Betrayed by Blood, Claimed by the Alpha

Trigger warning; Graphic Violence, Disturbing imagery and death.

The tree sucked him in.

The first thing Cain noticed was how wide the place was. The inside of the tree stretched like a forgotten world, bigger than it had any right to be.

The second thing he noticed was the smell.

Rot.

It was disgusting. The kind that clung to your throat and curled in your stomach. The kind that made your eyes water and your tongue taste decay. Cain pressed two fingers under his nose, pushing down the urge to vomit as the stench hit him like a wave.

He turned slowly and then he saw them.

Bodies. Piles of them.

Scattered across the floor and tangled in the roots, rotting, decomposed, some little more than skeletons in rusted armor. Others had decomposed halfway, still wearing their expressions of agony. A few were recent. Bloated. Blue-lipped. Their hands frozen in claws, like they’d tried to dig their way back out.

Cain’s breath hitched. Not from fear but from the weight of it. The number of them. The failure. All of them had come here for the same thing. The heart of Celeste, and yet, none of them had made it.

And now it was his turn.

He didn’t dwell on them. Didn’t stop to honor them. They hadn’t carried what he did. They didn’t have the same conviction burning in their blood.

He had to return to Avery. He had to bring her back alive. He had to punish Alaric for what he did. He just had to return, and so, Cain pushed forward.

Carving his way through the dead. Bone cracked under his boots. Rotten flesh squelched. The stench was unbearable, but he kept going. If he was going to throw up, he’d do it after. After he got her back.

It was dark... so dark that it swallowed the light he’d taken out whole. His torch flickered, the light giving just enough glow to see the place. It was worse than he imagined. The tree wasn’t hollow; it was a grave.

He suddenly came to understand, the forest wasn’t the actual valley of death. It wasn’t the whispering or the ghastly winds that took away the warriors. It was really inside the tree. This place was the real valley.

Cain didn’t let go, he continued to walk, the mark on his neck burning even more with each step, like a guardian angel of some sort, leading him to the heart of Celeste.

He didn’t have to walk too long. He rounded something like a corner. He froze the second he laid his eyes on it. There it was. The heart of Celeste.

It glowed with a soft, green light, faint but powerful. Like the breath of a god, resting at the edge of life. It sat delicately atop a branch that shot from the core of the tree’s inner wall, suspended in the air as if nature itself had cradled it there. It was crazily impossible to be there and not fall or break, and yet there it was.

Cain’s breath caught in his throat.

It was beautiful. And wrong. Like something holy twisted by time.

The branch under it trembled ever so slightly, not from wind... there was none here, but as if the tree itself was aware of his presence and it was waiting, watching quietly.

Cain took a slow step forward, eyes locked on the glowing ball. He reached out, his heart pounding hard in his chest.

Suddenly he stopped.

The hiss came first... it was low, patronizing, and daring. And then he saw them.

Snakes.

Wrapped tightly around the branches, twisting around the Heart of Celeste like living thorns. Their scales shimmered with a dull, sickly sheen, blending into the wood. They’d been camouflaged until now, motionless.

But not anymore.

Their heads rose, one by one. Dozens of them. Slit eyes glowing the same creepy green as the heart itself. Tongues flicked out, hissing.

Cain’s hand stilled.

They didn’t strike, not yet. But they watched. Hissed. Waiting for the wrong move. Their gaze wasn’t just sharp, it was intelligent.

They weren’t just protecting it. They were part of it.

Cain exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing.

"Of course it wouldn’t be that easy," he muttered under his breath.

He stepped back, taking a deep breath and muttered a low. "I’m sorry, Avery. I love you."

He carefully took out a silver knife he’d held with him all through the journey. His jaw clenched, heart pounding.

The snakes were everywhere, dozens of them, hissing loudly, eyes on him, calculating. The largest of them was curled protectively around the glowing, green heart of Celeste.

Cain raised the blade... then paused. The mate mark on his neck flared suddenly.

It burned his skin, the heat spreading like fire across his shoulder, down his spine, until it settled in his bones. It was brutal, nothing like he’d ever felt.

He staggered back half a step, sucking in a breath through clenched teeth. The mark glowed on his skin, red, angry. Almost like a warning of some sort.

Cain’s eyes dropped to the blade. Then his gaze flicked to the snakes, still watching, coiled, waiting.

No fear in them. No weakness.

Killing them wouldn’t work. Even if he fought his way through, even if he burned the whole tree down, he knew it wouldn’t be enough.

He shut his eyes close for a brief second and felt it. Cain clenched his jaw and turned the blade, not toward the snakes, but toward himself. He dragged it across his palm in one clean, deep slice.

His blood spilled. It hit the ground with a hiss, and the snakes screamed. It was nothing like he’d ever heard.

Cain stepped forward, his blood dripping. Something in him shifted. Something not his.

Power surged through his limbs.

He felt her. Avery.

Not in his head. Not a memory but in his blood. Her power was flowing into him, shared through their bond.

The closer he stepped, the more the mark glowed. His vision started to blur. Veins stood out in his arms. His heart slammed against his ribs.

The largest snake uncoiled, its body trembled, and suddenly it disappeared like it was never there.

Cain didn’t breathe. He stepped forward, every muscle trembling. He reached out, his hands shaking. And then, finally, he touched it.