Chapter 3: The Alpha’s Burden

Roman POV

The first thing he did after leaving the wedding hall was yank off the wedding band and toss it in a drawer.

What a joke. A human as his Luna was not only a disgrace and a laughable joke, but a stain on his legacy. His human Luna was an insult in a dress.

It didn’t matter that she wasn’t bad to look at. It didn’t matter that she was deceived by the ad. He didn’t pick her. It was her misfortune that she got greedy for a measly thirty grand.

The entire farce of a wedding was all the council’s idea. All his life, he has led his pack uprightly, always upholding their laws and that of the moon goddess.

He had done more for the werewolf community than any other alpha in the region could boast. Yet, he made one mistake and the council swiftly sought to punish him with in the most condescending way; a human installed as his Luna.

Roman tightened his fist. This was clearly a conspiracy to humble him at best, and to tarnish his influence and reputation in the werewolf territories at worst.

Roman swallowed hard, knowing all the privileges that having a human Luna would strip him of. He wasn’t sure he was prepared for the displeasure.

He smelt them before they entered.

“It’s done.” He voiced gruffly, turning to face the greying council elders. “I married a human. Do you have any plans for me lower than that?”

The elders traded glances before one stepped up.

“Alpha Roman, we’re not your enemy. Your punishment is stipulated in our law and no one is above it, not even you.”

“Really, elder Darryl?” Roman quipped, easing a hip on the mahogany desk in his study. “Is that really all it was? I have been upstanding and the biggest upholder of our laws for the last decade. I have given my blood and sweat to not just my pack but to neighboring packs and our community in general. I make ONE mistake and you all deign to punish me with one of the oldest and most degrading sentences…”

“It’s not…”

“It’s literally entrenched in a scroll!” Roman cut off another elder trying to counter him.

He raked a hand through his long hair and huffed out a breath. “Don’t stand there and tell me this had nothing to do with Finn. It was a fucking accident for Pete’s sake. You could have taken my lands, revoked some of my titles, banned me from certain festivities… He gritted his teeth. “…anything but marrying a HUMAN!”

“The people would have deemed it partial on our part. We’re the High council. We thrive on impartiality and fairness in judgment.”

Roman shook his head. “You know too well that my family has been through hell once before, BECAUSE OF A HUMAN, one who infiltrated my great grandfather’s heart and tainted our bloodline! It took my father a lot to restore our family’s honor after the half-breeds died.”

He paced now. “I don’t mind being stuck with the human for a year. I can manage but how could you expect me to have a baby with her???”

“Again, alpha Roman. It’s the law. A punishment won’t be a punishment if it was easy.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You can’t. You have to conceive with the human and have the baby. Only after the birth can your divorce be approved. The longer you stall, the longer the human luna remains by your side and while she does, you cannot take another wife worthy of being your Luna.”

Roman glared at them as they left. Livid, he pounded his fist on his desk. His chest heaved. His eyes caught a file on the desk with Thora’s photo attached. It contained information about her and how she had been selected. He snatched it up and flipped through for the first time.

There was nothing interesting, till he found a note left by the pack doctor.

Rare blood type. Still in research.

Roman perused the report on the blood inconsistency. What exactly did the doctor mean? Before he could process anything, he sensed someone approaching, a beta.

“My lord, it’s time to prepare for the mating ritual.”

Roman’s blood boiled. As much as he loved sex, the thought of penetrating a human made bile tickle behind his throat. The other alphas will have a field day making mockery of this night.

This might even weaken his wolf. There were a lot of consequences, both rumored and real, that he couldn’t begin to process.

“My lord?” The beta tried again.

“What about the human?” Roman asked him. There was only one report he needed to hear.

“It appears she’s a fighter, my lord. She’s still at large.”

Roman scoffed. “It’s only been minutes. We’ll see about that.”

After the beta left, he stared out at the moon through the window. Through his mind link, he called privately for his pack’s witch. Within five minutes, a woman in her fifties entered his study. She had been friends with his mother and cared maternally for him.

“Alpha, the tincture is ready.” Carefully, she uncovered a purple liquid in a clear bottle. “This should help reduce any side effects that come from mating with the human.”

Roman examined the tincture under the light.

“What’s wrong?” The pack witch asked. “You doubt my work?”

Roman chuckled. “You literally kept my father alive for five extra years after his fatal injury. I don’t doubt your prowess, Matilda.”

“But you’re worried still.” Her hands stroked his face like a child’s, angled his chin to face her. “Tell me what bothers you?”

He contemplated telling her about the tingle he had felt when he first touched Thora’s hand, or how overpowering her smell had been the second she entered the wedding hall or how her presence stirred his wolf in a way no female wolf ever had.

Immediately, he banished the thought. It must have been nerves or the aftermath of Matilda’s special tea brew which he guzzled to help him keep calm at the wedding.

It couldn’t be anything else. He could never feel anything for an enemy of his kind.

“It’s nothing, Matilda.” He assured her, kissing her forehead. “I just want this night to be over.”

“It eventually would be.” She patted his cheeks before walking away.

Alone, Roman sat in his chair, pulled open a drawer and caressed an old leatherback. After a few humming breaths, he opened it and read it again and again.

Every single record of how his great grandfather’s life had turned after his marriage to a human, and how the ripple effect affected generations after.

He kept an eye out for the changes noted by his great-grandfather’s beta: weakness of the late alpha’s wolf, depletion of alpha strength and speed, weakness of the frequency in his roar that forced betas to tremble, gradual decline in alpha’s sharp instincts, conception of weak breeds…

Roman shut the book with a thud even though he had studied the report many times and knew the repercussions by heart.

“Axel?” He called his wolf via their link.

“I know.” His wolf replied. “I’m worried too.”

Roman pressed his hands to his eyes. “I can press the council to retract the punishment. My beta will arrive soon, hopefully with some loophole in our law or even messy secrets of the council elders that I could use to blackmail them into approving my divorce. I won’t let us suffer these consequences.”

He felt Axel breathing deeply. “You won’t talk about it? About how we felt when you touched hands?”

Roman surged to his feet. “It meant nothing. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.”

“It felt empowering. I have never felt more alive…”

“Enough! Forget what you might be thinking. That’s an abomination I refuse to entertain. The moon goddess must be punishing me by adding insult to this gaping injury of marrying a human. She can’t be my long-awaited fated mate, never!”

He shoved the leatherback into the drawer and shut it. “I won’t repeat great-grandfather’s sin by accepting her. I’ll find a way out of this mess, no matter what.

The wind from outside blew in and filled his nose with the scent of blood; human blood, Thora’s blood. He imagined her bruised and bleeding, surrounded by wolves who were prepared to damn all consequences and kill her.

He should have been indifferent to the thought. Instead, he shifted uncomfortably.

“I can feel your heart is racing.” Axel said.

Roman plunked in his chair. “I’m just tired.”

“No. You smelt her blood and your temperature’s already rising. See what I mean? Save her, Roman.” Axel pleaded. “If her touch could be that electric, her death might affect us in worse ways.”

Roman hated that his wolf was right but he only agreed to help because he couldn’t let Thora die before their divorce. It will seal their marriage in his legacy forever.

He’ll save her, but only to have a chance to divorce her from his life. Yet, as he dashed out, his heart pounded faster and faster.