The Royal Alpha

Chapter 14: Unknown Territory.

I wake to knocking.

At first, it feels ordinary—too ordinary. My mind reaches for habit before awareness. Tatiana, maybe. Her sharp, impatient rhythm against the door. Or one of the trainers calling us for drills. My body tries to follow the lie my brain is telling it.

I attempt to sit up.

Pain flares instantly, bright and disorienting, forcing a gasp from my throat. My limbs feel wrong—heavy, sluggish, not entirely mine. The air presses down on my skin, cold and unfamiliar.

And then I feel it.

Bare skin.

Exposed.

My heart slams so hard against my ribs I think it might crack them. I clutch at myself, fingers grasping for something—anything—and find only a thin sheet twisted beneath me. I yank it to my chest and curl forward instinctively, breath tearing in and out of my lungs.

I am naked.

The realization hits harder than any blow.

I force myself to look around.

The room is small. Stone walls, close enough to make breathing feel like an effort. No windows. No light except a single lantern fixed high on the wall, casting uneven shadows that seem to move when I blink. There is one narrow bed—this bed—and a chair pushed against the far wall as if it has never been used.

No scent of home. No familiar pack presence. No safety.

This is not the training grounds.

Memory crashes back into me in fragments, sharp and merciless.

Running.

Branches snapping beneath my paws.

Growls—not warning growls, not territorial ones, but something feral and hungry.

Hands.

Teeth brushing too close to my neck.

I press my lips together hard as bile rises in my throat.

The knock comes again.

Louder this time. More impatient.

"You awake?"

Terror coils tight in my chest.

I scramble backward until my spine hits the wall, dragging the sheet with me, wrapping it around my body like it might somehow protect me. My muscles tremble violently, exhaustion and fear warring inside me.

"Open up," the voice says, amused now. "No point hiding."

The door opens without waiting for my answer.

A male wolf steps inside.

He's taller than the rogues in the forest. Broader. His presence fills the room, pushing the air out of it, until it feels like I'm breathing through wet cloth. His gaze slides over me slowly, deliberately, lingering where it shouldn't.

My stomach twists.

"Up already," he remarks casually, eyes flicking to the sheet clenched in my fists. "You don't need that."

I shake my head. My throat locks, refusing to form words.

His mouth curves slightly. Not a smile—something colder.

He shuts the door behind him.

The sound echoes like a final verdict.

"Uncover yourself," he says.