Page 47 of Her Fated Alpha Prince
Her fingers tangled in his hair once more as they moved in perfect rhythm—slow and steady at first, then urgent and fierce. Every kiss, every touch was a question and an answer all at once.
Time lost meaning.
There was only this: the soft whisper of skin against skin, the steady drum of two hearts beating wild and free.
And in that beautiful, breathless space, Ariana knew—without a doubt—that she had found something worth holding onto.
Something worth fighting for.
Kael.
The first thing Ariana noticed was the cold. It wasn’t the usual chill of early morning but something sharper—like the breath of winter had slipped in through the cracks. She blinked awake, heart hammering. The room was dim, the faint glow of dawn barely pushing through the heavy curtains.
But it wasn’t the cold that made her sit up. It was the folded note on her bedside table, sitting too still, too deliberate.
She didn’t recognize the paper or the handwriting. The script was jagged, hurried, but each letter was sharp, demanding attention.
“They’re closer than you think. Trust no one but the flame. The watchers move at dawn. Prepare.”
Ariana’s fingers trembled as she read the words over and over.The flame. The watchers.The same words her dreams had whispered, the warnings V had hinted at. But this was new. This was urgent.
Her pulse quickened. How had the note gotten here? Who had slipped it under her door?
Before she could gather her thoughts, the soft creak of the floorboards pulled her gaze toward the doorway. Kael stepped in, his dark eyes immediately scanning the room, catching sight of the note in her hand.
“You got it too,” he said quietly, closing the door behind him.
Ariana nodded, her voice barely a whisper. “They’re moving. At dawn.”
Kael’s jaw clenched. “It’s earlier than we thought. The watchers must be growing desperate.”
They exchanged a look heavy with unspoken fears. The danger was no longer a shadow at the edges of their lives—it was closing in, tangible and immediate.
Ariana rose, the warmth of the bed replaced by the cold certainty settling in her bones. “We need to find the flame.”
Kael’s brow furrowed. “The flame... What does it mean? The silver-white fire from your dream?”
She nodded, recalling the flickering light that had felt like both a warning and a promise. “It’s something ancient, something tied to me. Maybe it’s the key to stopping them.”
Kael crossed the room to the small table where her journal lay, flipping it open to the pages filled with sketches andfragments of dreams. “If the watchers are moving at dawn, we don’t have much time.”
Ariana’s gaze drifted to the window, where the first hints of morning stretched across the sky. Her mind raced, piecing together the fragments of warnings, the strange new powers waking inside her, and the people lurking in the shadows.
Suddenly, a sharp noise shattered the tense silence—a faint scraping at the door.
Kael’s hand went to the dagger at his belt. “Stay here.”
She shook her head, her voice firm. “No. Whatever happens, I’m not hiding anymore.”
The door creaked open, revealing a figure cloaked in deep shadows. The stranger stepped inside, a face half-hidden beneath a hood.
“I’m not your enemy,” the voice was low but urgent. “But time is short. You need to come with me if you want to survive.”
Ariana’s breath caught. Trust felt impossible. But the fear in the stranger’s eyes was real.
Kael’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t move to strike.
Ariana took a step forward, heart pounding with a mixture of dread and hope.
