Chapter 5

Alpha Kael’s POV

I’ve killed for less.

I’ve ended lives for betrayal, for disobedience, even for the flicker of a lie. But standing here, with Rowan trembling before me, I hesitate. And I hate that I do.

She looks smaller than I remember. Fragile. But I know better than to be fooled by appearances. Wolves can hide claws behind soft eyes.

“Rowan,” I say, tasting her name on my tongue like something bitter and forbidden. It's the first time I’ve said it aloud. I never planned to. She wasn’t supposed to matter.

Yet here we are.

She looks startled that I know her name. Good. Let her feel the imbalance. Let her remember who holds the power in this room.

“Do you know who I am?”

A stupid question, but necessary. I need to hear it. I need to watch her squirm.

She nods.

“Do you know what happened to me ten years ago?”

She nods again. Of course she does. Everyone does. My curse is legend—whispered in every pack across the lands. A legacy not of power, but of failure. Of bloodline extinction.

“Speak.”

Her fear bleeds into the room, and I drink it in like a drug.

“Yes, Alpha.”

The way she says it,soft, obedient,makes something primal stir inside me. I silence it quickly. Lust is for the weak. I need truth. I need answers.

She begins the tale, and when she recites the witch’s curse, word for word, a dark satisfaction coils inside me. She knows. Good. Then she’ll understand the weight of what she’s being accused of.

No heir. That’s what I was promised. Cursed. Cut off from legacy. Doomed to watch my name fade into history like ash in wind.

And yet—

“Whose child do you carry?”

She pales, eyes wide. Her lips tremble. The denial comes fast, too fast.

“I’m not pregnant,” she says.

A lie. Or fear. Both dangerous.

“You suggest the doctor lies?” I press, voice low, mocking.

She doesn’t answer. Just panics. I can see it,her mind racing, trying to figure out how to survive this. I almost admire it. But I need a name.

“Who else have you been seeing?”

I step closer, gripping her thighs—not with gentleness, but claim. Intimidation. I lean in, lowering my voice into something colder than death.

“I promise, if you tell me now, both your deaths will be swift.”

She doesn’t cower like I expect. Instead, she says the most foolish thing she could possibly say:

“I haven’t been with another man.”

Bold. Stupid. Dangerous.

My wolf snarls inside me. She lies. No one breaks the curse. No one carries my heir. Not like this.

But then again… what if she isn’t lying?

What if…?

No. No, it’s impossible. The curse is real. I’ve watched others try—women of royal bloodlines, gifted healers, witches, seers. None bore fruit. I am barren, cursed by flame and thorn.

This has to be sabotage. A calculated move by her former pack. A war ploy. Plant the girl. Claim an heir. Shake the North.

I will not be made a fool.

Dr. Bradley enters. Chelsea follows, her face unreadable, though I feel her unease through the bond. The machine is brought in, and I watch as Rowan’s skin is exposed. She flinches from the cold, but I don't flinch.

I watch the screen, arms crossed, heart still.

This is for show. Nothing will come of it.

And then—

Thump-thump.

Steady. Strong. Unmistakable.

A heartbeat.

The room stills.

My blood freezes.

It’s real?

“No,” she whispers. “I haven’t been with anyone else…”

My rage coils tight in my chest. I want to tear the truth out of her. But something in her voice—it’s not false. It’s terror. Raw and unfiltered.

Dr. Bradley speaks before I can lash out. “I don’t think she’s lying, Alpha.”

I round on her, but she continues, her voice steady and low.

She speaks of heartbeats. Of the way omega and beta offspring sound. And then she says it—this heartbeat, this strength—it matches only one other she’s ever heard.

My sister’s.

A true alpha heir.

My heir.

A child… from me?

No. That should be impossible.

But the sound echoes on, mocking every doubt I’ve ever clung to.

A cursed man does not become a father.

Unless the curse is… broken?

Unless the girl before me holds the answer to everything I’ve lost?

My eyes return to her. She’s shaking, lips parted in horror.

I could kill her. Right now. End the confusion. Silence the risk. One snap of my fingers and she’s nothing but memory.

But I don’t.

Because if this child is mine…

Then so is she.

And I will not let my legacy be stolen again.