The Baptism of Blood

Anya's POV

The silence that fell over the office was instant and suffocating, shattering the last barrier of my human resistance. Gideon, the pack’s Beta, kept his claws mere inches from my throat, his yellow eyes fixed on my neck. I could feel the heat radiating from his body, the wild vibration of his tense muscles, ready to tear me apart if he detected the slightest weakness. The scent blocker was doing its job, masking my humanity under the trail of a common omega, but my heartbeat was already betraying me. My heart hammered against my ribs with such force that I was certain the wolf could hear it.

“I have a question for you, Alpha,” Gideon insisted, not taking his gaze off me. His voice was a rough growl that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “She smells strange. Too clean. Too… quiet. I cannot catch any trace of her wolf side anywhere. Is this the female you intend to place on the Hunters’ throne?”

Panic threatened to freeze me in place, but I remembered the fixed look in Azkarion’s eyes from behind his desk. I remembered the figure written in the contract. I remembered my brother. I could not turn back. I forced my hands to stay firm at my sides and locked my eyes with the Beta’s, refusing to show the submission he expected.

“Take your hand off my future Luna, Gideon. Now.”

Azkarion’s voice was not a shout, but a lash of pure authority that reverberated through the walls of the room. The air turned ice-cold. Before Gideon could even blink, Azkarion moved with a speed my human eyes could not follow. In the blink of an eye, the Alpha’s imposing figure stood between the Beta and me. His right hand closed around Gideon’s wrist, squeezing with such force that I heard the bones of the Beta crack under the grip.

Gideon let out a growl of pain, but he did not lower his head immediately. The tension between the two dominant males was almost electric—a silent struggle for power that threatened to shatter the office to pieces.

“You are invading my space, Beta,” Azkarion hissed, his gray eyes flashing with dangerous molten gold. “And you are touching what belongs to me. Have you forgotten your place in this hierarchy?”

“I am only ensuring the well-being of the pack, Alpha,” Gideon replied through gritted teeth, forcing himself to step back when Azkarion finally released him with absolute disdain. “The Ancestral Council arrives in three days. They expect to see a strong wolf, worthy of bearing your line and defending our territory. This… this thing you brought from the south looks as though it would break if the wind blew too hard. It does not emit an aura of power. It is empty.”

I stepped forward, moving out of Azkarion’s protective shadow. I knew it was a risky move, but the survival instinct I had forged for myself dictated that a wolf of the Hunters did not hide behind her mate.

“Empty?” I intervened, loading my words with all the venom and arrogance I could muster. “My wolf does not need to roar to show you who she is, Beta. If you cannot sense my trail, it is not because I am empty, but because your senses are too coarse to understand the pain from which I come.”

Gideon narrowed his eyes, surprised by my reply. Azkarion turned his head slightly, watching me from the corner of his eye with a mix of surprise and dark fascination.

“Pain? What in the devil are you talking about?” Gideon demanded, crossing his arms over his massive chest.

Azkarion took one step forward, regaining control of the situation with striking ease. His face returned to that cold, unreadable mask.

“Anya was ambushed on the southern borders by wolf hunters when she was still a pup,” Azkarion stated, inventing the lie with such conviction that it almost made me believe it myself. “Her family was massacred. The trauma blocked her inner wolf and destroyed her scent trail. Her spirit is wounded, Gideon, but her blood is as pure as mine. That is why her scent is faint, that is why she remains quiet. Are you going to question the pain of your future Luna, or will you show her the respect she deserves?”

The Beta fell silent for several endless seconds, absorbing the story. His yellow eyes traveled from Azkarion to me, searching for a crack in the narrative. I maintained an expression of wounded vulnerability mixed with fierce pride, just as a traumatized but high-ranking wolf would.

Finally, Gideon exhaled a rough sigh and lowered his head a few centimeters—a half-hearted gesture of submission that did not diminish the underlying hostility in his posture.

“If the Alpha says she is worthy, then I have nothing more to say… for now,” Gideon said, dragging out his words with a clear hint of distrust. “But the Council will not be satisfied with a tragic story, Azkarion. They will demand proof of her worth. They will demand to see her bleed for the pack.”

“Withdraw, Gideon,” Azkarion ordered, turning his back on him and ending the meeting.

The Beta gave me one last look full of contempt before turning and leaving the office, slamming the heavy wooden door behind him. The echo of the impact seemed to release the immense pressure that had filled the room. I let out the breath I had been holding, feeling my knees tremble from the effort of staying steady.

Azkarion wasted no time. He walked back to his desk, picked up his glass of liquor, and took a long drink before looking at me again. The gold in his eyes had vanished completely, replaced by that storm-gray tone that turned my blood cold.

“You were brilliant, little human,” he said, his voice returning to that cold, business-like tone. “Your reply was the only thing that stopped Gideon from forcing you to transform right here and now to prove your point. You have guts, I’ll give you that.”

“I did what I had to do to protect my investment,” I replied, crossing my arms to hide the slight tremor in my hands. “But he did not swallow the story completely. He will keep watching me.”

Azkarion set the glass down on the table with a sharp thud and walked slowly toward me, stopping just inches from my face. His imposing height forced me to tilt my head back to hold his gaze.

“Gideon is the least of your problems, Anya,” he whispered, his tone dropping to a warning that made my skin prickle. “Tomorrow morning, we will leave for the main mansion. You will move into my room, wear my colors, and I will introduce you to the rest of the inner circle. And let me make one thing clear before you take your first step into my home: my Beta will not be the only one trying to bite you to see if you bleed like us. In this house, one single mistake on your part, one forgotten dose of your blocker, and there will be no lie in the world that can stop me from handing you over to the wolves. Did you understand the rules?”