Chapter 6 Bound by the Alpha vow

CHAPTER 6: Bound by the Alpha vow

AMARA,

The night air was crisp, laced with the scent of pine and distant rain. The wind carried the eerie howls of wolves-wolves that weren't ours. Their voices rose in a ghostly chorus, a haunting melody of the wild. My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin, instincts flaring in warning.

We weren't alone out here.

I tightened my grip on the strap of my bag, my muscles coiled with tension. Every step away from that apartment, from the life I had barely managed to piece together, felt like stepping deeper into unknown territory. But hesitation was a luxury I couldn't afford.

Xander walked beside me, silent and predatory. His movements were smooth, effortless-like he was one with the darkness itself. I had known Alphas before. I had been promised to one. But Xander... he was something different.

He wasn't just a leader. He was a storm waiting to break.

The black sheep of the Sinclair family. I had heard the whispers. When I was preparing for my mating ceremony with Derek, his name was a hushed warning, a scandal not to be spoken of in polite company. Reckless. Uncontrollable. Too dangerous to be trusted. Derek had never missed an opportunity to sneer at him, to call him a disgrace to their name.

But walking beside him now, I couldn't reconcile the stories with the man in front of me.

He didn't just command attention. He demanded it.

I stole another glance at him. Was this really the same Xander Sinclair?

His dark gaze flickered toward me, and a slow smirk curled his lips. "See something you like?"

I scoffed, tearing my gaze away. "Hardly."

He chuckled, the sound low and knowing.

The silence between us stretched, thick with unspoken words and unasked questions. The air crackled with tension-not just between us, but in the forest around us. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I wasn't sure if it was Xander or the presence of something else in the night.

"We should take the back roads," I muttered. "Less chance of running into trouble."

Xander shot me a sideways glance, amusement flickering in his dark eyes. "I don't avoid trouble, Amara. I welcome it."

Of course, he did.

I had no doubt he thrived on chaos.

I clenched my jaw and kept moving, my boots crunching softly against the gravel road. A part of me wanted to believe I was still in control of my own fate, that I had a choice in what happened next. But the reality was suffocating. I had been taken from one cage and placed into another.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Why did you really come for me?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.

Xander halted as well, turning to face me. His smirk remained, but there was something unreadable in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

I folded my arms. "Of all the women you could have chosen, why me?" My voice was sharper than I intended, but I didn't care. "You gave me some excuse about this being a deal. But why me, Xander? Why not someone else?"

His gaze darkened, studying me intently as if measuring his response. Then, he stepped closer, his voice dropping into something dangerously smooth.

"Because I wanted you."

A slow smirk played on his lips as he reached for me, his touch flirtatious, deliberate.

I shoved his hand away, scowling. "Stop it, Xander. Tell me the truth."

His smirk deepened. "I am telling the truth."

I exhaled sharply, frustration bubbling in my chest. "You could've left me alone. I can handle myself. You didn't have to come."

His expression shifted, just slightly-so subtle I almost missed it. Then he said, quieter this time, "Because I don't trust anyone else to handle you."

My wolf bristled at his words, instincts screaming at me to bare my teeth.

"I don't need handling."

"No?" He stepped closer, close enough that his warmth clashed against the chill of the night air. His voice dipped into something almost... intimate. "Then tell me, Amara-why are you still here? Why didn't you run the second you got the chance?"

I hated that I didn't have an answer.

I hated that a part of me didn't want to run.

Xander's eyes flicked over my face, his smirk returning as if he already knew the answer. "Thought so."

I inhaled sharply, forcing my expression back into something cold and unreadable. "Let's just get this over with."

He chuckled, low and dark. "As you wish."

The rest of the walk was silent. But when the looming gates of his mansion came into view, my stomach twisted.

The last time I had been inside a pack house, I had barely escaped with my life.

As we stepped through the iron doors, the weight of a hundred gazes fell upon me. The guards at the entrance stiffened. Their expressions flickered from recognition to confusion, then suspicion.

"She isn't allowed in here," one of them said gruffly, blocking the path.

Xander barely glanced at him. "Are you crazy?" His voice was calm, but the power in it made the air feel thick. "Do your job. And don't ever speak about my guest like that again."

The guard hesitated, but Xander's stare alone was enough to make him shift uncomfortably. The man stepped aside, though his eyes lingered on me, wary.

Then, another presence emerged-a woman. Older, regal, with piercing blue eyes that cut through the tension like a blade. She was dressed in an elegant black dress, her silver hair swept into a neat bun. She looked at me the way one might observe an insect beneath their shoe.

"What is going on here?" she asked.

Xander turned, his jaw tightening. "Don't mind this idiot who thought he could question my decisions."

Her gaze snapped to me, her expression unreadable. "Who is this?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but Xander's voice cut through the air first.

"My bride."

The words sent a ripple through the room.

A sharp inhale. A murmur. A shift in the air.

Then, another voice joined the conversation-one that made my blood run cold.

"Isn't she?" The voice was laced with something bitter. Recognition. Possession.

I barely had a second to process it before another voice joined the conversation-one I knew too well.

"Of course she is, Grandmother. My rejected mate."

The words sent chills down my spine. My heart clenched, and I felt tears welling up in my eyes before I could stop them.

Derek.

I turned, my pulse spiking. He stood near the staircase, his expression unreadable, but there was no mistaking the tension in his stance.

Xander didn't hesitate. "Yes, she is your rejected mate. But now she is mine." His voice was like steel, unwavering.

A muscle in Derek's jaw twitched. His blue eyes, so familiar yet so foreign now, locked onto mine.

"Amara..." His voice was softer now, edged with something I couldn't quite place. Regret? Anger? I didn't care.

I straightened my spine, lifting my chin. "Surprised to see me, Derek?" My voice wavered, but I forced myself to hold his gaze.

His lips parted, but no words came out.

Xander let out a low chuckle. "Didn't expect her to come back, did you? Didn't expect her to be mine?"

Derek's expression hardened, and in that moment, I saw it-the realization, the understanding that he had lost.

"I thought you were dead," he finally said.

I smirked. "Clearly, I'm not."

Silence fell, thick and suffocating.

Xander leaned in close, his breath brushing against my ear as he murmured, "Welcome home, Amara."

Home.

The word settled uncomfortably in my chest.

Because deep down, I knew-whatever I had just walked into was bigger than revenge.

And there was no turning back now.