Taming the Cold-Hearted Alpha

Chapter Five: The Wolf Who Watches

The air is razor-sharp the next morning.

I wake to a tray of food at the door—bread, meat, and a strange tea that smells like mint and fire. There’s no note, no knock. Just silence.

I don’t eat it.

I don’t trust it.

Instead, I throw on the leathers again and head to the courtyard, already dreading the ache in my muscles from last night’s “training.” My lips still burn from his kiss.

And from the memory of my slap.

He didn’t even flinch.

I shove the thought aside as I walk into the court.

Kael isn’t there.

But the others are.

A dozen wolves—men and women—stand in tight clusters. Some are shirtless, some armed. None are smiling. They look at me like I’m a stain they can’t scrub off their pack.

Yelena waits with a wooden staff in one hand. “The Alpha is out on border patrol. You train with me today.”

Wonderful.

She tosses the staff at me. I catch it clumsily, fingers trembling.

“First lesson,” she says coldly. “Never trust a wolf who looks at you like prey.”

Before I can ask what that means, she attacks.

I barely get the staff up in time. The wood cracks hard against mine, jarring my shoulder. I stumble, recover, swing. She dodges, sweeps my legs out, and I hit the ground with a grunt.

Laughter echoes from the edge of the court.

“Pathetic,” someone mutters.

Yelena offers no sympathy. She circles me like a vulture. “You want to wear the Luna mark? Learn to bleed for it.”

I grit my teeth and rise.

Again. And again. She knocks me down every time. But I don’t stop. I won’t give them the satisfaction.

My lip splits open on the sixth fall.

My ribs throb after the ninth.

By the twelfth, I’m seeing stars.

Then—suddenly—a sharp voice cuts through the haze.

“That’s enough.”

Kael.

I blink up through the blur of sweat and blood. He’s standing at the edge of the court, a shadow against the rising sun, eyes like frostbite.

Yelena steps back, breathing hard, but she bows. “She needs discipline.”

“She needs rest,” he snaps. “She’s not your sparring doll.”

“She asked for respect.”

“She’ll earn it—not die for it.”

He strides across the court and lifts me to my feet, ignoring the silent stares. His hands are rough, but the way he touches me… there’s a gentleness there I don’t understand.

Not from him.

“You’re bleeding,” he mutters.

“I noticed,” I croak.

He almost smiles.

Almost.

But then his expression hardens again. He glances at Yelena. “Bring her to the healer. And double the patrols tonight.”

“Why?” she asks.

Kael’s jaw tightens. “Because someone left wolfsbane in her tea this morning.”

The court stills.

My stomach flips.

Wolfsbane.

Poison.

I stare at him, stunned. “How did you—?”

“I smelled it when I passed your door. And I had someone taste it before you could.” His eyes lock on mine. “Someone in this pack wants you gone.”

“Because of you.”

“Because of your blood,” he corrects. “There’s something about you they fear.”

I shake my head, trying to make sense of it. “I’m nobody.”

“No,” he says softly. “You’re not.”

He turns away without another word.

But the cold that follows him lingers long after he’s gone.