Chapter 5
1377 Words
ALPHA VINCENT
“Are we still not there yet?” I asked sharply, my fingers tapping against the polished leather armrest as I glanced down at my watch for the third time in less than a minute.
The driver hesitated. “Alpha… we arrived a few minutes ago.”
I looked up, irritation flaring. The massive iron gates of the council manor stood open before us, guards bowing low as the car idled in the circular drive. I hadn’t even noticed we had crossed the perimeter. That realization alone tightened something ugly in my chest.
I had lost focus.
And I knew exactly why.
Anastasia.
The thought of her name clawed its way into my mind, unwelcome and persistent. The slave I had bought. The woman chained by contract and fate. The one who existed for a single purpose—to carry my heir and then disappear from this world.
She was nothing.
She was supposed to be nothing.
Yet her presence lingered in my thoughts like a splinter beneath the skin, impossible to ignore, impossible to remove without drawing blood.
I hated it.
I hated her.
And what I hated most was the way my instincts betrayed me whenever I remembered the way her eyes met mine—not submissive, not pleading, but burning with a quiet defiance that had no place in my territory.
I stepped out of the car without another word, the cold evening air doing nothing to calm the storm raging inside me. The manor stood tall and ancient, stone walls soaked in the history of bloodshed, dominance, and survival. This place had been a place of peace, guidance and resolutions for every shifter. And it's been playing a vital role, running the kingdom smoothly.
It had never felt unsettled before.
Tonight, it did.
My feet carried me straight toward the meeting hall, where I could already sense the presence of the elders and council men. Their auras pressed against mine, cautious, probing, irritating.
The doors opened as I approached.
Every conversation died instantly.
I took my seat at the head of the long table, my expression carved from stone. “Start,” I ordered.
The head elder cleared his throat. “Alpha Vincent, we have matters concerning the kingdom—”
“And we will address them,” I interrupted coldly. “But you’re stalling. Say what you actually brought me here for.”
A ripple of unease passed through the room.
They exchanged looks, silent communication flashing between them like cowards afraid to speak first. Finally, Councilman Roderick leaned forward, his hands clasped.
“There are… concerns,” he said carefully. “About the woman living under your roof.”
There it was.
My jaw tightened. “Be precise.”
“The human,” another elder added. “Anastasia.”
The sound of her name spoken aloud in this chamber scraped against my nerves. “She is not human,” I snapped. “She is property.”
A few of them flinched. Others watched me too closely.
Roderick continued, undeterred. “The people are restless. Rumors are spreading. They believe you may have taken a new mate.”
Silence crashed down around us.
For a moment, I said nothing. I let the weight of my presence press into them, reminding every man at this table exactly who they were speaking to.
“A mate?” I finally repeated, my voice low and dangerous.
“Yes,” Elder Hawthorne said. “After everything that has happened… the p my kingdom and it's people hope—”
“Hope?” I barked out a humorless laugh. “You still hope?”
They did not answer.
Of course they still hoped. They always did. As if hope hadn’t already buried ten women in the ground.
I rose slowly from my chair, hands braced against the table. The wood creaked under the pressure. “You dare to sit here and speak of mates after what you all know?”
Their eyes dropped.
They knew.
Every single one of them knew.
Ten mates.
Ten women bound to me by fate and ceremony, each one arriving with promises of loyalty—and each one trying to poison me, manipulate me, or betray me just to take my throne for the sake of their birth families.
I had loved none of them.
But I had trusted them once.
And trust had nearly destroyed me.
“They came smiling,” I continued, my voice growing colder with every word. “They shared my bed, wore my mark, and plotted behind my back. They thought the Alpha king was weak enough to be controlled.”
I straightened, letting my gaze sweep across the room. “They were wrong.”
No one spoke.
“They died because they tried to break me,” I said flatly. “And you still believe I would choose another mate?”
Elder Hawthorne swallowed. “The bond—”
“Is a curse,” I cut him off. “And I will not be shackled again.”
Roderick hesitated. “Then what is Anastasia to you, Alpha?”
The question snapped something inside me.
I slammed my palm against the table, the sound echoing through the hall. “She is a breeder.”
The word fell like a blade.
“She exists to carry my child,” I continued, my tone brutal, merciless. “Nothing more. Nothing less.”
A few of the elders stiffened.
“And once my heir is born,” I added, “she will die. In fact, I will kill her with my own two hands.”
Gasps broke the silence.
Elder Hawthorne stood abruptly. “Alpha Vincent—”
“You do not get to question me,” I snarled, my aura flaring. The walls vibrated as my power surged outward. “You do not get to pretend morality matters when the kingdom's survival is at stake.”
“She is living under your roof,” Hawthorne argued, his voice shaking. “The people see her. They sense your attention—”
“My attention is not affection,” I snapped. “And if the pack is foolish enough to confuse the two, that is your failure, not mine.”
Yet even as I spoke the words, Anastasia’s face rose unbidden in my mind.
The way she stood straight despite the chains of her situation.
The way she refused to lower her gaze.
The way her scent—soft, maddening—lingered far longer than it should have.
I crushed the thought ruthlessly.
“She will not be my mate,” I said, slower now, more deliberate. “She will never carry my mark. She will never sit beside me as my Luna Queen. Her death is already written.”
The room remained tense, heavy with unease.
Roderick exhaled. “Then allow us to ask one final question, Alpha.”
I met his gaze. “Speak.”
“Can you be certain,” he said carefully, “that she will not try to do what the others did?”
A dark smile curved my lips.
“She has no pack to fight for,” I replied. “No allies. No power. No leverage.”
And yet—
Something twisted in my chest.
Because Anastasia didn’t need power to be dangerous.
She was dangerous simply by existing.
“She cannot break me,” I finished coldly. “Because I will not allow her close enough to try.”
The meeting ended shortly after. The elders bowed and filed out in silence, leaving me alone in the vast hall.
As soon as the doors shut, the weight I had been holding back crashed down on me.
I closed my eyes.
For a brief, treacherous moment, I imagined her standing before me—not as a slave, not as a breeder, but as something else. Something forbidden.
My fists clenched.
“This changes nothing,” I muttered to myself.
She was a means to an end.
Nothing more.
Yet as I rose and made my way toward my chambers, I knew one brutal truth I refused to speak aloud—
Anastasia was already closer to breaking me than any mate ever had. And the worst part was that she wasn't even trying.
- Writer
