The alpha's wrath

Chapter 4

Someone was screaming.

I jolted awake, heart hammering. Gray dawn light filtered through the cabin windows. The screaming continued. Raw. Agonized.

I stumbled to the door and cracked it open.

The clearing was chaos.

Wolves. Everywhere. Some in human form, some mid-shift, caught between human and animal. Their screams were the worst. Like their bodies were tearing themselves apart.

"Stay inside!" A guard appeared at my door. Male. Built like a tank. His eyes were wild. "Don't come out. Don't let them see you."

"What's happening?"

"The curse. It comes in waves. Gets worse every time." He gripped the doorframe. His knuckles were white. "Just stay inside."

He left before I could ask more questions.

I should have listened. Should have closed the door and hidden like he said.

But I couldn't look away.

A woman collapsed in the middle of the clearing. She was maybe thirty. Pretty. Her back arched and I heard bones breaking. Snapping. Her scream cut off into a choked gurgle.

Two others rushed to her side. Tried to hold her down.

"Where's Kael?" someone shouted. "We need the Alpha!"

As if summoned, he appeared.

Kael strode out of the main lodge and the chaos seemed to pause. Even the woman's convulsions slowed. Every wolf turned toward him like flowers to the sun.

He was shirtless. I noticed that first. Couldn't help it. His chest was all hard muscle and old scars. But it was the power radiating off him that stole my breath.

This was an Alpha.

This was what that word really meant.

"Everyone back." His voice carried across the clearing. Calm. Commanding. "Give her space."

The wolves obeyed instantly. Scrambling back. Leaving the woman alone on the ground.

Kael knelt beside her. Placed a hand on her forehead.

And the bond between us... shifted.

I felt it. Felt him pulling on some deep well of power. Felt it flow through him into her. The woman's breathing eased. Her body relaxed.

But Kael's face went pale.

He was taking her pain. Absorbing it somehow.

"Alpha, you can't keep doing this," Vera appeared beside him. "You're killing yourself."

"She has two children." His voice was strained. "I'm not letting her die."

"If you burn out your power, we all die anyway."

He ignored her. Kept his hand on the woman's forehead until her eyes fluttered open. Until she could breathe without agony.

Only then did he stand. He swayed slightly. Vera grabbed his arm to steady him.

His eyes swept the clearing. Taking in his pack. The fear on their faces. The desperation.

Then his gaze landed on me.

Standing in my doorway like an idiot. Watching.

His expression went from exhaustion to fury in a heartbeat.

"I told you to stay inside," he growled.

Even from across the clearing, the command in his voice hit me like a physical force. My body responded before my brain could. I stepped back. Started to close the door.

Then stopped.

No.

I was tired of being afraid. Tired of following orders I didn't understand.

"What's happening to them?" I called out. "Sage told me about the curse. Is this it?"

The entire clearing went silent.

Kael's jaw clenched. "Sage talks too much."

"She was trying to help."

"She was overstepping." He started walking toward me. Each step was measured. Controlled. Like he was holding himself back from running. From attacking. "You need to learn to stay out of pack business."

"It became my business the second you claimed this bond made me yours."

I don't know where the bravery came from. Maybe stupidity. But the words were out before I could stop them.

Kael reached my cabin. Climbed the two steps to the small porch. He was so close now. Close enough that I could see gold flecks swimming in his eyes. Could smell that pine and smoke scent that made my head spin.

"I never claimed you," he said softly. Dangerously. "The bond did that. Not me."

"Same difference, apparently."

"It's not." He leaned in. His voice dropped to barely a whisper. "If I'd claimed you, truly claimed you, you'd know it. You'd bear my mark. My scent would be so deep in your skin that every wolf for miles would know you belonged to me."

Heat flooded through me. The bond pulsed. Wanting exactly that.

I hated it.

Hated how my body responded to him even as my mind screamed danger.

"I don't belong to anyone," I said through gritted teeth.

"No. You don't." He straightened. Stepped back. "Which is why I'm going to break this bond. Today."

My stomach dropped. "What?"

"I found something. An old ritual. Dangerous, but possible." His face was unreadable. "By tonight, you'll be free. You can go back to your human life and forget any of this happened."

"But the curse." The words tumbled out. "Sage said the bond could break it. That you need a true mate to save the pack."

His eyes went cold. "Sage is a child who doesn't understand how the world works."

"She understands that your pack is dying!"

"My pack has been dying for three years." His voice was flat. "One more false hope won't save them. It'll just make the end harder."

I stared at him. "You'd rather let them die than accept help? Than accept me?"

"I'd rather face reality than chain myself to a fantasy." He turned away. "The ritual happens at sunset. Be ready."

"And if I refuse?"

He paused. Looked back over his shoulder.

"You think you have a choice in this?"

The question hung in the air. Heavy. Threatening.

"I'm not your prisoner," I said. "You can't force me to participate in some ritual."

"Can't I?"

The gold in his eyes flared brighter.

And suddenly two guards appeared. One on each side of my door. The same ones who'd been there all night.

"Make sure she doesn't leave the cabin until sunset," Kael ordered. "If she tries to run, stop her. Gently, but stop her."

"Yes, Alpha."

He walked away without another word. Back toward the main lodge. His shoulders were tight. His stride was stiff.

And through the bond, I felt it.

Pain. Not physical. Deeper.

He was hurting. The thought of breaking the bond was hurting him even as he demanded it.

But he was going to do it anyway.

I slammed the door. Pressed my forehead against the rough wood.

This was insane. All of it.

I should want the bond broken. Should be relieved he was willing to let me go. I could go back to Portland. Back to my dorm and my classes and my normal life.

Except nothing would be normal now. I'd know the truth. That monsters were real. That fate existed. That somewhere in these woods, a pack of wolves was dying because their Alpha was too broken to accept help.

And I'd spend the rest of my life wondering if I could have saved them.

"Dammit," I muttered.

I paced the cabin. Three steps. Turn. Three steps. Turn.

The bond pulled at my chest with every movement. Stronger now. Insistent.

It didn't want to be broken.

My body didn't want it broken.

But what about what I wanted?

Did I want to be tied to a man who looked at me like a burden? Who'd already killed one mate? Who was willing to let his entire pack die rather than trust again?

No sane person would want that.

But then again, nothing about this situation was sane.

A knock on the door made me jump.

"Mira?" It was Sage's voice. Hesitant. "Can I come in?"

I opened the door. She stood there with another tray of food. Her eyes were red. She'd been crying.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I got you in trouble. Kael was so angry when he found out I talked to you. He almost banished me from the pack."

"What? No. Sage, that's not fair."

"Fair doesn't matter to him anymore." She set the tray down. Her hands were shaking. "Is it true? Is he really going to break the bond?"

I nodded.

A sob escaped her. "Then we're dead. All of us. The curse... it's accelerating. My mom says we have months now. Not years. And without a true mate bond to counter it..."

She didn't finish. Didn't need to.

"I'm sorry," I said. The words felt hollow. Useless.

"It's not your fault." She wiped her eyes. "Kael's just... he's so afraid. Of being hurt again. Of trusting again. He'd rather die than feel that kind of betrayal a second time."

"Even if it means taking his entire pack with him?"

"He doesn't see it that way. He thinks he's protecting us. Thinks accepting a bond built on fate is what destroyed us last time." She looked at me with those amber eyes. So much older than her years. "But he's wrong. The bond didn't destroy us. The person who betrayed it did."

She left before I could respond.

I stood alone in the cabin. Surrounded by silence.

The sun climbed higher. Morning turned to afternoon. The guards changed shifts but never left their posts.

I was trapped.

And at sunset, Kael would perform some ritual that would sever the bond connecting us.

Would free me.

Would doom his pack.

Would let me walk away from the one thing fate had decided was mine.

I sat on the bed and put my head in my hands.

What was I supposed to do?

Fight him? How? I was human. Weak. He could overpower me without even trying.

Convince him? With what argument? He'd made up his mind.

Accept it? Go back to my life and pretend none of this happened?

The bond pulsed. Aching. Like it knew what was coming.

Through it, I felt Kael in the main lodge. I felt him preparing. Gathering ingredients. Reading from old texts.

I felt his determination.

And underneath it, buried so deep I almost missed it...

Regret.

He didn't want this either.

But he was going to do it anyway.

Because he was more afraid of the bond than he was of dying.

More afraid of trusting me than losing everything.

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

The sun moved across the sky. Shadows lengthened.

Sunset was coming.

And with it, a choice I wasn't ready to make.

Accept freedom and live with guilt.

Or fight for a bond with a man who'd made it clear he didn't want me.

Either way, nothing would ever be the same.