CHAPTER 15 : THEY CAME FOR ME

The prophecy wouldn’t let me go. It kept burning in my mind—over and over again, the same words: The woman who returns will become the death of the Alpha she loves. I’d read it so many times, it felt engraved inside my skull.

Darius stood only a few feet away, sword drawn, his eyes scanning the trees by my mother’s grave. Somewhere in the dark, our attackers had started to slip away. I could hear the guards calling to each other, searching the grounds, but honestly? I barely noticed. My attention was glued to Darius.

His family had protected that prophecy for generations. He’d known about the black symbol. He’d had my mother’s pendant. And now, according to him, maybe the prophecy wasn’t even complete.

What else was he hiding from me?

“Look at me,” I said.

He turned, quiet but tense.

“Tell me the truth.”

“Seren, we need to leave. There could still be men out here.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you answer me.”

His jaw clenched. “Not here.”

“Then pick a place and get talking, because you’re going to explain how our names ended up in a prophecy that says I’ll kill you.”

For a second, something flashed in his eyes. Not fear of a sword. Fear of something he’d been trying to outrun—some awful truth.

He lowered his weapon.

“My family has protected those records for generations,” he said. “My father believed the prophecy traced back to an old blood debt between our families.”

“And you knew all this?”

“I knew some of it.”

“Some?”

“I was told a woman with your family’s mark would come back when the blood debt was due. And the Alpha bound to her would have to choose.”

“Choose what?”

“Between the woman and his kingdom.”

That made me laugh. “That’s just nonsense.”

He shook his head. “It’s not supposed to make sense.”

“For the love of all the gods, stop speaking in riddles!” My voice cracked. I hated the sound.

He took a step closer—I moved away. He stopped, hands open.

“I don’t know the full meaning,” he said. “My father didn’t either. Some records were destroyed before I could read them.”

“Oh, that’s convenient.”

“I get why you don’t trust me.”

“No, you really don’t.” I shoved the ruined parchment at his chest. “I found records—women who looked like me. Their mates died mysteriously. They were called traitors. Now I find our names in a warning that I’ll destroy you.”

My throat tightened around the words.

“What happens when the blood moon rises, Darius?”

He said nothing.

I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “Thought so.”

“Seren—”

“Do you think I’ll become a monster? Is that why you’ve been protecting me? Trying to control what I turn into?”

“No.”

“Then why can’t you tell me everything?”

His face twisted, a fight behind his eyes. “Because I don’t know if telling you saves you or destroys you.”

That shut me up.

For a second, in the torchlight, I saw the man from my execution again—the one who'd watched me die, grief etched deep on his face. I wanted to ask if he’d tried to save me before. I wanted to ask why he’d mourned for me at all.

Instead, I asked the question I hated most. “Have I ever killed you?”

Darius went so still, he almost vanished into the night. The branches above us rustled, wind stirring the willow. He held my gaze so long I started to regret asking.

Finally, he answered. “Not in any life I remember.”

That wasn’t really what I wanted to hear. But it was honest, more honest than anything else he’d said.

I looked at him for some sign of a lie. I found pain instead. Somehow, that felt worse.

“Fine. Then we’re finding the truth. All of it. I’m done letting dead women’s warnings and secret prophecies shape my future.”

He almost smiled, sad and proud at once. “Your mother used to say things like that.”

Those words cut right through me. “You knew her well enough to know what she’d say?”

“Well enough to say she’d be proud of you.”

I turned away, hoping he couldn’t see how much that stung. Wanting my mother’s guidance had been a constant ache. Now, I was neck-deep in secrets she’d left behind—and I couldn’t tell if she’d meant to shield me or teach me to fight.

“We need to go back to the castle,” Darius said. “The guards expect a report.”

I nodded, but as we followed the path, I made myself a silent promise—I’d untangle the conspiracy. I’d learn what that blood debt meant. And no prophecy, no ancient warning, was going to end Darius’s life because of me.

Even if those words hanging over us were right.

We’d barely crossed into the outer courtyard when a horn blared. Once. Then again.

Guards on the walls shouted. Darius stopped so fast I almost collided with him.

“What is it?” I asked.

He was already staring at the northern watchtower. A rider thundered through the gates, his horse lathered in sweat. He nearly toppled off, caught by the guards.

“Alpha!” He was gasping for air. “Enemy forces!”

Darius’s eyes turned hard. “How many?”

“Thousands. At least three thousand, maybe more. They’ve surrounded the northern and eastern borders.”

The words dropped inside me like a stone—three thousand soldiers. Bloodmoon territory was strong, but an army like that? They could smash through the outposts before help arrived.

“Who are they?” Darius snapped.

“We don’t know. No recognized banners. Black shields with that mark—like the bodies we found.”

That black symbol. My blood ran cold. The assassins, the murdered messenger, everything I’d dug up under my mother’s grave—it all fit together.

“How long until they reach the wall?” Darius demanded.

“They’re moving toward the eastern gate now.”

He turned to his guards. “Sound the war bell. Lock down the inner gates. Move civilians into the western shelters. Get riders to every ally, now!”

Guards darted off in every direction. Darius looked at me.

“Go to the protected chambers.”

“No.”

He narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t up for debate.”

“And this isn’t my first life, Darius. I know what happens when people decide I’m safer left in the dark.”

“This is an army, Seren.”

“And I’m the woman they’ve been hunting. Isn’t that obvious?”

His jaw worked, a command building in him. He wanted to send me away, shield me from everything. So predictable.

But I wasn’t hiding while the world decided my fate—again.

“If they’re connected to my mother’s investigation, I might know something your generals don’t. Let me in that council room,” I said.

He glanced toward the chaos outside, swore under his breath, then finally nodded. “Stay close to me.”

It wasn’t really permission—but I’d take it.

The war council chamber was packed. Maps everywhere, generals arguing, messengers running in and out.

When they saw me, a few councilors turned. Lord Varrick’s frown was sharp enough to cut.

“Why is she here?” he demanded.

Darius didn’t slow down. “Because the enemy has us surrounded. Until we know what they want, everyone with any useful knowledge stays right here.”

Varrick’s lips thinned. “With respect, Alpha, Lady Seren has no military rank.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll easily explain why her name was on the threat sent to the council,” Darius snapped.

Silence. He’d thrown that out deliberately—maybe to root out traitors, maybe to finally stop treating me like a secret to be hidden. Either way, I wasn’t wasting the chance.

I stepped toward the table. “Show me the enemy positions.”

A general hesitated, but finally turned the map. Enemy troops ringed the northern forests, the eastern ridge, and the river road. Plenty of soldiers, but...something was off.

I leaned in. “Why aren’t they attacking the western pass?”

The general blinked. “It’s too narrow for massed troops. Our archers would tear them apart.”

“Exactly,” I said, tracing the lines on the map. “If putting the territory under siege was the goal, they’d hit roads, starve us out, cut reinforcements.”

Darius pinned the enemy lines with his eyes. “What’s your point?”

“They’re not here to win a war,” I said. “They’re trying to reach something.”

Darius’s voice was low. “Or someone.”

Nobody spoke, but I felt the shift in the room—everyone watching me now.

Lord Varrick finally broke the silence. “We can’t move troops around on the say-so of Lady Seren.”

“I don’t need you to believe me.” I jabbed at the map. “Check the evidence. That group on the eastern ridge—passed up two settlements with food and weapons, didn’t touch them. An army would loot them.”

I moved to the north. “This unit—avoided the watchtower. Keeps infrastructure intact. They’re not here to destroy.”

A general bent over the map, frowning. “She’s right.”

Darius’s eyes went dark. “They’re making a path.”

“To the castle,” I said, voice edging toward panic. “To me.”

Before anyone could respond, a messenger burst in, breathless. “Alpha! We’ve caught one of their scouts.”

“Bring him.”

Two guards dragged a battered man into the room. Black armor, bleeding from his face. He struggled—until he saw me. Then he just went still, staring.

He went pale. “That’s her,” he whispered, voice shaking.

Everyone turned. Darius stepped in front of me.

“Who?”

The scout’s eyes fixed on me, wide as if he’d seen a ghost. “The marked woman.”

I kept my voice steady, somehow. “What do you want with me?”

He started to laugh. It was awful, broken. “You still don’t get it.”

“Then explain,” I snapped.

“The orders are clear. Leave the land standing. Don’t harm the council unless they fight. Don’t kill the Alpha unless he resists.”

My heart hammered. “And me?”

The scout grinned, teeth bloody. “You’re to be taken alive.”

“On whose orders?”

He hesitated, eyes darting. Darius stepped forward, blade at his chin. “Answer. Her.”

Swallowing hard, the scout whispered, “From the High Council.”

Shock rippled through the room. Lord Varrick shot to his feet. “Impossible. The High Council didn’t sign off on this.”

The scout just laughed at him. “Maybe you should ask them yourself.”

Darius’s blade pressed in. “Why do they want her?”

The scout stared at me as if mesmerized. “Because the woman who returns must be delivered before the blood moon rises.”

The words weighed on me, crushing. The prophecy. The blood debt. The warning I’d written myself. All of it pushing in at once.

“What happens if you fail?” I asked.

His smile vanished—now he looked scared for the first time.

“Then the debt gets paid another way.”

Suddenly, the room shook. Plaster rained from the ceiling. Then another hit, even closer.

A guard at the window shouted, “They’ve breached the eastern gate!”

A horn blared; I felt it in my bones.

Enemy troops were at the walls.

Darius shoved the scout at the guards. “Lock him in the cells. Nobody talks to him without my approval.”

He turned to the generals. “Archers to the walls. Shut the inner gates. Keep civilians out of the eastern courtyard!”

Chaos exploded in the chamber. I froze, just for a second, listening to the screams building outside. Then I forced myself to move.

If they wanted me alive, everyone around me could suffer for it. I wasn’t letting that happen.

“Darius.”

He turned, focused.

“We need to find who in the High Council gave those orders.”

“We will.”

“And we have to learn why before the blood moon. Whatever it means.”

He was thinking the same thing—I could see it.

Another blast rocked the building. A messenger staggered in, his face covered in blood.

“Alpha! The eastern gate’s breaking!”

Darius drew his sword. For a moment, the shouts faded and all I saw was him—the man who’d mourned my death, the one whose family carried these secrets, the man fate said I’d kill.

He grabbed my hand. Steady, warm, unyielding.

“Whatever happens—you don’t let them take you.”

I looked at him, desperate and terrified.

“What if protecting me costs you the kingdom?”

His grip tightened. “Then we find another way.”

It was reckless. Maybe even foolish. But, god, I wanted to believe him.

A crash shattered the air. Outside, the gate finally fell. The screams turned frantic.

Darius let go and moved to the door, sword ready—but before he stepped into the chaos, he looked back at me.

“They aren’t here for the kingdom,” he said.

He raised his weapon. The gates shuddered and began to fall.

“They’re here for you.”