The Alpha’s Gambit

AIDEN

The brotherhood which usually felt like a sanctuary was now cold like a tomb. I was alone in my study, staring at the silver cuff cold on the table, the mate to the one I had lost in the Crumson Arch. I have to find it or it could become a huge problem.

I hated being there…till I found her. She was the one I had spent years and years searching for, I just never knew fate would make me find her in a place like that.

I sighed deeply and stared at the glass of wine in my hand, swirling and swirling, hoping to drain my thoughts in it.

I should be spending my nights with high-bred she-wolves, securing alliances and strengthening the pack but my curse had stripped me of any kind of peace.

It’s been five years since the hunt for the witches. Sarah, the youngest yet the most powerful witch at the time had cursed just a few minutes before her death as her blood streamed down my hand that was buried in her chest, holding her hot and still beating heart. “Let your power be your prison,” she had spat. “You shall lead, but you shall never sow. You shall hunger, but you shall never be fed.”

Since that day, I’ve been cold.

Dead.

No matter how beautiful the woman or how enticing the scent was, my body remained a stolid monument to my own failure.

I couldn’t get hard, not to mention getting close to cumming to make an heir.

The pack didn’t know yet, but they would eventually. I’ve spent every day, looking for solutions till I heard there was someone with a different blood type.

Then I felt her scent that day…and I moved. It was like being starved for eternity. I was consumed with need, desperate to fuck her like it was her punishment for what I had gone through.

But no matter how good the feeling is, when I get done with her, a flash of disappointment and anger always takes over. She belonged to the street.

Then there is Davina, Levi’s daughter. I always feel the same way anytime I am close to her.

I looked out the window toward the edge of the forest. I had visited Levi today to see the girl again. There was something about Davina—the curve of her jaw, the way she carried her rejection like a heavy cloak—that pulled at my wolf in a way I couldn't explain. She was innocent, broken, and fragile. The total opposite of the masked siren at the club.

And yet, my wolf paced in my chest when I was near her. Mine, he would growl, a confusing, irritating sound.

No, I told him. She is the daughter of an Alpha, I wouldn’t do that to Levi.

But I couldn't deny the coincidence. The locket I’d seen tonight at the club... D.A.Davina Ashwood. My heart had nearly stopped when my thumb brushed those letters. But I’d quickly dismissed it. It was impossible.

Davina was a recluse, a girl who spent her nights moving boxes for her father. She didn't have the fire, the boldness of Vina. It was likely a common trinket, or perhaps Vina had stolen it. The thought of the girl in the mask stealing from someone as vulnerable as Davina only made my disgust for her grow.

I checked my watch. It was late, but the hunger was clawing at my gut again. I needed the release. I needed the proof that I was still capable of fathering a child.

I drove to the club in a blacked-out SUV, my jaw set. I didn't want Vina. I wanted what her body could do for me. I needed an heir to secure my line. If she were the only one who could break the curse, then she would be my vessel. She didn't need to know the truth. She didn't need to know she was carrying the future Alpha of the Obsidian Peak.

I would pay her enough to disappear once the child was born. I would take the babe, raise it as my own, and tell the world the mother had died in childbirth. A clean, clinical transaction.

When I entered Room 402, she was already there. She looked small, trembling slightly as she stood by the window.

"You came back," she whispered.

"I told you," I said, my voice cold as I stripped off my jacket. "You are mine now. I don't share what belongs to me."

I walked toward her, my blood beginning to simmer. The curse was receding, retreating into the dark corners of my mind as her scent filled my lungs. It was that damn jasmine again.

I pushed her onto the bed, my movements rougher than intended. I didn't want to feel tenderness for her. I wanted to feel nothing but the biological drive to survive.

I reached for the small foil packet on the nightstand, my fingers hovering over it. Then, I pulled my hand back.

No.

If this was the only time I could be a man, I wasn't going to waste it on latex and safety. I needed an heir. I needed to sow the seed that the witch had tried to kill.

"The protection..." she murmured, her voice muffled against the pillow.

"Don't worry about it," I lied, my voice a dark, jagged thing. "I’ve taken care of it."

I leaned down, my teeth grazing the column of her throat. I felt her shiver, her body betraying her as she arched into me. She was so responsive, so perfect for the task. It was a shame she was what she was.

As I lost myself in the heat, I focused on the goal. This wasn't love. This wasn't mating. This was a heist. I was stealing a future from a woman who didn't deserve to be a part of it.

When it was over, I stood and dressed in the dark, not looking back at her as she lay there, catching her breath. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a fresh stack of bills, throwing them onto the bed.

"I'll be back on Tuesday," I said. "I’m moving you to a private house. My house. No more club, Vina. From now on, you live where I can watch you."

I walked out before she could protest. I had to get home. I had to prepare the rooms. And tomorrow, I would call Levi and tell him that Davina was starting her job as my "assistant."

I would have them both. One for my public image, and one to bear my child in the dark.