CHAPTER 26: CHAPTER 26: ARRIVAL OF THE LYCAN PRINCE

Aeron’s POV

The wind carried the weight of storm clouds as the banners of the Silver Dawn snapped sharply overhead. The iron gate had been polished just yesterday, and yet the cold air made it look like it had never known warmth.

My brothers stood flanking me—Kael to my left, Luca and Lucian just behind. Each of us dressed in ceremonial black—not the soft velvet and gilded robes of court, but in fitted leather layered fabric. We weren’t here to impress. We were here to command. Our attire, like our reign, was made to endure blood and fire.

Down the path came the royal escort, their polished obsidian-tipped spears gleaming even under the heavy clouds. Their armor bore the crest of the royal lycan family: a crown surrounded by fangs and a crescent moon. The air shifted when they arrived. Everyone noticed it but no one said it aloud.

At their center, calm and composed, sat the prince.

Vaelen Lysandros.

It had been six years since I last laid eyes on him. We were seventeen back then, still sons of power. But even at that age, Vaelen carried himself like a man who had never been told ’no’. Time had only sharpened that aura. He dismounted with a kind of grace no soldier could be taught...it was bred into royals like him.

He wore the standard lycan military attire, navy trimmed with steel gray, the royal insignia glittering at his collar. His golden gaze swept over us, calm and impassive. He was calculating, measuring—not just our posture, but our unity.

He didn’t smile. Neither did I.

"Alpha Aeron Duskdraven," he said, his voice perfectly balanced between cool civility and authority. "My congratulations. Silver Dawn has reclaimed its honor."

"We honor your presence, Your Highness," I replied, nodding with a bow. "You are welcome in our land."

Kael, Luca, and Lucian offered curt bows behind me. Our gestures were formal, polite, distant. We had spent our lives learning how to hide the truth behind masks. But none of us trusted him.

"I arrived early," Vaelen said, brushing a fleck of dust off his glove. "Forgive the intrusion. But after such a shift in power, I thought it fitting to witness the aftermath myself."

"Not at all," I said smoothly, though the words tasted like ash. "We are humbled."

We weren’t. I hadn’t felt humbled since the day I buried our father beneath the ruins of Crimson Fang. And certainly not by a man who once laughed with him at the table while our mother was being tortured for her bloodline in the same walls.

Behind the prince stepped a woman in emerald silk. I knew that face before I saw it clearly—Lady Meriya.

Her golden curls were coiled perfectly over her shoulder, her gown shimmering like a serpent under moonlight. Meriya was the daughter of Beta Theron. The last time I’d seen her, she had been a child clinging to her father’s hand during war councils.

But she hadn’t been with us when the massacre began. She’d been with her aunt—the Queen of the Moon Palace. That bloodline had protected her. And when we burned under Crimson Fang’s rule, she vanished from the map like a feather swept away in the wind.

Now she was back.

And dressed like a Luna.

Because, She was our chosen Luna. A choice made by council, sanctioned by the palace, and accepted by us not for love, but for duty. Because her father had died helping us escape. And for that, we would give her a place, a name, and our protection—even if we could not give her our hearts.

The other woman beside her wore silk dyed too brightly for mourning and a smile far too eager for the mood. I don’t know her background but it was written in the letter she would be accompanying her best friend that must be her.

She stepped forward, curtsied with a flick of her gown, and rested her gaze far too intimately on the prince.

"Your Highness," she cooed, her voice sweetened with false honey. "It’s an honor to finally meet you."

Vaelen didn’t blink. "Miss Arlena."

I was confused—they practically came together then why she was greeting him. Should she not introduce herself to the master of the estate? But never mind. It is better to stay away from this kind of woman, because her intentions were practically oozing out from her.

"I have heard the Silver Dawn Pack is very beautiful," she said. "It would be a shame to miss the view. Let’s see it together."

I said nothing, but I felt the tension grow behind my ribs like slow fire. My brothers remained still, though I caught the tightness in Kael’s jaw and the paleness in Luca’s knuckles. Lucian’s eyes were half-lidded, but I knew him well enough to see the irritation buried behind them.

Vaelen tilted his head slightly and said, "Later, perhaps. For now, I would speak with the Alphas alone."

Arlena’s smile faltered, just barely. But Meriya... Meriya didn’t flinch. She gave the prince a respectful nod and stepped aside, silent and composed.

We led the prince through the estate in silence, allowing him to take in the reborn heart of the Silver Dawn Pack. The corridors had been cleaned to perfection, the polished stone reflecting torchlight like starlight on water.

Vaelen moved with that same unshaken poise, his golden eyes occasionally lingering on symbols he once knew under a different name. He said nothing, but I saw it in the slight flicker of his gaze—he remembered what this place used to be. What was taken. What was reclaimed.

We showed him the council chamber, its high archways and ironwood table now ours to rule from. The war room, where new maps were pinned and strategies born. And finally, the garden courtyard, where moonflowers bloomed pale against stone—planted by Luca himself after the last of the blood was washed away.

When the tour came to a close, I signaled to Gamma, who stepped forward and bowed with crisp precision.

"Your Highness," I said, my voice even, "your quarters have been prepared in the South Wing. The palace chamber there has been restored and set aside for your comfort. If you require anything, Our Gamma will remain at your service."

Vaelen gave a short nod. "My thanks, Alpha. It was a longer ride than expected. I will rest and rejoin you at dusk."

"Of course," I replied. "We will reconvene after nightfall for the private supper. Until then, our home is yours."

He turned and followed gamma without another word, his cloak trailing over the marble like smoke.

As soon as he disappeared into the corridor, I exhaled.