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Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Alpha’s Traded Mate: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

25 Kabanata

1

Zeva’s POVThe night of the mating ceremony was supposed to be every she-wolf’s dream. For three years, I’d watched others stumble into destiny’s arms, their lives ignited by a single spark that bound wolf to wolf, heart to heart. And for three years, I’d walked away with nothing but a hollow chest and a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes.Tonight, I told myself, would be different.The hall glimmered with soft golden light, chandeliers dripping down like frozen stars, laughter weaving with music, and the scent of roses mixing with roasted venison. It was beautiful, extravagant… a fairytale made flesh. But I was not the princess in silk gowns or jeweled crowns. I was the shadow behind them.“Hold still, you useless girl!” Thalyn hissed, yanking her hand away as I fastened the final clasp on her crimson gown.I bit my tongue until I tasted copper. One and a half hours—an eternity spent painting her face, curling her hair, tightening her corset until she gasped dramatically about how

2

Zeva’s POV The stone floor was cold beneath me, its chill biting through the thin fabric of my dress as I sat in the vast, dimly lit quarters of Alpha Darian Kaelith. The silence here was deafening, broken only by the occasional crackle of the fire in the hearth. For nearly an hour I waited, my thoughts circling like vultures. Why had he dragged me here after rejecting me so publicly?My heart still ached from the sting of that cruel moment in the hall. His words — “you’re nothing but an omega” — gnawed at me like a wound that refused to close. Leah whimpered in the back of my mind, restless and angry.“We are not weak, Zeva. We are not worthless.”I straightened my spine despite the weight pressing down on me. I wouldn’t cower, not here. Not anymore.The heavy doors creaked open, snapping me from my thoughts. Darian entered first, tall and commanding in his dark ceremonial attire, his expression carved from ice. Thalyn swept in beside him, smugness dripping from every step. Elder Ma

3

Zeva’s POVThree days blurred into an eternity. The dungeon was a pit carved out of stone, damp and cold, filled with the stench of mildew and rusted chains. I thought I would lose my mind long before I lost my body. Time didn’t move down here; it stretched and warped, melting into agony. My throat had dried into sandpaper, my lips cracked until blood crusted them.Leah, my wolf, fought inside me like a cornered beast. Stay alive, she urged, though even her voice wavered with fatigue. We can’t die here, Zeva.But I was dying. Slowly, brutally. Every bone in my body throbbed, every muscle shriveled under the cruelty of deprivation. My head spun until I couldn’t tell if I was awake or dreaming.And yet, I wasn’t dead.I wondered bitterly if that was Thalyn’s plan all along—not to kill me outright, but to unravel me piece by piece until I begged for death.I was curled against the damp wall when I heard footsteps echoing, heavy and deliberate. My foggy mind barely registered them until t

4

Aric’s POV The northern winds still clung to my cloak as I paced the length of the council chamber, boots striking the obsidian floors like war drums. Garrick leaned against the carved wolf pillar, arms crossed, his usual mask of indifference covering the storm brewing in his eyes. Across from me, High Seer Malrik sat motionless, those cursed silver eyes glittering like moonlit daggers.“I’ve already given my answer,” I growled, voice low but laced with enough venom to send lesser wolves trembling. “I will not be shackled. Not to a mate. And certainly not to a whimpering omega who will break before the first winter.”Malrik’s mouth curled into something between a smile and a sneer. “This is not about shackles, Alpha Aric. This is about legacy.”I stilled, my hand tightening around the edge of the stone table until cracks spread beneath my grip. Legacy. That word had haunted me since the day I first claimed the northern throne bathed in blood and fire. The north demanded strength, not

5

Zeva’s POVThe hall was too bright. That was my first thought as the guards dragged me forward—two on each side, their grips bruising, their steps impatient. I had been stripped of everything familiar, wrapped in silk that didn’t belong to me, painted and adorned like a doll meant for auction. The gown felt cold against my skin, the colors too loud for someone who had spent her life fading into the background.And as I crossed the threshold of the Eastern hall, my bare feet brushing the cold stone, I felt every pair of eyes burning into me—mocking, curious, satisfied.Darian stood at the center, posturing like giving me away was some honorable gesture instead of the cowardice it was. He didn’t look at me as a mate. He didn’t even look at me as a person.Just an inconvenience finally being removed.A guard nudged me forward, and I nearly stumbled. My heart thudded against my ribs, my wolf curling deep within me, frightened and silent. The rejection still pulsed in my chest like a woun

6

Zeva’s POVThe Northern Packhouse was colder than any winter storm I’d ever lived through.Not because of the temperature—though the stone floors were icy enough to numb my toes—but because the air felt hollow. Like warmth didn’t survive long here. Like it was a place built for power, not people.Roxie walked two steps ahead of me, her boots striking sharp, unforgiving echoes across the long hallway. She didn’t slow down. Didn’t look back. Didn’t bother to soften her voice when she finally spoke.“Rule one,” she said brusquely. “You don’t wander. Not inside, not outside. You stay where you’re placed unless the Alpha or I tell you otherwise.”I nodded, though she wasn’t looking at me.“Rule two. You don’t address the Alpha unless he asks you a direct question.”My breath hitched—because I remembered the bond that hit me earlier like a lightning strike. I remembered the way he glared at me like I was a stain on his territory, a mistake, an inconvenience. The memory made my chest tighten

7

Aric’s POVZeva moved through the Northern Packhouse like a shadow unsure of where she was allowed to exist. I watched her from the upper landing, unseen, arms folded behind my back as she followed Roxie down the main hall.Her steps were soft. Careful.Too careful.Her shoulders tense, chin lifted only halfway—enough to show pride, but not enough to be considered a challenge. A fragile balance. A quiet rebellion. It annoyed me more than I cared to admit.Garrick stopped beside me, leaning one shoulder against the rail. “She looks like she’s freezing in there.”“She’ll adjust,” I said flatly.“She’s not a soldier, Aric.”“She will adapt or she won’t,” I responded. “Either way, she fulfills her purpose.”Garrick exhaled sharply through his nose, his patience thinning. “Purpose,” he repeated. “Is that all she is to you?”“That’s all she was sent here to be.”He turned, studying my face. “You keep saying you don’t want a mate. Yet you act like you’re afraid of her.”My jaw snapped tight.

8

Zeva’s POVI slammed the door behind me and sank against it, letting my body tremble under the weight of what had just happened. The Council Hall still echoed in my mind—the whispered gasps, the cold stares, the way Aric had looked at me, as if I were nothing more than a tool. My knees still throbbed where they had pressed against the stone floor, where I had knelt as commanded, stripped of dignity in front of the entire pack.I wanted to sink into the mattress and disappear. But I couldn’t. Not here. Not now. Not ever, if I wanted to survive.The knock on the door startled me, sharp and unwelcome. Roxie pushed it open with an air of superiority that made my skin crawl.“Clothes,” she said, tossing a bundle onto the floor with more force than necessary. “Food. Try not to choke on it, omega girl.”The words pricked like a blade. I’d been called many things in my life—weak, unwanted, broken—but the venom in her voice made the term feel sharper. Deliberate. Designed to remind me of my p

9

Aric’s POVThe moment I returned to the Northern Keep, the bond flared. Sharp. Unrelenting. Zeva’s pain stabbed into me like a blade coated in ice, searing through muscle and bone.I tried to ignore it.I tried to bury it beneath the armor I had spent years forging.Her sobs from last night—quiet, desperate, wracking—had somehow found their way through the stone walls, through Roxie’s laughter, through the cruel silence I had imposed. They clawed at me, dragging me into her despair. My wolf growled low, wild, demanding retaliation. My chest burned with something I refused to name.I wanted to crush something. Anything.I swung my fists into the nearest stone pillar, over and over, knuckles shattering against the unforgiving granite. Pain exploded up my arms, burning through to my shoulders, but it wasn’t enough. Her anguish had soaked into me, poisoning my blood, and I needed to drown it out.“Enough.”Malrik’s voice was a knife slicing through my storm. The seer appeared from the sha

10

Zeva’s POVThey say the Northern Packhouse has no warm rooms. No places that feel safe. No corners untouched by power or fear.I once thought it was an exaggeration.Now I know better.Word travels fast here—faster than breath, sharper than claws. By dawn, everyone already knows.The new breeder bride will face the readiness test.A tradition meant to determine if she’s physically, mentally, and “instinctively compliant” enough to bear the Alpha’s heir.Me.It means me.I hear the whispers as I walk through the corridors with my head down, the way Roxie trained me.“Poor thing. She won’t survive it.”“Aric has broken stronger women.”“She’ll faint before they even touch her.”“She’s pretty. A shame she won’t last.”Every word slices deeper than claws.By the time Roxie finds me, I’ve repeated the same silent mantra a hundred times:Don’t react. Don’t show weakness. Don’t give them what they want.Roxie stops before me, arms crossed, expression dripping with triumph.“Training room. No

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