Chained To An Enemy Alpha

4. Chapter

By morning the whole fortress was on edge. Everyone felt something was coming. The air had a metallic taste, whispers raced along the corridors as if the pack itself knew blood would be spilled today—if not human, then wolf blood.

Mara yanked me out of bed without a word. The cold floor bit to the bone, and my heart was already beating faster when I saw that nervous, tight glint in her eyes.

“The council has called a meeting. The Alpha will be there,” she said sharply. “They want you, too.”

“Me?” My stomach clenched.

“Kian wants you.” She didn’t look at me, just slapped my arm to hurry me along. “Some kind of… demonstration.”

My stomach was empty, my hands cold, the air in my chest frozen. The word “demonstration” never meant anything good at Blackrock.

By the time I reached the great hall, the pack had already ringed the space. In the center, lines carved into the stone gleamed in the torchlight. I never understood the winding symbols etched there—only that if someone was sent into them, they rarely came back with the same eyes.

Kian stood at the edge of the circle, his black leather jacket open as if to say this was just entertainment for him. His father, the Alpha, sat on the throne-like chair, and beside him were Zane and three men from Red Moon. They were only observers, guests—or so the cover story went. But the air vibrated with what every wolf felt: one of them was true power. And it wasn’t Kian.

As I entered, every gaze fixed on me.

Kian smiled. The kind of smile that is always followed by pain.

“Elariana. Come here, darling.” His voice was soft, but in the silence everyone heard him. “Before the council, I’d like you to show how loyal you are.”

My heart stumbled. I knew it was a lie. Here, the goal is never loyalty. It’s humiliation.

Step by step I moved toward the center. The stone under my feet was cold, as if the mountain itself knew what was coming.

Kian took my hand and held my wrist almost gently.

“There’s been a lot of gossip lately,” he said, sweetening his tone. “Members of the pack say there’s something strange about you. That your wolf doesn’t obey. That she… is silent.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to. He always treated my silence as a crime.

“And you know what that means, don’t you?” he went on, staring deep into my eyes. “If your wolf doesn’t obey the pack, that’s treason.”

“It isn’t treason, sir,” I whispered. “I’m just… weak.”

“Weak?” He laughed. “No, little girl, you’re not weak. You’re stubborn. Your wolf is stubborn. And if a wolf won’t bend, it must be broken.”

The words washed over me like cold water. My body would have backed away on instinct, but two soldiers stepped behind me. Kian gestured, and they grabbed my arms and pinned my shoulders to the stone.

The Red Moon men didn’t move, but I felt their eyes. And I felt him.

Zane.

He stood there, motionless, yet the air changed around him. The pack breathed tighter, as if the air itself crackled with electricity.

Kian turned to him.

“Just a little ritual. To maintain pack discipline. I’m sure you have your own way of putting the disobedient in line.”

Zane didn’t answer. He only looked. So deeply my lungs seemed to close.

Kian produced a thin silver chain. Runes glittered along its end, the metal reflecting the flames with a cold light.

“This is her wolf’s shackle,” he announced to the council. “The previous ritual was too weak. You see—she still won’t obey. Today we’ll strengthen the binding.”

Strengthen it.

The words felt like my life being judged again—only this time, final.

Kian set his hand on my shoulder and pushed me to my knees. The cold stone kissed my skin; my heart pounded. My wolf thrashed in my chest. She didn’t speak, didn’t form words—she screamed inside me, soundless.

“Hold her,” he ordered the soldiers.

One forced down my left arm, the other my shoulder. Kian wrapped the chain around my neck and set its silver ends into the center of the carved circle. The runes flared—an acute, painful blue-red blaze.

The pain came at once. Under my skin, deep in my chest where my wolf lived. It felt like someone reached in and tried to tear a piece of my soul free.

I cried out, but my voice died against the walls.

“Let her learn,” Kian said, now speaking to Zane. “This is how order works.”

The reply was quiet, yet it filled the hall.

“This isn’t order. It’s torture.”

Kian laughed, but nervousness trembled beneath it.

“Don’t tell me how to run a pack, stranger.”

“I’m not telling you,” Zane stepped forward, “I’m watching you weaken your own.”

Their eyes locked, and the air almost froze between them. Kian clenched the chain, furious.

“She isn’t a wolf. She’s a mistake. Broken blood. And today she’ll learn she cannot be ruled by instinct.”

The chain’s light flared. Pain slammed across my chest; tears sprang to my eyes, but I didn’t let a sound escape. My heart hammered, my wolf screamed—and then something happened.

Zane’s voice didn’t speak, but I felt it.

Something inside. A deep, low rumble not spoken by his mouth, but by his wolf.

The word wasn’t a sound. It was a command.

Enough.

The chain’s light changed. The runes shuddered; from beneath the stone, tiny cracks shot outward. The soldiers staggered back; Kian’s hand trembled.

“What the hell—?” he shouted, but it was already too late.

The light didn’t fade; it burst. For a heartbeat everything turned blue—sharp, cold blue like the sky before a storm. The chain snapped. Metal hit the floor with a hiss and went still.

The air flooded with wolf-energy. Everyone felt it. In an instant the entire hall went silent.

Zane stood at the edge of the circle, eyes blazing, his gaze locked on me. Somewhere in the unseen space his wolf collided with mine, and it felt like a breath after a lifetime of drowning.

Kian stumbled back, stunned.

“This… is impossible.”

My body shook, my lungs rasped—but my wolf was no longer screaming in silence. Now she rumbled.

Not strong, not murderous—but alive.

Zane’s voice cut through the quiet, cold and clear.

“If he touches her again, there’ll be no one left to bury him.”

Kian’s eyes flashed, but he didn’t answer. His father, the Alpha, only sat and watched. The pack lowered their eyes; no one dared move.

Zane stepped in, bent down, and lifted me into his arms. My body was weak, my skin burning, blood still seeping at my collarbone—but I didn’t resist. Somewhere deep, my heart knew that in his hands, for the first time, I didn’t have to be afraid.

As he carried me out, I heard Kian’s voice fade behind us:

“You’ll pay for this, Red Moon…”

Zane didn’t answer. Only the weight of his steps remained. With each movement I felt it: something had changed for good.

My chains were gone—but something else had been born in their place.

Not freedom.

A bond.

And my wolf, who had endured in silence until now, whispered softly:

“Now you hear me.”