Shadows in the throne room (chapt.1)

Akira's POV

The icy marble ground stabbed into my kneecaps as I scrubbed the same stain again for the hundredth time. Cold seeped through the thin fabric of my ragged dress, but I felt hardly anything.

It was the comforting motion of the rag in my fingers that kept me going-scrub, twist, wipe-every wipe pulling me back to the monotonous reality of the work.

The air was stale, dry, and dead with the smell of stone, laced with the faint sting of blood with a metallic tang that the palace floor would never lose.

Don't stop. Don't think. Just work.

I cursed the damned Alpha upon whom it was so often imitated. This room-offering such lovely architecture but utterly lacking in warmth-had received more blood than compassion.

I squeezed my rag tighter; pain shot through my already broken hands from the harshness of the cloth. Pain was not good.

Every day spent in this palace was painful, and it was all I could do to evade being seen, just like any other prey that escaped the predator's lair.

Heavy footsteps trampled down the marble floor, slow, heavy, and angry. I didn't need to look behind me to know it was Beta Darius. He had a way of making the air feel heavier. My head dipped lower now, my silvery hair falling like a curtain over my face.

"Another group taken," Darius growled, voice as raspy as a stone.

Thoughts on what he meant brought goosebumps on my pale skin-polished marble floor, cold and agonizing. Taken?

Alpha Ryker barely moved in his throne. "By the Shadow Clan?" His voice was devoid of emotion, betraying no part of whatever pain or anger might have lurked beneath the surface.

"And they're...down by the river, mothers and pups."

Stomach twisted into knots.A metallic taste filled my mouth. Pups? Really? Mothers with their innocent puppies in the hands of the Shadow Clan, and the horrible chill just scurried down my spine like a merciless knife.

Ryker let out a breath, sprawling back against the armrest in a lazy pose. “What are they looking for me to do? We don't have the warriors for this."

A hard swallow constricted my throat. His indifference was suffocating.

I could feel the decay eating its way through this pack. It was no secret that Ryker's weakness and incompetency was an infection.

"They're testing us, Alpha," Darius warned. "Probing to see how far they can push before you do something."

Ryker swished his hand through the air. "And if I move too fast, we have war."

"War's already knocking on our door," Darius growled. “But we don’t have the means to win it.”

A sharp crack announced the sudden intrusion of heavy doors opened wide; I jumped to my feet with a skip in my heartbeat, and a rag fell from my trembling fingers.

Two guards rushed in, holding a figure in between them.

Luna Aurelia.

The white of the gown had smudged to a dirty gray with much dust and mingling blood. The previous anger on those perfect features did little to hide the signs of bruising marking her arms and legs and that horrifying wound in her shoulder.

Ryker was up from his seat for a brief moment, the chill in his demeanor surfacing. "Aurelia—what's the matter?"

She ripped her arm free from the guard and staggered ahead, shrieking, "They tried to take me!" Her voice was raw and piercing.

Those words cut like a knife through the room.

I hardly dared breathe then.

Ryker hesitated, almost a pause. "But—you’re fine now.”

Aurelia's laughter was grated and unhinged. She shoved her damaged sleeve up, revealing deep claw marks raking down her pale arm. “Does this look fine to you?” Her voice cracked, fury laced with fear.

"I—"

“Where were the warriors? Where was the protection? If it weren’t for the guards, I’d be gone—just like the others!”

Aurelia's words ricocheted against stone walls.

" Luna—"

"No! Don't Luna me!" Aurelia rushed to him, her bloody heels pounding furiously on the marble. "While our pack is falling apart, you are just sitting here doing nothing. I was almost taken, Ryker!"

He parted his lips, but she cut him off.

"Are you going to act now, or next time, when it's already too late? When they take me and you are left sitting alone on that damned chair?"

My hands balled into fists, nails digging into the flesh of my palms. This wasn't about the dead mothers and pups-not really; it was about Arurelia.

This darm bitch always makes it about herself.

Ryker's face blackened, but all I saw in his eyes was fear.

And Aurelia struck the final blow. "Do it, or I will renounce you as my mate."

For the instant, the entire room froze. Even Darius was tense.

And then, Aurelia turned away.

Directly toward me.

I ducked my head even lower, hoping to God she would not see me. But her shadow stretched long and pointed on the marble, and a moment later, she stood towering over me.

"You," she spat.

I remained frozen.

"Still scrubbing floors like the pathetic omega you are. It should've been you they took."

Her words sliced deeper than I had anticipated.

I wanted to stick my tongue out in defiance, to say something to her , but all it would have taken was for me to say something. And whatever I said would have been worse.

"Useless," Aurelia spat and shoved me aside, the hem of her gown brushing blood against my arm.

I remained on my knees for a long time after she had left, my hands shaking.

Breathe, Akira. Just breathe.

"Beta," Ryker said, breaking the silence, "what now?"

Darius took a pause. "We need allies. We can't fight off the Shadow Clan ourselves. The pack is broke.”

"And who the hell is going to help us?"

Silence.

Then Ryker's voice came again, low and thick. "The Lycan King."

King Kaidën.