All Chapters of UNDER THE ROGUE ALPHA'S PROTECTION: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The creature’s words—*the master wishes to meet you*—hung in the rancid air, a venomous promise. The green-eyed figures closed in, their movement a synchronized, unnatural glide. The pack members at our backs tensed, a low chorus of growls rumbling in the dark.Zero didn’t hesitate. His gun roared, the report deafening in the enclosed space. The lead creature’s head snapped back, but it didn’t fall. It righted itself, a black, oozing hole where its eye had been. It laughed, that same glass-grinding sound.“Puppies with firesticks,” it rasped. “How quaint.”“Silver,” one of our pack members, a hulking wolf named Kael, snarled. “It has to be silver!”“Noted,” Zero bit out, firing again. This time, the creature flinched, a sizzling sound erupting from the wound. “Seems they don’t like it up close either!” He was already moving, a blur of motion as he drew a blade from his vest—a blade I now saw was etched with faint, glowing runes.The world erupted into chaos.The creatures swarmed. The

The ride back to the stronghold was a blur of grim silence and the coppery scent of Zero’s blood. He lay unconscious on the stretcher between us, his breathing shallow and ragged. Each rattling inhale was a knife twisting in my own chest, thanks to the damn bond that tied his pain to mine. The muted, hollow ache where his presence should have been was worse than the screaming agony from before. This was a void. A silence that screamed.Kael and Lyra didn’t speak. Their faces were set in stone, but I could smell their fear. It wasn’t fear of the fight. It was fear for him. And fear of what came next.The stronghold’s gates loomed out of the darkness, swinging open before we even reached them. The Alpha’s guards were waiting, their expressions unreadable. They took the stretcher from us with efficient, brutal hands, carrying Zero away into the depths of the medical wing without a word.I took a step to follow, but a firm hand on my arm stopped me. It was Kael.“The Alpha,” he said, his

The Alpha left me alone in the cold, silent war room. The schematic of the city stared back at me, a map of territories and power plays that meant nothing. All I could see was the grainy video feed. The monster. The thing that might be my father.It operates on instinct and rage. It has no humanity left.You remember the man it was.The Alpha’s words were a cold seed of hope planted in frozen, barren ground. How could memories be a weapon against that? How could the smell of burnt pancakes and the sound of a familiar laugh stop a beast designed to tear me limb from limb?I couldn’t stay here. I couldn’t just wait for dawn and my own execution. I had to see him. I had to see Zero.The hallway outside was clear, the pack members having scattered under the Alpha’s wrath. I moved through the stronghold like a ghost, the whispers starting up again the moment I passed, then quickly dying. They were afraid of me now, but not for the right reasons. They were afraid of the Alpha’s displeasure.

The air in the training pit was still charged, humming with the aftermath of stolen power. I stood there, a live wire of crackling energy, Zero’s strength a roaring tide in my veins. The pack members in the doorway didn’t move. They just stared, their terror a palpable scent in the air.Then, a low groan from the far wall.Zero pushed himself up, shaking his head like a dog clearing water from its ears. Sand cascaded from his shoulders. He got to his feet, and a slow, wide, utterly unhinged grin spread across his face. There was no anger, no humiliation. Only pure, unadulterated delight.“Now,” he said, his dual-toned voice full of dark wonder, “that’s what I’m talking about.”He took a step toward me, and the pack in the doorway flinched back as one. He ignored them, his glowing eyes fixed on me.“You feel it, don’t you?” he purred, stalking closer. “The raw potential. You’re not just a conduit. You’re a reservoir. You can hold my power. Wield it.”I could feel it. It was intoxicatin

The heavy door clicked shut, sealing us in with the consequences of my defiance. The only sounds were Kael’s ragged, pained breathing and the frantic hammering of my own heart.Lyra was at Kael’s side in an instant, her hands gentle as she examined the brutal break. “It’s clean, but it’s bad,” she muttered, her voice tight with a fury she didn’t dare voice aloud.Zero didn’t move. He stood perfectly still, his back to me, his shoulders tense. The blazing energy that had surrounded him since his resurrection had banked, replaced by a silent, stormy intensity. I could feel it through the bond—a roiling tempest of pride, fury, and cold, calculating strategy.“Why?” The word wasn’t an accusation. It was a demand for Intel. A tactical debrief.I hugged my arms around myself, the adrenaline fading to leave me cold and shaking. “Because if I used it for him, on his command, it stops being mine.” I looked at Kael’s pale, sweating face, guilt twisting in my gut. “I’m sorry, Kael. I’m so sorry.