Chapter Seven: the alpha arrives
809 Words
The storm announced itself with a booming crash.
Walls shivered, dust danced down, and Selene's blood electrified. Curled up in her tiny bed, she jerked her head up. Hours of silence had only been filled by her mother's soft sounds downstairs.
Now silence was shattered.
Another echoing hit disturbed the front door, making the hinges whine. Then, brittle as dry wood, her father's voice emerged.
"Alpha."
The word slithered through the floorboards, icing Selene to her core.
The wolf within her stirred.
He’s here.
Selene's stomach churned, her hands clenching her knees. She already knew who awaited beyond that threshold. Only one man could strike fear into an entire town and make her father's voice tremble like fragile glass.
Riven Kaelor. Alpha of Blackthorn.
She couldn't see, but heard the door open—the creaking wood, her mother's quickened heartbeat, the predator’s silence as it entered its lair.
Instinct pushed her to stand. Her legs quaked, the fear mixed with a peculiar sharpness. Her nails dug into her palms.
The air transformed.
She never thought air could revolve around a man, but as Riven entered the Veyra home, it felt like the walls bent toward him, as if gravity itself gravitated to him.
Selene froze at her doorway.
He towered, broader than imagined, sculpted from shadow and steel. His hair like storm clouds, eyes, Moon above, those eyes, burned silver, cutting, unwavering.
Her mother bowed. Her father cast his gaze downward.
Riven ignored them.
He focused on Selene.
Breath forgotten.
The wolf pulsed.
Powerful.
She gripped her doorway, fighting not to yield. His presence was suffocating, the distilled essence of dominance. Every instinct screamed to submit.
But she stood firm.
That was her first error.
“Bring her,” Riven commanded, a quiet weight in his words.
Her mother moved as if by strings, trembling fingers reaching for Selene.
“No,” Selene whispered, pulling back. “Don’t touch me.”
Elara recoiled as if struck.
For the first time, Riven's mouth curved, not warmly, but something colder.
“She resists,” he murmured. “Intriguing.”
Her father’s voice cracked with plea. "Alpha, please. She’s unwell, delirious. She doesn't understand.”
Riven kept his gaze on Selene. “She understands.”
His boots echoed in her room.
Selene backed to her bedframe, catching his scent, pine, smoke, iron. The forest after a storm. Blood hidden beneath earth.
The wolf surged forward.
Challenge him.
Her breath trembled. "What do you want with me?"
His head tilted, silver eyes scrutinizing. She was a weapon forged yet unrefined.
“You were bitten,” he stated. “Yet you survive.”
Her hand flew to her shoulder, feeling the wound’s heat. She remained silent.
Riven stepped closer, deliberate, purposeful. His fingers brushed her chin, tilting her face up.
Breath caught. It was no gentle touch, but not cruel, a claim.
Her heart thundered.
The wolf whispered. Mine.
This time, it was his voice.
Riven's gaze lingered, felt her heat, then dropped to her parents.
“She should be dead.”
Her mother gasped. “We…we don’t understand”
Riven cut her off, voice firm. “We do.”
His eyes returned to Selene as her world tilted.
“Forgotten blood.”
The words were a verdict.
Her knees faltered, but she remained upright.
Her father swore, pale, while her mother pressed her lips tight, hoping silence could erase truth.
Riven took another step. His presence engulfed. “The curse lives in you. Your body should have broken. Yet it thrives. You harbor what shouldn't exist.”
Selene swallowed. “If you're going to kill me, do it.”
The words startled her as they slipped free.
Her parents gasped, her mother’s hand to her mouth.
Riven’s expression barely shifted.
“You dare summon death from me?” His tone, low and dangerous, carried curiosity.
Selene’s hands shook, but she met his gaze. “Better death than chains.”
Riven stilled for the first time.
Silence stretched between them.
Then, with a hint of unexpected amusement, his lips curved slightly.
“You are not what I expected.”
He sharply turned, cloak slicing the air. To her parents, he decreed, “At dawn, she comes to me. The wolf within her must be tested. Fail, she dies. Survive…”
His eyes bore into Selene, cutting like a blade.
“…she will belong to me.”
He left, slamming the door, leaving behind a silence thicker than any precursor to a storm.
Selene's heart raced. Her knees buckled as she sank onto the bed.
Her mother’s voice trembled. “Selene”
“Don’t.” Her voice broke, jagged with emotion. She pressed her hands to her face.
Inside, the wolf purred.
He is strong. We will rise to meet him.
Selene’s stomach twisted. Beneath the fear and fury… a part of her wanted to.
- Writer
