Chapter 5 The Alpha of Nothing

The Wilds grew darker as Aria and Finn moved forward, the trees thickening into a labyrinth of thorns and ancient bones. Every night, Aria could feel more of them-wolves, broken and wild, hidden in the shadows, waiting.

Waiting for her.

They found the second one at the edge of a crumbling stone ruin.

Finn spotted her first-a girl no older than Aria, lean and sharp-eyed, sitting atop a fallen column like a hawk watching its prey. She didn't speak as they approached, only tilted her head, studying Aria with a predator's wariness.

"Are you rogue?" Aria asked carefully.

The girl smiled, but it wasn't kind. "Rogue? Cast-out? Monster? I've been called worse."

Her voice was low and rough, like someone who had forgotten what softness felt like.

Finn shifted uneasily at Aria's side, but Aria held her ground. "I'm not here to hurt you."

The girl's eyes-gold, bright and cold-narrowed. "Everyone says that."

Aria lifted her wrist, letting the silver mark catch the moonlight.

The change was immediate. The girl stiffened, nostrils flaring. Recognition-or something close to fear-flickered across her face.

"You..." the girl breathed.

"I'm gathering the broken," Aria said, voice steady. "To build something stronger. To make a place where none of us have to crawl or beg or be less than what we are."

The girl slid down from the ruin, landing in a crouch. She didn't shift, didn't bow-but she didn't attack either.

"You're the one they whispered about," she muttered. "The Omega Queen."

Aria blinked. She hadn't heard that title before. It coiled around her, unfamiliar and heavy, but somehow right.

The girl straightened. "Name's Riven," she said. "And I don't bow to anyone. Not anymore."

"You don't have to," Aria said simply. "Fight with me instead."

Riven stared at her for a long moment. Then she grinned, sharp and savage. "Alright, Omega Queen. Let's see if you're worth it."

A howl split the air before Aria could answer.

It wasn't a call of welcome.

It was a challenge.

Aria's wolf bristled instantly. She knew that sound-it was the howl of a dominant, a rogue alpha claiming territory. She could feel him approaching, heavy and violent, a force meant to break and dominate.

Finn whimpered. Riven's grin vanished into a snarl.

Aria turned to face the trees, heart pounding.

A moment later, he emerged.

Massive. Gray fur streaked with scars. Eyes black as pitch, devoid of anything but hunger for power. He reeked of old blood and ruin.

He wasn't like the alphas in the packs-polished and proud. He was something rawer, crueler.

"The Wilds are mine," he growled, voice rumbling like thunder. "And so are you."

Aria lifted her chin. "No," she said, power thrumming in her blood. "We belong to no one."

The rogue alpha laughed, a sound full of teeth and malice. "Challenge me, little girl? You're nothing."

"I was nothing," Aria said, stepping forward, silver light flaring around her.

"Now, I am everything you fear."

Without waiting, the rogue charged, jaws snapping.

Aria moved faster.

She wasn't trained. She wasn't schooled in the alpha games. But she had instinct. Fire. A will that had been shattered and reforged in the dark.

As the rogue leapt, she thrust her hand forward-and the silver mark on her wrist erupted.

The force blasted the rogue backward, slamming him into the ground with bone-cracking force.

The earth itself responded, runes burning along the forest floor. The rogue tried to rise, snarling-but his legs buckled.

Aria stalked toward him, silver fire trailing in her wake.

"You ruled over the broken," she said, voice low. "You fed on fear."

She stood over him now, no longer a girl, no longer a cast-out omega.

"And now the broken have a Queen."

The rogue whimpered-a brutal, pitiful sound-and rolled onto his back, throat bared in submission.

Finn gasped.

Riven's eyes widened.

Aria stood over the fallen alpha, her blood singing with power and rage and purpose.

She didn't kill him. She didn't need to.

He would spread the word for her.

The Wilds had a new ruler.

Not a tyrant.

Not a butcher.

A Queen born of ash and silver.

And this was only the beginning.