The ghost mate:tearing the alpha's Shadow

chapter 6

– Sera pov

"Her."

The word cut through the silence like a blade.

I didn't understand at first. I didn't move. I didn't breathe. The hall was so quiet I could hear the torches flickering in their brackets.

Then I realized everyone was staring at me.

The Nightwolf Alpha was pointing directly at my chest. His gold eyes were fixed on my face.

"I choose her," he said. "The last one. Sera."

The room erupted.

Not with applause. With confusion. Whispered protests. Zara's voice cut through the noise like a shard of glass. "You can't be serious. She's an omega. She's wolfless. She's—"

Kael turned his head. Just slightly. Just enough to look at her. And Zara's mouth snapped shut so fast I heard her teeth click.

"I don't remember asking for your opinion," he said. His voice was calm. Cold. The temperature in the room seemed to drop. "I've made my choice. Unless anyone else would like to challenge it."

No one spoke.

Alpha Leon rose from his chair. His face was pale. "Alpha Kael, perhaps you'd like to reconsider. There are other eligible women. Women of rank. Women with wolves. The omega is—"

"The omega is standing right here," I said.

The words came out before I could stop them. I didn't know where they came from. Maybe from the part of me that was tired of being discussed like livestock. Maybe from the part of me that had already survived rogues and a beating and a stranger's claiming. Maybe from the wolf everyone said didn't exist.

Kael's eyes flickered. Something that might have been amusement crossed his face before it vanished.

"She is," he said. "And I've chosen her. The matter is closed."

He walked toward me. The crowd parted like water around a stone. When he stopped, he was close enough that I could see the flecks of amber in his gold eyes. Close enough that I could smell him—pine and smoke and something underneath that made my stomach tighten.

"You'll return with me to the Nightwolf Pack," he said. Not a question. "We leave at dawn."

I should have been relieved. I should have been grateful. My father's deadline had been met. I was going to live.

But all I could think about was the stranger in the forest. His hands on my body. His teeth in my throat. The way he'd looked at me in the dark like I was the only thing in the world worth seeing.

And the way this Alpha—this cold, terrifying, impossible Alpha—was looking at me now. Like he was trying to solve a puzzle he didn't know he'd been given.

"There's something I need to tell you," I said.

His eyes narrowed. "What?"

I glanced around the hall. The wolves of Silvermoon were still watching. My father was watching, his expression caught between fury and disbelief. Zara was watching, her face twisted with hatred.

"Not here," I said quietly. "In private."

Kael studied me for a long moment. Then he nodded once. "My chambers. One hour."

He turned and walked away. The crowd parted for him again, and then he was gone, and the hall dissolved into chaos around me. Zara was screaming something at our father. The other women were whispering behind their hands. Alpha Leon was conferring with his advisors in low, urgent tones.

I slipped out of the hall before anyone could stop me.

---

An hour later, I stood in front of the Nightwolf Alpha in his temporary chambers. The room was sparse—a table, two chairs, a window overlooking the darkening forest. He was standing by the window, his back to me, his shoulders filling the frame.

"Speak," he said.

My throat was dry. My hands were trembling. But I had come this far. I couldn't stop now.

"The night before the mating ball," I said. "I was attacked by rogues in the forest. Five of them. Maybe six. They were going to kill me."

He didn't turn around. "Go on."

"A stranger saved me. He killed them. All of them. And then—"

I stopped. How did I say this? How did I explain what happened next without sounding insane?

"Then what?" His voice was quieter now.

"He marked me."

Kael turned. His gold eyes found mine and held them. His expression was unreadable. "Show me."

I reached for my collar. My fingers were shaking so badly I could barely grip the fabric. I pulled it down. Turned my neck toward the torchlight.

He leaned closer. His eyes searched my skin.

Then his expression went cold.

"There's nothing there."

"What?" I pressed my hand to my neck. Right where the mark had been—dark and raised and impossible to hide. My fingers found smooth skin. Nothing. No tenderness. No scar. No proof.

"No," I whispered. "It was there. It was there this morning. I saw it. My sister saw it. My father saw it—"

"Your father." His voice was flat. "The same father who was so eager to marry you off that he presented a wolfless omega to an Alpha?"

"You don't understand—"

"I understand perfectly." He stepped back. The distance between us felt like a chasm. "You were desperate. Your father was desperate. And you thought the best way to secure my choice was to convince me you were marked—that some other wolf had already claimed you, that I was getting something valuable."

"That's not—"

"Your sister presented herself like a prize. You presented yourself like a mystery." His jaw tightened. "I've seen it before. Omegas who think the only way to catch an Alpha is to make themselves into something they're not."

"It's not like that. The stranger, he was—I didn't see his face, but his eyes were—"

"Gold?" His voice was sharp now. "Like mine? Let me guess. He was tall. Dark-haired. Powerful."

I stared at him. "How did you—"

"How do you think?" He turned away from me. "You described me. You described every Alpha in this region. It's not a difficult guess to make."

I felt the floor drop out from under me. He didn't believe me. He thought I was lying. He thought I'd made up a story to trap him.

"It was real," I said. My voice came out smaller than I intended. "The rogues. The stranger. The mark. All of it was real."

He didn't answer.

"I'm not lying," I said. "I know what I sound like. I know what it looks like. But I'm not lying."

He turned back to face me. For a long moment, he just looked at me—those gold eyes searching my face for something. Deception. Truth. I didn't know which.

Then he said, "I chose you because my wolf insisted. Don't mistake that for trust."

landed like a blow.

"Dawn," he said. "Be ready."

I walked out of his chambers on legs that didn't feel like my own. The mark was gone. The proof was gone. The only thing left was the truth—and he didn't believe a word of it.