Secrets in the Dark

My breath hitched, my muscles instantly locking as I stared at the glowing crimson eyes piercing through the iron grate of the adjoining cell. The scent of decayed copper and dark magic bled through the stone wall. A rogue.

"Who are you?" I demanded, my voice dropping to a low, lethal whisper that no human or ordinary Omega could ever mimic. My inner Lycan pressed against my ribs, her golden claws aching to tear through my skin and rip this threat apart.

"Someone who knows a royal scent when they smell it, even when it’s drowned in cheap moon-root," the raspy voice chuckled, the sound like grinding stones. The creature pressed closer to the bars, revealing the scarred, gaunt face of a rogue wolf corrupted by dark magic. "The Bloodmoon Pack is blind. Their precious Alpha is losing his mind out there, fighting a pull he doesn’t understand. But me? I know what you are, little queen. And if I yell right now, the guards will bring the silver collars."

"You won't yell," I spat, stepping into his line of sight. I let a fraction of my suppression slip, just enough to let my eyes flash a blinding, predatory gold in the pitch blackness. The sheer, suffocating pressure of my Royal Lycan aura slammed into the grate.

The rogue gasped, choking on his own breath as the ancient, dominant power forced him to his knees inside his cell. His crimson eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated terror.

"Because if you open your mouth," I whispered, leaning close enough to smell his fear, "I will reach through these bars and snap your spine before the guards even clear the stairwell. Understand?"

He nodded frantically, trembling against the stone.

Before I could pull my aura back entirely, the heavy iron doors at the top of the dungeon stairs groaned open. The sound of heavy, commanding footsteps echoed down the corridor, vibrating through the floorboards.

It wasn't the guards. The footsteps were too heavy, too deliberate, carrying a lethal, dark energy that made my skin prickle with desperate heat.

Killian.

"Quiet," I hissed to the rogue, snapping my wall of defense back up, forcing my eyes back to a dull, human brown. I threw myself onto the damp straw in the corner of my cell, wrapping my arms around my knees and tucking my face away just as the darkness of the corridor was shattered by the harsh glow of a torch.

Alpha Killian stood outside my cell.

He had discarded his formal Ascension cape, wearing only a tight, black combat shirt that strained against the massive, muscular contours of his chest and shoulders. He looked wild, untamed, and entirely consumed by rage. His breathing was heavy, his dark eyes fixed on me like a predator stalking trapped prey.

"Leave us," Killian growled over his shoulder.

"But Alpha," a guard's voice hesitated from the hallway, "she's a suspected spy—"

"I said, leave us," Killian roared, a wave of raw Alpha command slamming through the corridor so violently that the heavy iron bars rattled.

The frantic scuffle of boots followed as the guards fled, slamming the outer doors shut. Silence descended on the dungeon, heavy and suffocatingly thick. Killian didn't use a key. He simply grabbed the heavy iron padlock on my cell door with his bare, calloused hand, channeled his brute Alpha strength, and shattered the mechanism with a brutal, metallic crack.

He stepped into my cell, kicking the broken iron aside. The cell felt instantly smaller, entirely dominated by his massive, towering presence.

"Get up," he commanded, his voice a dark, husky rumble that sent an unwelcome spike of pure desire straight to my core.

I didn't move. I kept shivering, playing the broken maid. "Please, Alpha... I didn't mean to ruin the gala..."

In a flash of blinding speed, Killian crossed the cell. Before I could even blink, his large hand gripped my waist, lifting me effortlessly from the dirt and slamming my back against the cold stone wall. A gasp ripped from my throat as his heavy, hard body pinned me firmly in place. His thighs locked mine down, his chest crushing against my breasts, making me acutely aware of the raw, masculine heat radiating from him.

"Stop playing with me, Omega," Killian snarled, his face inches from mine. His hot breath brushed over my lips, smelling of dark cedar and intoxicating spice. "There is no scent on you, yet my wolf is tearing me apart from the inside out. I couldn't sit on my throne. I couldn't breathe. Every instinct I have is telling me to rip this dress off you and claim you right here on the dirt."

My heart hammered frantically against his chest. The mate bond was screaming, the 18+ heat of our proximity threatening to melt my resolve. I wanted to wrap my legs around his waist, to bare my neck to his fangs, to let him see everything.

But I couldn't die tonight.

"You're confused, Alpha," I cried out, forcing tears to well in my eyes as I pushed against his iron-hard shoulders. "I'm a nobody! You're feeling pity—or rage—"

"I don't feel pity!" he roared, his grip tightening on my waist, his fingers digging possessively into my skin. He leaned down, his lips brushing the sensitive skin of my neck, right over my pulse point. He licked the wound on my knee earlier, and now his tongue traced the column of my throat, sending an electric shock of pure, sinful ecstasy straight down my spine. I had to bite my own lip to stop from moaning.

"You are a drug," Killian groaned against my skin, his voice desperate, dangerous, and completely obsessed. "Your blood smells ordinary, but your touch sparks like silver. Who sent you? What spell did you cast on me?"

He pulled back slightly, his dark eyes completely consumed by a feral, amber glow. His thumb caught my chin, forcing me to look at him as his other hand slid down, his heavy palm resting directly over my racing heart.

And then, his expression froze.

The heat of his body, the intensity of the bond, and the sheer physical exhaustion of fighting him off was pushing my body to its absolute limit. Inside my veins, the moon-root serum was burning out ahead of schedule.

Killian’s eyes widened in sudden, absolute shock. Beneath his palm, my heartbeat wasn't just fast. My core temperature was skyrocketing, and a faint, unmistakable trace of a golden, royal aura began to bleed through my skin, mixing with his dark cedar scent.

It wasn't the scent of an Omega. It was the heavy, intoxicating, alpha-crushing scent of a Royal Lycan Queen.

Killian’s breath hitched, his entire body going rigid as his nostrils flared, inhaling the forbidden scent. His grip on my chin turned lethal.

"You..." Killian whispered, the shock in his voice turning into a terrifying, realization. "That scent... You aren't a wolf at all."