Bound By My Ex’s Alpha Father

Chapter 5

Iris’s POV

I woke first, my head pounding and my body aching in unfamiliar places. It took me a moment to piece together where I was and realize I was still in Alpha Thorne’s office tangled on the examination table with sheets barely covering us.

Oh my god.

We’d had s*x! We’d mated! He’d marked me’

I could feel the bite on my neck. Panic flooded through me as reality crashed back in. What had we done?

I carefully extracted myself from his arms and frantically searched for my clothes. My hands were shaking as I pulled on my jeans, my crop top and jacket. The mark on my neck burned because it was visible even in the dim light. I was halfway to the door when I heard him stir.

“Iris?”

His voice was rough with sleep and confusion. I turned to see him sitting up taking in the scene and the discarded clothes then the mark on my neck that matched the one I must have left on him, the evidence of what we’d done.

His face went white before it turned red. Then twisted with something that looked like horror.

“No,” he breathed. “No, no, no. This didn’t - we didn’t- ”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered tears already burning my eyes. “I should go -”

“Yes.” The word was harsh and so cutting. Very unlike the sweet nothings he’s whispered when he buried himself inside me and took my virginity. “You should leave. Right now.”

The rejection in his voice was worse than Theo’s had been.

“This was a mistake,” he continued standing and pulling on his sweatpants with jerky movements. His eyes wouldn’t meet mine. “A massive and drunken mistake. My wife was just buried, for f**k’s sake and I -” He ran his hands through his hair looking destroyed. “Just leave, Iris. Please. Just go.”

“But we’re mates,” I said hating how small my voice sounded. “The mark-”

Because this is the second time I’m getting rejected by a Gravefang and this hurts like hell. The first one was emptiness but this? It’s like something is getting ripped from inside out.

“Was a mistake!” he roared and I flinched. “You need to leave. Now. Before anyone - -”

The door burst open and we both froze.

My father stood in the doorway, flanked by three council members. Their eyes took in the scene with Alpha Thorne half dressed, me disheveled with a fresh mating mark on my neck amd the scent of s*x heavy in the air. My father’s face went purple with rage.

“What the f**k is this?” Beta Magnus snarled his eyes locked on me with pure disgust.

“Beta, I can explain -” Alpha Thorne started.

“Explain?” My father’s voice was deadly quiet now. “Explain how my daughter seduced you on the day of your wife’s funeral? How she -”

“I didn’t seduce him!” I protested my voice breaking with emotions.

“Silence!” One of the council members whom I remember as Elder Vance stepped forward, his expression cold. “The evidence speaks for itself. Alpha Thorne, you’ve marked her.”

“It was a mistake,” Thorne said immediately and each word was a knife to my chest. “We were drunk and grieving. It shouldn’t have happened.”

“But it did happen,” Elder Vance continued. “And now we have a situation. The Alpha has mated with a wolfless girl twenty years his junior on the day of his wife’s funeral. The pack will not accept this.”

“She doesn’t have a wolf?” another council member asked looking at me with disgust.

“She couldn’t shift at her eighteenth birthday,” my father said and I’d never heard such disappointment in his voice. “She ran away in shame. And now she comes back and does this? Seduces the Alpha while he’s vulnerable?”

“I didn’t!” I cried but no one was listening.

“The human world has corrupted her,” my father continued gesturing at my tattoos and piercings. “Look at her. She’s become trash and she’s dragged our Alpha into this disgrace.”

“Enough.” Alpha Thorne’s voice cut through the room with authority. When he spoke again, his voice was cold and emotionless. “What’s done is done. But the Beta is right. This cannot stand. The pack will never accept this.”

Hope flickered in my chest. Maybe he’d defend me. Maybe he’d tell them we were mates amd that the bond was real. That for the first time someone is choosing me.

“The girl must be punished,” Elder Vance declared.

“Agreed,” Alpha Thorne said and my hope shattered into billion pieces. “But I ask that her crime not be made public. For her family’s sake. The Beta shouldn’t have to bear the shame of his daughter’s actions.”

“What are you suggesting?” My father asked reluctantly as if he’d prefer to drag me down the mud.

“She’ll serve me,” Alpha Thorne said his icy eyes finally meeting mine with nothing but cold calculation. “For the mourning period of nine months. She’ll live under my supervision, serve as my personal assistant. It will appear as though she’s helping me through my grief. No one needs to know what really happened here.”

“And after the nine months?” Elder Vance asked.

“She’s free to leave. The mark will not even remain and the pack doesn’t need to know its significance.”

My father looked like he wanted to argue but then he saw the mark on my neck again and his face hardened. “Fine. But if she steps out of line even once -”

“She won’t,” Alpha Thorne said with certainty finally looking at me. The coldness in his eyes made me want to disappear. “Will you, Iris?”

What choice did I have?

“No Alpha” I whispered.

“It’s settled then,” Elder Vance declared. “Miss Magnus will serve Alpha Thorne for nine months as punishment. This matter is not to be discussed outside this room.”

The council members filed out. My father gave me one last look of pure disappointment before following them.

And then it was just me amd Alpha Thorne. My mate who looked at me like I was his biggest mistake.