The Alpha I should Hate

Chapter 4

The full moon hung low in the sky, casting its cold, ethereal light over the clearing ahead. The ceremony ground had been carefully prepared, surrounded by towering trees that seemed to watch us with ancient eyes. A chill ran through the air, sharp as the reality settling in my chest.

This was it. The moment I had tried to avoid, tried to deny—coming for me, unstoppable.

I stood at the edge of the clearing, my feet frozen to the ground, unable to take another step forward. The full moon was rising, its silver light bathing everything in a strange, haunting glow, and with it, everything would change. The bond, the ceremony… all of it. There was no escaping it now.

Behind me, Leon’s presence loomed like a storm, powerful, unrelenting. I could feel him before I even turned to face him, his eyes fixed on my back with that same calculating intensity.

“Ivy,” his voice broke through the silence, sharp, demanding. “It’s time.”

The words sent a shiver through me. I didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to face him. But I had no choice. Slowly, I pivoted, meeting his gaze. The raw power in his eyes left me breathless. He was the Alpha, the man who had destroyed everything I once knew, and now he was forcing me into a bond I couldn’t break.

He stood there, towering over me, the Alpha in every sense of the word. His lips curled into a slight smirk, as if he were savoring this moment, savoring my struggle

“You have no choice, Ivy,” he said softly, his voice laced with something like triumph. “You never did.”

I wanted to scream. To slap him across his smug face and tell him I would never, never be his. But the words caught in my throat, weighed down by the terrifying truth. He was right. I had no choice.

He extended a hand toward me, the coldness in his touch reaching through my skin like ice. “Come,” he said, his tone unyielding. “The ceremony awaits.”

My stomach twisted. I had always known this moment would come, but I hadn’t imagined it would feel like this—like a thousand chains wrapping around my soul, pulling me toward something dark, something I could never escape.

With trembling hands, I took a step toward him, unable to look away from the mark of fate that was about to claim me.

“Don’t do this,” I whispered, barely audible, the words escaping before I could stop them.

Leon didn’t reply. Instead, he held my gaze for a long, pregnant moment. His eyes flickered with something unreadable, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

“Follow me,” he commanded, his voice colder than the night air.

I didn’t move.

He didn’t wait for my consent. Grabbing my wrist with a force that left no room for argument, he pulled me forward, guiding me through the mist that was beginning to swirl around the clearing. The pack was gathered in a circle, watching us, their eyes fixed on the two of us as if they were witnessing some kind of ritualistic judgment.

They were waiting for me to accept it. Waiting for me to bend to the will of the Alpha.

I couldn’t breathe. The weight of their gaze, the pull of the bond, it was all consuming. The very air felt thick with pressure, as if the ground itself were urging me to bow before him.

Leon stopped at the center of the clearing, his grip tightening around my wrist as he turned to face me. The altar, an ancient stone slab inscribed with runes, stood before us, bathed in the eerie moonlight.

“You understand what this is,” he said, his voice low, almost reverent. “Once the bond is sealed, there’s no turning back.”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to claw my way out of this nightmare. But as the ceremony began, as the first words of the ancient rite were spoken by the officiant—another Alpha from a neighboring pack—the inevitability of it all crashed over me.

I was trapped. There was no way out.

I glanced at Leon, but he didn’t look at me. His eyes were fixed on the officiant, his expression unreadable. Cold. Detached.

The officiant’s voice rang out, echoing in the stillness of the night. “Under the full moon, we bind two souls together. As fate wills it, as the Alpha commands, their bond is sealed. No force can sever it. No power can break it. They are one, from this moment forward.”

I felt a pulse deep inside me, the bond waking in my chest, thrumming with energy that wasn’t mine. It was his.

Leon’s hand moved from my wrist to my chin, lifting my face to meet his. His eyes bored into mine, cold and unfeeling, but I saw something flicker there—something that almost resembled regret.

But it was gone before I could understand it.

“I didn’t want this either,” he said quietly, his voice low enough that only I could hear.

My heart stuttered in my chest at the unexpected words, but I quickly hardened my expression, shaking my head. “You don’t get to play the victim here,” I spat, though my voice trembled with the weight of it all. “You made me a pawn in your game.”

He didn’t respond, only tightening his grip on me, his thumb brushing the edge of my jaw, a subtle, almost tender motion that only made my anger flare brighter

“Do you accept this bond?” the officiant asked, his eyes on me, waiting for my answer.

I opened my mouth to say no, to fight with everything I had left, but the bond pulsed again, stronger this time, choking the words from my throat.

I was already his. Whether I liked it or not.

“I accept,” I whispered, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.

Leon’s gaze hardened, his grip tightening as he stepped closer, his lips brushing my ear as he murmured, “We both know you don’t have a choice.”

The ceremony continued around us, but I wasn’t listening. My mind was spinning, my heart racing, as the finality of it all settled in. This was it. The moment where my life, my future, my very soul would be irrevocably bound to him.

The mark would come soon.

And when it did, there would be no turning back.

The ceremony was almost over, but the air still felt thick with unspoken tension. My mind swirled with a hundred conflicting thoughts, but all of them kept returning to the same, unavoidable truth. The bond had been sealed. The mark was now part of me, and there was no running from it.

I could feel it—the connection to him. A thread of power that bound me to Leon, winding through my soul like an invisible chain. It was as if every beat of my heart, every breath I took, was now in sync with his. A part of him was inside me, and a part of me was now in him.

The officiant spoke the final words of the ritual, but I barely registered them. My gaze was fixed on Leon, watching him with a strange mix of hatred and disbelief. How had I allowed this to happen? How had I let myself be pulled into his web of lies and power?

Leon, the man who had destroyed my family, had stolen everything from me. And now, I belonged to him.

The weight of the moment settled on my shoulders like a thousand pounds, suffocating me with its finality. My chest ached, and I fought the tears threatening to spill. But I wouldn’t let him see that. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me break.

“You’re mine now,” Leon’s voice was low, his words harsh as he leaned in close, just enough for only me to hear. His breath was warm against my ear, his fingers now grazing the mark on my neck, the proof of the bond that now tied us together.

I flinched at the contact, but I didn’t pull away. I couldn’t.

His hand moved to the back of my neck, his fingers curling around me possessively. “I warned you this would happen,” he continued, his voice quiet, yet full of authority. “No matter how much you fight it, you’re mine, Ivy. And nothing—nothing—will ever change that.”

I wanted to scream, to rip away from him, but the bond held me in place. It was as if something deep inside me responded to him, craving his touch, needing his presence. The pull of the bond was undeniable, impossible to ignore.

“Stop,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “Just stop.”

But he didn’t. He stepped closer, his body now pressed against mine, his warmth seeping into my skin, and for a moment, I could almost feel the weight of the world on his shoulders. Almost.

But I wasn’t fooled. Beneath the surface, Leon was still the man who had killed my family. He was still the monster who had torn apart my life. The bond didn’t change that.

The crowd around us was silent, watching, waiting for the moment to pass, for the ritual to be complete. They were nothing more than bystanders in this twisted play, their lives bound to Leon’s pack, their loyalty to him unquestionable.

But I wasn’t one of them. I wasn’t loyal to him. Not now, not ever.

“I’ll never be yours,” I muttered, forcing the words out despite the bitterness clogging my throat. “Not like this.”

Leon’s expression softened for a split second, something like regret flickering in his cold, steel-gray eyes. But then, just as quickly, the mask was back in place. His hand left the mark on my neck, moving to my cheek, his fingers tracing the outline of my jaw with a gentleness that felt so wrong coming from him.

“You will,” he said simply. “In time. You’ll see.”

I wanted to slap his hand away, to scream at him that I would never, never bend to him. But I didn’t. Instead, I just stood there, frozen by the bond, unable to move, unable to think straight.

“I won’t ever forgive you,” I said, the words fierce, even if I didn’t believe them.

Leon’s lips twitched into a small, humorless smile. “Forgiveness isn’t the point, Ivy. This isn’t about forgiveness. It’s about survival.”

“Survival,” I echoed bitterly, shaking my head. “You’re using me to survive.”

His gaze hardened again, his jaw tightening. “I do what I must to protect my pack. If that means making you my mate—so be it. There’s nothing else to it.”

The officiant finally raised his hands, signaling the end of the ceremony. “The bond is complete,” he said, his voice carrying across the clearing. “As the full moon sets, the Alpha and his mate are one. May the gods bless this union.”

I barely registered the words. All I could hear was the beating of my own heart, thudding in my chest as the weight of the ceremony crashed over me. The mark. The bond. The truth.

I was his.

I wanted to tear myself away from him, but as his eyes locked onto mine again, the unspoken command was there. I couldn’t escape. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t escape him.

“Come,” Leon said, his voice low, commanding as he turned toward the edge of the clearing. “The night isn’t over yet.”

I stumbled behind him, still trying to shake off the dizzying feeling of the bond settling deeper into my bones. It was suffocating. I could feel it pulsing inside me, a reminder of the choice I had never made, but now couldn’t undo.

The others began to disperse, returning to the shadows of the forest, leaving us alone beneath the full moon.

The world felt like it was closing in on me. The bond. The mark. The Alpha.

And the worst part?

I didn’t know if I hated him for it—or if I was already starting to need him.