Chapter 6 The Alpha's Oath

The forest wrapped around them like a veil, thick with fog and the scent of pine sap and wet soil. Liora had never seen anything like it, untouched wilderness, wild and breathing. The old stories had called it the Ash-grove, though no official map marked it anymore. The Regime had erased it from existence.

But the forest was still here. And so were its ghosts.

They ran for miles, until the ruined skyline of the city disappeared behind them. When Kael finally slowed, the others followed suit. One by one, they shifted back to their human forms, the silence filled with the crackle of bone, the hiss of transformation, and then breathing. Exhausted but alive.

Liora collapsed to her knees, the earth cold and damp beneath her. Her breath came in gasps, her limbs aching from the strain of the shift and sprint. But more than that, she was overwhelmed. Free. Changed. And not alone.

Kael knelt beside her, offering a water flask. "You did good."

She took it, still catching her breath. "That... wasn't like last time."

"Your first shift is instinct. Wild. Every shift after is a choice."

"It didn't feel like a choice. It felt like fire in my veins."

Kael gave a low laugh. "Welcome to being a real wolf."

The others had begun gathering in a rough circle around Mira, who was unrolling a map on a flat stone. Kael motioned for Liora to join them, and she followed, wary but curious.

Mira looked up, her face unreadable. "We've made it through phase one. You're out. That's a miracle."

"Is that what this is?" Liora asked. "A miracle?"

"It is when the Regime loses one of their weapons."

Kael cut in. "We need to move before daybreak. The Ash-grove has protections, but it's not immune to drones."

"There's an old safe-house, north edge of the forest," Mira said. "We rest there. Then we plan."

Liora cleared her throat. "Plan for what?"

Mira's eyes locked on hers. "For war."

The word fell heavy in the air. Liora felt its weight settle into her bones.

"You want to fight them?"

"We don't want to," Kael said softly. "We have to. We've been hunted for decades. Tortured. Modified. Used. But we're not prey anymore."

He stepped closer, voice deepening.

"You're not just a survivor, Liora. You're descended from the Solari line. You were born with the moon's blood. That makes you more than just a shifter, it makes you alpha potential."

The ground seemed to tilt beneath her.

"Alpha?" she repeated. "No. I don't lead. I barely escaped alive."

Mira crossed her arms. "Leadership isn't about titles. It's about instinct. Sacrifice. The fact that you're still standing after what they did to you says more than bloodlines ever could."

Kael knelt in front of her. "But blood matters, too. The Solari pack were known for one thing above all, unity. You feel others. You pull them together. That's why they called you the Moon's Vessel. Not because you hold power, but because you amplify it."

"I didn't ask for any of this."

"None of us did."

Silence fell. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled long and low.

"You have a choice, Liora," Kael said. "You can keep running. Or you can fight. Lead. Change everything."

She looked down at her trembling hands. The memory of the lab still clung to her, the restraints, the needles, the cold.

And then she remembered her mother.

The stories. The quiet courage. The way she'd died, fighting to protect Liora's secret.

She took a deep breath, then stood.

"I don't know how to lead a war."

"We'll teach you," Mira said simply. "We're not asking for a queen. Just an alpha who gives a damn."

Kael reached into the satchel strapped to his back. From it, he pulled an ancient dagger with a hilt wrapped in faded leather and a blade etched in runes.

"This belonged to your mother," he said. "She gave it to my sister the night she died. Told her to give it to you when the time came."

Liora's hands trembled as she took it. The metal pulsed with a strange warmth, almost alive.

Inscribed at the base of the blade was a single word: Virelune. Moon-blood.

"What is this?" she whispered.

"An oath blade," Kael said. "When you speak your truth into it, it binds you. To purpose. To pack."

The others watched in reverent silence. Liora stared at the blade, then at the circle of faces around her wounded, defiant, loyal. Fighters. Survivors.

She tightened her grip.

"Then hear my truth."

The air seemed to hush, the night stilling.

"I am Liora Vexley of the Solari blood. I was broken, but I am not defeated. I stand for the forgotten, the hunted, the bound and silenced. I will not be their weapon. I will be their reckoning."

The blade flared with silver light. A faint wind stirred the leaves around them.

Kael nodded once. "Then by the old code, by fang and moon, I name you Alpha."

And just like that, Liora stepped into her destiny, not with fanfare, not with certainty, but with fire in her blood, and a blade in her hand.