The alpha's bride

Chapter 16

The hall went dead silent, every wolf in the room teetering on the edge of violence. The envelope dangled from the elder’s hand like it carried a live fuse. I couldn’t look away from my parents — no, not my parents, not the way I’d always known them. Mom’s eyes still glowed faintly, threads of gold flickering through her irises like embers under glass. Dad stood beside her, rigid, expression unreadable, but there was something coiled in his posture that made every instinct in me scream danger.

Dastien’s growl deepened. His wolf pressed so close to the surface that I could feel his claws threatening to tear through his skin. He stepped slightly in front of me, body tense and vibrating with the need to protect. “Explain,” he demanded, voice rough with restraint.

Mom tilted her head, and for the first time in my life, she didn’t look like the woman who used to braid my hair on Sunday mornings. She looked like someone ancient wearing her skin. “There’s nothing to explain, darling. You were born into a legacy. A legacy we kept from you until the time was right. And now…” She swept a hand toward the letter. “Now it’s time you take your rightful place.”

“My rightful place?” My voice cracked as heat burned behind my eyes. “You lied to me my entire life. Hid this from me. And now you just show up and decide I belong to some—some other pack?”

Dad’s gaze snapped to me, sharp enough to slice. “Watch your tone, Tessa. You have no idea what’s at stake here.”

“No idea because you never told me anything!” I shouted. The words ricocheted across the hall, bouncing off the stone walls. A few of the younger wolves flinched, but most of them were staring at my parents like they were predators who’d walked into the den.

The elder cleared his throat, breaking the stand-off. “This claim bears the seal of the Crescent Moon pack. One of the oldest still standing.” His voice wavered. “This is… unprecedented.”

Gasps rippled through the wolves. Whispers of Crescent Moon shot through the room like sparks. I caught snatches — powerful, ruthless, feared. My wolf bristled at the name, uneasy.

Dastien’s arm slid behind me, anchoring me to him. His voice was pure steel. “She’s mine. Claimed and bonded. This—” he jerked his chin toward the envelope “—means nothing.”

Mom’s smile sharpened. “Oh, sweetheart. Do you really think such a young bond could withstand an ancient claim written into blood centuries ago?”

My stomach lurched. “Blood?”

She nodded once, almost gently. “Your bloodline isn’t ordinary, Tessa. You are part of a contract sealed generations ago. You belong to the Crescent Moon pack by right of birth.”

“No.” The word ripped out of me before I even knew it was coming. “I belong to myself. To the choices I make. And I chose him.” I clutched Dastien’s hand tighter. “Not some creepy contract written before I was even born.”

Dad’s lips thinned. His voice was low, dangerous. “It doesn’t matter what you want. Blood doesn’t lie. Legacy doesn’t break. You’re coming with us.”

The wolves around us bristled. Several stepped closer, their loyalty to the academy clear. One of them snarled, teeth flashing.

The elder raised a hand to silence them, but his gaze flicked to me, and for the first time, I saw fear there. Real fear. “If this claim is real,” he said carefully, “then St. Ailbe’s has no legal ground to deny it. Not without proof that the bond overrides blood.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. Proof? What kind of proof could override something written into blood?

Dastien tugged me closer, pressing his lips to my temple. His whisper was for me alone. “Don’t let them scare you. I won’t let them take you.”

The conviction in his voice steadied me, but only for a second — because Mom’s eyes narrowed, sharp and glowing. She heard him.

She stepped forward, her heels clicking against the polished floor. “Do you think you can protect her? You don’t even understand what she is.”

“What I am?” My voice shook.

Her smile was almost pitying. “You think those little visions of yours are a gift? A trick of fate? No, sweetheart. They’re the first symptom of what’s coming. You’re not just a wolf. You’re something else entirely. Something this little academy couldn’t possibly contain.”

Heat flashed through me, but it wasn’t anger. It was my wolf surging, claws digging into my insides, furious at being called small, containable. The bond with Dastien sparked like wildfire, his energy wrapping tighter around mine, trying to hold me steady.

“What am I?” I demanded, my voice echoing.

Mom didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her gaze on Dastien, cool and calculating. “If you truly love her, boy, then you’ll let her go. Because if you don’t, the Crescent Moon pack will tear this school apart brick by brick to reclaim what’s theirs.”

The hall erupted in snarls, wolves snapping their teeth, hackles raised. The sound of chairs scraping, claws clicking against stone, the growl of a dozen throats ready for war.

I clapped my hands over my ears, but it didn’t stop the roar building inside me. My vision blurred, the air humming with raw energy. My power surged without permission, and in an instant, I wasn’t in the hall anymore.

I was standing in the middle of a forest.

Five red-brick buildings in the distance. Wolves pacing in the shadows. And two figures waiting for me — the younger man with amber eyes and inky black hair, and the older one with the sharp tongue.

The younger man stepped closer. “You’re stronger now.”

I staggered back. “You—how are you—?”

“You can’t run from this, Tessa,” he said. His eyes burned like molten gold. “You’re the key. And when the Crescent Moon pack comes for you, you’ll have to choose. Them… or us.”

The vision shattered.

I slammed back into my body, collapsing to the cold stone floor of the hall. Dastien’s arms caught me before I hit, his scent flooding me, his voice rough in my ear. “Tessa, stay with me.”

My parents loomed above, their faces calm, certain.

And for the first time, I understood: this wasn’t just about blood or bonds. It was about war.

And I was standing dead center of it.