THE MAD ALPHA

DARIUS’S POVI can’t breathe.Everything hurts and burns and I can't breathe, damn it!Everything… my chest, my head, my very bones. It feels like something is trying to scratch its way out of me, not caring what damage it causes, and I can’t stop it.I can hear them shouting my name… everyone but their voices feel so far away. Fuzzy. Like I’m underwater. The hall spins. I smell blood and smoke and the sharp sting of silver. The glass. The floor. The damn moon. Everything feels too bright, too loud.And then I hear the crack. My bones. I feel my body twist like someone just ripped a wire through my spine.“Hold him down!” I hear someone scream.Hands grab me. Too many hands. I can’t see who. I can’t think. My mind is splitting in two. I hear growling and at first, I think it is someone else, that I am being attacked.Then I realize, it’s me.The sound comes from deep inside, raw and violent. My body arches off the ground. My teeth ache, sharp and wrong. My nails dig into the floor, l

LYRA’S POV“He is not moving. Why isn't he moving?” I demand as I stare down at the man before me.Darius.He is just lying there on the couch. His shirt is half torn from when he was fighting the guards and his skin is still burning like fire, like he is stuck between two worlds. Which he isI made sure of it.Still, I hate how… still he is. I watch him, as his chest moves up and down, as his eyes keep twitching like he is fighting something even in his sleep.Fighting me.Good luck with that.The room smells like sweat and smoke and… something sharp. My dad’s beside me, his hands covered in that same dark powder smeared all over the floor.“Hurry,” he says quietly. “You wanted him,” “Now bind him.”I look down at the glass vial in my hand. The content inside glows strangely, gold and sick looking. I can feel it buzzing through my fingers. It is supposed to calm him. Heal him. At least that is what everyone else will think.But I know better. It’s not healing. It’s control.I kneel

POV: ELARATHREE YEARS LATERI wake up to Arin screaming my name like the world is ending.“Muuum!”My whole body jumps like I have just been electrocuted. I sit up too fast, heart slamming against my ribs, blood rushing in my ears, and for a second I’m like—Where the hell am I?What’s happening?Who’s dying?The cave walls are all shadows and cold air and my brain is still half asleep. And then this huge blast of silver light flashes across the whole room and I swear my soul jumps out of my body.It’s him. Dreaming.Again.Arin’s sitting on our blanket pile, shaking so hard the fabric is moving under him. His eyes are squeezed shut and that glowing mark on his palm is basically a mini sun right now. Silver light everywhere. It’s so bright it hurts to look at it.My heart just… drops.“Arin,” I choke out, crawling over to him so fast I almost face-plant. My legs are still numb from sleep but I don’t even care. “Hey, hey, baby, look at me. It’s okay. I’m here. Mummy’s here.”My voice

POV: ELARAThe first thing I hear is the sound. Bones hitting dirt. A crack. A scream that makes me flinch so hard my vision shakes.Then everything just… happens. Too fast for my brain to keep up.This wolf, this huge wolf… comes out of nowhere and slams into the rogue that was literally about to rip my throat open. And he’s not messy like rogues. He’s not wild. He moves like someone who already knows exactly where every weak spot is. Where to bite, where to hit, where to break. No wasted energy. Nothing sloppy.“Arin… Arin,” I gasp as I crawl over to him. I crouch over his tiny body, shaking and bleeding and trying to actually breathe without passing out. My arm feels like it’s hanging off by a thread. My head spins. My wolf is still screaming, ready to fight again, but my body is absolutely done.But this stranger wolf? He’s nowhere near done.He grabs one rogue by the back of the neck and throws it so hard the sound echoes. Another rogue tries sneaking around, but he turns, fast,

POV: ARINI wake up too fast. Like something pulled me up by my whole chest and threw me awake. My eyes are open and everywhere is sis dark, it is scary and right in my face. Like it was waiting for me. Like it was hiding on top of me. I can feel it on my cheek. I don’t like it.“Find me.”I jump so hard I hit my head on the rock. It makes a big hurt sound in my head and my teeth bite my tongue and it tastes like metal and blood and I wanna cry but my voice gets stuck. My throat feels all tight like hands are inside it.Everything looks wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.I try to see, but the dark won’t stay still. It wiggles. It makes weird shapes on the walls like they are bending or shaking or smiling with no mouth. The cave looks like it’s breathing and I don’t want it to breathe on me.My hands shake so much I can’t stop them. My legs do it too. I don’t like when my body moves without me telling it to. I whisper “stop,” but it sounds like a mosquito voice. Tiny and stupid. I feel stupid.