THE BETRAYAL

Dust streamed in from the cracks in the ceiling, the wooden beams above groaning under the force of what seemed like a hundred wolves, the air thickened, charged like the moment before a storm breaks.

I couldn’t breathe, every instinct in my body screamed the same thing-Run! Yet I couldn’t move.

The traveller paced around the room, his movements controlled, yet restless.

“That’s not possible,” he yelled, “he shouldn’t be here now, not this soon…”

Another impact hit, this time, closer, causing the entire structure to lurch violently to one side, the far wall cracked, jagged lines racing towards the ceiling. 

The chaos outside was no longer distant, I could hear the screams, the orders and the unmistakable sound of bodies hitting the ground.

My pulse roared in my ears, “Why is he here already?”  I whispered, my voice unsteady, “what did you do?”

He didn’t answer me, before  I could react, he stepped forward and crouched in front of me , closing his fingers around the rope at my wrists, it snapped, my breath hitched as sensation returned to my hands. 

“You need to listen to me,” he said his voice low but urgent, “there’s no hiding now, when he gets here, you do not speak unless I tell you to”

My chest tightened. “Why?” 

“Because…”  he was interrupted by a shadow passing over the doorway, we both turned, the  door didn’t open, It exploded.

Wood shattered inward, splinters scattering across the floor as something massive forced its way through. The guards outside hadn’t even slowed it down, a thick silence followed, and then, he stepped in.

For a second, my mind couldn’t understand what I was seeing, he was larger than any wolf I had ever known, even in human form. Power clung to him like a second skin, thick and suffocating. His presence alone forced the air out of my lungs.

Dark hair, Flaming eyes, not  gold like an Alpha’s, but something deeper, something older, something that did not belong to the same world.

His gaze fixed on the traveller, then he turned to look at me, recognition flickered, brief, but unmistakable, then it hardened.

“You disobeyed.” The words were quiet.

The traveller didn’t flinch. “I made a choice.”

That was all it took, the King moved, calm and calculated, yet  unstoppable.

His hand closed around the traveller’s throat and drove him back into the wall hard enough to crack stone. The impact echoed through the room.

I gasped, the air shifted violently, pressure slamming into my chest.

The traveler didn’t fight, he didn’t  even try to struggle.

Blood touched the corner of his mouth as he exhaled slowly. “I wondered how long it would take,” he said.

The King’s grip tightened, “Do not mistake patience for mercy.”

Something in my chest twisted, sharp, unbearable.

“Stop…” The word slipped out before I could think, everything froze.

The King paused, narrowing his gaze at me, but the floor beneath us shuddered violently. Dust and debris rained down. The walls groaned as if straining under an unseen weight.

From somewhere below, a roar tore through the building, deep, primal, unstoppable.

The traveller’s eyes met mine for a fraction of a second. In them, I saw everything he had tried to hide: fear, resignation… and a warning.

He hadn’t just betrayed the King. He had unleashed something far worse.