The Alpha's Cruel Contract.

Chapter 2 - The Contract

Aria's Pov.

"Get. Out."

My voice came out as a growl, half human, half wolf, as I shoved Kaden away from me.

Right now, the black veins spreading on my neck and shoulders had receded, his Alpha blood burning through the feral poison like sunlight through shadow.

But the phantom sensation of our bond crackling back to life made my skin feel too tight.

"Aria, you need to rest…" Lyra started, but I was already on my feet, the robe clutched around me like armor.

"I said get out!" I snarled at Kaden, letting Luna flash behind my eyes. "All of you. Out of my territory. Now."

Kaden's ice-blue eyes tracked my movements with predatory focus.

He looked completely calm, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his wolf pressed just beneath his skin.

"We need to talk." He said.

"We have nothing to discuss." I countered immediately.

Who does he think he is and what exactly does he want us to discuss?.

"Actually," he said, gesturing to the destroyed Great Hall around us, "we have quite a bit to discuss. Starting with why a feral rogue just crashed through your ceiling targeting you specifically."

I froze. "What are you talking about?"

"That wasn't random." Kaden pulled something from his pocket, it was a collar, it looked charred and broken, with symbols etched into the metal that made my stomach turn.

"Someone sent that rogue. Someone who wanted you dead and was willing to use dark magic to make it happen." He continued.

Lyra snatched the collar from his hand immediately, her face going pale as she examined the markings. "Blood binding. These symbols... Aria,”

She paused and continued “This is Council level dark magic. Whoever did this has serious power and serious resources."

"Convenient timing," I said coldly, looking at Kaden. "You show up after six years, and suddenly I'm being attacked by magically enhanced rogues?"

Something dangerous flashed across his face. "You think I would…"

"I don't know what you would do anymore," I cut him off. "I stopped trying to understand you the day you rejected me in front of your entire pack."

The room went deadly quiet. Pack members who hadn't left yet suddenly found reasons to be elsewhere.

Even Lyra stepped back, though she kept the collar and her eyes firmly on Kaden.

Kaden's jaw tightened. "That was a mistake."

"No." I moved closer, letting my anger override the fear still coursing through me. "A mistake is forgetting someone's birthday. A mistake is being late to a meeting.”

“What you did was a choice. You felt the mate bond snap into place, you knew what we were to each other, and you chose to destroy me because I wasn't good enough for your precious reputation."

"I was twenty-two years old and my father…"

"I don't care!" The words ripped from my throat. "I don't care about your excuses or your regrets or whatever story you have told yourself to sleep at night.”

“You broke me, Kaden. You broke me so badly I lost my wolf for two years. Do you understand that?” My voice rose

“Two years of being essentially human because the rejection trauma was so severe my wolf retreated so deep I thought she was gone forever."

Luna stirred inside me, a comforting presence that I had fought so hard to reclaim.

The memory of those two years, working dead-end jobs in human cities, feeling like a ghost, waking up screaming from nightmares of ice-blue eyes and the word "rejected" echoing in my head made my hands shake.

Kaden's expression shifted to something that might have been pain, if I believed he was capable of it. "Aria…"

He must think I would be easily manipulated by his presence. He must be joking.

"Luna Aria," I corrected sharply. "That Omega girl you rejected doesn't exist anymore. Ryker found her broken and helped her become someone worthy of a pack.

“Someone worthy of being loved. So whatever you came here for, whatever you want from me, the answer is no."

I turned to leave, desperately needing space before the bond's phantom pull made me do something stupid like cry in front of him.

"Your pack is going bankrupt."

I stopped mid-step as I heard this.

Kaden's voice was quiet but carried through the ruined hall like a death sentence. "Crescent Peak is drowning in debt to the Wolf Council.”

“You have three territorial contracts that are about to be revoked due to 'concerns about leadership stability.’”

“And according to my sources, you have approximately two months before the Council seizes your lands and absorbs your pack into surrounding territories." He explained.

Ice flooded my veins instantly, "You are lying."

"Am I?" He raised a brow, then he pulled out a tablet and set it on the nearest intact table. "Look for yourself."

Lyra got there before I could, her fingers flying across the screen.

Her face went from angry to confused then to horrified in the span of seconds. "Aria... this is real. These are official Council documents. How did you…"

"I have connections," Kaden said simply. "Connections you are going to need if you want to save your pack."

I forced myself to look at the screen.

Contract cancellations, debt notices, territorial seizure warnings, all dated within the last week and lastly they were all stamped with official Council seals.

The room started spinning again, but this time it had nothing to do with poison.

How did he get this? How did this even happen? What the hell was this all about.?.

"This can't be happening," I whispered. "We have been making payments. Our contracts were solid."

"Someone made them not solid." Kaden's expression was unreadable. "Someone with enough Council influence to manufacture debt and tank your alliances overnight."

"Who would…" I stopped, looking up at him as it all became clear to me. "You. You did this."

He didn't deny it.

The betrayal hit me like a physical blow. "Why? What could you possibly gain from destroying everything I have built?"

"Leverage." He said it so calmly, like he was discussing the most natural thing in the world instead of my life's work crumbling.

"I need something from you, Aria. Something you won't give willingly. So I'm making you an offer you can't refuse." He added.

Luna snarled inside me, demanding blood. "You son of a…"

"Three months," he interrupted. "Pretend to be my mate for three months, Aria. Attend pack functions with me, territorial meetings, Council gatherings. Let people believe we reconciled and completed our bond."

I laughed, but it came out broken and slightly hysterical. "You're insane."

"I'm desperate." For the first time, his perfect Alpha mask cracked, and I saw something raw underneath. "My wolf is dying, Aria.”

Dying? What the hell was he talking about?

“Storm is killing me from the inside because I rejected our true mate and now the Council is questioning my ability to lead.” He continued.

“Selene left me because being with a broken Alpha was destroying her reputation. I need people to believe I'm stable, that my wolf isn't feral, that I'm worthy of the Alpha King title I was born for."

"So use me as your prop?"

"So let me fix what I destroyed." He moved closer, and I hated that my body still responded to his scent. "Three months of public appearances. In exchange, I clear every debt Crescent Peak owes.”

“Not just that, I will restore your territorial contracts, expand your borders by twenty percent and deposit fifty thousand dollars into your pack fund.”

“By the time our arrangement ends, trust me you will be stronger than ever."

"And what happens when people find out it's fake?" I raised a brow.

"They won't. We will say we reconciled privately, worked through our past, and decided to honor the mate bond the Moon Goddess gave us." His ice-blue eyes locked onto mine.

"All you have to do is stand beside me and smile for three months. Then you can go back to your perfect life with your perfect mate and forget I exist."

Hearing this, Lyra grabbed my arm immediately. "Aria, don't listen to him. This is manipulation. Ryker can…"

"Ryker can't fix Council politics," Kaden said flatly. "He's a good Alpha no doubt, but he doesn't have the connections or bloodline to make these problems disappear. I do and whether you hate me or not, you need me."

I wanted to say no instantly. Every fiber of my being screamed to reject him the way he had rejected me, to let him suffer the consequences of his choices.

But I thought about my pack members, families who depended on this territory, wolves who had welcomed me when I had nothing, children who played in these forests.

I thought about Ryker, who had spent ten years building Crescent Peak from nothing, who had saved me when I was broken.

I couldn't let it all fall apart because of pride.

"One week," I heard myself say. "I need one week to think about it."

Kaden shook his head. "You have twenty-four hours. After that, I will withdraw my offer and watch Crescent Peak collapse."

"You bastard…" I cursed between gritted teeth.

This was absurd, how would he just show up, give me his terms and expect me to accept all of it just like that?.

"Twenty four hours, Aria." He turned toward the exit, his delegation following. At the doorway, he paused and looked back.

"For what it's worth, I really am sorry. But sorry doesn't fix dying wolves or save failing packs like yours. Results do."

Then with that he was gone, taking his winter storm scent with him and leaving me standing in my destroyed hall with an impossible choice.

Lyra wrapped her arms around me as my legs finally gave out. "We will find another way," she whispered. "We will…"

"There is no other way." The words tasted like ash in my mouth. "He made sure of that."

My phone suddenly buzzed. I checked and it was a text from an unknown number, but I knew exactly who it was.

*The contract will arrive by courier tonight. Read it carefully. You have until tomorrow at moonrise to decide if you are willing to save your pack or let pride destroy everything you love.*

I stared at the message until the screen went dark.

Then I felt it, Ryker's presence in our bond, returning from the northern border, completely unaware that the mate he trusted was about to lie to him for the first time in three years.