The Alpha's Bite

chapter four

Kael's POV

I could not sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt her. The bond pulsed between us like a second heartbeat, and it was wrong. Everything about it was wrong.

Alpha bonds were supposed to flow one direction. From the Alpha to the bonded. Control. Dominance. Submission. That was how it had always worked. But this bond was different. I could feel Lyra's emotions as clearly as my own. Her anger. Her fear. Her determination. And underneath it all, a power that made my wolf whimper and retreat.

I stood at my office window, staring out at the dark forests. Marcus had been here twice already, asking questions I could not answer. Why did the mark glow silver? Why did I look so shaken? Why was the omega still alive?

I had no good answers. Only growing dread.

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. "Enter."

Elder Mora shuffled in without waiting for permission. The old woman had been with this pack longer than I had been alive. She was one of the few wolves I could not intimidate, mostly because she did not seem to care whether she lived or died.

"You look terrible," she said bluntly.

"Thank you for that observation."

"When was the last time you ate? Slept?" She moved closer, her sharp eyes examining me. "The bond is draining you already, is it not?"

I said nothing. Admitting weakness was dangerous, even to Mora.

"I have been alive a long time, Alpha. Long enough to remember things that most wolves think are just stories. Long enough to recognize a Moonborne when I see one."

My blood turned cold. "That's impossible. They're extinct."

"Clearly not." Mora sat down in my chair like she owned it. "The girl is Moonborne. That is why the bond reversed. You cannot dominate what was created to balance you. You can only destroy it or accept it."

"Then I'll destroy it."

"Will you?" Mora tilted her head. "Because that mark on her neck says otherwise. You could have killed her in the trial grounds. Instead, you bound yourself to her. Why?"

I did not have an answer. Or rather, I did not want to examine the answer too closely. When Lyra had looked at me with those gray eyes, something in me had recognized her. Something old and buried deep.

"She has a brother in the dungeons," I said, changing the subject. "Finn Hale. What do you know about him?"

"Young man. Early twenties. Was caught two months ago asking questions about the Moonborne m******e. Marcus wanted him executed immediately, but you ordered him kept alive. Why?"

"Because killing people for asking questions makes us look like we have something to hide."

"And do we?"

I met her gaze. Mora was one of the few wolves who had been here during my father's reign. She had witnessed the purge fifteen years ago. She knew what we had done.

"My father believed he was protecting the pack hierarchy," I said carefully. "The Moonborne threatened the natural order."

"Your father was a paranoid tyrant who killed an entire bloodline because of a prophecy he misunderstood. And you helped him do it."

The words hit like physical blows. I had spent fifteen years trying to justify those choices. Telling myself I was just following orders. That I was too young to refuse. That it was necessary.

But standing here now, connected to a Moonborne through a bond I could not break, all those justifications felt hollow.

"What do you want me to say, Mora? That I regret it? That I wish I could undo it?"

"I want you to say the truth. That you are terrified because the past has come back to destroy you, and this time you cannot just follow orders. You have to make your own choice."

She was right. I hated that she was right.

"The bond is killing me," I admitted. "I can feel it. Every hour, I get weaker. And she gets stronger."

"Because she hates you. And that hate is traveling through the bond, poisoning it. You marked her as property, and her Moonborne blood is rejecting the subjugation."

"How do I fix it?"

Mora laughed, a dry sound like autumn leaves. "You cannot fix it, boy. You can only accept it. Complete the bond properly. Make her your equal instead of your prisoner. Then the bond will stabilize."

"She'll never agree to that. Not after what I did."

"Then you will die slowly while she grows strong enough to kill you herself. Those are your choices." Mora stood and moved toward the door. "Though if I were you, I would start by telling her the truth about her brother. And about what really happened fifteen years ago."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because secrets are poison in a bond. And you are already dying from them."

After she left, I sat alone in the darkness. Through the bond, I could feel Lyra. She was not sleeping either. She was planning. Thinking. Every thought sharp as broken glass.

I had made so many mistakes in my life. Followed my father's orders without question. Took the Alpha position through violence. Ruled through fear because it was easier than earning respect. But marking Lyra Hale might be the mistake that finally destroyed me.

Unless I did something I had never been good at. Unless I tried honesty.

I made a decision. Tomorrow, I would go to her cell. I would tell her about Finn. About the m******e. About the prophecy that had driven my father mad. And then I would offer her something no Alpha had ever offered an omega.

A choice.

The bond pulsed between us, carrying my determination to her. I felt her awareness shift. She knew I was awake. She knew I was thinking about her.

Good. Let her feel it. Let her know that I was not giving up. That I would fight for this bond even if she wanted to destroy it.

Because deep down, in a place I did not want to examine, I knew the truth. The bond had not been wrong. It had been right. And that terrified me more than anything.