THE ALPAHA'S UNBREAKABLE MATE

CHAPTER 4

/ISLA/

The words I had overheard through the door felt like a bucket of ice water over my head. ‘What am I really?’ I was Isla. I was the girl who scrubbed floors and took insults. I was the sister who had been betrayed. I wasn’t anyone special.

But I didn’t have time to process it. The door to the study swung open, and a man I didn’t recognize—an older wolf with a scarred face—slipped out. He gave me a look so sharp it felt like a blade against my skin before disappearing down the hall.

"Come in, Isla."

Cain’s voice practically pulled me forward. I stepped into the study, my heart hammering. The room was filled with the smell of old paper, leather, and that intoxicating scent of rain-drenched cedar.

"I heard you were confronted in the hallway," Cain said, not looking up from a stack of maps on his desk.

"Elara," I whispered. "She... she isn't happy."

"Elara is merely all bark but no bite," Cain said, finally looking up. His eyes were intense, searching my face. "She cannot touch you here, but you still need to be aware of your surroundings."

He stood up and walked toward a bookshelf in the corner. He pulled a small, hidden lever, and a section of the wall slid back to reveal a private training room. It was filled with weights, mats, and wooden sparring dummies.

"Your work as a maid will be light," he said, turning back to me. "A few hours of tidying, making sure my meals are brought up. The rest of your time belongs to me. We start your training tonight."

"Training? Alpha, I told you... I don't have a wolf. I've never even shifted."

Cain walked closer, stopping only inches away. The air between us felt thick, like it was charged with electricity. "Every wolf has a spark, Isla. Yours has just been buried under years of people telling you that you’re nothing. We are going to dig it out."

I couldn't tell if he was doing this because he believed in me or that he was trying to give me a solid reason for staying in the pack.

It didn't take up to two weeks to render me exhausted. By day, I navigated the palace, avoiding Kieran and Elara like they were a plague.

Every time I passed them in the hall, Kieran would sneer, and Elara would whisper something cruel to the guards. But they didn't dare touch me. Cain’s influence was clearly still more prevalent than Kieran’s and so I was genuinely protected just by the sole fact that I served him personally.

By night, I was in the hidden room with Cain.

"Again," he barked.

I swung at the wooden dummy, my knuckles raw and bleeding. I was tired. My muscles ached in places I didn't know existed.

"You're fighting like a human, Isla," Cain said, his voice a low growl behind me. "Stop thinking with your head. Think with your blood. Feel the bond."

He stepped up behind me, his chest pressing against my back. He reached around, grabbing my wrists to correct my stance. The moment his skin touched mine, that jolt of electricity surged through me. My breath hitched.

"Do you feel that?" he whispered in my ear. "That isn't just you. That’s your wolf reacting to her mate. She’s in there, Isla. She’s screaming to get out."

I closed my eyes, trying to find the spark he was talking about. But all I felt was the warmth of his body and the crushing weight of my own insecurity.

"I can't," I choked out. "I'm just an omega."

Cain turned me around, his hands gripping my shoulders. "Never say that word again. You are the mate of an Alpha. You are mine. And I do not claim weak things."

After he'd said that, he ended our training just like that.

Weeks passed and my days at the palace didn't get any easier. Elara kept trying to make a fool of me while Kieran looked like he hated me more as each day passed.

Cain had been feeling restless since he came back from a meeting. He had some older members of the pack and had asked me to fetch a bottle of wine from the side table in the Great Hall.

“Yes, Alpha,” I’d answered.

Luckily for me, it was night and so the chances of me running into Elara were lower.

I found the bottle exactly where he said it would be. I picked up the bottle of wine and hurried back to Alpha Cain's chambers.

When I returned to the study, Cain was standing by the window, his shirt unbuttoned at the collar, looking out at the moon.

"The wine, Alpha," I whispered.

He turned, his eyes tracking me as I stood by his bedside. He walked up to me then and sat on his bed with a sigh.

"Thank you, Isla. Pour me a glass. My blood feels... heavy tonight."

I poured the dark liquid, the scent of grapes and something slightly sweet filling the air. He took the glass, his fingers brushing mine. The spark was there, as always, but it felt sharper tonight. He drained the glass in three long gulps.

I turned to leave, but I only made it two steps before I heard the glass shatter against the stone floor.

I whirled around. Cain was gripping the edge of his bed, his knuckles turning white. His skin, usually a pale bronze, was flushing a deep, feverish red. Beads of sweat broke out across his forehead, and his breathing... it was ragged.

"Alpha? Cain?" I rushed to him, my hand hovering over his shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"Isla... stay back," he rasped. His voice had a jagged edge to it. When he looked up, my heart stopped. His icy blue eyes had turned dark and I didn't need anyone to tell me that something must have been in the wine I'd given him.

"You're burning up," I said, reaching out to touch his forehead. “Should I call the doctor?” I worried. I didn't want to die like this. If anything happened to Cain in my care, I'd surely be executed.

The second my skin met his, he let out a choked sound. He didn't pull away. Instead, he lunged forward, his large hands catching me by the waist and slamming me against the bed.

“A-Alpha,” I stuttered, unsure of how to react in this situation. Something about this position didn't feel right especially since he was on top of me now.

“I think the wine was spiked, Isla,” he managed to say. “I won't be able to hold back, so I'm sorry I'm advance.”

Before I could process what was happening, Alpha Cain pressed his lips against mine.

His hand slid to the nape of my neck, his thumb tracing the sensitive line of my jaw until I had no choice but to look up. I found myself anticipating his lips locked with mine and my resistance had long stopped without much effort.

The first brush of his lips was devastatingly soft, a teasing pressure that made my breath hitch. Then, he deepened it.

I tangled my fingers into his hair, pulling him closer until there wasn't a millimeter of space left between us. His tongue swept against mine, a rhythmic, hungry demand that I met with equal fervor. Every nerve ending ignited; it was a desperate, dazing friction that sent a shiver straight down my spine. My heart hammered against my ribs. “This wasn't right, I shouldn't let this happen,” I thought but yet I couldn't pull away from him.

I wanted more. More than just a kiss. I wanted him to touch me in places I'd never imagined.

“Alpha Cain,” I breathed softly, his name on my tongue sounding like a moan.

As the kiss deepened and I melted into him, I knew this was a line we wouldn't be able to uncross