Contract With The Alpha King by Brey Mitchylle

Chapter

48

Elise's father gestured toward a wooden bench nestled among the herbs in the small garden. The soft scent of lavender and sage lingered in the air as a gentle breeze made its presence known, ruffling the leaves of the carefully tended plants. Elise sat down, her eyes

trained on her father as he stood before her, his expression grave.

"Sit down, Elise," he said, his tone soft but firm. "It's time you learned the truth. I wasn't planning to tell you until you were ready to take over the clan, but circumstances have changed. You need to know everything about our family's history." Elise nodded, folding her hands in her lap. She remained silent, waiting for him to continue. Thomas sat beside her, his gaze fixed on the garden as if gathering his thoughts before diving into the painful truth.

"You've heard of the First Great War, of course," Thomas began, his voice was calm but edged with something darker. "The war that nearly destroyed our world, both the human and supernatural world."

Elise nodded again. "Yes, I know about it. It started with the Lycans and Vampires. Their conflict pulled everyone else into the chaos until every supernatural being was at each other's throats." This was common knowledge. Her father looked at her, his eyes hard. "Do you know why the war began?"

Elise frowned, unsure. "Our history mentions only 'unknown differences' between them. There were no specifics, nothing concrete. However, before the war began, the Vampires and Lycans already disliked each other."

Thomas leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "That's because the truth is not something we speak about lightly. The war wasn't caused by politics or territory. It wasn't about resources or power. It was far more personal than that." Elise stared at him, confused. "Personal? How?"

Her father exhaled slowly. "It began because of a love triangle."

Elise blinked, taken aback. "A love triangle? That sounds... ridiculous." That was a large scale war. How could it start because of... love?

"It may sound ridiculous to you now, but it's the truth," Thomas said. "The Vampire Prince, Thane, had fallen deeply in love with a woman. As you know, vampires love only once in their lifetimes. For Thane, this woman was everything. But there was another-an Alpha Lycan named Markus-who had also fallen for the same woman. For Lycans, the concept of a mate is sacred, and Markus believed this woman was his one true mate. He would do anything for her."

clear. "And the woman? Who was

supernatural, caught between two powerful beings. She refused to choose between

grasp how such a thing could lead to the bloodshed she had studied. "How did it escalate into a war? Just

pure, eternal, and that it gave him the right to have her. The Lycan Alpha believed that as her

started small-a duel, a challenge for the woman's hand. But it quickly spiraled out of control. Their followers, their packs and clans, took sides. Thane's vampires and Markus's Lycans began slaughtering each other, and soon, the violence spread

1/3

III

10.03 Sun,

Chapter 48

back, processing the story. "All

56%

a right to her. The Vampires and the Lycans were already powerful forces, but their personal feud turned them into

slow breath.

head. "No. She disappeared. No one knows where she was, if she died or

+5

moment, Elise was silent, her mind whirling with the weight of the story. "So, that's how it

sighed. "The woman... the woman that caused all that

immediately chose something that any father would do. He chose to protect her, chose to hide

Elise's face turned uglier.

continued, his voice dropping to a lower, more serious tone, "Betrayed his closest ally-the leader of the Crimson Howlers Pack-by hiding his own daughter. He believed he was

her anger boiling beneath the surface. "He betrayed the