Chapter 17 — The Alpha Who Would Not Stay Down
777 Words
The fever came without warning.
One moment Kaden stood in the training yard, voice sharp as steel, correcting stances and barking orders. The next, the world tilted violently.
Kane snarled inside him.
Something is wrong.
Kaden swayed, vision bleaching white.
“Alpha!” someone shouted.
He lifted a hand. “I’m...”
His knees hit the ground.
By nightfall, he burned.
Not the slow, sick heat of illness.
But the consuming fire of a bond pushed too far.
Skyler felt it like a scream inside her chest.
Sai recoiled in panic.
He’s rejecting the bond.
Skyler didn’t knock.
She stormed into his chambers, the guards barely reacting before she was already there.
Kaden lay sprawled across the bed, sheets twisted, skin flushed, sweat soaking into dark hair. His jaw was clenched in stubborn misery.
“You’re burning up,” she said flatly.
“It’ll pass,” he muttered.
Sai hissed.
Liar.
Skyler pressed a cool hand to his forehead.
The bond snapped tight.
Heat.
Pain.
Exhaustion.
Anger.
All his.
All hers.
This wasn’t sickness.
This was bond shock.
“You’re suppressing the bond,” Skyler said sharply. “Again.”
Kane growled inside him.
Idiot Alpha.
“I don’t have time for.......”
His body convulsed as another wave of heat tore through him, breath shuddering.
Skyler didn’t ask permission.
She climbed onto the edge of the bed and placed both palms on his chest. Silver light bloomed instantly.
“Breathe,” she commanded.
His wolf obeyed before his pride could.
The fever broke.
For one night.
Two days later, it returned.
Worse.
This time Kaden dragged himself through council, jaw tight, eyes glassy, refusing infirmary help.
Lyra watched him carefully.
Too carefully.
And she wasn’t alone anymore.
Eryx stood beside her nowquiet, observant, newly welcomed into Ironfang as Lyra’s mate. His presence unsettled the pack, his wolf coiled and watchful beneath scarred skin.
He had bowed to Kaden earlier that morning.
“I ask permission to remain,” Eryx had said calmly. “As Lyra’s bonded.”
And because Lyra was the Beta’s daughter…
Because politics still mattered…
Kaden had allowed it.
Now Eryx watched the Alpha weaken.
And smiled faintly.
Leah purred inside Lyra.
The mighty fall.
When Kaden collapsed against the war table mid-argument, Lyra didn’t even pretend concern.
“Perhaps the Alpha is unwell,” she said sweetly. “Too much stress.”
Skyler didn’t bother hiding her irritation anymore.
She grabbed Kaden by the arm and hauled him from the room.
“You’re doing this on purpose,” she accused, shoving him onto the bed again.
“I am not,” he snapped then immediately groaned as heat tore through him.
Kane snarled.
Stop fighting her, i***t.
“The bond doesn’t like distance,” Skyler said. “Or denial. Or idiots.”
He laughed weakly. “You’ve been wanting to call me that.”
Sai crossed her arms inside Skyler.
Yes. For months.
She leaned over him, eyes glowing faint silver.
“You don’t get repeated bond fevers unless your wolf is screaming.”
“What’s it screaming?” he rasped.
Skyler met his gaze.
“Stop pretending you’re alone.”
The fever surged violently Kaden arching, breath tearing from his chest as Skyler pressed her forehead to his and finally stopped holding back.
Not healer.
Not omega.
Not restraint.
Just bond.
Kane howled in relief.
Skyler wrapped around him instinctively.
The fire shattered.
Kaden gasped not in pain.
In peace.
When he woke hours later, the fever was gone.
Gone-gone.
Skyler sat beside the bed, arms crossed, unimpressed.
“If you do that again,” she said calmly, “I will heal you publicly. In front of everyone. And explain exactly why it keeps happening.”
Kane muttered.
She’s terrifying. I like her.
He winced. “That’s cruel.”
She smiled sweetly. “You married into worse.”
He stilled. “…Married?”
Sai snorted.
Freudian slip.
Skyler stood. “Sleep, Alpha Drama Queen.”
But as she turned to leave, his hand caught her wrist gentle, steady.
“Stay,” he said quietly. “Please.”
She hesitated.
Sai softened.
He’s learning.
Then she sat back down.
The bond settled content, smug, victorious.
Elsewhere in the fortress, Lyra felt the shift.
Leah went very still.
He’s not breaking anymore.
Eryx stood at the balcony, eyes fixed on the Alpha’s tower.
“So that’s the bond that’s killing him,” he murmured.
Lyra smiled slowly.
“No,” she said. “It’s the bond that’s saving him.”
Her eyes darkened.
“And that makes it the first thing we need to break.”
- Writer
