All Chapters of TOO LATE TO CLAIM ME,ALPHA: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

The parchment on the long oak table looked harmless enough. It was yellowed at the edges, heavy, and sealed with black wax that bore the stamp of a crown over a roaring wolf. But the words inked across its surface smelled like scorched earth and blood.Outside the hall windows, gray clouds were rolling in thick from the north, threatening heavy rain. The atmospheric pressure made my skin itch. I stood near the heavy iron hearth, my arms crossed over my chest, watching the smoke drift up the stone chimney. Rowan sat at the head of the map table, his huge hands resting flat on the polished wood. His jaw was set like iron.A messenger boy stood by the door, shivering in his mud-splattered tunic, waiting for an answer that wasn't coming anytime soon.The message had come straight from the royal vanguard. The Alpha King was done playing diplomatic games. He was marching his royal fleet toward our eastern border, and he had rounded up twenty pack elders from the outer territories as insuran

The map room smelled of old paper, leather, and spilled black ink. Outside the heavy oak door, the war camp bustled with the sharp clatter of iron swords being sharpened against whetstones. News moves fast when a prince lays down his crown in front of thousands of screaming men.The news of Kael’s forfeiture spreads quickly, dividing the Crescent Moon Pack.By sunrise, three separate scouts had ridden through our gates on lathered horses, dropping the same wild reports on our table. Kael was gone. He had walked off the front lines, refusing to draw his sword for his father’s mad crusade."Half their vanguard threw down their spears before noon," Scout Marcus said, leaning heavily against the wall with dirty bandages wrapped around his knuckles. "They're calling the King a tyrant. Many warriors refuse to fight for a king who drove his own son to rebellion."I adjusted the oil lamp sitting on the edge of the large pine war table. The yellow flame flickered, casting long shadows across t

The heavy leather straps of my breastplate bit into my shoulders as I pulled them tight. Outside the main staging tent, the courtyard was a sea of iron and fury. Hundreds of warriors strapped on arm guards, sharpened steel blades, and checked the fit of their leather harnesses. The air smelled of woodsmoke, wet earth, and fresh oil. The final push against the rogue border forces was starting in less than an hour.I adjusted my sword belt, checking the weight of the long blade at my hip. The silver mark on my neck hummed with a low, constant heat, a quiet reminder of the power running through my veins."Aurora."The quiet voice made me freeze for a second. I turned around slow and steady.Kael stood near the back flap of the tent. He wore heavy black armor without his old crest. His face was still lean and pale from his healing wounds, but he stood tall. He looked at me with none of his old arrogant glare. The sharp, possessive snap in his posture was completely gone.Kael watches me p

We camp within sight of the Citadel, the massive stone fortress looking dark against the winter sky. High above the jagged treeline, its black granite towers cut into the pale moonlight like broken teeth. Snow had started falling an hour ago. Small, dry flakes drifted down from the heavy clouds, dusting the frozen mud around our leather boots and settling on the thick wool blankets wrapped over our shoulders.The campfire crackles, casting long shadows across our tense, quiet camp.Nobody was talking much tonight. Across the clearing, three of our lead scout warriors sat on a fallen pine log, using flat sharpening stones to drag fine edges onto their iron spearheads. The rhythm of steel scraping against rock echoed through the quiet woods. Shhhk. Shhhk. Shhhk. It was a steady, cold sound, but it didn't do anything to stop the heavy knot tightening deep in my gut.Tomorrow, the blood would spill across this valley. Kael was waiting inside those heavy stone gates with the rest of his Cr

The first light of dawn breaks over the Citadel, painting the gray stone in a cold, blue light.I stand on the battlements, my fingers wrapped tight around the leather grip of my broadsword. The air is so cold my breath rises in thick white puffs, blowing back over my shoulder. Below us, the valley is choked with dense fog. Thousands of Kael’s vanguard soldiers are moving through that mist, their steel chest plates clinking like a swarm of iron beetles.The war horns blow, their deep, vibrating tones echoing through the valley and rattling the stones beneath my boots.My heart beats hard against my ribs, heavy and slow. Inside my mind, my silver wolf paces back and forth, her claws digging into the shadows of my consciousness. She lets out a fierce, silent howl that echoes right through my bones. We aren't running anymore. We aren't hiding behind high fortress walls or begging for a seat at a table that was never built for us.I draw my sword, my silver wolf howling in my mind, ready