Chapter 417
four hundred and nineteen
+15 Bonus
Four hundred and nineteen
Alexander POV
Darkness swallowed the room before a buzzing UV light flickered to life in the ceiling cage. The cell was nothing more than a box with a stone bench built into the wall. The cold seeped into my bare skin, making my muscles
tremble.
I leaned against the wall and slid down until I was sitting on the floor, pulling my knees against my bruised chest.
Time lost all meaning here.
Without the sun to mark the hours, day and night blurred into a haze. The wolf-suppressant had burned through its initial surge, but the rune-inscribed collar around my throat kept my wolf locked behind a wall, leaving me with only human senses.
Every morning, or what I assumed was morning, the routine was identical. The door of Cell 4B would rattle as a slot near the bottom slammed open. A tray containing a bowl of lukewarm broth and a chunk of hard bread would be kicked inside, followed by the clack of the iron hatch closing.
“Eat up, rogue,” the guard would mock from the corridor, his boots echoing as he moved down the line. “The formal hearing is coming up in ten days. Wouldn’t want you starving before they officially sign your death warrant.
I ignored the taunts, ate, and spent the rest of the hours doing push-ups until my arms shook, forcing blood through my bruised muscles to keep the cold from settling in.
Two days after my arrival, a warden in a high-collared Alpha uniform stood outside the cell hatch with two armed sentries. He held a leather-bound ledger and looked at me through the iron bars with pity. “You’re scheduled for a hearing about the attack on the bypass,” he said.
I sat on the edge of the bench, my bruised eye mostly healed into a yellow-green mark, though my split lip still burned when I spoke.
“Where is Zachary p>
The warden chuckled. “Alpha Zachary has no interest in entertaining a rogue. Plus burning several lorries of rations meant for pack families and attacking guards? The Council sees your actions for what they are: the actions of a desperate criminal. You did this to yourself, boy p>
They walked away, laughing.
I lay back on the bench, staring at the buzzing UV light overhead.
By the fourth day, the warden ordered the cell doors opened for the mandatory weekly maintenance block.
It was the only time high-security prisoners were allowed out of their cells. We were led to the underground cistern to haul water and scrub the drainage grates under the watch of a dozen armed sentries carrying silver- tipped pikes.
My hands were bound in manacles in front of me, the collar tight against my windpipe. I shuffled alongside other prisoners, men with sunken eyes and ragged clothes. I kept my head down, uninterested in conversation.
“Pick up the pace, trash,” a guard barked, striking his pike against the wall.
I picked up a bucket and dipped it into the cold water of the drainage pool.
1/4
Your Named and ninoteon
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“You shouldn’t carry it with a bent back like that, boy,” a gruff voice said from the shadows near the pump Station. “Destroys your lower spine before you hit forty p>
I turned to see the face behind the voice.
An old man stood beside the drain, his beard long and matted, his skin stretched over hollow cheekbones. He looked like every other forgotten soul rotting in the lower levels of the Well.
There was something about his voice, and the way his grey eyes locked onto my face, that gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.
The wooden pail slipped from his fingers, clattering against the stone and splashing water across his ankles.
“Keep moving!” a sentry yelled, pointing a pike toward us.
The old man ignored the guard. He took a step toward me, his breath catching. His eyes scanned the scar across my left jaw, one I’d had since I was a child.
“Alexander?” he whispered. “By the Moon… it is you p>
I stepped back.
“Who are you p>
The old man let out a shaking breath.
“You don’t remember… of course you don’t. You were just a boy of fifteen when they pulled you away. It’s Kobe. Captain Kobe p>
I gasped as images flared in the back of my mind.
Kobe was a stern warrior who had spent three summers teaching me how to hold a sword and guard my flank, my father’s personal guard captain, the most loyal commander in the alpha house.
Now he seemed to be a lost shadow of his former self.
“Kobe?” I rasped, my voice barely working. “What are you doing here p>
“They told a lot of lies fifteen years ago,” Kobe said. His pale eyes glistened with tears. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I thought you were dead, boy. When Alpha Edward was murdered and the council declared you a fugitive, I thought Alpha Desmond and your stepmother had killed you p>
“Desmond p>
“Listen to me, Alexander,” Kobe said, glancing toward the guard station at the end of the walkway. “We don’t have much time before they separate us. You need to hear this. You were drugged. The night your father died, you were given a heavy meal. I saw you leaning against the pillar near the gallery entrance. You were out, your eyes glassed over p>
My heart pounded furiously.
“A figure approached you. I thought you’d fallen asleep from the wine. The person tapped your shoulder twice but you were unconscious, lad. They had to catch your weight and half-carry, half-drag you down the corridor toward Alpha Edward’s private quarters p>
“Who?” I demanded, taking a step forward as my chains rattled. “Who dragged me p>
“Hey! Back to work, you two!” a sentry barked, lowering his pike and starting down the stone stairs toward us.
2/4
Four hunted and nineteen
+15 Bonus
Kobe spoke faster.
couldn’t see the face. They were wearing a hooded cloak. But I know one thing with certainty, Alexander. You weren’t conscious when your father died. You didn’t walk into that room on your own feet p>
The world seemed to spin beneath me.
For fifteen years, I’d lived with the memory of waking in the dark, my hands covered in blood, and Alpha Desmond, my father’s best friend, rushing in to save me that night.
I’d spent half my life believing my wolf had snapped and that I’d committed the ultimate sacrilege in a fit of rage.
“If you saw this…” My voice cracked. “Why didn’t you speak? Why didn’t you tell the council at the tribunal p>
Kobe let out a laugh.
“I tried, boy! The next morning, I went straight to the council chamber to report what I’d seen. But your stepmother and Alpha Desmond were already in control of the estate. When I raised questions about your state. that night, they stripped me of my rank on the spot p>
He gestured to the iron collar around his neck. Scars marked the skin beneath it.
“They fabricated evidence against me,” Kobe whispered, tears slipping down his cheeks. “They claimed I was conspiring with you to assassinate the Alpha line. They branded me a traitor and threw me into this hole so I could never speak to a chronicler or councilor again p>
“And there’s more, Alexander. Alpha Desmond and your stepmother were sleeping together long before your father died. I caught them in the lower gardens twice, but I couldn’t prove it to Alpha Edward because he was obsessed with his wife. She controlled every decision he made p>
Alpha Desmond and my stepmother?
“Is there anyone else?” I rasped, my cuffs biting into my wrists. “Anyone who knows p>
“Anna,” Kobe whispered as the guard reached the bottom of the stairs. “The head cook from the alpha house. She prepared the ceremonial meal that night. She knows what herbs were brought into the kitchen by your stepmother’s maid. If she’s still alive, she can prove the poison p>
“Step back! Both of you p>
The guard slammed his staff into Kobe’s chest, knocking him against the stone wall.
Kobe gasped, clutching his ribs, but his eyes never left mine.
“Get back to your cell, 4B!” the guard roared, shoving me toward the stairs.
I was too dumbstruck to react.
I walked to the corner and slid down the wall, sitting in the damp shadow.
I’d spent my entire adult life believing I was a monster. I’d accepted the exile and the hatred of my own pack because, deep down, I believed I deserved it.
“You weren’t awake, boy p>
Kobe’s words echoed in the silence of the cell.
I looked down at my hands trembling in the dim light.
3/4
Sour hundred and notéen
For the first time in fifteen years, I doubted everything I thought I knew.
adn’t walked into that room.
I’d been carried.
+15 Bohus
Comments
Four hundred and nineteen
Alexander POV-
Darkness swallowed the room before a buzzing UV light flickered to life in the ceiling cage. The cell was nothing more than a box with a stone bench built into the wall. The cold seeped into my bare skin, making my muscles
tremble.
I leaned against the wall and slid down until I was sitting on the floor, pulling my knees against my bruised chest.
Time lost all meaning here.
Without the sun to mark the hours, day and night blurred into a haze. The wolf-suppressant had burned through its initial surge, but the rune-inscribed collar around my throat kept my wolf locked behind a wall, leaving me with only human senses.
Every morning, or what I assumed was morning, the routine was identical. The door of Cell 4B would rattle as a slot near the bottom slammed open. A tray containing a bowl of lukewarm broth and a chunk of hard bread would be kicked inside, followed by the clack of the iron hatch closing.
“Eat up, rogue,” the guard would mock from the corridor, his boots echoing as he moved down the line. “The formal hearing is coming up in ten days. Wouldn’t want you starving before they officially sign your death warrant.
I ignored the taunts, ate, and spent the rest of the hours doing push-ups until my arms shook, forcing blood through my bruised muscles to keep the cold from settling in.
Two days after my arrival, a warden in a high-collared Alpha uniform stood outside the cell hatch with two armed sentries. He held a leather-bound ledger and looked at me through the iron bars with pity. “You’re scheduled for a hearing about the attack on the bypass,” he said.
I sat on the edge of the bench, my bruised eye mostly healed into a yellow-green mark, though my split lip still burned when I spoke.
“Where is Zachary p>
The warden chuckled. “Alpha Zachary has no interest in entertaining a rogue. Plus burning several lorries of rations meant for pack families and attacking guards? The Council sees your actions for what they are: the actions of a desperate criminal. You did this to yourself, boy p>
They walked away, laughing.
I lay back on the bench, staring at the buzzing UV light overhead.
By the fourth day, the warden ordered the cell doors opened for the mandatory weekly maintenance block.
It was the only time high-security prisoners were allowed out of their cells. We were led to the underground cistern to haul water and scrub the drainage grates under the watch of a dozen armed sentries carrying silver- tipped pikes.
My hands were bound in manacles in front of me, the collar tight against my windpipe. I shuffled alongside other prisoners, men with sunken eyes and ragged clothes. I kept my head down, uninterested in conversation.
“Pick up the pace, trash,” a guard barked, striking his pike against the wall.
I picked up a bucket and dipped it into the cold water of the drainage pool.
1/4
four hunted and nineteen
མུག་
+15 Bonus
“You shouldn’t carry it with a bent back like that, boy,” a gruff voice said from the shadows near the pump Station. “Destroys your lower spine before you hit forty p>
I turned to see the face behind the voice.
An old man stood beside the drain, his beard long and matted, his skin stretched over hollow cheekbones. He looked like every other forgotten soul rotting in the lower levels of the Well.
There was something about his voice, and the way his grey eyes locked onto my face, that gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.
The wooden pail slipped from his fingers, clattering against the stone and splashing water across his ankles.
“Keep moving!” a sentry yelled, pointing a pike toward us.
The old man ignored the guard. He took a step toward me, his breath catching. His eyes scanned the scar across my left jaw, one I’d had since I was a child.
“Alexander?” he whispered. “By the Moon… it is you p>
I stepped back.
“Who are you p>
The old man let out a shaking breath.
“You don’t remember… of course you don’t. You were just a boy of fifteen when they pulled you away. It’s Kobe. Captain Kobe p>
I gasped as images flared in the back of my mind.
Kobe was a stern warrior who had spent three summers teaching me how to hold a sword and guard my flank, my father’s personal guard captain, the most loyal commander in the alpha house.
Now he seemed to be a lost shadow of his former self.
“Kobe?” I rasped, my voice barely working. “What are you doing here p>
“They told a lot of lies fifteen years ago,” Kobe said. His pale eyes glistened with tears. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I thought you were dead, boy. When Alpha Edward was murdered and the council declared you a fugitive, I thought Alpha Desmond and your stepmother had killed you p>
“Desmond p>
“Listen to me, Alexander,” Kobe said, glancing toward the guard station at the end of the walkway. “We don’t have much time before they separate us. You need to hear this. You were drugged. The night your father died, you were given a heavy meal. I saw you leaning against the pillar near the gallery entrance. You were out, your eyes glassed over p>
My heart pounded furiously.
“A figure approached you. I thought you’d fallen asleep from the wine. The person tapped your shoulder twice but you were unconscious, lad. They had to catch your weight and half-carry, half-drag you down the corridor toward Alpha Edward’s private quarters p>
“Who?” I demanded, taking a step forward as my chains rattled. “Who dragged me p>
“Hey! Back to work, you two!” a sentry barked, lowering his pike and starting down the stone stairs toward us.
2/4
ped and nineteen
+15 Bonus
Kobe spoke faster.
couldn’t see the face. They were wearing a hooded cloak. But I know one thing with certainty, Alexander. You weren’t conscious when your father died. You didn’t walk into that room on your own feet p>
The world seemed to spin beneath me.
For fifteen years, I’d lived with the memory of waking in the dark, my hands covered in blood, and Alpha Desmond, my father’s best friend, rushing in to save me that night.
I’d spent half my life believing my wolf had snapped and that I’d committed the ultimate sacrilege in a fit of rage.
“If you saw this…” My voice cracked. “Why didn’t you speak? Why didn’t you tell the council at the tribunal p>
Kobe let out a laugh.
“I tried, boy! The next morning, I went straight to the council chamber to report what I’d seen. But your stepmother and Alpha Desmond were already in control of the estate. When I raised questions about your state that night, they stripped me of my rank on the spot p>
He gestured to the iron collar around his neck. Scars marked the skin beneath it.
“They fabricated evidence against me,” Kobe whispered, tears slipping down his cheeks. “They claimed I was conspiring with you to assassinate the Alpha line. They branded me a traitor and threw me into this hole so I could never speak to a chronicler or councilor again p>
“And there’s more, Alexander. Alpha Desmond and your stepmother were sleeping together long before your father died. I caught them in the lower gardens twice, but I couldn’t prove it to Alpha Edward because he was obsessed with his wife. She controlled every decision he made p>
Alpha Desmond and my stepmother?
“Is there anyone else?” I rasped, my cuffs biting into my wrists. “Anyone who knows p>
“Anna,” Kobe whispered as the guard reached the bottom of the stairs. “The head cook from the alpha house. She prepared the ceremonial meal that night. She knows what herbs were brought into the kitchen by your stepmother’s maid. If she’s still alive, she can prove the poison p>
“Step back! Both of you p>
The guard slammed his staff into Kobe’s chest, knocking him against the stone wall.
Kobe gasped, clutching his ribs, but his eyes never left mine.
“Get back to your cell, 4B!” the guard roared, shoving me toward the stairs.
I was too dumbstruck to react.
I walked to the corner and slid down the wall, sitting in the damp shadow.
I’d spent my entire adult life believing I was a monster. I’d accepted the exile and the hatred of my own pack because, deep down, I believed I deserved it.
“You weren’t awake, boy p>
Kobe’s words echoed in the silence of the cell.
I looked down at my hands trembling in the dim light.
3/4
bur hundred and nineteen
For the first time in fifteen years, I doubted everything I thought I knew.
adn’t walked into that room.
I’d been carried.
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Cedella
Cedella is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a flair for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cedella’s storytelling style is immersive and addictive—perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.