The Alpha's Bite

chapter two

Kael's POV

I awoke before dawn, as was my custom. Sleep did not come easily, and when it did, it was with dreams I would prefer not to recall. Dreams of blood and fire. Of choices that could never be unmade.

Marcus was waiting in my office when I finished dressing. My Second-in-Command was leaning against my desk like it belonged to him, as per usual. Marcus had been attempting to take my job since the day I received it. The reason he was still breathing was that he was useful.

"We caught a trespasser last night," he informed me. "Female. Half-blood omega."

"And?"

"She was three miles in. That's not an accident. She was searching for something."

I poured myself a cup of coffee and drank it black. Trespassers were rare but not unheard of. Most were spies from rival packs. We made examples of them to discourage others.

"Bring her to the trial grounds at sunrise," I said to him. "The pack needs a reminder of what happens when borders are crossed."

Marcus smiled. He enjoyed the trials too much. "Already taken care of."

The sun was barely rising over the mountains when I approached the grounds. My pack had gathered, hundreds of them, in a circle around the platform. They scented blood. They always scented blood. It was what kept them loyal and scared in equal measure.

The guards dragged the trespasser ahead. She was small, dark-haired, and her gear marked her as a border town person. No pack affiliation. No protection. Nothing.

But when she lifted her head and looked at me, something shifted in my chest. Her eyes were gray as storm clouds, and there was no fear in them. Only defiance.

"Name," I commanded.

"Lyra Hale." Her voice didn't tremble.

"You entered Blackthorn lands. You know the punishment."

"I do."

"Why, then?"

For the first time, something flickered across her face. Pain, maybe. Or desperation. "I'm looking for my brother. Finn Hale. He's been gone for two months, and I have reason to believe he's here."

The name meant nothing to me. We had dozens of prisoners in the dungeons. I did not keep track of them all.

"That's not the point," I said. "You broke pack law. The penalty is death."

"Then kill me," she said, lifting her chin. "But at least tell me if my brother is alive first. That's all I'm asking."

There was a murmur from the crowd. Some believed her courage. Others thought her foolish. Marcus was waiting to find out what I was going to do, watching me closely.

I ought to have had her put to death. It would have been quick and clean. A lesson to others. But something about the way she stood there, unafraid, stirred a memory I'd believed I'd buried deep. Of another woman with storm-gray eyes who'd stood in front of me fifteen years ago, begging for her child's life before I.

I shook the memory off.

"You want mercy?" I said.

"I want the truth."

A scheme was formed. A sadistic one, perhaps, but effective. If I simply killed her, she'd be forgotten by sunset. But if I transformed her, made her into something other than dead, something worse than dead, then the lesson would last much longer.

"I'll provide you with the truth," I said to her, descending from the dais. The crowd moved aside as I went toward her. "But first, you'll offer me something in return."

She tensed up as I approached. Good. She should be afraid now.

"The Alpha's bite is sacred," I told her, loudly enough for everyone to hear. "It creates an unbreakable bond between mates. A binding of souls. But it can also be used as punishment. A way of marking someone as property. As owned."

Her eyes widened. She understood now.

"I can kill you, Lyra Hale. Or I can bind you to me for life, a living warning to anyone who trespasses. You'll serve me. Take my commands. And the entire world will know you belong to the Alpha who let you live."

"That isn't mercy. " she whispered.

"It's an improvement over death. Barely."

I grabbed her arm and pulled her close. She tried to pull away, but the guards held her fast. The mark of bonding went on the neck, at the juncture of shoulder and throat. A place that could not be hidden.

"Last chance," I said to her. "Death or the bite. Choose."

She looked up at me with her eyes full of hate, those gray eyes. "I choose to find my brother. Do your worst."

So I did.

I bit deep, my canines piercing skin. The bite would leave a scar. It always did. She cried out but didn't shriek. The bond magic flowed from me to her, a dark power meant to subjugate and control.

But something went wrong.

Instead of going one way, the magic backlashed. It slammed into me like a wave of energy, and I was abruptly drowning in it. Visions exploded through my mind: a woman running through snow, a child screaming, fire ripping through a village. And beneath it all, a presence that was older than was possible and impossibly powerful.

I released her and stumbled backward. Lyra collapsed to her knees, her whole body shaking. The mark on her neck throbbed silver instead of the usual gold. Silver. Like the old myths of.

No. It couldn't be. They were all dead.

Lyra's eyes lifted to mine, and her eyes were not the same. They still blazed with hatred, but now with something more. Power.

"What did you do to me?" she whispered.

I had no answer. Because I had just made a mistake that might destroy everything