The Alpha's Terms
The fortress was quieter than it had any right to be for a place that pulsed with the heart of an entire pack. The silence wrapped around the halls like a living thing, heavy and unnatural, broken only by the sound of Kael's strides beside me. His steps were steady, unhurried, but there was an authority in them that made it feel as if the whole fortress bent to match his rhythm. He hadn't let go of my wrist since dragging me from the outer wall. His grip wasn't bruising, yet there was a finality in it, like a lock made of skin and bone. Every time I tested it with the smallest tug, it held fast. Not painful, not cruel, but absolute.
The torchlight along the corridor painted his shadow tall and sharp against the stone walls, and the further we walked, the more I became aware of the quiet, the emptiness of the passages, as though the fortress itself was holding its breath. My chin was raised high, but inside my chest my heart hammered a furious rhythm that refused to slow.
Finally, Kael stopped before a heavy oak door bound in iron. Without hesitation, without knocking, he pushed it open and drew me inside.
The chamber was large, though not as grand as I expected from an Alpha's personal quarters. Instead of towering pillars or gaudy decorations, it had a stark warmth to it, the kind that spoke of function rather than show. A wide hearth burned with a steady fire, its golden glow stretching across a long table stacked with maps, scattered weapons, and a half-empty glass of amber liquor. Thick wolf pelts lined the stone floor, their fur soft beneath my bare, aching feet.
Kael finally released me, and I almost flinched at the sudden emptiness where his hand had been. He crossed the room with the easy confidence of a man who belonged everywhere he stood, poured himself a drink, and let his golden eyes slide back toward me. "Sit."
"I'll stand."
His gaze cut into me, sharp as the edge of a blade. He didn't repeat the order, didn't raise his voice, yet the weight of it pressed down until, before I realized, I had lowered myself into the nearest chair. My jaw tightened at the quiet victory he had claimed.
He sipped his drink slowly, savoring it, then set the glass down with deliberate care. "You've been in my territory less than a day, and already you've tried to climb my walls. That tells me two things."
I said nothing, my silence pointed, but he didn't pause for me.
"One," he continued as he stepped closer, "you have no idea how dangerous it is beyond these walls without my protection. Two, you think you can challenge me."
"I don't think," I said, my voice low, steady despite the racing in my chest. "I know I can."
Something like amusement flickered across his mouth, though it was humorless, a shadow of a smile without warmth. "You're bold. I'll give you that. But boldness without strength is nothing more than a quick way to die."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "And here I thought you'd already decided to kill me."
Kael leaned down, his presence filling the space until his face hovered a breath away from mine, golden eyes burning. "If I wanted you dead, little wolf, you would be."
The air between us tightened, heavy with tension that curled low in my stomach. My wolf bristled inside me, baring her teeth, but another, treacherous part leaned toward that heat like it was a challenge I couldn't ignore.
He straightened, folding his arms over his chest, his frame was like a wall of strength in the firelight. "You have two choices, Aria. Submit, and you'll have a place here. Food, comfort, safety. Or resist, and I will make sure you understand the weight of that choice every single day."
My hands curled into fists against my thighs. "So that's it? Serve you or suffer?"
"That is the way of the pack," he answered, voice steady, unshaken. "An Alpha protects what is his. But he also disciplines what is his."
"I'm not yours," I bit out.
His gaze hardened, unblinking. "We'll see."
The silence that followed stretched thick, almost suffocating, and I forced myself to hold his stare. I knew what it meant in wolf law, knew it was a breach of every rule of submission to meet an Alpha's gaze this way, but I refused to lower mine.
"I choose resistance," I said finally, my voice cutting through the tension.
Something dangerous sparked in his expression, though it wasn't surprise. "Good," he said softly, almost like the word was a promise. "It's been a long time since I've had someone worth breaking."
A growl rolled up from my chest before I could stop it, sharp and raw, but he didn't flinch.
"You start tomorrow," Kael added, turning back toward the table with the same composure as if the exchange had been nothing. "Dawn. Training grounds."
The training grounds were nothing like the stories whispered among the packs, those neat visions of warriors lined in rows, sparring beneath the sun. This place was wild, raw, and unforgiving.
The sky was still painted with pale streaks of dawn when Kael brought me there. Warriors moved like shadows in the mist, their bodies glistening with sweat, their breath fogging in the cold air. Blades clashed in sharp rhythm, claws raked against flesh as wolves grappled in the dirt, and the scents of sweat, iron, and blood wrapped thick around us.
Kael did not announce me. He did not tell them who I was or why I stood beside him. He simply handed me a wooden bucket, heavy even in its emptiness, and pointed toward the far side of the grounds where crooked practice dummies leaned half-broken in the mud.
"Water. All of them."
I glanced at the well, then at the distance between it and the far-off targets. "That's it? That's your big punishment?"
The smirk that tugged at his mouth was pure Alpha, steeped in confidence, like he already knew how I would look by the end of this task. "That's just the beginning."
The bucket grew heavier with each trip. By the time I carried the first load across the churned mud, my arms were already aching. The warriors didn't step aside as I passed. Some shifted deliberately into my path, forcing me to weave between them, while others muttered insults I pretended not to hear. By the fifth trip, my shoulders screamed and my palms burned raw against the wood. I knew Kael was watching, standing off with his captains, not offering help, not offering even the pretense of it. Only watching.
The hours stretched like years. The tasks shifted, one punishment bleeding into the next. Scrubbing weapons until my fingers went numb. Washing blood from the dirt floors of the sparring rings until my knees ached. Running errands across the grounds under the weight of eyes that wanted me to stumble. Every time I thought I had reached the end, another task came, another demand waiting to wear me down.
But I did not complain. To complain would be to give him what he wanted.
When the sun dipped low, painting the sky with fire, Kael finally nodded toward the fortress. The dismissal was casual, almost an afterthought. My body screamed, my legs threatened to buckle, but I was still standing. That, at least, felt like a victory.
The second day was worse. The warriors knew by then what the Alpha was doing, and some took delight in making it harder. Water spilled across the ground, weapons knocked from my arms, blood smeared where I had just cleaned. I kept my jaw tight, refusing to give them satisfaction. Kael did nothing to stop them. He didn't so much as look their way, but every time my gaze strayed to him, his eyes were there, fixed on me. Always watching.
By the third day, every muscle in my body burned with each step, each movement. My wolf prowled restlessly beneath my skin, humiliated, snarling, ready to lash out at the smallest provocation. It was almost dusk when something shifted in the air.
The scent came first. Wrong. Sour and sharp, threaded with something feral that did not belong here. My wolf went still, ears pricked, hackles rising. The hair along my arms lifted. I set down the pail I had been carrying and turned slowly toward the treeline where the forest pressed close against the grounds.
A shadow moved between the trees.
"Kael," I called with a low voice, but carrying across the sparring yard.
He stood across the grounds, speaking with a captain, but his head snapped up at once at the tone in my voice. His eyes found mine instantly, then shifted past me to the line of trees.
The shadow broke into the open, and my stomach dropped.
It was a wolf, but not like any wolf I had seen before. Its fur hung in clumps, matted with blood and dirt. Its eyes were glassy, glowing a wild red that spoke of madness. Foam flecked its lips as its mouth peeled back in a snarl. Its teeth looked longer, jagged, and unnatural.
A rogue. A rogue it definitely was.
And it wasn't looking at Kael.
It was looking straight at me.