CHAPTER 4

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER.

The room was quiet too quiet.

Octavia sat cross-legged on the narrow bed, the rough woolen blanket brushing against her bare ankles. A worn out book lay open on her lap, the pages fluttering softly in the breeze drifting through the cracked window.

Her eyes, glassy and distant, didn’t move. She wasn’t reading. She couldn’t.

The throbbing in her bandaged stomach had dulled to a numb ache, but the heaviness in her chest? That never faded.

She tried to act like she was okay.

Like she had accepted the loss.

But every night, when no one was watching, when no one came to ask if she’d eaten, or if the pain had returned she cried.

For her mother’s soft lullabies.

For her father’s protective arms.

For the home she would never see again.

Now, she hadn’t seen anyone for more than a few minutes at a time. They all tiptoed around her like she was a ghost haunting her own body.

Her long hair fell loosely over her shoulders, strands catching in the wind. Some color had returned to her cheeks, but the shadows beneath her eyes those remained. Like bruises made of sleepless nights and unanswered questions.

And then

Thud.

Heavy boots echoed down the stone hallway. Each step was thunder in the silence.

Octavia’s head jerked up.

Her breath caught in her throat.

He was coming.

The door swung open without a knock.

And there he stood.

Alpha Xavier.

He was breathtaking, yes but it wasn’t his beauty that stole her breath. It was what lingered behind his eyes.

That untouchable presence.

That shadow moving beneath his skin.

The Alpha.

She felt it calm, yet terrifying.

Silent, but roaring with power.

Every nerve in her body screamed to run, to hide, to disappear. But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even blink.

Her chest tightened. Fear clawed at her ribs.

What was he doing here?

Why did it feel like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting to be pushed?

Then he looked at her not cruelly, but with something fierce and unreadable. Almost protective?

And for a single, traitorous second, she didn’t want to run.

She wanted to understand him.

He looked like he was carved from cold stone. Tall. Broad. Dressed in black, silver clasps glinting down his chest. His silver eyes scanned the small room then locked onto her.

Expressionless.

He stood there, still as death, assessing the room like it was territory he might one day burn down. His jaw was sharp, shoulders squared. He was every inch a weapon honed for silence and control.

Octavia froze.

He stepped inside like he belonged there. No hesitation. No permission asked.

And the air changed.

Thicker. Charged. Heavy like a thundercloud seconds before it cracks.

But she couldn’t move.

She couldn’t even blink.

Something beneath his skin calm, contained, but terrifying. Like the silence before a slaughter.

Octavia’s chest tightened. Her fingers clenched into the blanket as he stopped just inside the room.

Then he spoke.

His voice was deep. Steady. Measured. Not loud, but every word landed like the crack of a whip.

“Octavia.”

Her name on his tongue sent a strange, icy ripple down her spine.

She flinched, looking down at her sweaty palms,folded on her lap realizing she had been staring, mouth slightly parted.

“You will look at me when I speak,” he said.

Not loud. Not cruel.

But final.

Her head snapped up, more out of instinct than obedience.

His gaze held hers. Cold. Inescapable.

“You are my mate,mine to protect and posse, you must be strong enough to fit into that position,” he said, voice like stone smoothed by centuries.

“Astra will inform you of what you need to know. In two months time, we will hold the mating ceremony, prepare for it not as a weak one but as my mate.”

The words didn’t land all at once.

Mating ceremony?

Her hands trembled in her lap. Her heart thundered in her ears.

Why? Why me? Why now?

But her voice wouldn’t come.

Then he took a step forward.

Just one.

But it felt like the floor disappeared beneath her. Like she was dangling over a cliff’s edge, waiting to be pushed.

“Do you understand?” he asked. Not unkindly. But without mercy.

Octavia’s lips parted. “Yes”

His head tilted slightly, a predator inspecting prey.

Then she remembers what astra told her about how to address the alpha.

She hesitated.

Then whispered, “Yes, Alpha.”

The words stung.

Like branding iron on skin.

“I want everything to go accordingly,” Alpha Xavier continued, tone clipped. “Astra will move you later today. This room is not fit for a mate.”

And then barely a flicker.

A shift behind his eyes.

Satisfaction?

Possession?

Something darker?

Before she could process it, he turned toward the door.

“Rest,” he said. “Tomorrow, you begin to learn the truth of who you are.”

Her breath caught again.

Her voice, broken but brave, spilled out before she could stop it.

“How long…” she whispered. “How long do I have to pretend to be your mate? Please I want to know”

He whirled around, silver eyes flashing.

“You do not beg me for anything,” he snapped. His voice only rose slightly but it struck like a slap.

“You will not dictate what happens in my fortress.”

Octavia’s lips quivered. She dropped her gaze, blinking away the tears she couldn’t stop.

“I’m sorry…”

Xavier exhaled, slow and sharp.

“you definitely need to learn alot as my mate”

Silence. Cold and heavy.

Her fingers twisted in the hem of her gown.

“I don’t know how to be what you need,” she whispered.

“I don’t need you,” he said flatly. “You are here because the Moon demands it. Not because I asked for you.”

Her heart cracked open.

“I’m not strong,” she said, voice cracking. “I’m not like you.”

“You’re not.”

And then he was gone.

The door clicked shut.

And Octavia was alone.

---

The silence after his departure was suffocating.

Octavia sat there, unmoving, her pulse still racing like she was prey being hunted. His words played over and over in her mind.

“You are under my protection now.”

But there was no safety in those words.

Only chains.

Only control.

Tears welled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks before she could even think to stop them. She bit her lip hard, trying to hold back the sob rising in her throat but it tore free anyway.

She cried.

Not loud.

But deep.

Shaking, breathless sobs that came from the very center of her breaking heart.

“He’s heartless,” she whispered to the empty room.

“He’s not for me. This isn’t what I wanted.”

And then she broke.

Truly, completely broke.

The tears came in waves, drowning her thoughts, her fear, her grief.

Why did I come on this journey?

Why did I follow my family into those cursed woods?

Why did I survive?

Later, she dragged herself across the room, changing corners like it might change her fate.

Astra moved her to the other guest chamber, but it didn’t help.

The room still smelled like cold stone and unfamiliarity.

Nothing felt safe.

Nothing felt like home.

She curled beneath the blanket, knees tucked to chest, arms wrapped tightly around herself as though she could hold her heart together that way.

When Astra came knocking, her voice was soft. “octavia ? Can I come in? Please?”

Nothing.

Astra slipped in anyway, trying to smile, trying to be gentle.

She talked about the gardens. About the Omega twins spilling juice all over the Beta’s cloak.

She laughed awkwardly, desperately.

But Octavia didn’t move.

Didn’t speak.

Just turned her face to the wall and stayed silent.

Eventually, Astra left. Quietly. Whispering at the door, “I’ll be here if you want to talk.”

But she didn’t want to talk.

She wanted to go back in time.

She wanted to feel her mother’s hand on her cheek. Her father’s voice in her ear.

She wanted to forget the silver-eyed stranger who had looked at her like she was a task to complete.

That night, Octavia cried herself to sleep.

Alone. Afraid.

And for the first time since the accident…

She wished she had never survived it