Defy The Alpha(s)

Chapter 534: Reset Alaric

Alaric Storm jolted awake from the nightmare. His parents’ voices still rang in his head as they plotted to tear him away from Violet, and chain him back under their control.

His vision was hazy at first until the shapes above came into focus — a white ceiling cluttered with planets and constellations, suspended in their slow, glow-in-the-dark orbit.

His pulse spiked.

There was only one place designed like this. His room in the North Pack.

No way.

The constellations were the same ones he’d plastered across his ceiling as a boy, born from his obsession with the universe. He had never taken them down. Just like the half-broken gadgets, notebooks, and scraps of experiments scattered across the room, relics of childhood that had followed him into adulthood.

But right now, Alaric didn’t care for any of it. His heart pounded in his chest like the hooves of a horse as he sat up. Without wasting a second, he shoved the sheets aside and strode straight to the window.

Alaric shoved the ceiling panel aside, cold air spilling into the room as he pushed himself up to see through the opening. Nothing but endless white stretched out before him. Snow blanketed the trees, the tall buildings and mountains beyond. His stomach sank to the floor.

The North.

He didn’t need a map to tell him where he was. The North pack was known for its long winter and cruel cold that never loosened its grip. And that was all the evidence he needed.

He was home.

The door snapped open behind him.

"Hello, brother. Long time no see."

Ace swaggered in with a smirk on his face as if this was just another casual morning.

But Alaric wasn’t in the mood for theatrics. His hand shot out with speed, fisting the front of Ace’s shirt, and slammed him back into the wall.

"Where is Mother?" he snarled at him.

truth before he could stop

another second and left. He didn’t walk but leap down the stairs, his body vibrating with

spotted her, his vision

Zara.

the Cook, as if everything were normal, and she hadn’t just ripped his life

at the noise, and her lips curved into that warm smile she

she greeted him

But Alaric wasn’t smiling.

charged straight at her, his hand closing around her throat

"How dare you?!"

screamed. "Alpha Alaric!

eyes widened, panic flashing as her hands clawed at his wrists. He wasn’t supposed to be this strong, not with the suppressor cuffs still locked around his wrists. But Alaric

couldn’t

with a brutal backward elbow. The blow knocked the wind out of him and sent

Alaric didn’t even turn.

thing in this wretched world that gave him hope. And what had

she do this to

could his own mother

pounding into the foyer. It took three of them to pull him off her, one grappling his arms, another forcing him down, and the third pinning his

throat. Her skin was mottled red where his hands had

even as the guards forced his face to the floor. "How could you

Ace stumbled to her,

only rasped, "Get

"What?" Ace froze.

she snapped, her voice hoarse and

and confusion written

"Now!"

small vial and needle. Zara snatched it from him