Fated by the Rival Alpha

Chapter 2 — The Rumor We Could Not Kill

By breakfast, the whole summit knew.

I did not fully understand how fast pack gossip traveled until I walked into the dining hall and every conversation stopped. Heads turned. Eyes followed me from the door to the food table like I was something to be studied. Warriors who had been trying to kill each other last season were suddenly united by the same expression.

Curiosity.

I filled my plate and sat down at the Silver Fang table. Cole was already there. My beta. My oldest friend. The one person I trusted to tell me the truth without softening it.

He looked at me for a long moment.

"So," he said.

"Do not."

"I did not say anything."

"You were about to."

He picked up his cup slowly. "The warriors are saying you and Magnus came out of the same room this morning. Together. Both looking like you had a very peaceful night."

I stared at my food. "We had too much blood wine and ended up in the wrong room. That is all that happened."

"Right." Cole nodded. "And your wolf? Is he also saying that is all that happened?"

I did not answer. Cole was smart enough not to push it.

Across the hall, Magnus walked in with two of his own men. He moved the same way he always did. Steady. Unhurried. Like the room adjusted to him instead of the other way around. He did not look at me when he sat down. But one of his warriors leaned over and said something and Magnus said something back and the warrior laughed quietly.

I did not like that either.

Elder Rowan called both packs to attention before the meal was over. He stood at the front of the hall with his hands folded and his voice carrying the way old elders knew how to make it carry.

"Last night's treaty signing was a historic moment," he said. "Both packs should be proud. Alpha Kade and Alpha Magnus have shown that Silver Fang and Blood Moon can share more than a border."

Someone in the hall coughed. It sounded deliberate.

I set my fork down.

"The thirty day joint patrol begins tomorrow," Elder Rowan continued. "Both Alphas will lead their teams in rotating shifts across the shared border. This is not optional. This is part of the treaty agreement and both Alphas signed."

I had signed. I remembered that part clearly even through the blood wine fog. I just had not thought about what it meant in practice. Thirty days. Magnus. Same border. Every single day.

I looked across the hall. Magnus was already looking at me. That same stillness. That same unreadable expression.

I looked away first. I was annoyed at myself for it.

After the meal, I found a quiet corridor near the east wing and called my pack council through Cole. Three senior warriors, my head elder, and my beta all gathered in a small meeting room while the rest of the summit went about its business outside.

"The rumor is already spreading to both home territories," my elder, Mara, said. She was old and sharp and she never dressed anything up. "By tonight, Silver Fang pack will believe their Alpha bonded with the Blood Moon Alpha over the treaty table."

"Then we correct it," I said.

"You cannot correct pack gossip," Mara said. "You can only outlast it or confirm it. Denial makes it worse."

"I am not confirming anything."

"I am not suggesting you do." She folded her hands. "I am telling you to be careful. Your wolf's behavior this morning was noticed by more than just warriors in a hallway. The summit elders are already talking."

I leaned back in my chair. "What are they saying?"

"That a natural bond between two Alpha wolves from rival packs would be the strongest seal a peace treaty has ever had in three hundred years of wolf history." She looked at me steadily. "They are not entirely wrong."

The room went quiet.

Cole broke it. "So what do we do?"

"We do the patrols," I said. "We finish the thirty days. We go home. The rumor dies when nothing else happens to feed it."

Mara looked at me like she was not so sure about that. I ignored the look.

Magnus found me that afternoon near the summit courtyard. I was alone, which I suspected he had waited for. He moved up beside me and stood there looking out at the tree line the same way I was, like we were two wolves watching the same horizon for different reasons.

"Your council meeting went long," he said.

"Were you timing it?"

"Your beta looks worried."

"Cole always looks worried. It is his personality."

Magnus was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "We should address the rumor together. Publicly. Before it reaches the home packs in a version neither of us can manage."

I looked at him. "You want us to stand in front of both packs and say nothing happened."

"I want us to stand in front of both packs and redirect the story. We present the joint patrols as a strategic decision we both chose. Not something the elders forced. It gives both packs something real to focus on instead of a guest room and a missing shirt."

I hated that it made sense.

"Fine," I said. "Tonight at the closing ceremony."

He nodded. Started to walk away.

"Magnus."

He stopped.

"If you tell anyone my wolf was purring this morning I will make the next thirty days very unpleasant for you."

He turned just enough for me to catch the edge of his expression. Not quite a smile. But close.

"He was not purring," Magnus said. "He was humming. There is a difference."

He walked away before I could respond.

I stood there staring at the tree line and tried very hard not to think about what my wolf was doing right now.

He was humming.

The traitor.

The closing ceremony that evening was brief. Both Alphas stood before both packs in the main hall. Magnus spoke first. Clean, direct, no wasted words. He framed the joint patrols as a show of strength. Two Alpha-led forces protecting a shared border. Unity through action, not just paper.

I spoke second. I said mostly the same things in a different order.

The elders looked satisfied. Most of the warriors nodded. A few of the younger ones in the back still had that look. The one that said they had already made up their minds and a speech was not going to change it.

I caught Magnus watching me as I stepped back from the front.

I looked away.

Tomorrow the patrols started. Thirty days of sharing territory with the one wolf who had spent the last three years being my enemy.

My wolf thought this was a good idea.

I thought my wolf needed to be seriously reconsidered.