Chapter 8 The Crowned and the Cursed.

ZARIA~

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There's blood in the wine. Not literal. But I taste it anyway.

The celebration roars behind me howls, cheers, the rhythm of war drums pounding through Red Hollow like the heartbeat of a beast reborn.

They think it's over.

They think the Trial was the end.

But they're wrong.

It was a beginning.

Because I didn't just defeat Jasper. I dethroned the entire system that kept Omegas in cages and Alphas on pedestals.

And I can feel it this razor thin line between fear and worship.

The way the wolves look at me now.

Not like I'm fragile. Not like I'm prey.

Like I'm prophecy.

Like if they get too close, they'll burn.

And I might let them.

Levi leans against the stone archway, arms crossed, watching me with that calm, unreadable expression he only wears when he's thinking about tearing someone's throat out.

Jasper sits in the throne I refused to take. Not because I didn't want it.

Because it's not enough.

"You should rest," Levi says.

I smirk. "You offering to tuck me in?"

His eyes darken. "You know I'd do a lot more than that."

A pause. A shift.

The tension between us has always been blade-sharp. But now?

Now it's wrapped in loyalty. In madness. In something deeper than the bond we never claimed.

And still he keeps his distance.

Because he knows.

Knows that Jasper didn't yield to be conquered.

He yielded to stay close.

And tonight?

The Alpha King plans something.

I feel it in my bones.

In my blood.

In the tether between us that won't die no matter how many times I deny it.

JASPER

They left me alive.

That was her first mistake.

She thinks I bowed for her. For the show.

But I bowed to win.

Because a King who dies for his pride is just a corpse with a fancy crown.

But a King who waits?

He becomes legend.

And legends never kneel for long.

I watch her from the firepit, her silhouette lit by flames and fury.

She looks divine.

More dangerous than ever.

And I hate how much I still want her.

Want to mark her. Break her. Burn for her.

She turned the world upside down in one night.

But empires don't stay flipped without blood.

And I intend to collect.

Because if she won't let me rule her...

Then I'll rule what she rules.

Every wolf in this place still knows my scent. My strength.

They won't follow an Omega forever.

Even if she has teeth.

LEVI

He's planning something.

I can feel it like a storm coming through bone.

Jasper's not smart enough to let go. But he's clever enough to wait.

And Zaria?

She's caught in the middle again.

The Queen of nothing.

Unless she takes it.

We don't speak as we walk the northern trail, scouting the perimeter she insists on checking herself.

That's who she is doesn't trust anyone else to guard the fire she started.

I admire that.

I hate that.

Because I want her to let me carry some of the weight.

Even if I have to drag it through the mud of a war she doesn't know is already burning.

"Something's not right," she mutters, sniffing the wind.

I nod. "Jasper's moving pieces. Quiet ones."

"Let him," she says. "I want him to play."

I stop walking.

"Want him close, or want him dead?"

Her eyes cut to me, firelit and wild.

"Both."

And gods help me-

That answer makes me fall harder.

ZARIA

The attack comes at midnight.

Not from Jasper.

From within.

The guards we trusted. The scouts I appointed.

Every single one of them turns.

Not on me.

On Levi.

He takes the first blade in the ribs, shoving me out of the way.

Doesn't even flinch.

"RUN," he growls.

But I don't.

I shift.

Teeth. Claws. Rage.

I tear through the traitors like they're nothing. Like my body was made for it.

And it was.

Because I'm not just a cursed Omega.

I'm their end.

I find Levi slumped against a tree, blood soaking his shirt, two wolves trying to pin him.

I rip one's head clean off.

The other? I dig my claws into his spine and pull until he doesn't move.

Levi's barely breathing.

"I told you to run," he rasps.

"And I told you I don't kneel for anyone," I whisper, pressing my forehead to his. "Not even death."

He smiles. Barely. "Then kill him for me."

"Who?"

But I already know.

Jasper.

JASPER

She'll come.

I made sure of it.

The betrayal was surgical.

A message.

A wound she can't ignore.

I sit in the ruined cathedral beneath the mountain, the one where we first kissed.

Where she first bled for me.

And I wait.

Throne of bone.

Scepter of steel.

And her scent still burned into my lungs like smoke from a holy fire.

When she walks in, there's no announcement.

No mercy.

Just fury.

Her eyes shine with a madness that mirrors mine.

"Why?" she says.

I spread my arms. "To remind you who I am."

"You're a coward," she spits. "You used others to hurt what you couldn't touch."

"Touch?" I rise. "Zaria, I own half your soul."

"Then give it back," she whispers-before lunging.

We fight.

Not like lovers.

Like gods.

Fire meets fury.

Magic explodes.

The tether rages between us, trying to bind, to twist, to claim.

But I won't.

And she can't.

Because love built on blood tastes like power.

And we're both drunk on it.

She pins me.

Blade to my throat.

"Levi's dying," she snarls. "And you celebrate?"

"I wait," I say, voice soft. "Because I knew you'd come. And now... now we finish what we started."

She raises the blade.

I bare my throat.

"You're not the one who should die," she whispers.

"No," I agree. "But I'm the only one who wants to."

Her hands shake.

She wants to kill me.

Wants to save me.

Wants to own me.

Just like I want to destroy every inch of her just to keep her mine.

But the blade falls.

Not into my neck.

Into the floor.

Zaria walks away.

And with every step, I lose.

Not because I didn't fight.

But because she didn't have to.

ZARIA

Levi lives.

Barely.

But he lives.

And Jasper?

He knows now.

Knows that he can't win with fear.

Because I've already tasted what loyalty feels like.

And Levi gave it to me without chains.

Without claiming.

Without breaking.

I sit beside Levi's bed.

His hand is cold.

But his fingers curl around mine.

Eyes open.

"Did you win?" he croaks.

I nod. "I didn't have to fight him."

He smiles. "Then you already won."

I kiss his forehead.

And outside, the wolves howl.

Not for the Alpha King.

Not for the old order.

But for me.

The Omega who has no mate.

And no mercy.

Only wrath.

And a crown soaked in the blood of traitors.