Mated To The Enemy's Son

The white dress felt like a death shroud. Sera stood at the edge of the great hall, fingers clutching the thin fabric at her sides, watching the candles flicker against stone walls that had never felt like home. Tonight they felt even less so. "Stop fidgeting," her father said without looking at her. Alpha Dorian of the Ashwood Pack. Her father. The man who had just sold her. She dropped her hands. The hall was full, every elder, every warrior, every wolf who mattered in Ashwood seated in careful rows. They had all come to watch. To witness the arrangement that would end fifteen years of bloodshed between Ashwood and the Blackfang Pack. They had come to watch her be handed over. Like a gift, she thought bitterly. Or an apology. "You should be grateful," her father murmured, finally glancing at her. His grey eyes held nothing warm. They never did. "This alliance saves lives." "It saves your pack," she said quietly. "Not mine." He said nothing. That was answer enough. The doors at the far end of the hall groaned open. Sera's breath caught. She had heard stories about the Blackfang Alpha. Every wolf in three territories had. Kaden Black fang had taken the Alpha title at nineteen after his father was killed in battle not by an enemy, but by a challenger within his own pack. He had been ruthless ever since. Cold. Calculated. A wolf who had never once been seen to smile. He walked in like he owned every room he had ever entered. Tall. Dark. Dressed in all black against the candlelight, his jaw set hard, his grey-green eyes sweeping the hall with the kind of boredom that made it clear he considered everyone in it beneath him. Two of his warriors flanked him but fell back as he moved forward alone. His gaze found her father first. Then it found her. Sera didn't look away. She refused to. Whatever this night was going to take from her, it would not take that. Something shifted in his expression, so fast she almost missed it. Not softness. Nothing that simple. More like... recognition. Like he had seen something he hadn't expected and wasn't sure what to do with it. Then it was gone. His face was stone again by the time he reached the front of the hall. "Alpha Dorian." His voice was low. Unhurried. The kind of voice that never needed to rise to command a room. "Alpha Kaden." Her father stepped forward, clasping his hand. "Welcome." Kaden's eyes moved back to Sera. "This is her?" Not she looks lovely. Not even a pretense of courtesy. Just , this is her like she was a transaction being confirmed. Sera lifted her chin. "Yes," her father said. "My daughter. Sera of Ashwood." A long silence. Kaden studied her with those unreadable eyes and she studied him right back , the hard line of his shoulders, the scar that cut through his left brow, the way his hands stayed loose at his sides like a wolf who was always, always ready. "She'll do," he said finally. The words landed like a slap. She'll do. Sera felt the heat rise up her neck but kept her face still. She had promised herself she would not give him or her father the satisfaction of seeing her break. Not tonight. Not ever. Kaden must have seen something in her silence because his eyes narrowed slightly, just for a second. Then he turned back to her father and the negotiations began. Sera stood there in her white dress, in a hall full of wolves who had already decided her future, and made herself a quiet, furious promise. He may have agreed to this arrangement. But he does not own me. Not my wolf. Not my will. And certainly not my heart. Across the hall, as if he had heard every word, Kaden Blackfang glanced back at her one last time. And for just a moment ,the ghost of something dangerous crossed his face.