The city of Duskwatch pulsed with restless energy, its streets bathed in flickering lantern light and whispers thick with secrets. But far from its crowded alleys and shadowed corners, in the cold heart of the Ironclad Mountains, two kings stood on the brink of something far more dangerous than war.
They were known as the Twin Alphas—rulers, conquerors, and legends whispered about in both fear and awe.
Auron and Drystan.
Auron—the elder by mere minutes—was fire incarnate. Broad-shouldered and imposing, his raven-black hair framed a face carved from stone, his amber eyes molten with an intensity that could burn through bone. His presence alone was a declaration of dominance, his voice a blade sharpened by years of command. His rage didn't explode; it simmered beneath the surface, cold and calculating, like a wildfire hidden beneath ice.
Drystan—the shadow. Where Auron burned, Drystan suffocated. His features mirrored his brother's, but his darkness was quieter, coiled in the curl of his smirk and the steel-gray eyes that saw through lies with unnerving precision. He was a storm without thunder, lethal in silence, his mind a labyrinth of strategies, secrets, and sharp edges.
Despite their differences, they shared a curse.
The emptiness.
It gnawed at them like hunger left unsatisfied, a void that grew with every passing year. They had power. Territory. An empire built on the bones of their enemies. But none of it mattered. Not really.
Because their mate was still out there.
And without her, they were unraveling.
Auron leaned over the war table, the flickering candlelight casting jagged shadows across his face. His fists clenched around the edges of a parchment marked with a single name: Kaelen.
"She's not like the others," Drystan murmured, pacing slowly behind his brother. "The reports don't capture it, but I can feel it… even from here."
Auron's jaw tensed. His amber eyes darkened with something raw and feral. "It's not just her. It's us."
Drystan paused, his gaze sharp.
"We're losing control," Auron admitted, his voice low but heavy with truth. "The longer we go without her, the harder it is to keep the beast caged."
Drystan didn't argue. He felt it too. The edges of his mind fraying, the darkness creeping in where logic used to reside. Their wolves—the primal parts buried deep beneath skin and bone—were restless. Hungry.
Not for blood.
For her.
Their mate wasn't just a bond they craved. She was the tether keeping them from slipping into madness. Without her, the thin line between man and monster was starting to blur.
"I had to kill five of our own last month," Auron whispered, his voice like a blade dragged over stone. "I lost control."
Drystan exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair. "We're running out of time."
That was why Kaelen mattered.
Not because she was their mate—they didn't know that yet. But because something about her pulled at them, an invisible thread woven through fate itself.
Maybe she was the key.
Maybe she'd lead them to the one thing that could save them from themselves.
Or maybe… she was the thing.
Auron straightened, his decision carved into every sharp line of his face. "We meet her on the new moon. Three nights from now."
Drystan arched a brow. "Why then?"
Auron's lips curled into something between a smirk and a snarl. "Because that's when the shadows are deepest. And I want her to see exactly what we are."
Drystan nodded slowly, understanding unspoken words between them. They weren't just kings on a mission.
They were men on the verge of becoming monsters.
And Kaelen was either their salvation…
Or their destruction.
---
Meanwhile, in Duskwatch…
Kaelen's apartment was a cage dressed as a sanctuary. The walls felt closer than usual, the silence heavier, like the city itself was holding its breath.
She didn't know why.
But something was coming.
And for the first time in a long while, it wasn't something she could outrun.
---