BOUND TO THE MAD ALPHA

Chapter 5

The heavy, suffocating silence in the Royal Sanctuary shattered the moment Julian's words echoed across the stone walls.

"You're mine." Julian breathed with crimson eyes highly intoxicated by Caelia’s scent.

Gasps erupted through the hall like wildfire. Caelia's breath caught in her throat as she stared up at the towering Alpha Heir. His grip remained locked around her wrist, scalding hot against her skin, sending violent sparks racing through her bloodstream.

"I said no." Caelia twisted her wrist desperately, her silver eyes blazing with fear and anger. "Let go of me!"

Before Julian could respond, High Alpha Alaric Kade slammed his ceremonial staff against the obsidian dais.

BOOM.

The impact reverberated through the sanctuary, silencing the growing uproar. Alaric rose from his throne, and the crushing weight of his Alpha aura spread across the chamber until every noble and elder lowered their heads beneath its pressure.

His sharp gaze settled on Caelia, carrying a mixture of suspicion, calculation, and cold necessity.

"A Tier-Zero fated bond cannot be denied by pack law or individual will," Alaric announced, his voice carrying effortlessly through the vast chamber. "By royal decree, Caelia of the Moon line is hereby recognized as the fated match of the High Alpha Heir. Effective immediately, she will be housed in the Royal Pavilion of the Eastern Wing under full royal guard until the Bond Sealing ceremony."

"Your Highness—" Evelyn's voice rose from the crowd as she stepped forward, her face pale with disbelief. "She is wolfless. She's a fraud!"

"Silence."

Alaric didn't even turn toward her.

The single word carried enough authority to make Evelyn stop mid-step.

"Guards," Alaric continued, his gaze returning to Caelia. "Escort the candidate to the High Alpha's private quarters."

Four heavily armored Royal Guards immediately moved toward her, but Julian didn't wait for them to reach her. He tightened his hold around her wrist and began leading her away himself, his long strides forcing Caelia to hurry after him.

She barely noticed the hundreds of eyes following them as they crossed the sanctuary. Her family stood frozen among the crowd, Evelyn staring after her in horror while Cassian's expression remained unreadable.

Caelia didn't look back.

She couldn't.

If she did, she knew she might break.

The enormous doors of the High Alpha's private suite eventually closed behind them, cutting off the noise of the sanctuary and leaving only a heavy, suffocating silence.

Julian released her wrist.

Caelia stumbled backward immediately, clutching the burning skin where his fingers had been. She put several feet between them, her breathing uneven as she surveyed the enormous suite around her.

The room was beautiful in a way that felt almost cruel. Dark mahogany walls stretched toward a vaulted ceiling, enormous fur rugs covered the polished stone floor, and tall arched windows overlooked mist-covered mountains beyond the academy.

A massive fireplace burned quietly against one wall, filling the room with warmth.

But Caelia didn't see luxury. She saw a gilded prison.

"You can't keep me here," she said, her voice trembling despite her attempt to remain composed. "I rejected the bond. You heard me."

Julian turned toward her slowly.

He had removed his heavy velvet coat, leaving him in a dark shirt that stretched across his broad chest.

There was no trace of the wild madness she had seen in the restricted corridor. His eyes were clear now, his expression controlled, but somehow that calm made him more intimidating rather than less.

"You think a fated bond is something you can simply refuse because you say the word no?" he asked, his voice low and measured.

"I don't care about your laws." Caelia backed away as he approached, refusing to let him intimidate her. "I don't care about your royal selection, your title, or whatever the Moon Goddess thinks she has decided for me. I am wolfless, Julian. I have no standing here, and I want nothing to do with you or your curse."

Julian stopped only a few steps away.

His gaze remained fixed on her face.

"Liar."

The quiet accusation sent a chill through her.

Caelia's heart stumbled. "What?"

Julian's expression hardened as he studied her. "I felt your power in the hallway. I felt what happened when you touched me. My blood stopped obeying me, my mind became completely clear, and three years of madness disappeared in seconds."

He took another step toward her. "A wolfless zero-rank doesn't do that."

Caelia's blood turned cold.

The dark corruption beneath her ribs pulsed sharply, reacting to the sudden surge of fear. She pressed one hand instinctively against her chest, forcing herself to remain calm.

He remembers.

The realization terrified her.

She had believed the Blood Madness had swallowed Julian's memories of the encounter. She had counted on him never remembering what she had done to him.

But he remembered enough.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied, forcing herself to meet his gaze. "You were in the middle of a Blood Madness episode. You were hallucinating."

For several seconds, Julian said nothing. Then a slow, dangerous smile touched his lips.

He reached toward her.

Caelia instinctively flinched, but his fingers only brushed a loose strand of her silver-black hair away from her face. The warmth of his skin against her cheek sent an unwanted shiver through her body.

"We'll see," Julian murmured.

His thumb lingered briefly near her jaw before sliding toward the pulse beating rapidly at her throat.

"My personal healer will examine you shortly. Standard protocols for any woman I get in contact with, if you know what I mean,” He smirked, “If you're hiding something from me, little wolf, I'll find it."

Caelia swallowed hard. "You won't find anything."

Julian's smile deepened. "That's what makes this interesting."

An hour later, Dr. Lucien Vale arrived at the suite carrying a black leather healer's case.

Julian stood beside the enormous windows with his arms folded across his chest, watching silently as Lucien arranged several diagnostic instruments across a small table.

Caelia sat rigidly on the edge of the examination table, her hands tightly clasped in her lap. She could feel Julian's presence behind her even without looking at him.

Every movement he made seemed to affect the strange darkness beneath her ribs, causing the corruption in her chest to twist and pulse.

Lucien noticed the tension immediately. "Try to relax," he instructed gently. "This examination shouldn't hurt."

Caelia gave him a skeptical look. "Everyone keeps saying that."

A faint smile touched Lucien's mouth. "Then I'll try to be the first person today to prove it. I'm not digging for anything, just simple tests to make sure you're alright for Lord Julian.”

Yeah, like that makes it any better. Caelia scoffed.

He picked up a slender silver diagnostic rod and positioned himself in front of her. The crystal embedded within the instrument glowed with a soft blue light as he activated it.

"Hold still."

Lucien pressed the rod carefully against the center of Caelia's chest.

At first, nothing happened.

The blue light simply spread across her skin, sending a faint warmth through her body.

Then the magic penetrated deeper.

Lucien's expression changed.

His eyes narrowed as the diagnostic spell moved through Caelia's bloodstream, passing through layers of her damaged spirit and corrupted energy.

Something beneath the decay answered him.

It wasn't weak.

It wasn't dormant in the way a normal wolf would be dormant.

It was ancient. Sovereign.

And the instant Lucien's magic touched it, an invisible force slammed against his spell and locked it in place.

Lucien stopped breathing.

His fingers tightened around the diagnostic rod. No.

He pushed his magic forward carefully, barely daring to believe what he was sensing.

Beneath the thick, decaying corruption that had been eating away at Caelia's life force was an ancient bloodline that should have disappeared centuries ago.

A sovereign power.

A command that didn't simply strengthen a wolf. It compelled everything beneath it to obey.

The Crimson Decree.

Lucien's mind reeled.

She's not wolfless. The realization was almost impossible to comprehend.

Her wolf wasn't absent. It was trapped beneath the corruption, buried so deeply that ordinary aura examinations would mistake her for a powerless Omega.

And the power surrounding it was unmistakable.

The extinct Crimson Decree had survived. And it was inside her.

Lucien quickly withdrew the diagnostic rod before his shock could become visible.

Caelia watched him carefully. "What's wrong?"

Lucien forced his expression back into professional neutrality, watching her for any signs that she was aware of what she carried. "Nothing that requires immediate concern."

She doesn't know the true extent of her supposed dormant wolf yet.

From beside the window, Julian's voice cut through the room. "Well?"

Lucien turned toward him.

"What is her condition?"

Julian's gaze was sharp enough to make most people uncomfortable, but Lucien remained composed.

"Her health is extremely fragile, Lord Julian. She seems to suffer from a rare and severe spirit deficiency, which explains why she presents as wolfless. Her unique scent also appears to have an unusual stabilizing effect on your neural strain."

Julian's expression hardened. “What does that mean?”

Julian's expression hardened as he prepared to give half the truth. “Her core seems to be infected by something deadly, which is why she hasn't shifted yet. Her constitution is far too weak for a full mate mark right now," Lucien said carefully. "Forcing the bond could overwhelm her already damaged system. If you attempt to complete the bond before her body stabilizes, there is a significant possibility that she will die."

The room became silent.

Julian slowly looked toward Caelia.

She remained seated on the examination table, her gaze lowered toward her hands.

“You wanted to know the truth…” she said with a glare. At least it stays in this room.

"Can you treat her?"

"I can stabilize her condition," Lucien replied. "It will require time, careful monitoring, and a daily tonic to strengthen her aura. But I cannot promise how long her body will withstand the corruption."

Julian's eyes darkened. "Then you will keep her alive."

Lucien lowered his head. "I will do everything within my ability, My Lord."

"See that you do."

Lucien gathered his instruments and packed them carefully into his leather case. He bowed before leaving the suite, keeping his expression calm until the heavy door closed behind him.

The moment he stepped into the corridor, that calm facade disappeared.

His heart hammered violently against his ribs.

He descended deep beneath Astraea, down into ancient, rune-bound catacombs where light refused to touch.

Behind a collapsed stone wall, Lucien pressed a black iron seal into the stone. The wall shifted, revealing a shadow-bound glass swirling with violet smoke. He pricked his thumb, smearing a single bead of blood across its cold surface.

The mirror shuddered awake.

"The report is verified," Lucien whispered into the dark, his voice trembling with manic excitement. "Caelia Moon is not wolfless. The extinct Crimson Decree burns in her veins beneath a terminal corruption—and Julian Kade has claimed her."

Silence stretched.

Deep within the smoky glass, miles beyond the border, a towering silhouette stirred upon a throne of black iron and silver bone.

A clawed hand tapped the glass. Crimson eyes snapped open.

A low, bone-chilling laugh rattled from the shadow, hollow and merciless.

"The sovereign bloodline wakes," the voice rasped, cold enough to freeze the blood in Lucien's veins. "Keep her alive. I am coming for what is mine."

The mirror went dark.