Bound By Alpha Kaelith

The Alpha's Indifference

Alpha Kaelith had entered the hall.

The temperature dropped sharply, a cold so biting it felt like frost crawling beneath the skin. Every demon in the room froze. Even the air seemed afraid to move. Arin didn’t dare turn around; he only felt the weight of Kaelith’s presence settle on his shoulders, pressing down like a boulder.

The demon who had threatened him collapsed to one knee, head bowed so low that his horns scraped the floor. “M-Master Kaelith,” he stammered, voice cracking, “forgive me, I...I...I...did not realize”

Kaelith didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. He simply stepped further into the room, and the shadows around him bent and twisted like obedient creatures. His expression did not change; there was no anger, no interest, not even recognition. His gaze passed over Arin as if he were nothing more than dust on the floor.

Arin’s throat tightened painfully. He suddenly wished Kaelith had never come. Being invisible to him felt worse than being in danger.

A whisper ran through the servants.

“He didn’t even look at the human.”

“Of course he didn’t.”

“Humans mean nothing to the Alpha.”

Kaelith stopped in front of the kneeling demon, the one who had grabbed Arin. His shadow stretched long and sharp across the stone floor. “Rise,” he ordered. The demon obeyed instantly, legs shaking violently.

“You broke palace law,” Kaelith said, flat and cold.

The demon swallowed thickly. “M-Master, I swear—I only meant to discipline the human”

Kaelith’s eyes narrowed fractionally, not in anger, but in the razor-thin precision of judgment. And then the shadows reacted. They rose from the ground like dark serpents and wrapped around the demon’s neck. He choked, gasping for air, his feet lifting slightly off the floor. Arin flinched. He could not tear his gaze away. This was not mercy. This was not protection. This was a king enforcing his law not for Arin’s sake, but for the order of the palace.

“Master—please—I meant no harm—!” the demon rasped.

Kaelith remained still, completely unaffected. His voice was flat and emotionless. “You touched what did not belong to you.”

Arin’s heart stopped. What did not belong to him? Was Kaelith speaking of the palace? The servant hall? Or… was he talking about Arin himself?

Before he could think further, Kaelith flicked his hand. The shadows released immediately, dropping the demon to the floor like a discarded object. The hall remained silent. Kaelith said nothing more. He did not explain, he did not threaten, and he did not glance at Arin. He simply turned and walked away, the shadows following him like smoke dissolving into darkness. No goodbyes, no acknowledgment, not a single glance at the human caught in the middle.

The moment he stepped out, the suffocating pressure lifted. The servants began to breathe again, some gasping for air, others wiping sweat from their brows.

Arin stood frozen, shaking, unable to move. His wrist still throbbed where the demon had gripped him, and his heart pounded painfully as he stared at the floor.

A servant approached cautiously, an older woman with a stiff posture and narrow eyes. “Get up,” she whispered sharply. “Before someone thinks you are defying orders.”

Arin scrambled to his feet, wobbling. “I—I wasn’t trying to defy anything. I just… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do”

“Then figure it out quickly,” she hissed. “This palace does not tolerate weakness.”

Another servant, a young boy, tugged at her sleeve. “He’s new. He didn’t mean—”

“Quiet,” she snapped. “The Alpha may not have killed him today, but accidents happen.”

Arin shivered. Accidents. The word sounded deliberate, a hidden threat disguised as a warning.

“I don’t understand why he… why Kael—King Kaelith didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at me,” Arin whispered.

A skinny servant polishing a metal dish snorted. “That’s how he is. Humans don’t interest him. They never have.”

Another nodded. “He only punishes disobedience. It had nothing to do with you.”

“But—but I thought…” Arin stammered. “If he saved me, maybe—”

A woman leaned close and whispered firmly, “Listen carefully. He did not save you. He saved order. You were just caught in the middle.”

Arin’s stomach dropped. The chill in his chest deepened.

“The Alpha’s indifference is more dangerous than his anger,” she continued softly. “If he cared enough to hate you, at least you’d matter.”

Arin stared at her, speechless. A few servants murmured in agreement. One added quietly, “If he keeps ignoring you, you won’t survive long.”

Arin pressed his lips tightly together and bent down to pick up his cleaning cloth, still trembling. Every time footsteps echoed behind him, he flinched, and the servants whispered, “Careful. Don’t attract attention. Keep your head down.”

Then, the young boy leaned close to Arin and whispered, “Hey… I know you’re new and probably scared out of your mind, but… don’t let them see you panic. The palace notices weakness faster than fire spreads.”

“I… I don’t even know if I can survive here,” Arin muttered.

“You will,” the boy said confidently, a sly grin tugging at his lips. “Just don’t get in the way of Kaelith’s rules or anyone else’s. And for the love of the underworld, stay out of trouble with the big, angry demons. Trust me… they’re worse than death.”

Arin managed a shaky laugh. “I… guess that makes sense…”

The older woman shot the boy a glare. “Focus, boy. Let him learn the lesson first.”

Arin swallowed hard, pressing his lips together again, and returned to cleaning, though every movement felt weighted, every shadow threatening. The chill in his chest lingered. Even without Kaelith watching him, the fear of being noticed or ignored was suffocating.

The young boy’s whispered advice replayed in his mind: “Stay out of trouble. Survive. That’s all that matters.” Arin forced himself to focus, wiping the tables carefully, his hands still trembling.

A faint hiss echoed from the far corner of the hall. Arin froze, heart hammering, but no one was there. The palace was alive, and it seemed to whisper, “Survive… if you can.”