Chapter Five– The Blood Price
The moment Lyra stepped through the archway into the heart of the Bloodfang Pack's territory, she felt it.
A pressure thick and electric like the air had turned to smoke. The sky was a quilt of gray, heavy with storm clouds, and the scent of pine and danger coiled into her lungs like poison and honey.
Four guards flanked her, weapons slung across their chests, tense and silent. None of them met her eyes, though she could feel the burn of their curiosity scraping against her skin.
She was the Omega. The outsider. The offering.
Their Alpha's mate.
"Step forward," one of the guards barked, his voice hoarse. "Kneel before the Alpha."
Lyra's heart hammered, but she didn't move.
Kneel?
Everything in her resisted the word. She hadn't come all this way to grovel. She'd been sent thrown to the wolves. Literally. But if they thought she'd cower, they didn't know her.
A hush fell over the crowd gathered in the clearing pack members circling like sharks waiting for blood. That's when she saw him.
Alpha Kade.
He emerged from the shadows like a god carved from midnight and fire. Every muscle beneath his black leather shirt shifted with controlled grace. His raven-dark hair was swept back, his angular jaw dusted with stubble. And his eyes
Moonlit silver. Unblinking. Predatory.
A force that threatened to strip her bare just by existing.
Lyra's breath caught.
The crowd bowed in unison as Kade stepped forward. His aura was lethal. Pure dominance rolled off him like waves, and the air itself seemed to part for him.
She didn't bow.
Didn't move.
Their eyes locked and something happened.
A pulse.
Deep. Low. Primal.
It struck through her chest, her belly, and lower like a claw dragging through her soul. Lyra's knees weakened, not from submission, but from something far more dangerous.
The Mate Bond.
She'd read about it in stolen scrolls from the temple. When a True Mate pair laid eyes on each other for the first time, their wolves would awaken, recognizing the bond written in their blood.
She didn't have a wolf.
So why was her body burning?
Kade's lips curled into a half-smirk, half-sneer. "So, you're the tribute," he said, voice like crushed velvet soaked in wine and sin.
She swallowed hard. "I'm Lyra."
"A name does not make you strong," he said, stepping closer. "Do you know what we do to gifts we didn't ask for?"
She forced herself to meet his stare. "Do you know what I do to men who call me a gift like I'm an object?"
The pack gasped collectively.
One of the guards growled low. "Alpha, she disrespects"
"Silence," Kade snapped.
He stalked the rest of the way toward her, every inch of his six-foot-four frame screaming power. Lyra barely flinched when he stopped just inches away.
"You smell like prophecy," he muttered, inhaling deeply. "But your scent...it's wrong. There's no wolf in you. And yet...you're burning with my bond."
"I'm human," she said quietly. "At least, that's what I was told."
He circled her like a panther stalking prey, his fingers brushing her shoulder as he passed behind her. She stiffened at the touch her skin erupting in goosebumps.
"That would be impossible," he said. "No human can bear the Alpha's blood bond."
His hand gripped her chin from behind, turning her face gently to the side, exposing her neck. "Unless...you're not just human."
Before she could respond, his thumb brushed the side of her throat right over her pulse.
A moan threatened to escape her lips, but she bit it back.
"Do you feel that?" he whispered against her skin. "The way your body answers to mine?"
She did. Gods, she did.
But she'd rather bite off her tongue than admit it.
"I don't want this bond," she said coldly.
"You don't get a choice," he said. "Fate doesn't ask for permission."
Kade stepped back, tilting his head as if weighing her.
"I'll give you one week," he said finally. "One week to prove you can survive in this pack. To earn your place beside me."
"And if I fail?" she asked.
"Then you will be banished." His voice was calm. Deadly. "Or killed."
The air turned icy.
She wanted to argue. Wanted to scream. But then he added:
"And if you succeed...you'll share my bed. My name. My power. And every filthy part of my soul."
A shiver ran down her spine and not from fear.
He turned on his heel and walked away, barking orders to his Betas. "Take her to the South Tower. Guard her well. If she runs, break her legs."
Lyra clenched her fists. She wouldn't run. Not because of the threat but because something inside her wanted to stay.
Not for power.
Not even for revenge.
But for him.
The Alpha.
The beast who called to something dark and wild inside her.
Later That Night – South Tower
The room was far from luxurious stone walls, a small fire, and a bed barely wide enough for one. But it was warm, and she wasn't chained.
Lyra paced.
Kade's scent still clung to her skin. That earthy spice. That heat. That maddening masculine pull that made her want to scream.
She ran her fingers over the skin of her neck, where his breath had touched her.
What was happening to her?
A knock at the door jolted her.
Before she could respond, it opened. Not a guard.
Kade.
He stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him. This time, he looked different. Less Alpha. More man.
He watched her in silence. The firelight danced across his face, painting shadows on his sharp cheekbones, those sinful lips.
"I couldn't sleep," he said simply.
She swallowed. "That's unfortunate."
He stepped closer. "Do you know what happens when an Alpha tries to resist the bond?"
She shook her head.
"They lose control. They become monsters."
He reached her in three steps. His fingers traced a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Do you want me to be a monster, little Omega?"
"I'm not an Omega," she whispered.
"Lie to yourself if you want," he murmured, brushing his lips close to hers. "But your body already knows what it is."
Her breath caught.
He didn't kiss her.
Didn't need to.
The tension between them was unbearable charged with every unspoken promise and threat.
And then he stepped back.
"I came to warn you," he said. "There are those in this pack who want you dead. They see you as a threat to everything we've built."
She squared her shoulders. "Let them try."
He smirked. "Good."
Then he turned and left her again.
Leaving her burning.
Shaking.
And so damn hungry for answers, for survival...
...for him.