Marked By My Enemy Alpha

Episode8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Hunter

The Elders’ chamber was as familiar as ever.

The same long stone table, the same worn grooves in the wood where countless Alphas before me had pressed their palms during tense negotiations. The same five faces were watching me now, a mix of respect and suspicion that only a leader trusted with their lives could inspire, but not necessarily with their pride.

“You called for me,” I said, taking my place at the head of the table without waiting for an invitation. It was still my chamber, no matter how much they might want to pretend otherwise.

Elder Corwin, the oldest among them, folded his weathered hands on the table. “We did.”

“Then let’s get to it. I have a pack to manage.”

“That,” Elder Corwin replied, “is exactly what we need to talk about.”

I kept my face neutral, though I had a pretty good idea of where this was going. News spread quickly within the pack, especially when it involved the Alpha and an omega who had everyone buzzing.

“The girl,” Elder Corwin continued, confirming my suspicions. “You had her flogged, then you were seen entering her chambers that same night. Alone. For quite a while.”

“I was tending to her wounds,” I said, keeping my tone steady. “The wounds I ordered to be inflicted.”

“An unusual act of kindness,” Elder Priscilla interjected, the sharpest of the five, her eyes narrowed as if she was already three steps ahead of my next move. “One you’ve never shown to any other omega punished under your command.”

“She’s not just any omega.”

“No,” Corwin agreed slowly. “She’s the daughter of the Alpha who killed my son.”

The room fell silent.

I hadn’t forgotten that. I doubted I ever would, especially with the way Corwin’s grief lingered in his eyes every time he looked at me, a shadow of the same sorrow that had shaped so much of my own life. But grief didn’t alter the truth.

“The Cresthaven Alpha didn’t kill your son,” I said softly. “You know that.”

“I know what you told us,” Corwin corrected, his voice steely. “I know you brought us a war, a bride, and a story, and expected........

“The Cresthaven Alpha didn’t kill your son,” I said softly. “You know that.”

“I know what you told us,” Corwin shot back, his tone sharp. “I know you brought us a war, a bride, and a story, expecting us to swallow it all just because you wear the Alpha title.”

“I earned that title,” I replied, my voice dropping to a cold, final tone. “Just like I earned the right to make decisions for this pack without having to answer to a council of old wolves who’d rather cling to the past than safeguard our future.”

A murmur spread through the chamber, and I noticed Elder Priscilla’s lips pressing into a thin line.

“Be careful, Alpha,” she warned. “Even you have to answer to something.”

“Do I?” I challenged. “Name it.”

“The bond you can’t break,” she said plainly. “And the debt you refuse to acknowledge.”

My jaw clenched.

“There is no debt,” I insisted.

“There’s always a debt,” Corwin leaned in, his voice low, “when an Alpha sacrifices the pack’s safety for personal revenge and calls it justice. When he brings an enemy’s daughter into our midst and allows her to roam freely enough to attack Camille, accuse her, and now, it seems, warrant private visits in the dead of night.”

“She is my mate,” I said, the words escaping sharper than I meant. “Fate bound us. Not revenge. Not choice.”

“Fate,” Elder Priscilla echoed, savoring the word like something sour. “How convenient that fate brought you the one woman who could unravel everything you’ve built. Tell me, Alpha, does fate also explain why Camille, your intended, your future Luna by every right of status and alliance, now finds herself humiliated in her own pack because of this girl?”

I fell silent. There was nothing I could say that would change their minds. Camille’s humiliation didn’t strike me as a tragedy, no matter what the Elders thought.

“You will distance yourself from the girl,” Corwin stated firmly, not leaving room for negotiation. “Publicly and privately. Let Melissa handle her like any other omega.

“No private visits. No special treatment. And no more incidents that could put your judgment or loyalty to this pack’s alliances in doubt.”

“And what if I refuse?”

Corwin’s face remained impassive, but I could see something ancient and weighty settle in his gaze.

“Then we’ll have to remind the pack,” he said softly, “of why your parents’ deaths tied you to this council’s guidance in the first place. Of the burden this family has carried since that night. You are Alpha because we chose to let it be so, Hunter. Don’t confuse our patience with weakness.”

The room felt like it was tilting. I kept my expression neutral, even though every fiber of my being wanted to challenge him, to slam my hand down on that worn table and pry the truth from him like I had done with lesser men countless times before.

But I knew better than to expect more from Corwin than he was willing to share. If he brought up the debt, it was intentional—he wanted me to sit with the uncertainty, to ponder, to fret.

And it was working.

“I’ll consider your concerns,” I replied instead, standing up and revealing nothing.

“Make sure you do,” Corwin said. “For the sake of this pack, and for whatever remains of your family’s honor.”

I exited the chamber in silence, my steps echoing against the stone corridor, my mind racing through various interpretations of what Corwin could have meant. The debt this family has carried since that night. But which night? My parents’ deaths, or something deeper, something hidden beneath years of silence that I had never thought to question because I had never had a reason to.

As I turned the corner toward my study, already reaching for the door and planning to retrieve the old family records from the locked cabinet, I suddenly halted.

Annalise stood in the corridor ahead, dirt smudged on her hands, her expression a complete mystery.

She had clearly just come from somewhere she shouldn’t have been..and the flicker of guilt that flashed across her face when she spotted me told me I wasn’t the only one hiding something in this pack tonight.

“Alpha,” she said cautiously, using the title like a protective barrier. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Neither did I expect to see you,” I replied, taking in her appearance—the dirt smudged on her hands and the tightness in her shoulders. “What were you up to?”

“Nothing,” she shot back, a bit too quickly.

I moved in closer, just enough to catch the faint scent lingering around her—damp earth, old stone, something musty and long forgotten.

The east wing.

The cellars.

“Annalise,” I said, my voice low and laced with warning. “What did you find down there?”

For the first time since I’d known her, she didn’t have a sharp retort ready to fire back.

She just stared at me, pale and silent, and I felt a cold certainty settle in my chest: whatever she had stumbled upon in that cellar had terrified her far more than anything Camille, Melissa, or I had ever done to her.