CHAPTER FOUR
1187 Words
KAIDEN'S POV
I couldn't sleep.
The scent of pine still clung to my skin, but it was her cherry scent that haunted me.
Silver.
My mate.
I scrubbed a hand down my face, pacing my bedroom like a caged wolf. Every nerve in my body still buzzed from the bond, like I was tethered to her by something raw and primal—and it pissed me off.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
She was supposed to shift, take her spotlight, and we’d move forward with the plan.
Silver was supposed to drug her, and then I will come in next.
Slowly chip away at her image. Discredit her. Prove that she wasn’t the right choice for Alpha.
But now?
Now, the Moon Goddess thought it would be funny to tie my soul to hers.
I wore my shirt and stormed out.
There was only one person I could talk to about this. One person who had just as much to lose.
Sterling Night.
He was sitting alone in the training hall, lacing his boots like he hadn’t just masterminded to humiliate his sister in front of half the council.
Typical.
“You knew they’d follow us.” I said, stepping in and shutting the door behind me.
He didn’t even look up.
“And yet you still walked her into the woods. That wasn't the plan, Kay. I was supposed to drug her, and then can you take her away to be caught. If i hadn't seen you going to the woods with her, our plan would have fallen through.”
"She's my mate, Sterl."
But Sterling didn't hear me.
He kept on babbling on how I almost ruined the plan by taking her earlier than how we planned.
"Sterling. Silver is my mate."
He froze and stared at me with wide eyes.
"What?"
"Silver is my goddamn mate, Sterl."
"How? Are you sure?"
I clenched my jaw.
“She felt the bond also.”
He glanced at me now.
“How? How can she...”
I nodded once.
“Silver is my mate.”
For a second—just a second—his mask slipped. There was something in his eyes. A flicker of emotion. Not a surprise. Not horror.
Something colder.
Possession.
He stood slowly.
“You’re telling me the Moon Goddess decided my sister, the future Alpha of this pack, is your fated mate?”
“I didn’t ask for it,” I snapped.
“You think I want this? Do you think I want her?”
"She's pretty, I'll give that to her. We have strong genes for beauty."
"I don't want her."
“Then reject her.” he said instantly, stepping toward me.
I scoffed.
“That easy, huh?”
“She’s not going to give up the Alpha title just easily. Just because you guys were caught doesn't mean Silvee won't try to talk her way out of this.” Sterling hissed.
“You confess that she’s your mate, and everything we’ve built comes crashing down. If you admit that to anyone, you both will be forced into marriage to save her name. We won't want that, do we?”
“She already suspects I won’t reject her.”
Sterling’s eyes narrowed.
“Then do it anyway. Rip the bond out before it sinks in. Before she gets ideas. Now that she is ruined, she would want to use the fact that you are her mate to redeem herself. Don't let that happen.”
I looked away.
“She told me not to tell anyone about our bond. Said claiming her would ruin her plans. This was before you made them catch us.”
That made him pause.
Sterling tilted his head.
“She said that?”
“She told me flat out. Said someone like me, being her mate, would destroy everything. Now that she has been compromised, thanks to you, she would definitely try to use our bond to justify what we were doing in the woods. She doesn't care about the bond, but she does care about her Alpha title.”
For the first time, Sterling looked… uncertain.
“She’s smarter than I thought,” he muttered.
“No kidding,” I said bitterly.
“Too smart. She’s always three steps ahead.”
Sterling was quiet for a moment.
“Did she try to stop the bond?”
“She didn’t accept or deny it. Just… told me what it would mean. Then, the others showed up. Your little performance.”
Sterling’s lip curled.
“The council needed to see her as reckless. Flawed and of loose morals. The kind of girl who lets her hormones dictate her choices.”
“She wasn’t the one dragging me behind the trees,” I muttered.
He shrugged.
“Didn’t look like that from their angle.”
I felt the weight of the situation settle in my chest like a stone.
This wasn’t just about a mate bond anymore.
It was about politics. Power. Legacy.
And I was the c***k in the foundation.
This was the plan. Yes, even though it was different from the original, it generated the same result.
But Silver is my mate.
That alone changes a lot of things.
I only have one mate in a lifetime, and I've always wanted a mate.
“You don’t understand,” I said quietly.
“When I touched her… it felt like fire. Like lightning crawling under my skin. I wanted to tear the world open just to keep her close.”
Sterling’s eyes darkened.
“Then you’re going to have to kill that instinct. Because if you claim her, Kaiden… I’ll destroy you both.”
My head snapped toward him.
“What the hell does that mean?”
He stepped closer.
“You chose this side, remember? You agreed. Silver’s reign ends before it begins. We take the title. We rewrite the pack’s future. Together.”
“And if I refuse?”
He smirked.
“Then maybe the council finds out about your little… side dealings. Or about your father’s debts. Or maybe I let it slip that you were seen trying to seduce the Alpha heir in the woods like some desperate mutt. Either way, i will ruin you alongside her. Don't test me, Kaiden.”
My fists clenched at my sides.
“You’d burn me for this?”
“I’d burn the whole damn forest if it meant keeping her off the throne.”
I stared at him.
And I realized… I wasn’t the only one the bond had rattled.
Sterling was afraid.
Not of me.
But of what she could become.
“She’s still your sister,” I muttered.
“That’s the problem,” he said coldly.
“I know exactly what she’s capable of.”
I turned away, heart pounding, the scent of Silver still clinging to my thoughts like smoke.
I couldn’t choose both.
Either I claimed my mate and ruined the mission
Or I cut the bond and destroyed the only thing in this cursed world that ever felt real.
And worst of all?
I had no idea which one would hurt more.
- Writer
