12

The scent of old pine and iron reached Charollet before the guards did.

She was still wiping blood from the edge of a broken wineglass, the aftermath of a warrior's drunken slip when they arrived in the servants’ hall with hollow eyes and rigid posture. No names. No explanations.

“Alpha Boris has summoned you,” one of them said.

A pause. Then, “You are to appear in the throne room.”

The words struck the air like thunder. Not because of the command but because of who it came from.

Boris hadn’t spoken to her. Not once. Not even when Kade first dragged her into the estate like a mangled trophy. The Alpha, absent more often than present, ruled more in name than in action. He left the enforcement to Kade, the politics to the elders, and the rot to fester beneath the surface.

Now he was summoning her.

A girl with no wolf. No name. No power.

Something was wrong.

Charollet’s hands were scrubbed clean. Her tattered dress replaced with a deep emerald silk gown that clung to her like an accusation. She hadn’t chosen it, she hadn’t touched it but it waited on her cot like a warning. Delicate silver threads laced up the back in the shape of climbing thorns. Around the waist, a golden sash threaded with the mark of the Alpha.

Not Kade’s mark.

Boris’s.

The throne room was colder than she remembered.

Its stone columns stretched like reaching fingers into the vaulted ceiling. Two braziers flickered near the dais, their flames too weak to banish the shadow that clung to the far corners of the chamber. The alpha’s seat—a carved monstrosity of obsidian and bone waited at the center like a silent beast.

And on it, for the first time in months, sat Alpha Boris.

He was not what stories promised.

Gone was the image of a beast-king. No silver-streaked mane or lion’s poise. He was smaller, gaunter. His once-imposing frame had hollowed, ribs pressed thinly beneath a crimson tunic. But his eyes… those still held something ancient. Not power. Not fury.

Greed.

Charollet stopped several feet from the dais.

“You sent for me,” she said, voice even.

Boris leaned forward. His lips curled into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You are more beautiful up close.”

She said nothing.

“I’ve watched you, Charollet,” he continued. “I know your silence. Your scars. Your… potential.”

He rose slowly, joints cracking.

“You were marked for destruction. A girl with no wolf, no name, nothing of value. And yet—Kade protects you.”

The mention of Kade sent a chill down her spine. Not from fear. From confusion.

Why was she here?

“You want something...” her voice trailed.

Boris circled her now, slow and deliberate. “You are correct. I want peace. Strength. Legacy.”

She felt his breath at the back of her neck. “And a Luna.”

The words sliced through the air like a blade.

“No,” she said, instantly.

Boris chuckled. “That wasn’t a question, girl.”

“I will mark you,” Boris said, voice low, as he came to stand before her once more. “Tonight. At the next blood moon.”

Charollet’s lips parted, but no sound came. She couldn’t move. Her lungs burned.

“I have no heir,” Boris continued. “The council grows impatient. Kade grows arrogant. You think he watches you because he cares? No. He waits. For me to weaken. For the crown to loosen.”

He stepped closer. “But if I take a Luna—one the wolves whisper about… one who survived—I keep the throne. I produce an heir. And Kade?”

He sneered. “He becomes nothing.”

Charollet stared at him.

“You would use me,” she said, voice shaking in fear.

“All alphas use what they must,” Boris answered. “But you will be rewarded. You’ll be Luna. Worshipped. Fed. No more rags. No more scrubbing piss from floors.”

“I’d rather die.”

He chuckled. “You’d rather die his. But Kade is not who you think.”

"Leave me," She said as Boris her her hand and pulled her closer.

He sniffed her and pressed his lips on her temple, in the most selfish kiss possible. She was disgusted. She wanted to throw up. 

He moved his hands on her waist and lower, think of ways in which they could produce a heir. He was desperate. He was greedy.

He yanked her dress up as she screamed but her bit down on her collar bone, making her wimper and tears roll down. 

It was the mark of posession but not yet that screamed she was a luna.

"How would you like to be marked tonight?"

"How would you want to be impregnated?" 

And she was disgusted but only cried and squirmed as he pinned her hands with one of his behind her waist.

Before she could answer in protest, the doors behind them swung open with a violent slam.

Kade stormed in like a storm barely held at bay. His eyes, gold with fury, locked instantly on Boris. And he instanly let go but pushed her behind him.

Then on Charollet.

“What is this?” he demanded, voice a thunderclap.

Charollet turned to him, searching his face for answers she didn’t want to need.

Boris didn’t even flinch. “An engagement announcement,” he said smoothly. “The pack will rejoice.”

“Over my corpse,” Kade snarled. He looked at Charollet, who was shaken and and wrapped her arms around her body while looking down. Although, he had seen another man touch her, righ now, with the dominance and fear of Boris, she really looked....broken. 

She was shaking voilently and he saw the bruises on her wrists. He clenched his jaw and folded his fists in pure rage. 

“Is that a challenge, boy?” Boris’s smile sharpened. “You forget yourself.”

“I forget nothing,” Kade hissed. “You’ve sat on that throne while our lands rot. You haven’t led a single war. Haven’t spilled a single drop of blood in defense of this territory.”

“And yet I remain Alpha.”

“Because I allow it,” Kade growled. His eyes kept darting towards her.

A silence rippled between them.

Charollet stood frozen. Two monsters one old, one rising.

Boris tilted his head. “So you admit it. You want the throne.”

“I don’t want your throne,” Kade said. “I want a kingdom worth ruling.”

His eyes flicked to Charollet.

“And she is not your Luna.”

“She’s not yours either,” Boris snapped.

Another beat.

Then, softer, crueler: “She isn’t anyone’s. She isn’t even a wolf.”

Kade’s jaw flexed. “Then why are you so afraid of her?”

That question hung heavy in the air.

Because Charollet saw it, too. Boris’s hand trembled. Only slightly, but enough.

Kade took a step forward. “You think you can tether your rule to a woman who hasn’t shifted? Breed a child with someone who hasn’t even howled?”

“Some say she’s blessed by the moon,” Boris said quietly. “Others say she’s the end of something. Or the beginning. I don’t care which.”

“She will never choose you.”

“She won’t get the chance.”

And then he saw. He saw the bite mark near her collar bone.

Her shivers, her ripples all because of it. The mark was deep. And his blood boiled. 

Boris grinned. “Then I will light the match.”

Kade’s fists curled, and for the first time, Charollet saw the full force of what he was. He lunged at Boris as he attacked him like a mad man. no wolf no shift but her kept throwing punches, the aplha fought back but he was no match to Kade's fierce traning. 

It was true when they said, the alpha's time had run. 

Kade wasn't a mere beta anymore. Kade had reached the stage where he could overthrow any alpha. Even Boris.

What Charollet scared her even more, amidst Kade's madness. 

Not just cruelty.

Not just power.

Ambition. Rage. Control on the edge of collapse.

“She stays in my quarters from now on,” Kade said as he stood up while Boris looked like a meat and stepped a few steps back.

Boris barked a laugh, while on the ground. “Then she is no better than a whore.”

Kade was across the room in a blink. His hand clenched around Boris’s throat, lifting the older man a few inches off the ground.

“You are not Alpha anymore,” Kade growled. “You’re just a parasite in a crown.”

Guards rushed forward.

Charollet screamed.

And for one terrifying second, she thought Kade would kill him right there.

But he didn’t.

He dropped him. Let him fall.

“I’ll wait,” Kade said, breathing hard. “I’ll wait for the challenge. And when I take your head, I’ll make sure your blood feeds the ground you failed to protect.”

Boris gasped on the floor. “And she?”

Kade turned. Met her eyes.

“She. is. not. yours.” He pressed his words. Every single one of it before he moved to her.

Under the fear of almost being marked and Kade's wild side, She flinched, moved back and eventually, out of sheer anxiety, collapsed.

But Kade caught her before she could kiss the ground. He was gentle and soft. The way he looked at her was not missed by Boris. 

And he knew then. If he had to eliminate Kade, it was her. She was the pawn that he had to play.

Then he walked away, as he carried her in bridal style ever so gently in his arms.

And Charollet had no idea that this was just the beginning of a larger game.