The Alpha’s Forbidden Love

CADE

In the heart of the battle, I was filled with pride as my ever-ready army dealt with the warriors of the hallowed manes. The clanging of swords fueled my desire the more, if we could win this battle then the city would be ours.

My singular focus was on Chris who seemed untouchable by my sword. He was swift with the blade and had mastered the art so well. My focus wavered when a familiar voice reached me through the chaos. It was the voice of my son, Nathan. I felt my heart skip a beat, ‘Why was he here now?’ He had sworn not to have anything to do with my course or me.

“Nathan!!” I called out to him. “What are you doing here?”

His voice filled with resolve, he said to me, pleading that I end this battle. “Father! Enough with this madness, it stops now.”

My fury grew as he spoke. Surely, that wasn’t what I was hoping to hear from him after disappearing from me for a long time. I was fueled by my desire for power and dismissed his plea as a sign of weakness, a sign of a failed son who had refused to comprehend my ruthless pursuit of dominance.

He didn’t know much of the future where he would inherit the throne after Chris failed.

“You will thank me one day when you become the heir to the throne,” I thought, dismissing his warnings.

As he continued to plead, his words echoing on the battlefield, a sharp blade found its mark, piercing through my son’s form. I watched as my son, Nathan crumpled to the ground, life seeping away from him gradually with each passing moment.

At that moment, my world crumbled. My grand ambitions and thirst for power were crushed. “No! Nathan!!” I cried as I rushed to my son’s almost lifeless form. I knelt beside my fallen son, my purpose stripped off me. The battlefield which was once a stage for my triumph, turned into a place of bitter grief.

“Father,” Nathan whispered, his eyes wide with fright. His skin had turned a pale color, his hair sticking to his forehead as sweat dripped down.

Laying his head back slowly, he rested his eyes on the blue sky. Before he closed his eyes for the final time, he smiled and said, “What a beautiful view.”

Soon he slipped away into his endless sleep, surrounded by nature. I paid no attention to the chaos around me, none of it mattered anymore to me. My only son and pride were gone. The warriors surrounded me as I clung to Nathan’s lifeless body, struggling with the weight of failure.

“His blood is on your hands, Cade. You could have stopped this. If you had listened to him, he wouldn’t be dead,” Chris said. He wasn’t far from the truth, I killed my son because of my quest for power.

“Don’t strike the broken man,” he ordered his warriors who were around me with their swords in hand. “Take him away from here.”

The rest of my army had fled immediately after I was captured. I was led away, my spirit shattered as the taste of victory became soured by the bitter realization that I had sacrificed my son.

I was confined to the unforgiving cold walls of the dungeon. Memories of my son flooded my thoughts, the promises I made to my late wife haunting me all through the night. I was paying the consequences of my ruthless action, my soul anguished over the irreplaceable loss. There was no point in living, those who mattered to me were all gone, my dear wife, my son whom I led to his early grave.

The walls of the dungeon, cold and unyielding, seemed to close up on me, exposing the suffocation that gripped my heart. I was now a broken man whose only consolation was in the good memories of my son. I clutched onto those memories like fragile shards of glass.

“Who would have thought that the mighty warrior would be confined to a place like this?” I heard a voice say from the darkness.

As the shadow of the individual drew close, I could sense who it was in the dark. My rage grew and I wished I could strangle him as he got even closer.

“Are you here to mock me?” I said, my voice resolute, hiding the pain I felt within.

“That would be a childish thing to do, don’t you think so, Uther?” the man said, his shadow drawing even closer.

The image of this man was visible and it was exactly who I thought it was, Lothar. My fury grew more at every passing minute, my jaw tightened at the sight of me.

Clenching my fist, I walked close to the cell gate. “What do you want, Lothar? I bet you are here to make fun of me.”

Lothar scoffed. “I have better things to do than to make a mockery of you. You should have stayed in your place, in the woods where you truly belonged.”

I ground my teeth and all I could think of was how to get a hold of him. “You and I know that the throne was mine to begin with. He stole my rightful position from me.”

“You still don’t get it, Uther. You people never will and I’ll prove it to you all soon enough,” he said, his tone determined as he walked out of the dungeon.

I stared in utter confusion, I couldn’t understand what he meant. I’ll prove it to you all soon enough. His words lingered in my head for a while but I got over it. Whatever it was that he meant, I didn’t care. I had lost something more valuable than the throne, my whole life was gone.

I sobbed all night, my sobs echoing the depth of my suffering. Each tear held the weight of shattered promises I had failed to fulfill, the vows I had made to my loving mate to protect our son from the harsh realities of life. My sadness wasn’t just physical, it transcended to the very core of my being.

Every laughter we shared, every pat on the back, and reassurance to be a loving father, played like a haunted melody in my mind. I recalled everything, his first steps, the pride gleaming on his face as he learned to wield the sword.

The dungeon had become a tomb for unkept promises. “Forgive me, Nathan,” I mumbled. The weight of my guilt pressed upon me, a reminder of how my ambitions had cost me the very essence of my existence.