunged at Alpha Redius, ripping me out of his grip. I collapsed to the floor—limbs shaking, throat burning like it had been torn open. Air came back in ragged, painful gasps.

Draven stood in front of me, shoulders squared, eyes blazing gold.

“Touch her again, Alpha Redius, and I’ll kill you.”

That was Draven’s Alpha Tone—thundering straight into bone.

Alpha Redius bared his teeth, fangs lengthening. “You think you can stop me, Draven Bradford?”

In a blink, he shifted. A massive white wolf with silver streaks—the symbol of Black Moonstone dominance. His aura hit like a storm.

Draven shifted too. His wolf was bigger than I ever imagined—pitch-black, eyes glowing gold, feral energy crackling around him.

They collided like meteors. Bones snapped. Snarls shook the walls.

The entire hall trembled under the force of their fight.

Jason, still in wolf form, joined the attack—biting into Alpha Redius’s leg, forcing him back several steps. But Alpha Redius was too damn strong.

“Jason!” I screamed through mindlink, my voice hoarse.

Draven heard it. He turned mid-fight and slammed Alpha Redius away, giving Jason room to escape. Jason shifted back into human—bleeding, panting, covered in fresh wounds. He staggered toward me, grabbing my shoulders even though my knees were barely holding.

“Alice, listen to me.”

His eyes were wild—terrified—desperate.

“I can hold him off… but you need to go. Draven has to take you out of here. If you stay, he’ll kill you.”

“No!” Tears slid down my face. “Jason, I’m not leaving you!”

“Alice,” he said, voice trembling but firm. “You have to live. Otherwise… all of this is for nothing.”

Behind us, another thunderous crash shook the floor. Draven was thrown across the hall by Alpha Redius’s claws—but he got up again, aura turning darker, sharper, deadlier.

Jason pushed me toward Draven. “Go!”

Draven shifted back, chest heaving, blood streaking down his face—but his eyes never left me.

“Alice.” His voice was low, rough—half command, half plea. “Come with me. Now.”

“No!” I looked back at Jason. “Jason—!”

“GO. NOW!” he roared, shifting back into wolf form and launching himself at Alpha Redius again.

Every part of me wanted to run to him.But I knew he was right.

If I stayed—Alpha Redius would kill all of us.

Draven wrapped an arm around my waist and lifted me effortlessly, sprinting toward the huge window of the hall. He slammed into the glass—shattering it—cold night wind rushing in.

We plunged down from the second floor. Draven landed smoothly, then ran—faster than anything I’d ever seen. The world blurred. My vision swam. My throat burned like fire. My pulse thudded too slow, too heavy.

“Stay with me, Alice,” Draven panted, tightening his hold on me. “You’re safe. Don’t close your eyes.”

But my eyelids were like stone.

I tried to speak, but only a weak whisper came out. “Jason… Alpha Redius… he’ll kill him…”

“You have to trust Jason can hold his ground,” Draven said, pulling me closer as he ran. “But he needs you alive. I need you alive.”

My breath hitched. “You…?”

Draven lowered his head, his face inches from mine—fear, anger, and something unbearably soft flickering in his eyes.

“Alice,” he said softly, voice cracking, “stay alive. For Jason… and for me.”

And right before darkness swallowed me whole, I heard him whisper—

“I’m not losing you.”