Chapter 1 My Alpha

Chapter One: My Alpha

Liora Vale

The moon hung swollen above the treetops, bathing the forest in a silver hush. Its light filtered through the canopy in soft beams, like it knew secrets it would never share. I moved through the trees quietly, bare feet pressing into damp soil, heart steady, breath even.

This wasn't war.

Not tonight.

It was a vow. A promise whispered long ago beneath blood stained skies and broken bones.

And he was waiting.

Gonzalo Kenyon.

Alpha of the Bloodfang Pack.

My Alpha.

He stood by the stone altar with his back to me, sharp shoulders cutting clean lines against the moonlight. Even the trees around him leaned forward like they knew what he was, what we all did: danger cloaked in silk, power wrapped in flesh.

He didn't turn at first.

But he knew I was there.

"You're late," he said.

I smiled. "You said midnight."

"I said when the moon peaks. That was five minutes ago."

I took another step into the clearing. "You never used to care about time."

"I only care about you."

My chest tightened at that. Because I wanted to believe him. I really did.

"You always say the right things," I murmured.

"Because they're true."

He reached out. I let him take my hand.

His grip was warm. Familiar. The kind of touch that made me forget all the times it hadn't been. His hands had pulled me from battlefields, had brushed dirt from my wounds, had held my broken body together when no one else even noticed I was bleeding.

I looked at him. "You told me we'd stand here together one day. As Alpha and Luna."

He smiled. Wolfish and quiet. "One day."

"When?"

He hesitated just long enough for the silence to cut.

"When the Elders stop watching. When the time is right. When the pack is stronger."

I nodded, slowly. I'd heard it before.

So many times before.

"I've fought for you," I said. "I've bled for you."

"And I've kept you alive," he replied. "That's more than most get."

I looked away, swallowing words that burned like fire. His fingers gently tipped my chin back.

"Do you doubt me, Liora?"

"No," I whispered. "Never."

He kissed me then. His mouth was all heat and hunger, and I melted into it because that's what he expected. Because that was what I always did.

But somewhere between his lips and mine, something inside me turned cold.

Later, I sat alone beside the river, watching the moon ripple across the water like a truth I couldn't catch.

Nyssa found me there.

She didn't need to ask. She already knew.

"He called you again," she said, sitting beside me. "Did he tell you when?"

I shook my head. "He said soon."

Nyssa exhaled. "He always says soon."

"He means it," I said. "He has to."

She looked at me the way people do when they know something you're still too scared to say. "You don't need to be Luna to matter."

"But that was the promise," I whispered.

"And if it's a lie?"

I didn't answer.

Nyssa reached for my hand, gave it a squeeze. "He's powerful. But that doesn't mean he's right."

I turned to her. "Do you think I'm a fool?"

She shook her head. "I think you're in love. And that's more dangerous."

***

Weeks passed.

My world revolved around Gonzalo's voice, his summons, his praise.

He called me before hunts, before strategy meetings, before bloodbaths. Always in secret. Never in the open.

To the pack, I was invisible. To him, I was his, so long as no one else could see it.

At night, we met in the ruins beyond the eastern ridge. He would press his body against mine like a brand and whisper things only I was allowed to hear.

"I don't trust them."

"Then trust me," I'd whisper back.

"You're the only one I do."

I believed him. Because if I didn't, the alternative would crush me.

I wore his mark. I smelled of him. I lived in his shadow.

And still, no ceremony came.

One night, my heart couldn't stay quiet.

"Is it me?" I asked.

He looked at me with something colder than the night air. "It's politics."

"You promised."

"I said I'd try. I didn't say I'd die for it."

I looked away, swallowing the sharp taste of shame.

But like always, his edge softened when he sensed me slipping.

"Liora. You mean more to me than any ceremony. You know that."

"I want to be seen," I whispered. "With you."

"You're safer in the shadows."

"And you're safer with me silenced."

His eyes darkened.

"Careful," he said.

I stared at him, throat burning. "Or what? You'll banish me like everyone else?"

He didn't respond.

But I saw the truth in his eyes.

I left him that night, not in rage but in fear.

Fear that Nyssa had been right all along.

Fear that everything I believed in was just another leash I let him put around my neck.

Back in my den, I stared up at the moon.

"Tell me," I whispered into the silence, "am I his... or just convenient?"

The moon said nothing. But deep inside, my wolf stirred for the first time in days.

And in that stillness...

I wasn't sure if it stirred for him anymore.