THE ALPHA’S HIDDEN BLOODLINE; His Blood, Her Secret.
For what he stood to lose.
Then the mask came back.
Killian came second.
He wore his own sigils, but they were newer, flashier. A challenger’s marks. He moved with the particular confidence of a man who’d spent years in the training yard watching Xavier, understanding his patterns, planning for this exact moment.
The neutral Council member raised his hand.
The duel began.
It was brutal. Faster than Aria expected, harder, more technical. This wasn’t wild fighting, this was trained combat, every movement calculated, every opening deliberate or closed immediately. Warriors didn’t fight with claws and fury. They fought with precision.