The Alpha's Cruel Contract.

Chapter 4 - Sign Or Bleed

Aria's Pov.

I stared at the message, then at Ryker's face, then at the contract lying on our bed like a devil's bargain.

"He's going to keep destroying us until I agree," I whispered.

"I know." Ryker's voice was hollow. "And that's what makes this so perfect. He's given you an impossible choice, lie to me and save the pack, or stay honest and watch everything we built crumble."

"What do I do?" I gritted my teeth.

He looked at me for a long moment, and I saw something break behind his eyes. "I can't make this decision for you, Aria.”

“But know this, if you sign that contract, if you lie to me and go to him, our bond will never be the same. Trust isn't something you can heal with magic or fix with apologies. Once it's broken, it's broken."

Then he walked out, leaving me alone with the contract and seventeen hours until moonrise.

I picked up Kaden's message and read it again. Then I looked at the signature line, gritting my teeth.

Luna stirred inside me, torn between two impossible choices.

And somewhere in Silver Hollow territory, I knew Kaden Blackthorn was smiling.

*** ***

"You look like hell."

Lyra set a cup of coffee in front of me that I hadn't asked for. I'd been sitting in my office for six hours, staring at the contract spread across my desk.

"Thanks," I muttered, wrapping my hands around the warm mug. "That's exactly what I needed to hear."

"What you need is sleep." She dropped into the chair across from me, her green eyes sharp despite the late hour.

"Or better yet, you need to burn that f*****g contract and tell Kaden Blackthorn to shove his manipulation up his…"

"Another debt notice came through an hour ago." I slid the paper across the desk. "The school. He's threatening to shut down the pack school, Lyra.”

“Thirty seven children who won't have anywhere to learn because we suddenly owe back taxes we have already paid."

She grabbed the notice, read it, then crumpled it in her fist. "This is insane. The Council can't just manufacture debt out of nowhere. There are laws…"

"Laws that don't apply when you have an Alpha King's son pulling strings." I took a sip of coffee, but it tasted bitter in my mouth.

"He has been doing this all night. Every few hours, another notice, another debt, another contract cancellation. It's like watching someone systematically dismantle everything we've built, piece by piece."

"So let him." Lyra leaned forward, fierce and determined. "Let him destroy it all. We will rebuild, we have done it before."

"With what resources? What territory?" I laughed bitterly. "In two months, the Council will seize our lands.”

“Our pack members will be scattered to other territories. Children will lose their homes, families will be separated. And for what? My pride?"

"It's not pride to refuse to be manipulated by your abuser!" She cut in.

"He didn't abuse me," I said quietly.

"He rejected you so brutally you lost your wolf for two years. He's now systematically destroying your pack to force you into a fake relationship. What would you call that?" Lyra folded her arms to her chest.

I didn't have an answer, just then, my phone buzzed, it was another message from Kaden.

*Twelve hours left. The children's school closes tomorrow unless you sign. Their futures for your signature, Aria. Seems like an easy choice to me.*

I threw the phone across the room. It hit the wall and clattered to the floor, the screen cracked but still glowing with his message.

"He's a monster," Lyra whispered.

"He's desperate." I stood and walked to the window, looking out over Crescent Peak territory.

I could see the lights twinkling in houses where families slept, trusting their Luna to protect them.

"His wolf is dying. When an Alpha's wolf goes feral, they lose everything, their humanity, their sanity, their soul. Storm is killing him from the inside, and I'm the only thing that can stop it."

"That's not your problem." Lyra muttered.

"Isn't it?" I turned to face her. "The Moon Goddess made us mates, Lyra, she chose us for each other. Maybe this is fate's way of…"

"Don't you dare." She was on her feet, anger blazing in her eyes. "Don't you dare justify this with destiny or fate or Moon Goddess bullshit.”

“Kaden had a choice six years ago. He felt the bond, knew what you were to each other, and he chose his reputation over you.”

“That was his decision. His consequences. You don't owe him salvation because he's too much of a coward to face what he's done." She thundered.

"But the pack…"

"f**k the pack!" Lyra growled.

I stared at her. Lyra, my Beta, my best friend, the wolf who had convinced Ryker to help me when I had nothing, she had never for once put anything above pack welfare.

"You heard me," she said, her voice shaking. "f**k the pack, f**k the debts, f**k all of it, because if you sign that contract, if you lie to Ryker and go to Kaden, you'll destroy yourself worse than any rejection ever could.”

“I watched you claw your way back from nothing, Aria. I watched you learn to trust again, to love again. And I will not watch you throw that away to save buildings and bank accounts." She added.

My eyes were teary now. "Then what do I do? Just let everything collapse? Let children lose their school? Let families lose their homes?"

"You tell Ryker the truth. All of it. Then you face this together, as mates should." She grabbed my hands, squeezing it tight.

"He loves you, even now, even as he is hurt and angry, he loves you. Give him a chance to fight for you instead of lying to him."

I wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe love was enough to overcome manufactured debts and Council politics and a desperate Alpha with nothing left to lose.

But I had seen the numbers. I had watched our pack's foundation crumble in real-time.

"Lyra, if I don't sign…"

The door burst open. Darius stood there, blood on his shirt with his eyes wild. "We've got a problem."

My healer instincts kicked in immediately. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"Not me, Border patrol just found Marcus." He was breathing hard, like he had run the entire way here. "Kaden's enforcers dumped him at our territorial line, beaten within an inch of his life. They left a message carved into his chest."

My blood boiled immediately, Marcus was sixteen years old. The youngest member of our border patrol. "What kind of message?"

Darius pulled out his phone and showed me a photo that made my stomach turn. The words were crude, carved with claws into the boy's skin.

*SIGN OR MORE BLEED*