Blood Debt: The Alpha's Captive Mate

Chapter 5

The dress appeared on the bed while I was showering—black silk this time, with a note: "Dinner. 8 PM. Main dining room. Don't be late. - B"

It had been two days since his ultimatum. Two days of sharing his room, of waking up to find him watching me sleep, of pretending I wasn't affected by his constant presence.

Two days of lying through my teeth while secretly meeting with my parents' contact.

The contact turned out to be a server named Elena, barely seventeen and human. She'd been slipping me information during meals, tiny folded papers hidden under plates. My parents were closer than Brian thought. They had inside help. And they were coming tomorrow night, not next week.

I had less than twenty-four hours to decide everyone's fate.

The dress fit perfectly, of course. Everything Brian gave me did. As I smoothed it down, Luna stirred restlessly.

"This is wrong," she insisted. "We should tell him about the attack."

"And condemn our parents to death?"

"They abandoned us!"

"They're still our parents."

She went quiet, but I could feel her disapproval. The mate bond was getting stronger every day, making it harder to think clearly around Brian. Last night, I'd woken up pressed against his chest on the couch, having apparently sleepwalked to him.

The embarrassment still burned.

A knock interrupted my thoughts. "Come in."

Marcus entered, whistling low. "Damn. My brother's going to swallow his tongue when he sees you."

"Your brother can choke for all I care."

He laughed. "Liar. You're halfway in love with him already."

"I'm really not."

"Your scent says otherwise." He tapped his nose. "Werewolf, remember? I can smell the attraction rolling off you in waves."

My face heated. "That's just biology."

"So's love, when you think about it." He offered his arm. "Come on. He sent me to escort you."

"Why?"

"Because three more of Veronica's friends arrived this morning, and they're not happy about her exile."

"Great." Just what I needed—more vengeful she-wolves.

The dining room was packed when we arrived. The entire inner circle was present, plus some faces I didn't recognize. Brian sat at the head of the table, looking devastating in a charcoal suit. His eyes found mine immediately, tracking over the dress with blatant appreciation.

"You're late," he said, but his tone was warm.

"By thirty seconds."

"Still late." He stood, pulling out the chair beside him. "Sit."

I sat, hyperaware of every eye in the room. The hostility from some of the women was palpable.

"Before we eat," Brian remained standing, commanding attention. "An announcement. The Romano Pack has agreed to our merger. As of tomorrow, our territory doubles, and our numbers increase by three hundred."

Murmurs rippled through the room. A merger meant Brian was growing his empire. It also meant more wolves who might not appreciate a human-raised half-wolf in their Alpha's bed.

"Additionally," Brian continued, "I'm implementing new security protocols. No one enters or leaves the compound without my explicit permission. Anyone caught violating this will be considered a traitor."

My blood ran cold. He knew. Somehow, he knew about the planned attack.

His eyes found mine. "These measures are for everyone's protection. We have intelligence suggesting hunter activity in the area."

"Hunters?" One of the men scoffed. "They haven't been a real threat in decades."

"That's because we've grown complacent," Brian said coldly. "But I assure you, they're very real and very dangerous. Everyone will be assigned to security rotations. No exceptions."

Dinner was tense after that. Conversation was stilted, and I could barely eat around the knot in my stomach. Brian's hand found my thigh under the table, squeezing gently.

"Breathe," he murmured. "You look like you're going to pass out."

"I'm fine."

"Liar." His thumb stroked along my thigh, and I had to bite my lip to suppress a shiver. "We need to talk after dinner."

"About?"

"Your decision."

Right. The mate bond. Accept it and save my parents, or refuse and watch everyone die.

Some choice.

Dessert was being served when the lights went out.

For a moment, there was silence. Then the emergency lighting kicked in, bathing everything in an eerie red glow.

"Nobody move," Brian commanded, standing slowly. His entire demeanor had changed, predator rising to the surface. "Marcus, check the generator. Dmitri, perimeter. Everyone else—"

The window exploded.

Glass showered the room as smoke grenades rolled across the floor. The acrid smell of wolfsbane filled the air, and several wolves started choking.

"Hunters!" someone screamed.

Chaos erupted. Wolves shifted, despite the wolfsbane burning their lungs. Brian grabbed me, shoving me under the table as bullets started flying.

"Stay down!" he snarled, then shifted into the largest wolf I'd ever seen. Pure black, easily the size of a small horse, with eyes that glowed gold in the darkness.

The fighting was brutal. I couldn't see much from under the table, but I could hear screaming, gunfire, the wet sound of tearing flesh. The wolfsbane was making me dizzy, but not as badly as the full wolves.

A hand grabbed my ankle, dragging me out. I kicked, but the person was wearing tactical gear, protected. A mask covered their face, but I recognized the eyes.

Mom.

"Come on, sweetheart," she said, pulling me up. "We're getting you out."

"No!" I tried to pull away. "You don't understand—"

"Later." She started dragging me toward the blown-out window where rappelling gear waited.

Brian's wolf spotted us. The rage in his eyes when he saw my mother's hand on me was terrifying. He charged, taking down two hunters on the way.

"Brian, no!" I screamed.

My mother raised her gun—loaded with silver bullets, I realized. One shot to the head would kill even an Alpha.

Time slowed.

My mother's finger on the trigger.

Brian leaping.

The certainty that one of them was about to die.

I made my choice.

Ripping free from my mother's grip, I threw myself between them. The gun went off. Pain exploded through my shoulder as the silver bullet tore through me. I heard Brian roar, my mother scream, but everything was going fuzzy.

"Aggie!" My mother caught me as I fell. "No, no, no. This wasn't supposed to happen."

Brian shifted back, naked and covered in blood—not all his own. He crushed my mother's wrist, making her drop the gun, then gathered me into his arms.

"You stupid, brave little wolf," he snarled, but his hands were gentle as they pressed against the wound. "Why?"

"Couldn't... let her... kill you," I gasped. Silver burned through my veins like acid. "Couldn't let you... kill her."

"The silver's spreading," someone said. Marcus, I thought. "She needs the antidote. Now."

"We don't have any here," another voice said. "The medical supplies were in the east wing. The hunters hit it first."

"Then we get some," Brian snarled. He looked at my mother, who was cradling her broken wrist. "You did this. You fix it."

"I... I don't..."

"You have antidote. All hunter cells do." His voice was deadly. "Give it to me, or I tear your throat out."

"It's in our van," my father's voice came from the window. He was rappelling down, hands raised in surrender. "Please. Let me save our daughter."

"Dad?" I tried to focus, but everything was blurry.

"I'm here, baby." He moved toward us, but Brian's growl stopped him. "Please. I have the antidote. But you have to let us go after."

"No deal," Brian snarled.

"Then she dies," my father said simply. "Silver poisoning takes about ten minutes to reach the heart. She's already been down for three."

I could feel it—the silver spreading like ice through my veins. Luna was fading, retreating deep inside me to escape the poison.

"Brian," I whispered. "Please."

He looked down at me, and something in his expression broke. "Fine. Save her, and you can go. But if she dies..."

"She won't." My father pulled out a vial from his tactical vest. "Hold her still. This will hurt."

He wasn't kidding. The antidote burned worse than the silver, like liquid fire replacing ice. I screamed, my back arching, and Brian held me tighter.

"Shh, little wolf. I've got you. You're safe."

When the burning finally stopped, I was exhausted. But alive. The wound was already starting to heal, though slowly—silver always left scars.

"We're leaving," my mother said, helping my father up.

"Wait." I struggled to sit up, Brian's arms steadying me. "Why? Why did you abandon me?"

My parents exchanged looks.

"We didn't abandon you," my mother said softly. "We were protecting you. The hunters... they wanted to use you. Your wolf blood makes you valuable to them. We've been leading them away from you for a year."

"But the debt—"

"Was fake," my father admitted. "A way to get you into the most protected pack in the country. We knew Brian would keep you safe, even if he hated you."

I stared at them, trying to process. "You... you gave me to him?"

"We saved your life," my mother said. "The hunters would have experimented on you, turned you into a weapon. At least here..."

"Here she's mine," Brian finished, his voice like ice. "And you're right. I'll protect her with my life. But if either of you come near her again, I'll kill you both."

My parents nodded, backing toward the window.

"Aggie," my father said. "We love you. Everything we did was for you."

Then they were gone, vanishing into the night with the surviving hunters.

The compound was in chaos. Three wolves were dead, seven injured. The dining room was destroyed. And I was lying in the arms of a man I'd just taken a bullet for.

"Why?" Brian asked again, quieter this time.

"Because," I whispered, already knowing I was about to change everything. "Luna was right. You're our mate."

His entire body went rigid. "Say that again."

"You're my mate," I repeated, stronger. "And I'm done fighting it."

He crushed his mouth to mine, kissing me like a drowning man finding air. When he pulled back, his eyes were pure gold.

"The mark," he growled. "Let me give you the mark."

I knew what that meant. Once marked, we'd be bonded forever. No going back. No escape.

But as I looked around at the destruction my parents had caused, at the blood on Brian's hands—blood he'd spilled protecting me—I realized I didn't want to escape.

"Do it."

He didn't hesitate. His fangs extended, and he bit down on the junction between my neck and shoulder. Pain and pleasure exploded through me, the mate bond snapping into place like a rubber band pulled too tight.

I could feel him—his emotions, his thoughts, his overwhelming need to protect and possess. It should have been terrifying.

Instead, it felt like coming home.

"Mine," he growled against my throat.

"Yours," I agreed, then added with a weak smile, "But you're mine too, Alpha."

His laugh was dark and full of promise. "Forever, little wolf."

As he carried me to medical, the compound in chaos around us, I realized the war wasn't over. My parents were still out there. The hunters would regroup. And I was now permanently bound to the most dangerous Alpha in the country.

But with Brian's mark burning on my throat and Luna finally at peace, I couldn't bring myself to regret it.

The real story was just beginning.