Chapter 4: Under the Alpha's Name

Night fell hard over the North Spire.

It wasn’t gradual or gentle. One moment the mountains were bruised purple by dusk, the next they were swallowed whole by darkness, the moon clawing its way free from storm clouds like a pale wound in the sky.

Seraphina felt it before she heard it.

The pressure.

It pressed against her chest, against her skin, into her bones—an invisible force that made every breath feel heavier. Wolves, dozens of them. Circling the stronghold, their presence rippling through the air like a warning drumbeat.

“They’re here,” she said quietly.

Darius, standing at the far end of the balcony, didn’t turn. “Yes.”

He rested his hands on the stone railing, his posture loose, almost bored. But she could feel the tension coiled beneath his calm, the predator fully awake.

“They won’t attack the walls,” he continued. “Not yet. They’re testing.”

Seraphina wrapped her arms around herself, the cold biting through the thin layers of her gown. “Testing what?”

“How far I’m willing to go,” Darius replied. “And how far you can be pushed.”

Below them, a howl rose—low, drawn-out, deliberate. It was answered by another, then another, until the night vibrated with it.

A challenge.

Seraphina swallowed. “They want me.”

“Yes.”

The word was unadorned. Truth without comfort.

She turned to face him. “Then why haven’t you sent me away?”

At that, Darius finally looked at her.

Moonlight cut across his face, sharp and silver, catching in his eyes and turning them almost black. For a moment, she thought he wouldn’t answer.

“Because sending you away would confirm their suspicions,” he said. “And because—” He paused, jaw tightening. “—you are safer here than anywhere else in this world.”

Safe.

The word felt fragile. Temporary.

A horn sounded from below—a single, deep note that echoed off the mountainside.

Darius straightened. “They’ve sent an emissary.”

Seraphina’s heart kicked painfully. “An emissary means rules, doesn’t it?”

“Rules,” Darius agreed. “And games.”

He turned toward the door. “Stay close. Do not speak unless spoken to.”

She nodded, then hesitated. “And if they try to take me?”

His gaze sharpened. “They won’t.”

The certainty in his voice sent a shiver through her.

The great doors of the stronghold opened to reveal a lone figure standing in the courtyard below. He was tall, broad-shouldered, his hair silver-white despite his young face. Power rolled off him in controlled waves.

An Alpha.

“I am Riven Frostclaw,” the Alpha called, his voice carrying easily through the night. “I come under the old laws.”

Darius descended the steps with unhurried grace, Seraphina half a step behind him, just as he had ordered. The wolves lining the courtyard stiffened as he passed, lowering their gazes instinctively.

Riven’s eyes slid to Seraphina.

They lingered.

Seraphina felt something brush against her mind—curiosity edged with hunger. Not physical. Instinctual. Like fingers testing the edge of a blade.

She drew a sharp breath.

Darius moved instantly.

His arm came up, not touching her, but close enough that she felt the wall of his presence slam down between them.

“Careful,” Darius said softly. “You’re staring at my wife.”

Riven’s lips curved. “Contract bride,” he corrected. “Not the same thing.”

The air snapped.

Darius smiled—but it was all teeth.

“Say it again,” he invited.

Riven raised his hands slightly in mock surrender. “Peace. I came to observe, not provoke.”

“Then observe from a distance,” Darius replied.

Riven chuckled, but his gaze sharpened. “You know why we’re here. The council’s walls are thin. Word travels.”

“Yes,” Darius said. “It always does when you’re afraid.”

Riven’s eyes flicked to Seraphina again. “Is it true, then? That she bled silver?”

Seraphina’s stomach dropped.

Darius’s voice turned glacial. “You don’t ask questions about my wife’s blood.”

“Your wife doesn’t smell human,” Riven said calmly. “She smells like something unfinished.”

The words sent a tremor through Seraphina’s chest.

Darius stepped forward, his presence flaring—raw, dominant, undeniable. Wolves in the courtyard shifted uneasily, some lowering their heads without realizing it.

“She is under my name,” Darius said. “Under my protection. And under my command.”

Riven studied him for a long moment. Then he laughed.

“So it’s true,” he said. “Nightfang is afraid.”

There was silence in the room.

Seraphina felt it then—rage, sharp and immediate, roaring through the bond like fire through dry grass. It startled her, not because it was Darius’s, but because she felt it as if it were her own.

Before she could stop herself, she took a step forward.

“I am not his weakness,” she said.

Every head turned.

Darius’s breath caught.

Riven raised a brow. “You speak boldly for a bride who doesn’t understand what she is.”

Seraphina’s hands trembled at her sides, but she didn’t back down. “I understand enough to know this—if you came here expecting submission, you came to the wrong mountain.”

A murmur rippled through the wolves.

Riven’s smile widened, sharp with interest. “She has teeth.”

“Yes,” Darius said quietly. “She does.”

Riven inclined his head. “Then allow me to test something, Alpha Nightfang. A challenge—under the old laws. No blood. No harm.”

Seraphina’s heart slammed against her ribs.

Darius’s eyes never left Riven’s. “Name it.”

Riven gestured toward Seraphina. “Let her stand unshielded. Just for a moment. If she truly belongs under your name, she’ll endure our presence.”

Seraphina felt the wolves’ attention converge on her like a tide.

Darius turned sharply. “No.”

Riven shrugged. “Then you admit she cannot withstand the packs.”

Darius’s jaw flexed.

Before he could speak again, Seraphina reached out and touched his arm.

The contact sent a shock through both of them.

Darius froze.

“I can do it,” she whispered.

His gaze snapped to hers. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I know what refusing would mean,” she replied. “And I won’t let them think I’m a liability.”

For a long moment, he stared at her—at the resolve in her eyes, the fear she refused to show.

Slowly, reluctantly, he lowered his arm.

The pressure hit her instantly.

It was like stepping into deep water—heavy, crushing, filled with instincts not her own. Wolves’ dominance pressed in from every direction, testing, probing.

Her knees buckled.

Darius growled low in his throat.

Seraphina clenched her fists, grounding herself, breathing through it. She focused on the thread she felt inside her—the warmth coiled beneath her skin, the steady presence of the bond.

It answered her.

The pressure shifted.

Not gone—but balanced. Redirected.

The wolves stilled.

Riven’s eyes widened. “Interesting.”

Seraphina straightened, her breathing steadying. She lifted her chin.

“I’m still standing,” she said.

A hush fell over the courtyard.

Riven exhaled slowly, something like awe flickering across his face. “So it’s true,” he murmured. “Luna-blood.”

Darius moved then, pulling Seraphina back against him, one arm wrapping around her shoulders in a gesture that was unmistakably possessive.

“Enough,” he said. “You’ve seen what you came to see. Leave.”

Riven bowed slightly. “For now.”

As he turned away, he glanced back once more. “Be careful, Nightfang. The packs won’t wait forever. And neither will the bond.”

When the courtyard finally emptied, the silence felt loud.

Darius didn’t release her immediately.

“You should not have done that,” he said quietly.

“But I did,” she replied.

His grip tightened briefly, then loosened. He stepped back, looking at her with something unreadable in his eyes.

“You felt it,” he said. “Didn’t you? The bond responding.”

“Yes,” she admitted. “It helped me.”

“That’s what frightens me,” Darius said.

She frowned. “Why?”

“Because bonds aren’t meant to protect,” he replied. “They’re meant to consume.”

A chill slid down her spine.

Darius turned toward the stronghold, gesturing for her to follow. “From now on, you are never unguarded. Not even with me.”

She blinked. “That doesn’t make sense.”

He paused at the doorway, looking back at her one last time.

“It will,” he said. “When you realize the bond is waking up.”

As the doors closed behind them, sealing out the night and the wolves beyond, Seraphina felt it again—that steady warmth beneath her skin.

It's very much awake.

And for the first time, she wondered—

Not whether she would survive being the Alpha’s contract bride…

But whether Darius Nightfang would survive being bound to her.