THE BLOOD ALPHA*

**HAZEL**

My eyes shot open.

For a moment, I couldn’t tell where I was… or how long I’d been here. Last night’s incident slammed back into my mind, sharp and disorienting. Was it even last night? Or had days passed?

When my vision finally adjusted, I realized my hands were chained—so were my legs.

A throbbing pain pulsed through my skull.

God. Where did Lucian’s men dump me?

And who gave him that cursed letter? Why wasn’t my life hell enough already? Betrayal was something I thought I was used to, but Lyria’s… Lyria’s cut differently. The look on her face before I left that ballroom—mockery, triumph, or something uglier—I’d never seen that side of her before.

She had always treated me like a sister.

So why now?

Why take the only precious thing I thought I finally had?

The curtain scraped open suddenly, sunlight slicing into my eyes like daggers. I lifted my chained hands to shield myself, blinking rapidly.

And then I froze.

Draxus Valenhart.

My stomach dropped.

Why… how… why did they bring me back to him?

He walked toward me, expression unreadable—cold, bored, almost disappointed. I couldn’t tell if he was angry, or simply looking at a stray animal he was tired of beating.

“To think that something good would ever come out of you…”He murmured, his face still emotionless. “I was foolish to expect anything better.”

I don’t consider him my father. Not anymore.

A father is a father to a daughter.

Draxus is a monster wearing skin.

“Well,” he continued, “I heard you’re pregnant. You are just a whore, getting pregnant for someone that's not even your mate. He spat. “Well, at least you’re useful for something.”

Pregnant.

The word struck me like a physical blow. My chest tightened.

After one night…just one sex I had with him.

I'm not a whore, right? he was my mate, so I won't be labeled something worse besides a traitor.

Most she-wolves that fall pregnant in other cities are banished, as they do with those that betray or commit treason among the packs; forsaken wolves. Without any pack contact, they turn feral, sending them crazed and mad, and are forced to live outside the cities. No one wants to be on their own out there. It isn’t safe, and not how anyone wants to live. 

What kind of world would a pup of mine be born into?

I haven't shifted, not yet, I wonder how being pregnant will now delay the process.

I was unable to shift while not pregnant. How much now that I'm pregnant?

“Better pregnant than trapped here with a monster like you,” I said, my voice steady despite the tremor in my heart.

I refused to cry. Not here. Not for him.

“I see you’ve learned to talk back.” Draxus straightened, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I regret not tossing you out with your mother. Useless, both of you.”

My spit landed on his face.

He stilled, then wiped it off slowly. His palm came crashing across my cheek hard enough to blur my vision.

“I stopped calling you father a long time ago,” I hissed. “And you will never control me again.”

He chuckled—a cold, dead sound. “Save your sharp tongue for your next owner. Lucian failed his job. But I got what I wanted from him, so he’s no longer needed.”

My blood froze.

“Lyria,” he added casually. “I hope you met her. I wish she were my daughter. She’s everything you’re not—brilliant, useful.”

Her betrayal stabbed deeper than any slap.

Footsteps sounded behind him—heavy, deliberate.

Three large men entered, filling the space with silent authority. A fourth man followed them in, taller than the rest, broad-shouldered, a glint of metal in his ear.

I lowered my gaze instantly. I wasn’t allowed to look an Alpha directly in the eyes unless he permitted it.

So… this was him.

My buyer.

“At least he came himself,” I thought bitterly. “To see the property he purchased.”

“Ander, Your Grace—welcome to the Valenhart pack.” Draxus bowed.

I almost laughed.

Draxus Valenhart—Alpha of one of the most feared packs—is bowing.

He never bowed to anyone. Not even Lucian.

Fear twisted inside me.

It clicked.

Ander…

Ander as in Evander of the Blackspires.

Rumors surrounded him like shadows—how he killed his own twin to claim the Alpha seat, how he was rumored to be the devil’s son. Cold. Heartless. Untouchable.

I thought I had lived in hell.

Now I was being delivered to a deeper, darker one.

“Hm,” Evander said with an unimpressed sigh. “I would’ve thought the great Valenhart pack had basic manners. Not even a cup of coffee?”

“My apologies, Your Grace,” Draxus said quickly, almost stumbling over his words. “I didn’t expect you to need coffee—it’s just a quick transaction.”

Evander ignored him completely.

“Kael. Get the breeder.” His voice was low, cutting, deadly calm.

One of the men—likely his beta—walked toward me and pulled me upright with effortless strength.

That’s when I saw her.

My grandmother.

She sat on a chair in the corner of the room, eyes swollen, face pale, hands trembling. Her gaze met mine and broke into pieces. Tears welled instantly in my own eyes.

I tried to run to her—only for the chains to yank me back down.

“The keys,” Kael said, his voice sharp, directed at Draxus.

Draxus hesitated only a second before pulling the keys from his pocket.

Kael unlocked my wrists first—metal clattering to the ground—then bent to unchain my ankles.

Shock flickered through Draxus’s eyes.

He never expected the breeder to be freed.

The moment I could move, I darted to my grandmother, collapsing at her feet. She pulled me into her arms with shaky hands.

“Why didn’t you run, Hazel?” she whispered, cupping my face. “Why did you let them bring you back here?”

Her wrinkles, her trembling…

It shattered me.

“We’re leaving,” Evander said, voice sharp enough to slice the moment apart. “Kael. Take her. We don’t have time.”

Kael helped me stand. My grandmother’s sobs echoed behind me as they led me out.

Her voice—small, broken—haunted each step.

Would she survive this heartbreak?

Watching her only grandchild being ragged away again?

I didn’t know.

But I knew one thing:

I would never forgive Draxus Valenhart.

Not for this.

Not ever.

I would make him regret the day he called me useless.