The Alpha’s Watch

Dylan’s POV

The night was too quiet.

I’ve learned over the years that quiet doesn’t mean peace….it means danger. It’s the breath before the strike, the pause before the knife comes down. A pack’s silence was never empty. It was heavy, charged, waiting.

I stood on the balcony outside my chambers, hands resting on the stone rail as I looked down at the courtyard. Torches burned low, their flames bending with the night breeze. Guards patrolled in pairs, their boots clicking against the stones, their movements sharp and disciplined. My pack always moved with precision. That was how I kept them strong. That was why no other Alpha dared test me.

And yet, I could feel it like a draft seeping through cracks in the walls. The air wasn’t clean. Whispers were spreading, like insects burrowing beneath the skin.

I didn’t need to hear the words to know where they came from.

Veronica.

My jaw tightened. She hadn’t approached me directly since Elsa arrived, and that alone told me everything I needed to know. Veronica was never one to hold her tongue. Silence, from her, wasn’t surrender. It was plotting.

And I had seen her look at Elsa earlier sharp, venomous, like a cornered wolf ready to lash out. She hated her. She hated that Elsa had taken the place she thought belonged to her.

Elsa hadn’t flinched, though. That surprised me. Her eyes had widened, yes, but she hadn’t lowered her head. Beneath her uncertainty, I’d caught a glimpse of steel. And my wolf had stirred the moment I saw it.

Mine, he growled in my head, pride swelling in his voice.

I gripped the rail hard enough that my claws threatened to break through. The thought of anyone Veronica, the pack, even my own blood trying to wound Elsa made my blood burn. She was mine. My mate. My Luna. They could whisper all they wanted, but if anyone tried to take action against her, I would break them so thoroughly no one would dare again.

A sharp knock at the door broke my thoughts. “Enter,” I called, my voice firm.

The door opened and Rurik stepped inside. My lieutenant scarred, loyal, and never one for unnecessary words.

“My Alpha,” he bowed his head, his deep voice steady. “There’s movement among the inner maids. Too much chatter tonight.”

I didn’t need to ask who they were whispering about. “Elsa,” I said flatly.

Rurik gave a curt nod. “Yes.”

I turned back toward the courtyard, my expression like stone. I had expected this. A new Luna always stirred the waters. She was unfamiliar to them, someone they hadn’t chosen. But there was more to it something sharper. Malice. Intent.

“Watch them,” I ordered. “Quietly. I want names. I want to know who feeds the fire.”

“As you command,” Rurik said, bowing again before leaving me alone with the silence.

I stayed still for a long time, my eyes fixed on the night. I had ruled this pack with iron and fire. None had dared to oppose me openly in years. But this wasn’t the challenge of an outside Alpha or a rival pack. This was something far more insidious.

Rot within the walls.

My thoughts shifted to Elsa. I could still see her face when she walked into the Luna’s chambers for the first time. Wide-eyed, quiet, tense as though she expected the walls themselves to bite her. She carried scars, that much was obvious. Not just on her body though I suspected there were plenty but inside. Her silence, her guarded way of moving, her hesitation before every word.

And yet… she was still standing. That quiet endurance made something inside me ache. It made me want to tear apart every person who had ever made her suffer.

She had survived worse than whispers. But she wouldn’t have to fight them alone. Not anymore.

I left the balcony and walked through the halls of my house. The night air carried familiar scents, and one of them made my lip curl. Sweet. Cloying. Veronica.

Her chamber door was shut, but her presence lingered in the air. For years, I had tolerated her…used her, even. She had been convenient, and I had allowed her to linger because it served me. But now, with Elsa here, her scent made my stomach turn.

I stopped outside her chamber, listening. Silence. Too much silence.

She was planning something. I could feel it as surely as I could feel the beat of my own heart.

I stepped closer, laying a hand against the door. For a fleeting second, I considered storming inside, tearing through whatever schemes she was weaving before they could take root. But I pulled back. No. Not yet.

If I crushed her now, I’d never know how far she was willing to go—or who else might join her. Better to let her spin her little web and then rip it apart when she thought herself untouchable.

My wolf growled inside me, restless. We should end her now. Before she touches what is ours.

“Patience,” I muttered under my breath. “She’ll make a mistake soon enough.”

And when she did, I would be waiting.

I turned away, my mind already sharpening with plans. Elsa would be safe. She was my Luna, my mate, the woman the Moon Goddess herself had chosen for me. Anyone who dared defy that even Veronica would pay.

I am Alpha Dylan of the Red Claw Pack. My word is law.

And no one…not even those within my own walls would take her from me.