Ruined By The Alpha

Chapter 10

The pale, grey light of morning filtered through the floor-to-ceiling glass balcony doors, cutting through the shadows of the bedroom. I woke up with a sharp, violent gasp, my heart immediately hammering against my ribs as my eyes flew open. My mind scrambled through the foggy layers of sleep, frantically trying to figure out where I was.

The heavy, dark grey sheets beneath me belonged to Carl.

I was back in his bed.

For a terrifying second, I thought the entire night had been a vivid, twisted nightmare—a manifestation of my own guilt and forbidden desires. But as I tried to shift my weight, a sharp ache bloomed across my hips, and my muscles protested with a deep, throbbing soreness that made a soft whimper escape my throat.

Slowly, with a trembling hand, I pulled back the edge of the oversized black t-shirt I was wearing. Hidden beneath the fabric, dark, heavy bruises in the distinct shape of a man's long, powerful fingers were wrapped around my hip bone. My skin was still tender, stinging slightly from the phantom memory of rough brick and a freezing downpour. It hadn't been a dream. Caine had carried me back inside, slipped me beneath the covers while his son slept soundly, and vanished into the night like a ghost.

A heavy arm suddenly shifted over my waist, pulling me flush against a warm, broad chest.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat.

"Maddy," Carl mumbled, his voice thick and raspy with sleep. He squeezed his arm around me, burying his face into the crook of my neck. "You're freezing. Why are you shivering so much?"

"I'm fine," I choked out, the word feeling like sand in my mouth. The proximity was a suffocating torture. Carl was holding me with a beautiful, innocent tenderness, completely unaware that the girl in his arms had spent the midnight hours being utterly ruined by his father just three feet away on the other side of the glass.

Carl let out a soft, contented hum, his inner wolf letting out a sleepy, protective purr. But a second later, the purr abruptly cut short.

His body went completely rigid behind me.

I felt the exact moment his breathing hitched. His head shifted against my shoulder, his nostrils flaring violently as he took a deep, sharp breath of the air inside the bed. The easy, relaxed warmth radiating off him vanished in an instant, replaced by a sudden, jagged tension that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"Maddy," Carl muttered, his voice dropping the sleepiness, turning sharp and intensely focused. He released his grip on my waist and sat up abruptly, pulling the heavy duvet back.

He didn't look at me. He was staring at the sheets, his chest heaving as he breathed in the atmosphere of his own bedroom.

"What is that smell?" he demanded, his eyes flashing a volatile, dangerous silver.

The room was absolutely saturated. To a human, it might have smelled like a storm had blown through an open window—fresh rain, ozone, and wet earth. But to a wolf, the air was screaming. Alpha Caine’s dominant, suffocating scent wasn't just a faint trace anymore; it was baked into the fabric of the mattress. It was buried in the pillows. It was coating the very air we were breathing.

"Carl..." I stammered, pulling the sheets up to my chin in a desperate, instinctual move to hide the bruises on my hips. "The storm last night... I think the balcony door rattled loose. The rain must have blown inside."

Carl didn't hear me. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, his head snapping around as he scanned the room like a predator looking for an intruder. He stood up, his tall, athletic frame casting a long shadow across the floor. He took three fast steps toward the balcony glass, his eyes locking onto the heavy silver handle.

"The door didn't rattle loose, Maddy," Carl said, his voice dropping an octave, a low, dangerous growl vibrating in his chest. He touched the silver lock, his fingers trembling with a mixture of confusion and rising fury. "It’s unlocked. And the scent... it isn't just floating in from the outside. My dad was in this room."

He turned back to face me, his face pale, his silver eyes searching my panicked expression with a desperate, agonizing need for answers. "Why was he in my quarters? Why does my bed smell exactly like his territory mark?"

"He—he must have come in to check on us," I lied, my voice cracking as a tear of pure terror slipped down my cheek. The house of cards was shaking, the wind ready to blow it all away. "After the argument in the lounge, Carl... you challenged him. You threatened him. He’s the Alpha. He probably came down here while we were asleep to assert his dominance, to make sure you weren't actively plotting against him. He... he must have stood over the bed to mark the room, to remind you who rules this house."

Carl’s jaw clenched so tightly the bones audibly clicked. He looked at the bed, then at me, his wolf wrestling with the explanation. It made perfect sense within the brutal, psychological hierarchy of a werewolf pack. An older, dominant Alpha would absolutely invade a rebellious son's space to leave a scent warning, demanding submission without ever firing a shot.

"He's sick," Carl hissed, his fists clenching at his sides as a deep, feral anger rolled off his shoulders. He walked back to the bed, reaching down to grab my hand, pulling me gently out from beneath the sheets. "He did it to torture us. He did it to show me that even in my own room, I can't keep you safe from him."

Carl pulled me into a fierce, tight hug, burying his face in my hair, trying desperately to wash out his father's scent with his own. "I'm sorry, Maddy. I'm so sorry he's doing this to you. I'm going to talk to Beta Marcus today. We're going to fast-track the heir ceremony. Once I'm Alpha, he won't be able to touch a single thing that belongs to me."

I pressed my face into Carl's chest, nodding silently as the tears finally came fast and heavy. I wasn't crying because I was scared of Caine.

I was crying because as Carl held me, promising me a throne and a future, all I could think about was the dark, wicked text message that had just buzzed against my thigh from the phone hidden beneath the pillow.