Chapter 00002

A Breeder For The Alpha

Phil's POV:

"I do."

Her lips parted just enough to let those two words float into the space between us, and at that moment, I swear the world slowed down.

Her smile was subtle, but it held power. Her dentition—damn near perfect. For a wolf who hadn't received the kind of elite care most shifters did, that smile had no business being that flawless.

It was like fate decided to preserve every inch of her femininity, wrapping her in elegance and a kind of rustic beauty no courtship could manufacture.

She stood tall—statuesque, almost British in her grace. Her hair, long and black with a silky sheen, framed her face like brushstrokes in a masterpiece.

It made everything else—her cheeks, her lips, her sharp yet delicate nose—seem like accessories to her real crown: Those damn eyes.

God, those eyes.

Greenish with a quiet glow, full of wit, stories, maybe even warnings. They weren't just beautiful—they were lived in.

You could tell they'd seen some shit. I felt pain, fought for survival, and still held onto something pure.

They held me. Just for a second. And in that second, I felt the sharp pang of something that might’ve been hope.

Maybe this wasn’t a mistake after all.

"Till your eyes are grey and your wolf can no longer prey,” Alexander finished.

“I do,” I echoed, the words barely leaving my lips but crashing into the core of everything I was.

“You may now kiss the bride.”

His voice broke through the last fragments of our separate lives. Now we were one. Alpha and Luna. Man and wife. Yin and yang. A forged bond, sealed not just by our kiss but by duty.

I leaned in.

The kiss wasn’t fire—not yet—but it had potential. Our noses brushed as we adjusted for better reach, our lips finally locking in a way that felt more natural than I’d expected. As soon as our mouths touched, I felt my ears twitch.

My wolf stirred, and howled softly inside me, eager to rise. It wanted to be part of this.

To feel her.

Then her ears shifted too.

Only her ears. The only part of her that had ever shown signs of wolfing out. A sign that maybe, just maybe, her wolf was still somewhere in there, waiting for the right moment.

Ray, my father, shouted from behind, “That’s my boy!”

I didn’t turn, but I felt it. His pride. His relief. I had done it. Found a Luna. Fulfilled my end of the Grand Pack Committee’s ultimatum.

Now the Moon Goddess had to handle the rest—finish what we had started under that magnolia tree.

The ride home in the Black Diamond limousine was quiet.

The Pack had done what the Pack always did—go all out. Best cars. Lavish ceremony. Smiles so wide you'd think everyone believed we were in love.

Vera and I sat side by side, but we barely exchanged a word. She was tired. I could tell. She didn’t complain, though.

Just leaned her head against my shoulder halfway through the drive, and I let her.

Then I stroked her hair softly because it was the least I could do.

She was playing her part in all this.

And so was I.

By the time we got to our new cottage mansion, Vera was asleep. So I carried her out gently—almost possessively. She felt light, like someone who’d gone too long without being held properly.

A soft smile crossed her lips while she slept. Maybe she sensed the shift in her life. The care she was finally getting. The stability, even if it wasn’t the fairy tale she might’ve once imagined.

I laid her on the bed with care. Took off the wedding jewelry, and then the wedding dress. I wasn’t going to claim her that night. Not like that. She needed rest. She deserved that much.

Later—maybe tomorrow—I’d mate her. Mark her. Make her mine in full. But for now, she needed sleep more than anything.

So I stepped out for air.

Three months ago, I was a free Alpha, rejecting emotions like they were poison. Then the GPC tightened the noose.

They gave me a deadline. A fucking timeline for falling in love, finding a Luna, and producing an heir.

Three months. As if love came with a clock.

“Has love become that cheap?” I asked myself out loud, walking briskly through the forest path behind our new home. “Something to be denigrated into months and days?”

Maybe love was for the weak. Maybe it wasn’t worth the weight we gave it in our hearts. Maybe all this—romance, bonding, fairy tale endings—was just noise.

Or maybe…I was just bitter.

Bitter that the one I wanted still haunted me. That even after all this time, Lucy still occupied a part of me she never earned but somehow claimed.

I hated that she said no. Hated that she walked away with my heart and left me to piece together a future with a woman I barely knew.

But most of all, I hated that I still cared.

That somewhere beneath the Alpha exterior, the political necessity, the mating rituals, there was still a man who waited. Who yearned. For what, I didn’t even know anymore.

Vera was sweet. Smart. Beautiful, even. And now she was mine. Maybe not by fate—but by decision.

And decisions could be lived with.

I slowed down, chest heaving slightly as I reached the edge of the ridge.

This was my life now.

Vera is sleeping in my bed. A mating to be consummated. Luna by my side. An heir to be made.

Whether it was love or not didn’t matter anymore.

It was survival.

And I was damn good at surviving.