I Signed A Contract With The Moon Alpha

Chapter Five: The Woman Fate Chose

Kael's POV

The rain had not stopped since dawn.

It rolled over the floor-to-ceiling windows of Blackwood Manor, blurring the forest beyond into a sea of gray. Most people found storms unsettling. I welcomed them. Storms had a way of revealing what calm skies concealed.

"Alpha."

Gabriel's voice broke the silence as he stepped into my study. "She's here."

I didn't look up from the document spread across my desk. "I know."

Gabriel hesitated. "She has no idea who you are."

"Good."

"She thinks she's meeting a businessman."

I finally lifted my gaze. "Let her."

There was no point frightening her before she walked through the door. The truth would come soon enough. Gabriel placed a thin folder in front of me.

"Everything we have on Aria Winters."

I had read it countless times already. Twenty-six years old. Orphaned at eleven. Raised by her grandfather, Richard Winters. Graduated with honors. Inherited Winters Corporation after Richard's death. Engaged to Ethan Blackwood. Correction… Formerly engaged. I closed the file.

"Ethan made his move earlier than expected." "He believed the marriage would secure the remaining shares." I leaned back in my chair. "He underestimated Richard."

Richard Winters had been one of the few humans clever enough to anticipate betrayal. Long before his death, he had rewritten his will.

The company couldn't be transferred through marriage alone. A second signature was required. One that only Aria herself could authorize. Ethan knew that. Which meant he wouldn't give up. He would come after her again.

Gabriel folded his hands behind his back. "Should we remove him?"

The question hung in the air. Remove. Most men would have asked if I meant exposing him. In my world… The word carried many meanings.

"Not yet." "Ethan is useful."

Gabriel frowned. "Useful?"

"If he believes Aria still has nowhere else to turn, he'll become careless." "And careless men reveal everything."

Gabriel nodded once. "As you wish."

Silence settled over the room again. My eyes drifted toward the portrait hanging above the fireplace. An ancient painting.

A silver wolf standing beneath a blood-red moon. Most believed it was nothing more than art. It wasn't. It was a reminder.

Three centuries ago, my bloodline had signed a covenant. One Alpha. One bloodline. One woman. Every generation searched. Every generation failed. Until now.

I reached into my desk drawer and removed a worn leather journal. Its pages had yellowed with age. Near the center rested a charcoal sketch. A young woman. Dark hair. Gray eyes.

The resemblance was impossible to ignore. The sketch had been drawn over a hundred years before Aria Winters was born. Yet it looked exactly like her. Coincidence didn't exist in my world. Neither did fate. Only promises waiting to be fulfilled. A knock sounded.

Gabriel returned. "Alpha." "Miss Winters has entered the house."

I closed the journal. "How did she seem?"

"Confused." "Guarded." "But she didn't run."

A faint smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. Most people mistook courage for fearlessness. It wasn't. Courage was walking forward despite being terrified.

Aria Winters had every reason to leave. Instead… She walked through my doors. Interesting.

"Has she seen anyone else?"

"No." "Just the staff."

"Good."

I rose from my chair and adjusted the cuffs of my black shirt. Gabriel watched me carefully.

"There's one more thing."

"What is it?"

"She asked who the Moon Alpha was."

"And what did you tell her?"

"Nothing."

I nodded. "Keep it that way." At least for tonight.

There were truths that couldn't be spoken the moment two strangers met. Especially when one of them had spent the last hour watching her life fall apart. I walked toward the study doors.

The guards outside straightened immediately. No words were exchanged. None were necessary.

The mansion had already fallen silent. Everyone knew I was on my way downstairs.

As I descended the grand staircase, I caught sight of her through the open doors of the drawing room. She stood beside the fireplace, still wearing her wedding gown. Rain had dampened the hem. Her veil was gone. Her eyes were red from crying. Yet she refused to bow her head.

She stood with quiet dignity, even after betrayal had stripped everything else away. She reminded me of someone. Not because of the prophecy. Not because of the journal. Because she looked like a woman who had been surviving alone for far too long. She sensed me before she saw me.

Slowly, she turned. Our eyes met across the room. For one suspended moment… Neither of us spoke. Then she lifted her chin and asked the first question.

"Are you the man who brought me here?"

I looked at her for several seconds before answering. "No." My voice echoed through the room. "I'm the man who's about to change the rest of your life.”