The Alpha’s Forbidden Prisoner

Luca Pov

The map of Nicholas’s territory covered half the table.

Three years.

Three fucking years of staring at that map.

Three years of losing men, taking ground, giving it back, and watching an old bastard named Nicholas hide behind his walls like the coward he was.

Tonight, I was finally going to take everything.

I stood at the head of the war table, both hands planted against the wood as I studied the markings.

“Again,” I said.

Jonathan leaned over the map, his thick finger tracing the northern border.

“We hit here.”

“No.”

He looked up.

I pointed toward the western ridge.

“We hit here.”

Jonathan frowned.

“That’s a cliff.”

“I know.”

“A very large cliff.”

“I know.”

“A cliff people generally avoid because falling from it tends to result in death.”

I looked at him.

He shrugged.

“I’m just making sure we’re all aware of the risks.”

The corner of my mouth twitched.

“That’s why you’re my Beta.”

“Because I’m intelligent?”

“Because you know how to state the obvious.”

Theodोर snorted from across the table.

Jonathan turned toward him.

“You’re supposed to support me.”

“I support the Alpha.”

“Traitor.”

Elena, standing beside Theodor with her arms crossed, rolled her eyes.

“You two are going to get us killed before Nicholas gets the chance.”

The room quieted again.

I looked around the table.

Theodor.

Elena.

Sebastian.

Jonathan.

My best warriors.

The people who had stood beside me through three years of war.

They weren’t just soldiers.

They were my pack.

And every one of them knew what tonight meant.

We were ending this.

Or we were dying trying.

I straightened and looked back at the map.

“Nicholas has reinforced the eastern wall.”

Sebastian finally spoke.

“Two hundred men.”

His voice was low and rough.

“Maybe more.”

“He knows we’re coming,” I said.

“He always knows,” Jonathan muttered.

“Because you keep sending him letters.”

Jonathan’s eyebrows rose.

“I sent one letter.”

“You sent him a challenge.”

“A very respectful challenge.”

Elena looked at him.

“You called him an old bastard.”

Jonathan shrugged.

“I said respectfully.”

I shook my head.

Idiots.

All of them.

And somehow, they were mine.

I picked up one of the wooden markers and moved it across the map.

“Nicholas expects us to attack from the east. That’s where we’ve hit him every time.”

Theodor leaned forward.

“So we don’t.”

“No.”

I moved another marker.

“We make him believe we’re attacking from the east.”

Jonathan’s expression changed.

“And we send the real force west.”

“Exactly.”

Sebastian studied the map.

“The western ridge is difficult to cross.”

“Which is why Nicholas won’t expect it.”

“He has scouts there.”

“Three.”

Sebastian nodded.

“We can remove them.”

I looked at him.

“Quietly.”

His expression didn’t change.

“They’ll disappear.”

That was Sebastian.

Few words.

Never wasted.

I moved another marker.

“Our main force moves through the western ridge after midnight. We stay below the tree line until we reach the outer wall.”

Theodor pointed toward the southern road.

“What about the southern patrol?”

“That’s where you come in.”

His eyes narrowed.

“You want me to make noise.”

“I want you to make a lot of noise.”

Elena smiled.

“Oh, he’ll enjoy that.”

Theodor looked offended.

“I can be subtle.”

Everyone in the room stared at him.

He sighed.

“Fine. I can be loud.”

“Very loud,” I said.

Jonathan grinned.

“Finally, a job suited to his talents.”

Theodor threw a wooden marker at him.

Jonathan caught it.

I didn’t even bother looking up.

“If either of you breaks my map, I’ll kill you before Nicholas gets the chance.”

Jonathan carefully placed the marker back on the table.

“See? Teamwork.”

I breathed out a quiet laugh.

For a moment, the tension in the room disappeared.

Then my eyes fell back on the map.

The humor faded.

We had found the weakness.

That was what mattered.

For three years, Nicholas had been nearly impossible to defeat.

His fortress sat on elevated ground, surrounded by thick forest and stone walls. He had more warriors than most Alphas. He had trained them to fight defensively, and every time we’d pushed close enough to breach his territory, he’d forced us back.

But two weeks ago, one of our scouts had discovered something.

A supply route.

An old one.

Nicholas had stopped using the main road because he thought we knew about it.

But he hadn’t stopped using the western passage.

His warriors still traveled through it at night.

Food.

Weapons.

Medical supplies.

Everything entered through that route.

And that meant the western wall wasn’t as heavily guarded as the others.

It was his weakness.

Finally.

After three years, we’d found it.

I looked at Sebastian.

“How many men do you need?”

“Fifty.”

“You’ll have seventy.”

His eyes met mine.

“That’s too many.”

“I don’t care.”

“We need warriors for the main assault.”

“I said seventy.”

Sebastian nodded once.

He didn’t argue again.

That was another reason he was my best warrior.

Jonathan studied me.

“You’re going through the western wall with us.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.”

His jaw tightened.

“Luca.”

I looked at him.

“You’re the Alpha.”

“I know.”

“If you die—”

“I won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Neither do you.”

Jonathan stepped closer.

“We’ve lost enough.”

His voice was quieter now.

I knew what he meant.

We’d buried brothers.

Friends.

Mates.

Men who had followed me because they believed I could win.

I looked down at the map.

“I know.”

The room went silent.

“I know exactly how many we’ve lost.”

My fingers curled against the edge of the table.

“That’s why this ends tonight.”

Elena’s expression softened.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

She nodded.

“Then we’ll finish it.”

I looked toward her.

“You and Theodor stay with the southern force.”

Theodor immediately shook his head.

“No.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“You’re arguing?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because if you’re going through the western wall, I go with you.”

“Elena needs you.”

He glanced at his mate.

Elena smiled sweetly.

“I’ll be fine.”

Theodor looked back at me.

“You’re not getting rid of me.”

I stared at him for several seconds.

Then I sighed.

“Fine.”

Jonathan grinned.

“He finally found someone more stubborn than him.”

Theodor pointed at Elena.

“That’s my mate.”

“And your problem,” Jonathan added.

Elena smacked Jonathan on the arm.

He laughed.

I shook my head.

My pack was insane.

But they were mine.

I turned back toward the map.

“We move at midnight.”

The room immediately changed.

No more jokes.

No more arguments.

Everyone knew what came next.

Weapons.

Armor.

Orders.

Final checks.

Blood.

I looked at each of them.

“Tonight, Nicholas loses everything.”

Sebastian nodded.

Theodor straightened.

Jonathan cracked his knuckles.

Elena pulled her hair back and secured it tightly.

I reached for the black leather armor hanging over the back of my chair.

Three years ago, I had sworn I would take Nicholas’s territory.

Not because I wanted more land.

Not because I wanted his title.

Because he had attacked my pack first.

He had murdered innocent wolves.

He had taken territory belonging to families who had nowhere else to go.

And when I demanded he stop, he laughed.

Then he declared war.

He had spent three years believing I would eventually surrender.

He had been wrong.

I pulled the armor over my shoulders.

The weight settled against my body like something familiar.

Jonathan looked at me.

“You ready?”

I looked toward the window.

The sun was already disappearing beyond the mountains.

Night was coming.

The last night Nicholas would spend as Alpha.

“Yes.”

Jonathan smiled.

“Good.”

He picked up his sword.

“Because I really don’t want to spend another winter fighting that ugly bastard.”

Theodor laughed.

“You’ve been saying that for three years.”

“Because he’s been ugly for three years.”

Even Sebastian’s mouth twitched.

I couldn’t help it.

I laughed.

Just once.

Then I looked at them.

My warriors.

My friends.

My family.

“Go.”

They moved immediately.

Chairs scraped against the floor.

Weapons were collected.

Armor tightened.

Orders were repeated.

Within minutes, the war room emptied.

I remained behind.

Alone.

My eyes returned to the map.

Nicholas’s fortress was marked in black.

I stared at it for a long moment.

Then I moved the final marker.

My marker.

Straight into the center of his territory.

“Your reign ends tonight.”

A growl rolled through my chest.

My wolf agreed.

For three years, he had waited.

For three years, he had wanted blood.

Tonight, we would finally get it.

I turned toward the door.

I had no idea that beneath that fortress, hidden behind walls older than Nicholas’s bloodline, there was another secret waiting for me.

A secret sealed in magic.

A woman who had been imprisoned for generations.

A woman whose name I had never heard.

A woman who would change my life, my pack, and the entire world of wolves.

At that moment, all I knew was war.

I had no idea that by winning it…

I was about to lose everything I thought I knew.

And find the one thing I had never been looking for.