Chapter 3—The Alpha’s Judgment

The great hall of the High Circle hadn’t been used in years.

It was a wide, circular stone chamber built into the hillside near the Alpha’s estate. Alpha’s estate, with layered seating carved around a raised floor at the center. Torches lined the outer rim, casting flickering shadows against the stone. Elders filled the first two rows, their expressions hard and unreadable. Warriors stood posted at every archway.

And me?

I stood dead center in front of all of them.

Barefoot, Guarded.

The clothes they’d given me felt too thin against the cold wind sliding down the hill. I folded my arms, not for modesty—just to stop them from shaking.

I wasn’t here to plead.

I was here to be judged.

Alpha Darius sat at the highest seat, a half-circle throne carved into the stone. To his right stood his three sons.

Kael. Riven. Thorne.

They didn’t speak. Didn’t even look at each other. But the space between them buzzed with tension. Kael’s jaw was locked. Riven had his arms folded, face stone cold. Thorne stood slightly apart from both, eyes half-lidded, unreadable. Watching me.

I didn’t look away.

Darius raised his hand. Silence fell.

“We gather under moon and law,” he said, voice loud and even, “to judge what the goddess has placed before us.”

He turned his gaze down to me.

“Do you deny what happened during the Blood Moon?”

“No,” I said. My voice didn’t shake. “I shifted. I killed a rogue. I saved a pup.”

“And the mate bond?”

I hesitated. “It’s real.”

“Which one?” An elder barked from the right.

I looked up. “All three.”

A ripple of unease swept through the crowd.

One of the council elders, a sharp-nosed woman with white hair, leaned forward.

“Impossible. No wolf has ever bonded to more than one mate.”

“I didn’t choose it,” I said flatly.

“You expect us to believe the Moon Goddess made a mistake?” she snapped.

I held her gaze. “I think you’re all afraid she didn’t.”

A murmur ran through the Elders. Alpha Darius raised a hand again, silencing it.

“She’s touched by something,” another Elder said, older, quieter. “But it may not be the

Moon.”

“She's dangerous,” the woman hissed. “This is how war starts. How bonds fracture. How packs fall apart.”

Kael stepped forward, his voice cutting through the rising noise. “She’s not a danger.”

Heads turned. Even Darius looked surprised.

Kael continued, “She fought when others ran. She saved that pup. And the rogue she took down wasn’t weak. She’s not cursed—she’s gifted.”

Riven scoffed. “Gifted? That’s what we’re calling this?”

Kael ignored him. “I felt the bond. So did you.”

Riven’s eyes narrowed. “And that’s exactly why she needs to be kept away from us.”

Thorne finally spoke, low and steady. “It’s not her fault.”

Kael turned to him. “You’re agreeing with me?”

“I’m saying blame won’t change anything. The bond’s there. All three of us feel it.”

The crowd whispered again.

Alpha Darius stood slowly. “Enough.”

The silence was instant.

He looked down at me. “You’ll be monitored. And until we understand what you are, you’ll remain under formal restriction. No unsupervised contact with my sons. No travel outside the pack lands. No training.”

I didn’t flinch. “So I’m a prisoner.”

“A protected asset,” he corrected.

“Same cage. Different name.”

Before he could respond, a commotion rose from the far end of the chamber.

A healer ran in, breathless. “Alpha! The Seer—she’s awake!”

That changed everything.

The healer’s den was heavy with incense and damp air. I was allowed to follow behind the elders as they entered the room. The Seer lay on a stone bed, body thin and pale, eyes fluttering like she was still half-trapped in some vision.

A younger healer adjusted her pillows.

“She's been murmuring ever since she woke,” the girl whispered. “Mostly nonsense.”

But the moment I stepped into the room, the Seer’s head snapped toward me.

Her voice cracked through the air. “Rory.”

Everyone froze.

The Seer sat up, face contorted in pain. “She carries more than one bond… more than one fate…”

“What does that mean?” Darius asked.

The seer’s hands trembled. “She wasn’t born to submit.”

The elders looked to one another.

“She was hidden,” the Seer said, her eyes wide, “from the beginning. Someone knew. Someone buried her real blood.”

My throat went dry.

The Seer collapsed again, eyes rolling back.

Healers rushed to her side.

The elders started murmuring, loud and panicked.

But Celina was already beside me.

I didn’t hear her approach. I just felt her breath on my ear.

“I remember you,” she whispered.

I turned.

She smiled, cruel and calm. “You were five. I saw your real shift. Before they made you forget.”

“What?”

“I saw what kind of wolf you really are.”

My pulse thundered.

“I always knew you were fake,” she said. “But I didn’t realize how dangerous.”

Then she was gone, melting into the crowd before I could say a word.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

******

The elders didn’t follow me out of the healer’s den. Neither did the Alpha.

They stayed, arguing in low voices while the Seer was tended to, her warnings still hanging in the air like smoke. I didn’t wait to be dismissed. I just walked.

The hallway outside was quiet, empty but for the faint echo of my footsteps and the weight building behind my ribs. One bond, she’d said. One fate. That would’ve been enough.

But more?

More meant danger. More meant secrets. And I was starting to think I wasn’t the only one hiding something.

I turned a corner too fast and nearly slammed into Kael.

He didn’t move.

We both stood there, locked for a second.

“You left fast,” he said.

“I didn’t feel like answering more questions,” I replied.

His eyes searched my face. “Did you know the Seer was going to say that?”

I shook my head. “No. Did you?”

“I had suspicions. Not answers.”

I didn’t like the way he said that—like he’d been digging. Like he’d already found things and just hadn’t told me yet.

“You should have told me,” I said quietly.

Kael stepped closer. “I didn’t want to make things worse.”

“Too late.”

He reached out like he wanted to touch me but stopped short, his hand dropping back to his side.

His restraint hurt worse than if he had just walked away.

“The mark,” I said. “It burns when you’re close.”

His jaw dropped. “Same.”

For a second, neither of us spoke.

Then Kael said, “I think my father’s planning to isolate you. This trial was just to see who will support it.”

“Support what?”

“Removing you,” he said simply.

I crossed my arms. “He won’t be the only one trying.”

Kael leaned in, voice low. “That’s why you need to stay close to me. I can protect you.”

“I’m not a project,” I snapped.

“No,” he said. “You’re something a lot more dangerous.”

Before I could answer, a door slammed open down the hall.

Celina stormed out of the healer’s wing, her heels striking the stone like gunshots.

She saw us and smiled.

“Touching reunion,” she said sweetly. “Careful, Kael. You don’t want to catch whatever she’s carrying.”

Kael turned to her slowly. “I’m not in the mood, Celina.”

She ignored him. “Did you like my little memory, Rory?”

“What did you mean?” I asked. “About my shift, about seeing me before?”

Celina shook her head. “You really don’t remember, do you?”

“Remember what?”

“You weren’t always an omega.”

The hallway fell still.

Kael’s head turned sharply. “What?”

Celina looked pleased. “There it is. The shock. Thought I made that up?”

“I don’t believe you,” I said, but my voice was thinner than before.

“You shouldn’t,” she said. “It’s not a fun truth.”

“Tell me,” I demanded.

“I saw it once. Just once. When we were kids.” She stepped closer, eyes gleaming. “Your wolf wasn’t white then. It was darker. Stronger. It changed after they brought you back.”

I frowned. “Brought me back from where?”

Her grin widened. “You really don’t know anything, do you?”

Kael moved between us. “That’s enough.”

She scoffed. “Of course it is. You always did like rescuing broken things.”

Then she turned and walked away, the sound of her heels echoing long after she disappeared.

I looked at Kael. “Is it true?”

He didn’t answer right away.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I know someone who might.”

I nodded slowly. “Then I want to find out.”

I didn’t go back to the tower.

Something about being locked in a room after what I’d just heard made my skin crawl. So I slipped through one of the side halls that led down to the inner garden—small, quiet, and usually empty at this time of night.

But it wasn’t empty.

Thorne was there, leaning against the stone wall beneath a tall arch, half in shadow. He didn't move when I entered. Just watch me.

“Did you hear all that?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Then say something.”

His voice was low. “Celina doesn’t lie unless it benefits her. That’s what makes her dangerous.”

I stepped closer. “What if she is right?”

Thorne shrugged. “Then you’re not who you think you are.”

“Not an omega.”

He nodded once.

“I don’t feel like one,” I said quietly. “Not anymore.”

Thorne pushed off the wall and took a slow step toward me.

His eyes didn’t leave mine.

“You’re not.”

There was something charged in the air. The same pull I felt around Kael was here too—but different. Wilder

He was in front of me now.

“You’re hiding something too,” I said.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he lifted one hand and brushed my hair behind my ear. His fingers grazed the skin near my jaw. My wolf surged forward, uncoiling like it had been waiting.

Thorne didn’t stop.

He leaned in slowly—close enough for his breath to hit my lips.

“Thorne”

He kissed me.

No hesitation. No asking. Just raw, controlled need.

I froze for a heartbeat, then kissed him back.

The bond hit like thunder.

Heat surged through my chest, sharp and greedy. His hands slid down to my waist, pulling me closer. My fingers dug into his shirt. For a second, I forgot everything. The Seer. The council. Celina’s warnings. All of it.

Then a voice cut through the air like ice.

“What the hell is this?”

We broke apart instantly.

Riven stood at the edge of the garden, arms crossed, face unreadable.

His voice was cold.

“You really couldn’t wait, could you?”

Riven didn’t move. He didn’t raise his voice. But the silence that followed him into the garden was louder than any shout.

I stepped back. Thorne didn’t.

Riven’s eyes locked on him. “You think this is a game?”

Thorne’s jaw twitched. “I didn’t ask for your permission.”

“Good,” Riven said, cold and sharp. “Because you wouldn’t have gotten it.”

The weight of the bond between the three of us pulsed like a second heartbeat. I was caught in the crossfire of their tension. I felt both of them—different pulls, different heat—clashing inside me.

I tried to speak. “It wasn’t….”

Riven cut me off. “Don’t make excuses. Not for him.”

Thorne stepped forward. “You’re angry because you felt it too.”

Riven’s glare darkened. “Don’t.”

“You kissed her once, didn’t you?” Thorne pushed. “Or did it scare you too much?” Riven didn’t reply.

But the muscles in his neck tightened. I saw it. Felt it. He wasn’t unaffected. He was holding the bond back like it might kill him if he gave in.

“I don’t care what the prophecy says,” Riven said finally. “I’m not playing a part in some cursed mating bond. I don’t need this.”

He turned to me then, for the first time.

“You’re not ready for this. You don’t even know what you are.”

“I didn’t ask for any of it,” I snapped.

“No,” he said. “But you’re in the middle of it now.”

The air between us crackled, and for a second, I thought he might shift. But then he turned and walked out of the garden, fast and silent, leaving behind tension like a wire pulled too tight.

Thorne exhaled beside me. “He’ll come around.”

I wasn’t so sure.

But I didn’t get to dwell on it long.

The sky overhead darkened—fast. Too fast.

I looked up. The moon, bright just seconds ago, dimmed behind sudden clouds. A gust of cold air whipped through the courtyard. Every instinct in my body screamed at once.

Something was wrong.

Thorne’s body went rigid beside me. His eyes scanned the tree line beyond the wall.

Then we both heard it.

Not a howl.

A low voice echoing.

“She’s marked wrong.”

We turned.

A shadow moved beyond the archway. Hooded. Still.

And then more followed. Figures. Four… six… maybe more. I couldn’t count fast enough.

Their eyes glowed red in the dark.

Not rogues.

Not wolves.

Something else.

Thorne growled. “Back away, Rory. Now.”

Too late.

The first one lunged from the shadow.

Straight at me.