CHAPTER FOUR
1945 Words
The days blurred together inside the Alpha’s estate, an endless cycle of strained silence, wary glances, and unspoken tensions. I had thought the Alpha’s initial coldness was a front, a test, but the passing days revealed no warmth, no flicker of interest in his eyes. Only indifference, sharp as a blade.
I refused to break under his silence.
Determined to prove my worth, I sought to integrate into the pack, helping wherever I could, tending to injured wolves in the infirmary, assisting in the kitchens, anything to feel less like a caged offering and more like someone with purpose. Whispers followed me wherever I went, the breeder, the gift, the outsider. Still, I held my head high. I couldn’t afford weakness.
Aiden remained a shadow. He watched from a distance, always watching but never engaging beyond sharp commands or cold dismissals. Yet beneath his mask, something simmered, and I was determined to uncover it.
One evening, the tension finally cracked.
I was summoned to the Alpha’s private quarters, an ornate, cavernous room with high windows and walls of dark stone that absorbed the firelight. Aiden stood by the window, arms crossed, gaze fixed on the moonlit horizon.
“You called for me, Alpha?” I asked, my voice steady despite the storm of nerves inside me.
He turned slowly, eyes narrowing on me as if I’d interrupted some internal war. “Why are you really here, Caitlyn?”
I blinked, taken aback. “You… you know why. I was given to you. A breeder. To—”
“To win my heart?” he cut in, voice laced with bitter amusement. “Or to manipulate me, like the rest?”
The accusation stung. “I didn’t choose this,” I snapped before I could stop myself. “But I’m here, trying to survive just like everyone else.”
Silence stretched between us like a taut wire. Then, to my shock, something flickered in his eyes, something raw. Vulnerable. Gone in a blink.
“You’re wasting your time,” he murmured, turning his back on me. “Don’t mistake my tolerance for interest.”
I left the room with a heart pounding in my chest, but not from fear, curiosity had taken root. Why did he guard his emotions so fiercely? What haunted Alpha Aiden?
The next morning brought no peace.
The Gamma appeared at breakfast, flanked by two enforcers. His smirk twisted something inside me, a mix of fear and rage.
“Time’s slipping away, Caitlyn,” he said softly, too softly, as he passed behind me. “Better work faster if you don’t want to end up discarded.”
His words clung to me all day, eating away at my resolve. I found myself wandering the edges of the estate, needing space, needing clarity. That’s when I stumbled upon the training grounds.
Aiden was there, sparing with another pack warrior, movements precise, deadly. He moved like a predator in perfect control, yet with each strike, I sensed… fury. Controlled, yes, but barely.
I watched, hidden behind a tree, until he finally paused, chest heaving, sweat gleaming across his arms.
“You’ve been watching me for a while now,” he said, not turning.
I froze.
“You don’t blend well,” he added dryly, finally glancing toward me.
Caught, I stepped forward. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
He shrugged, tossing a towel over his shoulder. “Curiosity is dangerous around here.”
I took a breath. “Why do you keep pushing everyone away?”
His eyes darkened, and for a moment, I thought he’d storm off. Instead, he stepped closer, his presence overwhelming.
“Because people leave. Or betray you.” His voice was low, bitter. “Better to trust no one.”
The pain behind his words cut deeper than I expected.
“You don’t have to do this alone, Aiden.”
He stared at me, as if seeing me for the first time, not the breeder, not the gift. Me.
“You shouldn’t care,” he murmured. “Caring is weakness.”
“No. Caring is strength. It’s surviving when everything else tells you to give up.”
The moment hung heavy between us, charged with something neither of us could name.
Then, without a word, he walked away.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. The Gamma’s threats echoed in my head, louder now, more menacing. And beneath them, Aiden’s voice, laced with pain and distrust. I realized then, it wasn’t just his affection I needed to win.
It was his trust.
And to do that, I had to uncover what truly broke him.
But time was running out.
And the game was about to change.
The moon hung heavy in the sky, casting silvery shadows over the dense forest that bordered the Alpha’s estate. I stood at the edge of the treeline, heart hammering in my chest, breath misting in the cold air. The hunt was about to begin and I was no longer just a spectator.
Aiden had summoned the inner circle for a night hunt, a demonstration of strength, unity, and dominance. I didn’t know why I’d been invited, only that it had raised eyebrows and sharpened tongues. The pack didn’t like outsiders meddling in their rituals, and I was still very much an outsider.
I could feel their stares, hear their murmurs. The breeder doesn’t belong here. He’s gone soft. Letting her into the hunt? Dangerous. A mistake.
Aiden’s voice cut through the murmurs like steel.
“Tonight, we hunt as one. Those who cannot keep up… stay out of the way.”
His gaze met mine, intense and unreadable. Was this another test? Or something else?
The pack shifted and began stripping off clothes in preparation for the shift. I turned away, trying to maintain a shred of dignity amidst the primal chaos, but a low growl caught my attention. Aiden stood before me, bare-chested, eyes glinting with something between warning and challenge.
“You’ll ride with me,” he said.
I blinked. “Ride…?”
Before I could finish the thought, his body began to shift—bones cracking, muscles stretching, fur sprouting across his skin in a graceful, terrifying transformation. In seconds, the man was gone, and a massive black wolf stood in his place, eyes glowing amber in the moonlight.
I swallowed hard. Holy hell.
Without hesitation, he crouched, and somehow I understood. Climbing onto his back, I gripped his thick fur tightly, heart pounding in rhythm with his as the pack surged into the forest like shadows on the wind.
We ran like demons through the trees, the wind tearing at my face, branches whipping past, the earth vibrating with the thunder of paws. The power beneath me was raw, untamed, intoxicating. I could feel Aiden’s muscles ripple with every stride, his heartbeat steady beneath mine.
It was the most alive I’d ever felt.
Suddenly, a howl tore through the night, not from our pack. It was shrill, savage.
Intruders.
Aiden skidded to a halt, his growl vibrating through my bones. The pack circled around him, eyes sharp, poised for attack.
From the shadows emerged a rogue, a lean, scarred wolf with eyes full of malice and he wasn’t alone. Three more followed, their teeth bared, reeking of desperation and bloodlust.
Aiden lowered me carefully to the ground, then leapt forward in a blur of black fur and fury. Chaos erupted.
Wolves clashed in a brutal dance of teeth and claws, snarls echoing through the night. I ducked behind a tree, adrenaline surging. My fingers tightened around the dagger I always kept strapped to my thigh. I wasn’t just some helpless breeder, I could fight, if I had to.
One of the rogues broke free, lunging toward me with a snarl. Instinct took over. I sidestepped, slashing with the blade. Blood sprayed, and the wolf yelped, retreating but not before he grazed my arm with his fangs.
Pain flared, but I stood my ground.
Aiden saw.
In a blink, he was on the rogue, ripping into him with terrifying precision. The fight ended swiftly. The rogues fled, broken and bleeding, leaving silence in their wake.
Aiden shifted back, naked and covered in blood, his eyes locked on mine.
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s just a scratch.”
He crossed the space between us in seconds, gripping my arm, inspecting the wound. His hands were rough, but his touch was… gentle. Careful. It threw me off balance.
“You shouldn’t have been here,” he muttered, eyes dark with emotion I couldn’t place.
“You brought me here.”
His jaw clenched. “I won’t again.”
I yanked my arm free. “I don’t need protection. I need you to see me as more than just, whatever you think I am.”
His gaze softened, just for a moment. “I do.”
That single admission did something to me ignited a flicker of hope. And fear.
Later, back at the estate, the healers tended to the injured, but the real wounds lingered beneath the surface. The attack had exposed cracks in the pack’s security and the Gamma was quick to exploit them.
“You’ve gone soft, Alpha,” he said, voice low, venomous, as he approached Aiden in the war room. I stood nearby, out of sight, listening. “Bringing the breeder on a hunt? Now rogues know she’s your weakness.”
“She’s under my protection,” Aiden said coldly. “Touch her, and you’ll regret it.”
The Gamma sneered. “You can’t protect everyone. Especially not her. The Council’s watching. Fail them, and they’ll replace you and her.”
Aiden didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. The threat hung heavy in the air.
As the Gamma left, I stepped into the room, blood roaring in my ears.
“You shouldn’t defend me,” I said. “Not if it puts you at risk.”
His eyes found mine. “You don’t get to decide that.”
Silence pulsed between us, thick with everything unsaid.
“I’m not a weakness,” I whispered.
“No,” he said, stepping closer. “You’re a storm I didn’t see coming.”
And then he kissed me.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t slow. It was fire and fury, desperation and need crashing together in a moment that burned away every wall between us. His hands tangled in my hair, pulling me closer. I melted into him, into the warmth, the power, the pain.
We broke apart, breathless.
“This changes nothing,” he murmured, voice rough.
I touched his face, tracing the scar beneath his eye. “It changes everything.”
The next morning brought no peace.
A Council envoy arrived, five wolves draped in ceremonial cloaks, faces like stone. Their leader, Elder Korran, eyed me with cool disdain as he addressed Aiden.
“The Council grows impatient. The breeding agreement must be fulfilled—or nullified.”
Aiden’s voice was ice. “You’ll have your heir. In time.”
“You have two moons,” Korran said. “No heir, no Alpha. And she’ll be... reassigned.”
My stomach dropped.
Aiden didn’t flinch. “I suggest you leave before I forget diplomacy.”
The Council departed, but their threat lingered.
I turned to Aiden, fury and fear boiling inside me. “They’ll take me. If you don’t—”
“I won’t let them.”
“You can’t stop them alone.”
His eyes met mine, full of war and longing.
“Then help me be more than a breeder. Be my partner.” I said.
My breath caught.
A storm was coming.
But I wasn’t running.
Not anymore.
- Writer
