Alpha’s Forbidden Heir

The Luna’s Cage

I hadn’t stepped outside in days.

The walls of Blackthorne fortress felt closer with every hour, stone pressing on my lungs, trapping every breath I tried to take. Even the air tasted stale, carrying a faint tang of iron and wolf musk, like the scent of a caged beast.

Everywhere I went, guards watched me. Cold-eyed men in black uniforms with Kade’s crest on their shoulders. Their silence was worse than insults — it told me clearly I was no longer a person. I was property.

My wolf prowled restlessly inside me, snarling against the chains Kade had wrapped around our spirit. I could feel his mark like a brand, humming low and constant beneath my skin. A warning. A promise.

Freedom. I ached for it. The forest had always been my refuge, the place where I could run until my muscles burned, where no one could demand anything from me. But now there was nowhere to run.

Because if I ran, they would hunt me.

If I stayed, I was still trapped.

I pressed my forehead to the cold glass of the window. Outside, the Blackthorne land was blanketed in frost, a white emptiness that seemed to mock me. Wolves howled in the distance, voices rising to the pale morning sky.

My heart twisted. Those voices had once comforted me. Now they sounded like a funeral song.

The door creaked open behind me. I didn’t turn. I already knew who it was.

“Why do you always stand in the window like that?” Kade’s voice broke through the silence, deep and edged with irritation.

I kept my gaze on the forest. “Because it’s the only place I remember I’m alive.”

He walked closer, the soft thud of his boots on stone floor somehow as threatening as a snarl. When he reached me, I could feel the heat of his body even through the thick dress I wore.

“You’re not a prisoner,” he said, almost gently.

I laughed, sharp and humorless. “Really? Then why am I being watched every second? Why does the entire fortress feel like a cage?”

His hand touched my shoulder. Warm. Steady. I tried to shrug him off, but he only tightened his grip.

“You’re safe here,” he insisted.

“Safe,” I echoed, the word sour on my tongue. “You keep saying that, as if safety and freedom are the same thing.”

He sighed, a ragged exhale that told me even he was tired of this. “If you step outside these walls, they’ll rip you apart, Raven.”

I turned to face him finally. His eyes were dark, ringed with exhaustion, and for a moment I wondered if he slept at all these nights.

“Let them try,” I said. “At least then I’d die on my own terms.”

Something flickered in his gaze a flash of raw fear that startled me. It was gone before I could name it, replaced by iron certainty.

“No,” he said. “I will not lose you.”

My heart stumbled in my chest. Lose me? Like I was something precious?

He released me, stepping back as though I’d burned him. His face went cold again, the Alpha mask sliding into place.

“There is a Council dinner tonight,” he told me. “You will come. You will sit beside me. And you will behave.”

I bristled at the command. “I’m not your showpiece, Kade.”

His jaw clenched. “You are my Luna. And you will act like it.”

I almost spat back a reply, but something in his eyes stopped me. Beneath the cold steel, there was a spark of… desperation. Like he needed me to play this part.

I swallowed hard. “And if I refuse?”

His expression darkened, a dangerous light flaring in those golden eyes. “Then I will make you.”

A chill danced down my spine.

He turned on his heel and left, leaving me alone again in the suffocating quiet.

I leaned back against the wall, breathing hard, trying to swallow the panic clawing at my throat.

Council dinner. That meant politics, threats, and power games I had no desire to be part of. I remembered my father’s face, how cold it had been the night he handed me to Kade, like I was just another piece of livestock.

My stomach turned.

If I was going to survive, I would have to play along. For now.

But in my heart, a seed of rebellion still burned.

One day, I will be free, I promised myself. Even if it kills me.

The hours passed like slow poison. A servant brought me a gown of black silk, so soft it felt like a second skin. When I put it on, I barely recognized the girl in the mirror. The dress revealed more than it hid, the neckline plunging low, sleeves delicate as spider silk.

A Luna’s dress.

A traitor’s daughter in Luna’s dress.

I clenched my fists, willing the tears not to come.

When the guards finally escorted me to the hall, I walked with my chin high. If I was to be paraded like a prize, then I would hold my head like a queen.

The council chamber was lit with candles that dripped wax onto polished wood. The air was heavy with roasted meat, spiced wine, and tension so thick I could taste it.

At the far end of the table, my father sat, rigid and silent. His eyes met mine for a single heartbeat, then flicked away as if I were nothing.

Beside him, Kade waited, dressed in black that matched my own. His presence filled the room, eclipsing every other wolf.

When I reached his side, he offered his hand. I hesitated but then took it, because there was no other choice.

His grip was warm, strong, steady. Too steady.

“Sit,” he commanded softly.

I obeyed, every muscle locked tight.

One of the Council elders leaned forward, yellowed teeth flashing in a cruel smile. “So this is the girl who carries the Moon’s curse,” he drawled.

My skin crawled under his gaze.

“She is no curse,” Kade growled, low and dangerous. “She is the Luna of Blackthorne.”

I forced a polite smile, even as bile rose in my throat.

The elder snorted. “We will see.”

The first toast went up, wine catching the candlelight like fresh blood. I barely tasted mine.

Throughout the endless meal, I could feel Kade’s hand on my thigh under the table, grounding me. Or maybe claiming me. Every time I flinched, he squeezed gently, a silent reminder: you belong to me.

When the last dish was cleared, one of the Council wolves leaned forward, voice oily with malice. “If she is truly yours, Alpha Kade, prove it.”

My heart stopped.

Kade’s eyes went hard. “What are you asking?”

The wolf grinned, sharp and merciless. “Claim her again. Here. Now.”

A hush fell over the hall.

Blood roared in my ears. Shame, rage, and terror tangled in my gut.

Kade stood, slow and deliberate. Then he turned to me, his face carefully blank.

“Trust me,” he murmured so low only I could hear.

I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering.

He reached for me, pulling me to my feet in one smooth motion. His mouth crushed mine, fierce and brutal, tasting of iron and rage.

I gasped against him, but his arm was an iron bar around my waist, pinning me against his chest. Heat surged through me, part revulsion, part something darker I didn’t want to name.

The Council watched, hungry, greedy, waiting for my shame.

When he broke the kiss, he bent to whisper against my ear. “Forgive me.”

Then, for the audience, he let his fangs graze the claim mark again, drawing a single drop of blood.

The elders cheered, satisfied like wolves at a fresh kill.

I stood trembling, dazed, hating him, needing him, unable to tell where the lie ended and the truth began.

Kade pulled me down beside him again, his hand never leaving mine.

He had claimed me, publicly, undeniably.

There was no escape now.

And in that moment, I realized the true horror:

Part of me didn’t want to escape.