Chapter 17 The Spark Within
The forest trembled beneath the weight of hundreds of paws.
Howls echoed through the valley — not of their pack, but of invaders. The Silverfang wolves rushed to form ranks under the blood-red moon, the scent of war heavy in the air.
Inside the hall, chaos erupted. Damian barked orders, soldiers obeying with a mixture of fear and confusion. Selena’s voice cut through the uproar like a blade. “Secure the southern ridge! No one enters the village perimeter!”
Aiden stood still amidst the storm. His body still burned from Damian’s grip, but it wasn’t pain that held him frozen — it was the mark on his chest, glowing brighter with every passing heartbeat.
He felt… alive. Too alive.
The mark pulsed like a second heartbeat, silver veins spreading faintly across his skin. What is happening to me?
Selena noticed him, her silver eyes flashing with concern. “Aiden! You shouldn’t be here—”
“I can fight,” he interrupted, voice steady but strange, deeper somehow.
Damian turned, snarling. “You’ll do as you’re told, Omega. You’ve done enough damage for one night.”
But before he could finish, the air shimmered — the same radiant pulse that had filled the hall moments ago flared again. This time, stronger.
Everyone froze.
Aiden fell to one knee, clutching his chest as agony ripped through him. His bones ached, fire crawling under his skin. The mark blazed like molten silver, its glow spreading through the veins of his neck and arms.
Selena rushed toward him. “Aiden—!”
He gasped, his voice breaking. “It’s… burning…”
Then the floor cracked beneath him.
A wave of raw energy exploded outward — a shock of silver flame that sent wolves sprawling. Chandeliers shattered, and for an instant, the night itself seemed to bend.
When the light dimmed, Aiden was no longer the same.
His once-slender frame glowed faintly in the moonlight, muscles coiled with new power. His eyes — once brown — now shone a blazing, unnatural silver. His wolf, long thought weak and submissive, stirred within him like a beast newly born.
Selena stepped back, awe washing over her. “The… Loyal Flame,” she whispered. “It can’t be…”
Damian’s expression darkened. “That power doesn’t belong to an Omega.”
Aiden lifted his gaze. “I don’t think it cares what I was born as.”
The flames around his hands flickered, silver tinged with faint streaks of blue. They didn’t burn; they hummed with life — the pure essence of loyalty, devotion, and pain.
Every humiliation, every wound, every quiet act of faith had built this.
It was not strength born of dominance.
It was strength born of love.
Damian’s aura flared crimson. “You dare show that power before your Alpha?”
Aiden’s voice was calm. “You’re not my Alpha.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Damian lunged, claws flashing crimson under the moonlight. Selena cried out, her aura surging in instinct — but Aiden moved first.
Their clash was brief but explosive. Damian’s attack met Aiden’s bare hand — and instead of tearing flesh, the Omega’s silver flame flared, pushing Damian back with a force that shattered stone.
The mighty Alpha staggered, eyes wide. “Impossible…”
Aiden stood in the crater of cracked marble, breath steady, silver fire swirling faintly around him. “You wanted obedience,” he said softly. “But the moon wanted something else.”
Selena’s wolf stirred inside her — drawn to the light, the raw sincerity blazing from Aiden’s presence. For a moment, she saw him not as an Omega, but as something far rarer — a heart untamed by fear.
Damian straightened, wiping blood from his lip, fury twisting his face. “You think this power makes you my equal?”
“No,” Aiden said, meeting his eyes. “It makes me my own.”
Before Damian could strike again, a deafening howl echoed from the forest outside — low, ancient, unlike anything mortal wolves could make.
The windows shattered inward.
Shapes emerged from the darkness — massive black wolves with eyes like burning coals. The invaders had arrived.
Selena’s voice trembled with realization. “The Shadowborn… they’ve breached the borders.”
Aiden turned toward the open doors, his silver aura pulsing brighter. “Then let them come.”
Damian glared, his pride warring with instinct. “You think you can face them?”
“I don’t think,” Aiden said quietly, “I know.”
The mark on his chest flared once more, burning through his shirt like a star. The silver flame around him intensified, lifting his hair, illuminating the hall with moonlit brilliance.
Selena stared, caught between fear and awe. “Aiden… what are you?”
He looked back at her, eyes gentle even through the power that trembled in his veins. “What you believed didn’t exist.”
Then he stepped into the night — the silver flame following him like a living aura.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the first of the Shadowborn lunged from the darkness.
Aiden didn’t flinch.
He raised his hand, and the silver fire burst outward — a blinding storm of light that turned the night itself into day.
The invading wolves screamed, retreating from the radiance, their dark forms dissolving into ash.
Selena covered her face against the brilliance, her heart pounding. Damian shielded his eyes, growling in disbelief.
When the light faded, Aiden stood alone before the forest, surrounded by scorched earth and silence.
His flame flickered weakly now, exhaustion visible in his trembling frame. Yet his eyes remained steady, burning with quiet resolve.
He whispered to himself, voice barely audible. “If loyalty is my curse… then let it be my weapon.”
The moon above shimmered silver in answer — as though watching, approving.
Behind him, Selena’s voice broke the silence. “Aiden… your flame… it’s—”
He turned to her, but before she could finish, a shadow passed across the moon.
A low growl rumbled through the ground. Not from the forest this time… but from within the pack’s own territory.
A second presence had awakened.
And this one was not loyal.
Cliffhanger: Aiden’s hidden Alpha flame awakens, saving the pack — but as the light fades, a darker power stirs within their own walls, ready to challenge his very soul.
