The Alpha’s Unchosen Mate

Chapter 6

Darian’s POV

The words were still hanging in the air when I answered.

“Say that again.”

Sable’s father did not flinch. “You will not remain Alpha of Veyrath.”

I looked at him until the silence started to work on the rest of the room. Then I turned my head toward Eldric.

“Who gave him the right to stand in this chamber and decide that?”

Eldric’s face stayed calm. “The council has the authority to question an Alpha’s fitness when the pack’s stability is at risk. You know the law.”

“I know the law,” I said. “I also know that one man’s pride and a few nervous elders do not equal a removal. So say what you actually mean.”

The thin-lipped woman leaned forward. “Your judgment is under question. You brought a marked Omega into the compound without discussion. You handled two border deaths without full report. You walk her through the courtyards and put your mouth on her in front of the ranks. The pack is talking.”

“Let them talk.”

Sable’s father took a step closer to the table. “Easy for you to say. My daughter was given consideration. Your uncle and I spoke. The ceremony is close. Instead you parade that girl around like a claim and expect silence.”

I kept my voice level. “I expect my land to stay free of hired killers. Someone sent men to put a knife in her. They failed. I dealt with them. That is not poor judgment. That is the job.”

Eldric raised one hand slightly. The room quieted. Even the air seemed to settle. Alpha presence still carried weight here, no matter how much they tested it.

“No one disputes your right to protect those on your land,” he said. “But the manner of it has created noise. Public displays. Open disregard for a strong bloodline match already under discussion. Handling of deaths without the council’s full knowledge. These things do not sit quietly, nephew. Recklessness has a cost.”

I held his eyes. “You raised me in this seat. You taught me what it costs. Are you telling me the seat is now conditional on who I refuse to send away and who I kiss in a courtyard?”

A few of the elders shifted. Eldric did not.

“I am telling you that an Alpha who cannot separate personal desires from public duty invites challenge. If the ranks begin to believe their Alpha is ruled by a temporary arrangement with an Omega of no rank and no wolf, they will not follow as readily when harder decisions come.”

Sable’s father spoke again, tighter now. “The gossip has already reached the outer settlements. People ask whether you can govern when your private life has become the pack’s evening entertainment.”

There it was. The real blade. Not the protection. Not even the deaths. The idea that I had allowed something private to become useful against me.

I let the silence sit long enough to make them wait. My wolf stirred under my skin, low and restless. It did not like being questioned in its own territory.

“If the council believes I am unfit,” I said, “then the council should say so plainly and name the process. Do not hide behind fancy words and a father’s hurt pride.”

Eldric’s gaze stayed steady. “The process is already in motion. We are not removing you today. We are placing you under review.”

The thin-lipped elder nodded. “Thirty days. From this meeting. In that time you will demonstrate that your judgment remains sound. That the pack’s traditions are not being set aside for personal reasons. That the arrangement with the Omega does not undermine your authority.”

“And if I do not satisfy you?”

“Then the council will vote on whether you remain Alpha,” Eldric said. “The old laws allow it when the majority finds the Alpha’s conduct a danger to stability.”

I looked around the table. Closed faces. Waiting faces. No one here was going to stand with me unless I forced the ground under their feet.

“You want proof,” I said. “You will get it. But hear me clearly. I will not send her away to quiet your talk. She stays under my protection until the people who ordered her death are found. That is not negotiable. If anyone in this room or outside it moves against her while she is under my roof, the review will include more than my judgment.”

Eldric inclined his head once. “The terms are set. Thirty days. Conduct yourself as Alpha of Veyrath. Keep the ranks steady. Resolve the matter of the border deaths and the threats against the girl in a way that does not further damage the pack’s confidence in you. At the end of the period the council will reconvene.”

I held his eyes a moment longer. “And if I decide the council has overreached?”

“Then we will have a different conversation,” Eldric said. “One I would prefer to avoid.”

I turned and walked out without waiting for dismissal.

The heavy doors shut behind me. The corridor felt colder. Cyran stood a short distance away with Talia. She was leaning against the wall, still careful of her side. Her scent reached me first—soft, clean, with that faint edge of pain she tried to hide. My wolf noticed it before I did. It always did.

Her eyes found mine the second the doors closed.

Cyran stepped forward. “Well?”

“They gave me thirty days to prove I am still fit to lead.”

Talia’s face changed. Not surprise. Something sharper. Like she had already been waiting for the cost of standing next to me to land.

Cyran’s voice stayed low. “And the arrangement?”

“Stays.” I looked at her. “You are still under my protection. That has not changed.”

She searched my face. “They used me against you.”

It was not a question.

“They tried,” I said. “They will keep trying. That is their problem, not yours.”

Cyran clenched his jaw. He did not comment.

I started walking. They fell in step. Every servant we passed looked away a fraction too quickly. Word would already be moving through the kitchens and the barracks. Thirty days. The Alpha under review. The Omega still in the house.

When we reached the turn toward the guest wing I stopped.

“Cyran. Keep her close. No walks without one of us. No visitors I have not cleared.”

He nodded. “Done.”

Talia’s eyes stayed on me. “What happens at the end of the thirty days?”

I met her gaze. The pull was still there, quiet but steady. The same one that had started the night I pulled her off the forest floor. My wolf did not like the idea of her walking away. Neither did I.

“I win,” I said.

She held my eyes a moment longer. Then she nodded once, small and tight, and turned toward her room with Cyran beside her.

I watched them go. Her scent lingered in the hall for a few seconds after she disappeared.

Thirty days.

I had taken border fights with less time and less at stake. This was different. This was the pack looking at the man who led them and deciding whether the private choices he made still belonged to him.

I turned toward my study. There was work to do. Reports to pull. Names to check. The men who had tried to kill her had not acted alone. Someone inside the pack or close to it had given the order. Finding that someone would be part of the proof I gave them.

And somewhere in the middle of it all was the girl who had looked me in the eye and said no the first time I offered her a deal. The one whose scent my wolf already knew too well.

I pushed the study door open and shut it hard behind me.

Thirty days.

I intended to make every one of them count.