Chapter Three: The Pack Beyond the Pines
599 Words
The Northern Moon Pack is nothing like I expected.
Cold, yes. Brutal in its silence and sheer size. But also… breathtaking.
The carriage pulls through an ancient iron gate just as dawn begins to stretch fingers of pale light across the horizon. The forest parts like a curtain, revealing towering stone walls surrounding a dark fortress nestled among the mountains. Smoke coils lazily from high chimneys. Wolves howl faintly in the distance.
My breath catches as I stare through the window. The packhouse is massive—more castle than home. Black brick. Tall towers. Guard posts with armed sentries and snarling wolves at every entrance.
A kingdom carved in ice.
And it belongs to him.
The carriage halts with a soft jolt, and the door swings open.
“Out,” a voice orders.
I blink, heart thudding. The guard doesn’t offer a hand, just stands aside impatiently as I climb down, my dress snagging slightly on the step. Kael exits behind me but says nothing.
Of course.
We’re greeted by a tall woman in a blood-red cloak. Her eyes are sharp, her face stern, but beautiful in a hard, cold way.
“Alpha,” she bows her head. Then her gaze flickers to me. “So this is the girl?”
“This is your new Luna,” Kael replies curtly, walking past her.
Luna?
My chest tightens.
I hadn’t realized he planned to actually… mate me. Claim me as pack queen. I thought I’d be locked away like a pet. A prize he won on a whim. Not introduced like I was going to sit on a throne beside him.
The woman’s lip curls slightly. “The pack will not accept her easily.”
“They’ll learn,” Kael says without turning. “Or they’ll bleed.”
And just like that, he’s gone—disappearing into the shadows of the castle without looking back.
I stand there, frozen.
The woman turns to me. “I am Yelena, the Beta. You will speak when spoken to, follow house law, and obey every command the Alpha gives.”
I meet her stare. “And if I don’t?”
She smiles, razor-sharp. “Then you’ll wish he had left you in chains.”
I don’t reply.
I follow her inside.
The packhouse is colder on the inside than out. Stone floors stretch beneath thick rugs. Fireplaces burn low in the corners of wide halls, but they give no comfort. The walls whisper with unseen movement—servants? guards? spies?
We pass others in the halls. Men and women. Some bow. Some sneer. One spits at the floor as I pass.
I keep my chin high.
I am not a toy. Not a prisoner. Not a coward.
No matter how scared I feel.
Yelena leads me to a suite on the third floor, large and luxurious but hollow, as if no one has lived here for years. She leaves without a word.
The door clicks shut behind her.
I sit on the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands. My heart pounds.
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong in this place. With these people. With him.
And yet…
When I close my eyes, all I can feel is the ghost of Kael’s voice in the carriage.
“You’ll come to me. When you’re ready.”
A whisper of the bond stirs under my skin, hot and heavy like an invisible thread pulling me toward the monster who bought me.
I don’t want to want him.
I just… do.
And that terrifies me more than anything.
- Writer
