The Feral Alpha's Captive

🔹️ THORNE

"She must be using some type of summoning call, this—" Zeta Kael’s eyes darted about the fortress perimeter, the animals as still as death seeming to look past us rather than at us. "This should not be possible for some omega."

The crone sighed, long and resigned. "When will you learn? Even most ordinary trees have potent saps." She cast her usual forlorn gaze to me. "Don’t be as ignorant as these ones and ignore what is right in front of you."

I did not respond to that. I turned my eyes back to the animals.

What in the fates’ name was this woman?

Ever since she was captured, logic and the natural order of my world had already begun to unravel like a thread was pulled the moment Umbra took her.

Ivanna had been imposing, but she did not lie. The daughter of Morgana was an anomaly like Morgana herself had been.

The only woman who could kill the Witch Luna, my mother, birthed the only person that could walk through the red mist and survive the Sight.

History would repeat itself. The thought slithered its way into my head, echoing there like a warning bell.

A harrowing shriek split the air like a heated cleaver, pulling sharply at my chest until my breathing became laboured.

Althea.

But the sudden sound did not only affect me. Guttural growling drew back to the animals—that were no longer still.

The wolves snarled low at the fortress, the bears sheathing out of the shadows like wraiths. The ground seemed to quiver, the air stifled like all the air had been sucked out of it.

The crone’s hand shot out, gripping my arm with surprising strength as I moved to go back inside. "Wait."

"She’s in pain—"

"And they know." The crone gestured to the circling mass of animals, her voice sharp with understanding. "They’re responding to her distress. To her anguish. Every creature with a beating heart for miles can feel her suffering, and they’ve come to answer it."

Another shriek tore through the air, and the animals reacted as one. The wolves threw back their heads and howled—a sound so mournful, so filled with grief that it raised the hair on the back of my neck. The bears roared, shaking the ground beneath our feet. Birds descended lower, their wings creating a living canopy that blotted out what little moonlight remained.

"This is madness," Kael breathed, his hand on his weapon though he had nothing to fight. "Animals don’t—they can’t—"

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"They shouldn’t," the crone corrected, her eyes never leaving the gathering horde. "But she isn’t calling them consciously, boy. She’s not summoning them. They’re coming of their own accord because they feel her pain like it’s their own. Because whatever she is, whatever blood runs through her veins, connects her to them in ways we don’t understand."

The mate bond in my chest pulled taut, burning with her agony, and I felt my wolf surge forward—primitive, furious, desperate to get to her. To stop whatever was hurting her. To kill it.

"Alpha, we need to get you inside," Garrett said urgently. "If these animals turn aggressive—"

"They won’t," the crone interrupted. "Not against us. Their fury isn’t directed at the fortress. It’s directed at whatever—whoever—is causing her to scream." Her weathered face turned grim. "They want to protect her. And if they can’t reach the source of her pain, if they can’t stop it..." She trailed off, but the implication was clear.

They would tear apart anything in their path trying to get to her.

"How long will they stay?" I demanded, fighting the urge to sprint back to the infirmary, to press my hand to that cursed brand again and force the High Alpha’s presence back. "How long until they disperse?"

"Until she stops suffering," the crone said simply. "Until her anguish eases, or until—"

She didn’t finish, but she didn’t need to.

Until she dies.

Another scream split the night, weaker this time, ragged with exhaustion, and something inside me cracked. The bond flared white-hot, and I felt my control slipping, felt the wolf clawing its way to the surface with single-minded purpose.

Protect her, defend her, save her.

The mate bond whispered its treacherous chorus, my throat closing up.

"Alpha—" Nyx’s voice cut through the haze, sharp with warning.

I forced myself still, forced the wolf back down even as every instinct I had screamed at me to move, to act, to do something. "Post every available guard on the walls," I ordered, my voice coming out rougher than I’d intended. "If these animals turn hostile, I want advance warning. But no one engages unless I give the order. Understood?"

"Yes, Alpha."

"And if any of them try to breach the fortress—"

"We subdue, not kill," the crone finished for me. "They’re here for her, not against us. Killing them would only make things worse."

I didn’t ask how she knew that. Didn’t question the certainty in her voice. I just nodded once, sharp and final, then turned on my heel and strode back toward the entrance.

"Where are you going?" Kael called after me.

I didn’t answer. Didn’t need to.

The mate bond was a living thing in my chest now, burning and pulling and demanding I return to her side. That I stop this. That I protect what was mine whether I wanted it or not.

Behind me, the animals continued their vigil—snarling, roaring, crying out in shared agony for her.

"Thorne," the crone’s voice pulled me back to reality. I halted but didn’t turn to face her.

"What, Grandmother?" I asked.

She let the silence sizzle between us, tension permeating the already heavy air. When she spoke it was with the familiar knowing inflection that I would get never be used to. "I know you feel it. You cannot deny it."

I bit back a counter, clenching my hands into fists.

"I have known you all your life, not to know when you are holding back." She rounded me, before coming to face me. "She needs you."