The alpha's bride

Chapter 15

The night at St. Ailbe’s never felt quiet, not really. Even when the courtyard emptied and the classrooms went dark, the woods breathed with life — wolves patrolling, owls hooting, whispers of danger always brushing the edges of the air. I couldn’t sleep. My skin prickled with restless energy, my wolf pacing inside me as though she knew something was about to shift.

Dastien lay stretched out on the bed beside me, his shirt tossed on the chair, his chest bare, the steady rise and fall of his breathing grounding me more than I’d admit out loud. His scent wrapped around me — cedarwood, smoke, and that wild spark that was just him. My body wanted to curl against him, but my mind was spinning too fast.

The folder from Dad’s office still burned in my memory. The vision. The men. The way one of them had seen me. No one had ever been able to do that before. My power was supposed to be one-way. I touched, I saw. They didn’t touch back. Except now? Everything was different.

I sat up on the mattress, tugging my knees to my chest. The room was bathed in silver from the half-moon outside the window, throwing soft shadows across the walls. I could hear Axel down the hall, laughing at something with the other wolves. My brother fit here too easily, like he’d been waiting his whole life for this place.

I hadn’t realized how heavy my breathing was until Dastien stirred. His hand slid across the sheets, brushing my thigh. “You’re thinking too loud, cherie.” His voice was thick with sleep, low and rough in a way that made my pulse trip.

I turned to him, and those amber eyes snapped open, glowing faintly in the moonlight. He pushed up on one elbow, studying me like he could see straight through my head. Maybe he could. “What is it?”

“I can’t shake it,” I admitted, words tumbling out before I could stop them. “When I touched that file, it wasn’t like any vision I’ve had before. I was there, Dastien. They felt me. One of them… he could hear me. He looked right at me.”

Dastien’s jaw tightened. His hand slid to the back of my neck, grounding me. “And?”

“And it didn’t feel like the past. It felt… alive. Like I was crossing some kind of line I wasn’t supposed to.” I buried my face in my knees. “What if I’m losing control? What if this gift isn’t even a gift anymore?”

Dastien’s thumb brushed against my skin. “It’s not the gift, ma chérie. It’s you. You’re evolving. Becoming stronger. That vision — it means there are others out there who aren’t just ordinary wolves. Maybe like you.”

His certainty should have been reassuring, but instead it rattled me. If there were others out there like me, then why hadn’t I felt them before? Why hadn’t Abuela warned me?

“I don’t know if I want stronger,” I whispered. “Every time this power grows, it scares me. What if I hurt someone?”

Dastien moved fast — one second propped up, the next pulling me into his lap, straddling his thighs. His heat seeped into me, his chest pressed against mine. “Then I’ll be there. Always. You hear me, Tessa? You’re not alone in this.”

My hands curled into his hair, tugging slightly as I searched his face. “You make it sound so easy.”

His mouth quirked in that half-smile that always made my stomach flip. “It’s not easy. But I don’t give a damn. You’re worth every fight, every nightmare, every scar.”

I kissed him then — hard, desperate, trying to drown out the storm in my head. His lips moved against mine with a hunger that made me dizzy, his hands sliding down my back, gripping my waist like he never wanted to let go. My wolf howled inside me, pressing against the bond, sparks of fire racing under my skin.

When he pulled back, both of us were breathing ragged. His forehead rested against mine, sweat dampening the edge of his hairline. “You feel that?” he whispered. “That’s fate. That’s us. Nothing else matters.”

But something did matter. My visions. The shadows creeping closer. The way the other wolves had been on edge since the last vampire attack. The academy was holding secrets, and secrets had teeth.

Before I could tell him any of that, a sharp knock rattled the door. My body tensed instantly. Dastien growled low in his throat, possessive, before releasing me and sliding off the bed.

The door opened before he reached it. Axel stood there, shoulders taut, his expression serious for once. “You need to come. Now.”

My stomach dropped. “What’s wrong?”

Axel’s eyes flicked to me, then to Dastien. “It’s Mom and Dad. They’re here.”

The words sliced through me. My parents? At St. Ailbe’s? That wasn’t supposed to happen. They didn’t know about this world — not fully. Not the way I did now.

I scrambled off the bed, heart hammering. “Why would they—?”

“Just come,” Axel snapped, already turning down the hall.

Dastien gave me one look — steady, anchoring — before grabbing his shirt and pulling it on. His hand found mine, strong and unyielding, and together we followed Axel through the dimly lit corridors of the academy.

The main hall was lit up like midday. Teachers stood clustered in small groups, their whispers sharp with unease. A handful of wolves I didn’t recognize lingered near the doors, eyes flicking to me the moment I stepped inside.

And then I saw them.

Mom, her hair pulled into a neat twist, still glowing like she belonged on a magazine cover. Dad, stern and commanding even in a crowd of supernatural creatures. They looked so out of place here — two humans in a den of wolves — yet Mom’s chin was lifted like she’d already claimed her ground.

“Tessa.” Her voice carried across the hall, steady and full of something I couldn’t name.

I should have run to her. I should have been relieved. But the second her gaze locked on mine, my wolf whimpered. Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Dad stepped forward, slipping an envelope from inside his coat. His movements were too smooth, too rehearsed. He handed it to one of the elders, who opened it silently.

The elder’s face paled. “This is a claim.”

The room shifted, wolves bristling, whispers sparking like wildfire.

“A claim?” I repeated, my voice catching.

Mom’s smile was calm, almost chilling. “Yes, sweetheart. You belong to a pack larger than this one. One with far more power. It’s time you come home.”

The floor seemed to tilt beneath me. Dastien’s grip on my hand tightened like iron, his growl vibrating against my spine.

But nothing could drown out the way my mother’s eyes glowed faintly — not with human warmth, but with something else. Something ancient. Something terrifying.