The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter
Chapter 253: The Night Alpha

Chapter 253: The Night Alpha

Zane~

Her fingers were cold in mine—too cold. But I held on like my life depended on it. Maybe it did. Letting go wasn’t even an option. Not now. Not ever.

She looked like a dream trapped in a nightmare—Natalie. My spark. My storm. My everything. She lay so still, too still, like the world had hit pause on her soul. Her breathing was barely there, like it didn’t want to be noticed. It terrified me. Because she was here... but not really. Like a ghost caught between two realities.

The sight of her stillness pressed against my chest until I could barely breathe. My ribs were a cage and my heart was a beast, thrashing behind the bars.

Fox paced the room like a fuse waiting to be lit—his movements sharp, restless. He kept throwing glances my way, eyes tight with warning. Like he was watching a grenade with a pulled pin. He wasn’t wrong.

Bubble leaned against the wall with his arms folded, his face carved from stone, but his voice was soft. "Zane," he said carefully, like I might break if he said it any other way, "you need to calm down—"

"I am calm," I snapped. But the growl in my voice betrayed me. The air around me wasn’t calm. It vibrated. Hummed. Like a thunderstorm pacing in circles inside my skin.

"No," Fox said, and for once, his voice didn’t have that bite. It was low. Careful. Almost kind. "You’re not. You’re spiraling."

He said it like he’d been there before. Like he knew the feeling of your soul unraveling thread by thread, and you’re too far gone to notice.

My hands shook, but I didn’t let go of her. Couldn’t. My breath came in broken pieces, every inhale a burn, every exhale a war. My chest felt like it was on fire and drowning at the same time. My thoughts spun, a tornado of rage and fear and guilt so loud I almost didn’t hear it.

Almost.

But then—it came.

That voice.

That damn voice.

Shadow.

Like poison in my veins. Like smoke sliding beneath a locked door—unwelcome, invasive. He was back. Inside me. Crawling through my mind like he owned the place.

"You failed her. Again." His voice was all silk and venom, sliding over my thoughts like oil on water.

"Let me fix this. Let me finish what you couldn’t. Let me devour the pain, Zane. Let me own it. Let me own you..."

I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. My head throbbed. My vision blurred around the edges. He was in my head, but he felt like he was everywhere—inside the walls, the air, my bones.

"Shut up," I hissed through my teeth.

But he laughed—quiet, cold.

"You’re not strong enough. You never were. That girl in your arms? She’s fading because of you."

And I broke. Not into pieces—into chaos. Raw, loud, and pulsing with fury. The kind of fury that made the air crackle and the ground feel less stable. Fox stepped closer, ready to jump in if I lost it. Bubble tensed, like he could see the storm brewing just beneath my skin.

But Natalie... she didn’t move.

And that silence—that terrifying, fragile silence around her—was the only thing keeping me from letting Shadow take over.

Because I refused to let her wake up to someone else behind my eyes.

"I said shut up!" I roared, my voice cracking the air like a thunderclap. The walls shook. Fox flinched beside me. A lamp burst into shards and flame in the corner.

My veins lit up—fire beneath the skin. My vision blurred.

Red’s voice howled in my head. "Zane! He’s inside again—"

And then... black.

A silence so loud it rang in my ears.

But this time... I didn’t resist.

I let go.

I fell.

Deeper.

Deeper still.

Past fear. Past reason. Past the line where my soul used to hold the line.

Until the world around me cracked and twisted into something else.

An obsidian wasteland. Broken. Silent. Wind howled with no source. The sky above was ink, where stars blinked like frightened children hiding behind clouds.

And then I saw him.

Shadow.

In his truest form.

Monstrous. Colossal. A thing stitched from nightmare silk and midnight screams. Limbs too long. A face carved from rot and grins. His smile curled like smoke, his eyes burning with ancient cruelty.

"Well, well," he sneered, voice echoing like the end of the world. "Look who finally stopped running."

My boots crunched across the blackened stone as I stepped forward.

"I didn’t come to run," I said coldly. "I came to end this."

His laugh was a shiver across my spine.

"End it? End me? You can’t even begin to understand what you are. How insignificant you are. Whereas I’m not something you kill. I’m what’s left after everything else dies."

"I know what I’m not," I snapped. "Yours."

That wiped the smile off his face.

His eyes narrowed, voice dipping into a growl. "You don’t even realize what’s crawling under your skin, do you, boy? That’s me. All me. I’m in every scream, every doubt, every broken piece of you. Soon, I’ll take everything—your body, your soul, your kingdom, your family... even your enemies will kneel in my shadow. You’re done, Prince Zane."

He smirked.

And I don’t know what came over me, but fury ignited inside my bones. Not hot—sharp. Like lightning carving through steel.

Then—

Something shifted.

A pull. No... a pulse.

Deep inside me. Like a sealed gate cracking open.

I gasped.

And suddenly...

I wasn’t afraid. Not of him. Not of losing. I didn’t anything anymore.

Power surged through me like a rising tide. Ancient. Wild. Right.

Light and shadow didn’t clash—they danced. They balanced.

"Red," I breathed, eyes wide, "do you feel this?"

"I do," Red answered, his voice soft, stunned. "And I don’t know what it is. But it’s you. It’s us."

My aura exploded outward—a cyclone of midnight flame swirling around me. My skin shimmered with silver veins like constellations beneath the surface. My eyes burned. One gold. One black.

Shadow staggered back. "No... no. That’s not possible."

"Is it?" I stepped forward. "Because I feel more alive than ever."

His expression twisted. "What... what are you?" he spat. "You’re the Night Alpha? You? The cursed creation of the first gods? Their last desperate gamble? So it’s true... you’re the one. The living weapon they made to destroy me."