The First Alpha

The floor split beneath their feet.

Rei grabbed Dominic's arm as a deep crack raced across the laboratory floor. The lights overhead flickered once, twice, and then shattered completely.

Darkness swallowed the room.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then something breathed beneath them.

It was slow.

Heavy.

Ancient.

Rei felt the sound more than she heard it.

Dominic pulled her against him.

"Stay behind me."

Rei shook her head.

"Not this time."

She stepped beside him instead.

Mara stared at the golden light shining through the cracks.

"He's awake."

Marcus looked at her.

"You knew."

"I suspected."

"You should have told us."

"I didn't know if it was still there."

Rei looked between them.

"What's still there?"

Neither answered.

Dominic's voice sharpened.

"Tell us."

Marcus finally spoke.

"The First Alpha."

Rei looked down at the cracks.

"I thought the First Omega was the beginning."

"She was."

"Then who is he?"

Marcus swallowed.

"The Alpha who stood beside her."

Rei remembered Elara's message.

The bond wasn't supposed to make the Alpha the master of the Omega.

It was supposed to make them equals.

She suddenly understood why Blackthorn had spent so much time searching for both of them.

The First Omega wasn't powerful alone.

The First Alpha wasn't powerful alone.

Together, they created something Blackthorn had spent generations trying to recreate.

Dominic looked at Marcus.

"What happens when they awaken?"

Marcus's expression was grim.

"They don't become stronger."

"Then what?"

"They become complete."

A violent pulse exploded beneath them.

The laboratory windows shattered.

Rei was thrown backward.

Dominic caught her before she hit the wall.

"Rei!"

"I'm okay."

She looked toward the floor.

A hand had appeared through the crack.

Not human.

Not entirely.

The skin was pale and covered in glowing golden markings.

Marcus stepped backward.

"No."

Dominic stared.

"What is that?"

Marcus whispered.

"The original."

The hand gripped the broken floor.

Stone cracked.

Something began pulling itself upward.

Rei couldn't look away.

A man emerged from the darkness.

He looked human.

Tall.

Broad-shouldered.

His hair was black.

His eyes were gold.

The markings on his skin pulsed with the same light that had appeared on Rei's wrist.

He looked at the room.

Then his eyes found Rei.

Everything stopped.

His expression changed.

Recognition.

Pain.

Then anger.

"You."

Rei instinctively stepped backward.

Dominic moved in front of her.

The stranger's eyes shifted to Dominic.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then the man said one word.

"Vale."

Dominic's eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?"

The stranger smiled.

"Your ancestor."

Dominic froze.

Marcus stared at him.

"That's impossible."

The man looked at Marcus.

"You said the same thing when you buried the chamber."

Marcus went pale.

Dominic looked at his father.

"You've seen him before?"

"No."

The stranger laughed.

"Your father has."

Marcus shook his head.

"I never met him."

"Not personally."

The stranger stepped forward.

"But you spoke to me."

Dominic's expression changed.

"When?"

"Every night you dreamed of the laboratory."

Rei felt cold.

The dreams.

Dominic's nightmares.

The memories he'd never understood.

They hadn't been dreams.

They had been memories passed through the bloodline.

The First Alpha had been calling to him.

"Why?" Dominic asked.

The man's gaze moved to Rei.

"Because she was coming."

Rei's heart pounded.

"Why do you need me?"

The stranger's expression softened.

"I don't."

The answer surprised her.

"I need you to remember."

"Remember what?"

He looked toward the pendant in her hand.

"Who you are."

The pendant glowed brighter.

The stranger raised his hand.

Rei felt a sudden warmth in her chest.

Images flooded her mind.

A vast forest.

A village hidden among mountains.

Alphas and Omegas living together.

No hierarchy.

No forced bonds.

No collars.

No suppressants.

Then she saw two people standing beneath an ancient tree.

Elara's ancestor.

And the First Alpha.

They were holding hands.

Rei realized something.

"They weren't enemies."

"No."

The First Alpha's voice was quiet.

"They were partners."

"What happened?"

"Humans discovered the power of the bond."

"And Blackthorn?"

"Blackthorn came much later."

The stranger's expression darkened.

"The original corruption began when Alphas decided they could use the bond to control Omegas."

Dominic's fists tightened.

"And the Omegas?"

"They fought back."

"Was that the first war?"

"Yes."

Rei stared at him.

"How did it end?"

"It didn't."

The stranger looked directly at her.

"It only changed shape."

Rei felt a chill.

"Then Blackthorn isn't the beginning."

"No."

He looked toward the academy above them.

"It is the latest version."

Dominic stepped forward.

"Why were we chosen?"

"You weren't."

Rei frowned.

"What?"

The First Alpha looked at her.

"You were born."

He looked at Dominic.

"And he was born."

He brought their hands together.

"The bond recognized what Blackthorn had spent centuries trying to manufacture."

Dominic looked at Rei.

"So we're not experiments."

"No."

The stranger's eyes hardened.

"You are proof that they failed."

The academy shook again.

This time, the walls began collapsing.

Marcus shouted.

"We have to leave!"

The First Alpha looked toward the ceiling.

"They're coming."

Dominic turned.

"Who?"

The stranger's eyes became gold.

"Everyone."

The doors burst open.

Dozens of armed guards flooded into the room.

Behind them stood Dr. Voss.

He looked at the First Alpha and smiled.

"Finally."

Rei's blood ran cold.

Voss wasn't afraid.

He was excited.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this."

Dominic stepped forward.

"You knew."

Voss smiled.

"I knew exactly what was beneath this academy."

Marcus raised his weapon.

"You'll destroy everything."

Voss laughed.

"That's the point."

He pressed a button.

The entire building began shaking.

Mara grabbed Rei.

"What did he do?"

Marcus stared at the control panel.

"He activated the emergency extraction."

Dominic frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Marcus looked toward the ceiling.

"The academy is going to collapse."

Rei's eyes widened.

"He's going to kill everyone?"

Voss smiled.

"Not everyone."

His gaze settled on Rei.

"You'll survive."

Dominic's eyes flashed silver.

"You won't touch her."

Voss raised his weapon.

"Take them."

The guards charged.

Dominic moved first.

He slammed into the nearest guard, sending him crashing into a console.

Rei ducked beneath another attack.

Mara grabbed a metal bar and struck a guard across the shoulder.

"Mom!"

"Keep moving!"

Marcus fired at the control panel.

Sparks exploded.

Voss shouted.

"Stop him!"

Two guards rushed Marcus.

Dominic fought through them.

Rei grabbed the pendant.

Something inside her answered.

The golden light exploded outward.

Every guard in the room stopped.

Their weapons dropped.

Their eyes went blank.

Rei froze.

She could feel them.

Every Alpha.

Every heartbeat.

Every instinct.

The entire room seemed connected to her.

Dominic stared at her.

"Rei."

She looked at him.

"I can feel them."

The First Alpha stepped closer.

"This is what they wanted."

Rei shook her head.

"No."

She closed her eyes.

The power inside her surged.

"But it's not what I'm going to become."

She released the connection.

Every guard collapsed unconscious.

Dominic stared at her.

"You controlled them."

"No."

Rei looked at him.

"I stopped controlling them."

The First Alpha smiled.

"Now you understand."

Voss stared at her in horror.

"That isn't possible."

Rei turned toward him.

"That's the difference."

She walked toward him.

"You wanted an Omega you could control."

Her eyes flashed silver and gold.

"You got one who can choose."

Voss stepped backward.

The First Alpha's expression suddenly changed.

"Rei."

She stopped.

"What?"

"Listen."

She did.

At first, she heard nothing.

Then—

A heartbeat.

Not hers.

Not Dominic's.

Something beneath the academy.

Something enormous.

The First Alpha looked toward the floor.

"The chamber is still alive."

Marcus stared.

"That's impossible."

"No."

The First Alpha shook his head.

"The chamber was never the machine."

Rei felt the truth before he spoke it.

"Then what was it?"

The First Alpha looked at her.

"A prison."

Dominic's expression hardened.

"What was imprisoned?"

The First Alpha's golden eyes darkened.

"The first creature ever created from an Alpha-Omega bond."

The academy shook violently.

Voss smiled again.

"You finally understand."

Rei turned toward him.

"What is it?"

Voss's smile widened.

"The reason Blackthorn has never been able to control the bond."

Another heartbeat echoed beneath them.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Voss whispered,

"Because something else has been controlling it all along."

The floor exploded.

Rei screamed as darkness swallowed the room.

Dominic reached for her.

Their fingers touched.

Then the ground disappeared beneath them.

They fell together into the darkness.

And beneath Blackthorn, something ancient opened its eyes.

Something that had been waiting for the First Omega and First Alpha to return.

Something that had never wanted freedom.

It wanted a mate.