Chapter Seven: The Council’s Eyes

KAEL'S POV

I watched Lara from across the council table as she carefully folded her hands in her lap, her long sleeves covering her wrists completely. She looked perfect sitting there, the dutiful Luna in her deep blue dress, smiling nervously at the council members who were greeting her with varying degrees of warmth.

But I wasn't really paying attention to her right now.

I needed to speak with Alden before this breakfast began in earnest, before the rest of the council arrived and we had to play our roles. I caught his eye across the table and tilted my head slightly toward the antechamber door behind me.

He understood immediately. Alden stood smoothly and addressed the few early council members who'd already arrived. "Forgive me, I need to retrieve some documents for this morning's discussion.

Alpha, perhaps you could assist me?"

It was a thin excuse, but no one questioned it. I turned to Lara, making sure she could see my lips clearly. "I'll be right back. Just some boring council business."

She nodded, her smile still in place, though I could see the tension in her shoulders. She was nervous, which was good. Nervous meant compliant.

I followed Alden into the small antechamber and closed the door firmly behind us. The room was barely more than a storage space, lined with old texts and forgotten records, dusty and dim even with the morning light trying to filter through one small window.

"Well?" Alden asked immediately, his voice low. "How did the night go?"

"Fine," I said, though the word felt hollow. "She suspects nothing."

"Of course she doesn't." Alden moved to the small table in the corner, brushing dust off its surface.

"The broken omega is so desperate for acceptance, she'd believe anything you told her."

There it was again. That term. I felt a flicker of something, guilt maybe, but I pushed it down. "Don't call her that."

Alden raised an eyebrow. "Developing feelings, are we? That's inconvenient."

"I'm not developing anything," I snapped. "But she's still my Luna. Show some respect."

"She's a tool," Alden corrected, his voice hard. "A very useful tool, but a tool nonetheless. Don't forget that."

I looked away, unable to hold his gaze. He was right, of course. That's all she was. All she'd ever been since we'd started planning this three years ago.

"The Claiming Ball was perfect," Alden continued, apparently satisfied with my silence. "Every pack in the north witnessed you claim her. No one will question your right to her now."

"Good," I said, trying to focus on the plan instead of the image of Lara's grateful, trusting face. "So we move forward with the timeline?"

"Exactly." Alden pulled out a rolled parchment from inside his coat and spread it across the table. I recognized the ritual diagram immediately. The Alpha Curse and our path to immortality. "We need eight weeks after conception for the soul to form properly. Any earlier and the ritual won't take."

I studied the intricate symbols, the three elements required. Luna blood with Moon Goddess magic, an innocent soul, and ancient Alpha power. "And if she doesn't conceive right away?"

"She will." Alden's confidence was absolute. "She's desperate to prove herself worthy of you. She'll do everything in her power to give you an heir as quickly as possible."

The guilt twisted deeper, but I forced it down again.

"How long do we have?"

"Her deaf week started a few days ago," Alden said, and something like satisfaction crossed his face.

"Perfect timing. For the next few days, she can't accidentally overhear anything we're planning. We can speak freely."

That's why he wanted this meeting now. While Lara sat in the next room, completely unable to hear what we were discussing. "There's a complication," Alden said, his expression darkening.

My attention sharpened. "What complication?"

"The Vale twins." He said it like a curse. "I had spies at the Claiming Ball last night. They reported something very interesting."

"What did they see?"

"The twins felt the mate bond when they laid eyes on your Luna." Alden watched my face carefully, gauging my reaction. "The true mate bond, Kael.

The one that can't be denied or ignored."

Rage flooded through me, hot and possessive.

"That's impossible. I claimed her. I marked her as mine in front of everyone."

"You chose her," Alden corrected, his voice maddeningly calm. "But fate chose them for her. Surely you felt it when you tried to mark her? The way the bond resisted didn't quite settle properly?"

I had felt it. Last night, when I'd placed my mark on her neck, something had felt wrong. But I'd told myself it was just her Moon Silence interfering, or nerves, or anything except the truth I didn't want to face.

"So what does that mean?" I asked, my voice tight.

"The bond didn't take? She's not really my Luna?"

"Oh, she's your Luna," Alden assured me. "You claimed her publicly, and the pack accepted her. That's binding enough. But her soul recognizes the Vale twins as her true fated mates, whether she wants to or not."

I turned away from him, staring at the dusty books lining the walls. "Then why did we bother with all this? If she's fated to them, the plan won't work."

"On the contrary," Alden said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "This makes everything better."

I turned back to face him. "How?"

"Think about it." He leaned against the table, arms crossed. "The mate bond will pull the twins to her like a lodestone. They won't be able to stay away, no matter how dangerous it is. They'll come for her, try to explain the bond.

Understanding began to dawn. "You want to use her as bait?”

"I want to acquire their ancient Alpha power without having to hunt them across the entire north," Alden corrected. "The Vale bloodline is old, Kael. Older than any other pack. Their power is essential for the ritual to work properly." He pulled out another parchment, this one showing a different set of symbols. "A binding ritual. We lure them here, trap them, drain their power, and add it to the Alpha Curse."

"They're not stupid," I said. "They won't just walk into an obvious trap."

"They will for her." Alden's certainty was unshakable.

"The mate bond is the strongest force in our world.

They'll risk everything, sacrifice everything, to reach her. Especially once they realize she's in danger."

The plan was elegant in its brutality: use Lara to lure the twins, steal their power, complete the ritual, and achieve immortality.

"When do you think they'll make their move?" I asked.

"Soon," Alden said. "Maybe two weeks, maybe three.

They'll try to see her privately, explain what she is to them. They'll probably attempt to convince her that you're not her real mate."

"She won't believe them," I said, but even to my own ears it sounded uncertain.

"Make sure she doesn't." Alden's voice was sharp, commanding. "Be the perfect Alpha for her.

Attentive, affectionate, everything she's ever dreamed of. The more she trusts you, the easier this becomes."

I nodded slowly. I could do that. I'd been doing it for months already, playing the devoted Alpha who saw past her flaws to the woman beneath.

Alden reached into his coat again and pulled out a leather-bound book, old and worn. He opened it to a marked page and laid it on the table between us.

The ritual diagram inside was far more detailed than the parchment, showing every step of the Alpha Curse in intricate, horrifying detail.

"The next blood moon falls in eight weeks," he said, his finger tracing the final symbol at the center of the diagram. "Maybe nine, depending on when conception occurs. But by then, we'll have everything we need."

He looked up at me, his eyes glinting in the dim light. "The Vale twins' ancient power, bound and ready. The Luna's Moon Goddess blood and an innocent soul, newly formed and untainted."

"And Lara?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Alden's smile was cold, calculating, without a shred of mercy. "By the next blood moon, you'll be immortal, and the broken omega will have served her only purpose."

The words hung in the air between us like a death sentence. Which, I supposed, they were.

Voices filtered through from the main chamber. More council members are arriving. Soon we'd have to go back out there, play our roles.

I stared down at the ritual diagram, at the symbol representing the innocent soul that would be sacrificed. Lara's child and my heir. The baby she'd be so desperate to give me, thinking it would secure her place at my side forever.

"Remember," Alden said quietly, rolling up the parchments and tucking them back into his coat. "She can't hear anything right now. Use that. We can discuss the plan freely as long as we're careful about when we face her."

He moved toward the door, then paused with his hand on the handle. "And Kael? Don't let sentiment interfere. She's a means to an end. That's all she's ever been."

He left, leaving me alone with the leather-bound book still open on the table. I looked down at the diagram one more time, at the intricate symbols that would give me everything I'd ever wanted.

All for the small price of one broken omega's life.

I closed the book and followed Alden back into the council chamber, where Lara sat waiting with that nervous, hopeful smile on her face.