The Alpha Queen's Return | Night Vow Books

CHAPTER ONE

Opening Chapter

Ember's POV

Ember's POV

"Run, Ember!" Mom screamed through our mind link as claws tore through her side.

But I couldn't leave them. I watched my father take down four wolves before a massive brown wolf clamped its jaws around his throat. Mom howled in rage and threw herself at his killer. They went down together, rolling toward the cliff edge.

The last thing I saw was my parents falling into the darkness below, taking their enemies with them.

"No!" My wolf and I let out a heart-wrenching howl.

The war with the Shadow Wolves had lasted for months. Tonight, we won, but I lost my parents.

I stood among the bodies of our enemies, blood dripping from my own wounds, and felt nothing but emptiness.

I dragged myself to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the blackness where my parents had fallen. My wolf was howling inside my chest, a sound of grief so pure it threatened to tear me apart from the inside.

That's when it happened. The connection between me and my wolf, the bond that had defined my entire life, just snapped. The power that had always flowed through my veins went silent. I couldn't feel her anymore. I couldn't feel anything.

I don't remember much about the next few hours. I walked with my blood flowing out of my wounds that were taking time to heal and eventually found myself standing on a different cliff, staring down at rocks that promised an end to the pain.

My parents were dead. My wolf was gone. I had lost everything I held.

The sound that came out of me wasn't quite human. It was the cry of something broken beyond repair, a wail that echoed across the mountains like the song of a dying animal.

That's when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Whoa, hey," a male voice called out, gentle but urgent. "Don't do anything stupid."

I turned to see a man emerging from the tree line. He was tall and lean, with dark hair and concerned green eyes. He moved carefully, like he was approaching a spooked horse.

"I'm not doing anything," I said, my voice hoarse from crying.

"Standing that close to the edge sure looks like something to me." He took another step closer, hands raised where I could see them. "What's your name?"

"Ember." I didn't give him my last name, nor did I mention where I came from.

The Silver Moon Pack was one of the most powerful and dangerous territories in the werewolf world, and I was the last surviving Alpha bloodline of this pack.

"I'm Marcus," he said. "Marcus Grayfang. And I think you should step away from that cliff."

"Why?" The question came out flat, emotionless. "What difference does it make?"

"Because whatever happened to you, whatever brought you here, it doesn't have to end like this."

I smiled. Apparently, he thought I was going to end my life.

His concern touched me—just a little—even though it was our first meeting.

"What happened?"

"My parents are dead." The words felt like glass in my throat. "They died in a war. I can't even feel my wolf anymore and after what happened..." I let my voice trail off, letting him assume the worst.

Marcus was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. "I lost my father in a territorial dispute last year. He died defending our borders from raiders. I know it's not the same, but I know what it feels like to lose someone who was supposed to be invincible."

"At least you still have your people," I could feel tears starting again.

"You have your life," he said simply. "If you want, let me be your family."

"Amber, my baby girl, I hope you can find an ordinary werewolf, live a simple life, and stay far away from the chaos of the battlefield."

Those were the whispers my mother had repeated in my ear countless nights. But at that time, all I longed for was to become a warrior like them.

I lifted my head and met his sincere gaze.

The next moment, Marcus reached out his hand to me.

"My pack isn't much," Marcus continued. "We're small, barely twenty wolves. We don't have much territory or resources. But we take care of each other. If you want, if you're willing to try living instead of dying, you could stay with us, with me."

I stared at him. I stared at him. I held out my hand, and Marcus smiled. For the first time in hours, I felt as if I could breathe again.

"Okay," I whispered. "Okay."

I looked up at the sky. Perhaps my mother had been right—perhaps I should find an ordinary werewolf and live a simple, happy life.

Marcus brought me back to his territory and let me stay. While I grieved, he sat with me. When nightmares woke me up screaming, he held me until I fell back asleep. He showed me kindness when the world had shown me only cruelty.

I thought it was love, even thourh we’re just each other’s chosen mate.

Today, it had been three years since I became the Luna of the Grayfang Pack. I spent the morning reviewing territorial expansion proposals, the same kind of strategic work I'd been doing since I arrived. Marcus always let me handle the politics while he focused on pack training and enforcement. The Grayfang pack now has their own enterprises and were counted as one of the rich Packs.

I walked to his office to deliver the documents, planning to suggest we grab lunch together afterward. We hadn't spent much time alone lately, and I missed him.

But when I pushed open the door to the pack house office, I found Marcus with his arms around Seraphina Nightclaw. Her hands were tangled in his hair, and their lips were pressed together in a deep kiss.

I froze in the doorway, the expansion proposals slipping from my numb fingers and scattering across the floor.

They broke apart at the sound. Marcus stepped back quickly, but Seraphina just smiled at me like she'd been caught doing nothing more scandalous than reading a book.

"Ember," Marcus said, and I could hear the guilt in his voice. "This isn't what it looks like."

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CHAPTER TWO

The Story Continues

Ember's POV:

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Seraphina stood intimately close to Marcus in his office, her hand resting possessively on his arm as if i am invisible to her.

"Who is she?" I asked, my voice sharper than intended, totally ignoring whatever Marcus wanted to say, my gaze fixed on her. I know her. I just wanted to confirm if she is truly the one.

Seraphina stepped forward with practiced grace. "I'm Seraphina Nightclaw, Alpha of the Nightclaw pack." Her smile was perfectly polite, perfectly cold. "And you must be the rogue orphan, Ember."

The name hit me like a physical blow. This was truly her—Marcus's first love, the one he'd pined for since childhood. The Alpha he claimed to have "gotten over" when he mated with me.

My eyes dropped to her neck, and my blood turned to ice. There, gleaming against her throat, was my mother's amulet. I stared at the silver amulet, entranced. The silver amulet was a sacred relic of the Silver Moon bloodline, passed down through generations of Royal Alpha Queens bloodline.

"That belongs to me," I said, reaching for it instinctively.

Marcus's hand shot out, blocking my path. "Ember, stop. This was my gift to Seraphina for becoming Alpha of one of the territories of Nightclaw pack."

"Your gift?" The words tasted like ash in my mouth. "That was what my mother left me! What right did you have to give away my possession to someone else?” I said, my usually serene face marred by a rare display of anger.

"You're Luna of this pack now," Marcus said coldly. "Everything you own belongs to this territory, including that amulet. I had every right to gift it to whoever I want."

Seraphina laughed, a sound like breaking of glasses on the ground, I knew she wants to mock me. "Oh please, I don't care about someone else's hand-me-downs." She unclasped the amulet and let it drop to the floor with a metallic clatter. "Keep your precious trinket. If I had known it was yours, I wouldn't have worn it around my neck. "

The amulet lay between us, glinting accusingly. I crouched slowly, my fingers trembling as I retrieved it. The silver was warm, humming faintly with the power of my ancestors.

"If you don't care about someone else's possessions," I said, rising to face her, "then why are you kissing someone else's mate?"

The office went dead silent. Seraphina's composure cracked for just a moment before she recovered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said smoothly.

"Enough." Marcus stepped between us, his jaw tight. "This conversation is over."

But I wasn't finished. The amulet burned in my palm, reminding me of who I used to be before I diminished myself for him even though my wolf was gone, my bloodline still flows in my vein.

I tightly clutched the amulet in my hand. To Marcus, it was just an amulet, he didn’t know it was the symbol of the Silver Moon Pack’s Alpha for generations. He had no idea what it represented, just as he had no idea what he had just lost.

I had never really known him. He can treat his at will for other female werewolf.

Taking a deep breath, I recalled the mind-link message I had received before entering the pack house. It informed me that my late parents' Sacred Moon stones that were ready to be found at the cliff, set to arrive in the Northern Territories tomorrow.

“It's okay, let's not fight over this amulet anymore. Tomorrow my parents' Moon stones are being transported back,” I said, my eyes were on Marcus.

When powerful werewolves like my parents die, their hearts and bodies transform into Moon stones, but only the most powerful Alphas and spiritual leaders know this truth, to the lesser wolves the moon stones represent the goodwill a wolf has done before its death. If I fail to collect it, my parents soul won't rest in peace. “I would like you to accompany me to collect them.”

My parents had always hoped to see me find my mate, even if he was only my chosen one.

A glint flickered in Seraphina's eyes as she, scornfully retorted, "Was a rogue’s parents’ Moonstone really worth Marcus setting aside all the pack’s affairs to collect it? You truly were a Luna who only caused trouble!"

I ignored her, keeping my eyes on my mate. "Will you come?"

Marcus hesitated, glancing at Seraphina before nodding reluctantly. "Fine. I'll be there."

I turned and left without another word, clutching my mother's amulet like a lifeline.

The following day, when the agreed time came, Marcus was nowhere to be found.

A flicker of unease subtly crossed my heart.

I mind-linked Marcus, only to be met with his impatient voice. "Seraphina's mother injured herself during a hunt. I'm taking her to the pack healer."

"Marcus, hurry over here and help me," Seraphina's voice echoed through the link, deliberately loud enough for me to hear.

"All right," Marcus responded, his voice ever so gentle, a tone he had never used with me.

Before I could say anything else, Marcus had already severed the mind-link.

I felt a chilling sensation enveloping my heart, as if my throat was being strangled. I wanted to howl out my rage, to let my wolf tear free, but in the end, I found myself unable to shift, my power still suppressed by years of diminishing myself.

How ludicrous. My mate could accompany his first love mother to the healer for a minor injury, yet is unwilling to accompany me, his bonded mate, to collect my parents' Moon stones.

Taking a deep breath, I firmly stood up, left the pack house, and drove to the entrance of the military district.

The military district was solemn and dignified. At the entrance, guards dressed in military uniforms stood with weapons at ready.

I stepped out of the car, my back straight and my steps firm.

Even though I had left my pack three years ago, abandoning my Alpha duties for love, my bearing still resembled that of the royal wolf I was born to be.

I made my way to the military camp step by step. Once I reached the front, I stood firm, raised my right hand, and executed a flawless military salute, the salute of the Alpha bloodline.

Even if I had to do it alone, I was determined to bring my parents' Moon stones back home.

Then, I called out with the authority that had been bred into my bones, "Ember Ashworth, former Alpha Queen of the Silver Moon pack, here to retrieve the Sacred moon stones of former Alpha King Montague Ashworth and former Luna Queen Arlene Ashworth!"

My voice pierced through the military district's morning air as the gates slowly swung open, and for the first time in three years, I remembered exactly who I was.