Chapter 3: The Alpha’s Warning
873 Words
Lyla didn’t sleep that night.
Even hours after Riven left, his words kept echoing in her mind:
“You’re not just human. And neither am I.”
The mark on her wrist pulsed faintly under her sweatshirt, like a second heartbeat.
She kept replaying the scene over and over — the way the ground had trembled, the way the trees had lit up with silver when they touched. It was impossible, but it happened. She couldn’t deny it anymore.
Worse?
A part of her wanted to see him again.
The next morning, Lyla skipped school.
Her foster parents barely noticed. They were used to her silence. Used to the girl who spent her time alone, reading strange books or wandering into the woods with headphones on.
This time, though, she wasn’t wandering.
She had a purpose.
She needed answers.
She returned to the place in the woods where they had met — the old creek bed near the broken trees. But it was empty.
No sign of him.
Until the wind changed.
She turned slowly.
There he was.
Riven.
Standing at the edge of the trees, arms crossed, looking like he’d stepped straight out of a nightmare and a dream.
His eyes — golden, glowing — locked onto hers.
"You shouldn't have come alone," he said.
She raised an eyebrow. “You said we needed to talk.”
He walked forward, slow and steady, like a predator stalking prey — but not to kill. To claim.
“I meant later.”
“Why?”
“Because you're being watched.”
Lyla froze. “By who?”
Riven didn’t answer. Instead, he took her arm gently, pulling her deeper into the woods. They moved fast. Too fast. The world blurred around her, and suddenly they were at a hidden clearing ringed with ancient stones.
“What—where are we?”
“Safe. For now.”
He released her, and she backed away, heart pounding.
“I’m not ready for this,” she said.
He nodded. “Neither was I.”
Lyla studied him.
He looked... tortured.
Like someone constantly on the edge of breaking.
And beneath all that power, all that cold distance, she could see it — the ache. The part of him that didn’t want this bond either.
But couldn’t let it go.
"You said you're not human," she said, arms folded.
"I'm not."
"What are you?"
He looked up at the moon — still faintly visible in the daytime sky.
“Wolf.”
She laughed, a short, nervous bark. “You’re joking.”
He didn’t smile.
“You mean… like a werewolf?”
“I don’t shift under the full moon like in your horror movies,” he said dryly. “But yes. I’m Alpha of the Blackfang pack.”
Her mouth went dry.
Alpha.
Like the leader of a wolf pack.
“You’re serious.”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
She sank onto a rock. “So what does that make me?”
He hesitated. “Not a wolf. Not fully. But you’re marked now. Chosen.”
“By what? Destiny? The moon?”
He nodded. “The moon has its own will. And it doesn’t care about what we want.”
Lyla felt the weight of his words settle in her chest.
“And this mark… it binds us?”
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
He looked away. “Unless one of us dies.”
The silence hit like a slap.
“Oh,” she said, barely a whisper.
Then, softly: “Do you hate me for it?”
Riven's eyes snapped to hers.
And for the first time, his mask cracked.
“No,” he said, voice low. “I’m afraid of what I’ll do to you.”
Suddenly, a sharp rustle in the woods.
Riven tensed. “Stay behind me.”
A second later, a massive silver wolf stepped into the clearing.
But it wasn’t alone.
A man followed it — tall, broad-shouldered, with cruel eyes and a wicked smile.
“Riven,” he said, voice like ice. “Found yourself a little plaything?”
Riven’s voice dropped an octave. “Kael.”
Kael’s eyes flicked to Lyla.
And in that moment, she felt it — something oily, invasive, hungry in his gaze.
This one wasn’t like Riven.
He wasn’t fighting the monster inside him.
He was the monster.
“Pretty little mate you’ve got,” Kael sneered. “Pity if something happened to her.”
Riven growled, low and deadly.
“She’s under my protection,” he warned.
Kael grinned. “For now.”
Then he vanished back into the woods — the silver wolf at his side.
Lyla was shaking.
“Who was that?” she asked.
Riven’s voice was like stone. “The one who wants to kill me. And claim you.”
Her blood ran cold.
“What do we do?”
Riven stepped close, cupping her face with surprising gentleness.
“We survive. Together.”
Then he leaned in — just a breath from her lips — but didn’t kiss her.
Not yet.
Instead, he whispered:
“You’re mine now, Lyla. And I will burn the world before I let anyone else touch you.”
[End of Chapter 3]
- Writer
